The limestone massif north-west of Aleppo, in Syria, is one of the most remarkable archaeological landscapes in the Middle East, but it has also been in a war zone for more than a decade, and travel there is not safe or practical. What follows is about what the place is, not an invitation to visit.
From the fourth to the seventh centuries, the stony hills here carried dozens of prosperous villages, built in local limestone with an elegance that has survived better than almost anywhere else of that age. Houses, churches, bathhouses, tombs and olive presses stand in rows, many with two storeys, porches, carved lintels and decorative bands, and they are known today as the Dead Cities. Villagers prospered on olive oil, which was sold across the late Roman world, and when the trade shifted and conquest came, the villages gradually emptied, leaving their stone buildings to the weather. In 2011 UNESCO listed a group of these as the Ancient Villages of Northern Syria.
The most famous site is the church of Saint Simeon, near here, built in the fifth century around the pillar on which Simeon the Stylite lived for decades, preaching to crowds of pilgrims who came to see him. The huge cruciform basilica, with four wings radiating from an octagon, was one of the largest churches of its time and still has fine carved arches, though it has been damaged in recent fighting. Nubl, the nearest sizeable town, is also in a conflict-affected area.
Anyone interested should follow the work of archaeologists and conservation groups, who have documented the condition of the sites, and look at photographs and survey drawings rather than plan a trip. Government travel advice for the area is clear, and fuel supplies, roads and security are all unreliable. If conditions change in the future, this will be one of the great journeys of the region, among olive groves and honey-coloured stone, but that day has not come yet.