Where is Maaloula located?
Q: Where is Maaloula located?
A: Maaloula is a town in Syria, located 56 km northeast of Damascus, built into the rugged mountainside at an altitude of more than 1500 meters.
Q: What language do most people in Maaloula speak?
A: Most people in Maaloula speak Western Neo-Aramaic, which is a dialect of the Aramaic language.
Q: How many other places besides Maaloula still speak the Western branch of Aramaic languages?
A: Besides Maaloula, there are two other nearby towns - Bakh'a and Jubb'adin - where the Western branch of the Aramaic languages is still spoken.
Q: How has modern transportation and media affected the linguistic heritage of Maaloula?
A: Modern roads and transportation, as well as accessibility to Arabic-language television and print media, have eroded Maaloula's linguistic heritage.
Q: What is the population of Maaloula as of 2005?
A: As of 2005, the population of Maaloula is 2,000.
Q: What religions are represented in Maaloula?
A: Maaloula is home to both Christians and Muslims.
Q: Why is the linguistic heritage of Maaloula all the more remarkable for its Muslim inhabitants?
A: The linguistic heritage of Maaloula's Muslim inhabitants is all the more remarkable because they were not Arabized, unlike most other Syrians who were Islamized over the centuries and adopted Arabic as well as shifted to an "Arab" ethnic identity.
