“Jethro’s City” Population: 1,400
Other name: Suayıpşehri
Heading east from Harran towards Soğmater in the southeast of Turkey you will come to the partially troglodytic settlement of Şuayb Şehri (39km), universally known as Şuayb City. And as soon as you pull into the village you will realise that this is one of those curious erstwhile important places that has since been overlooked by time. Most of the structures surrounding the modern village appear to date back to the late Roman-early Byzantine period.
Despite its remote location Şuayb City has one big claim to fame which is that it is believed to have a link with the man who appears in the Koran as the Prophet Şuayb and in the Bible as Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law. Indeed it is claimed that Moses acquired the staff with which he divided the Red Sea from his father-in-law in a cave here.
The fields that cling to the bottom of the hill that forms the centre of the village are riddled with curious partially underground structures approachable via rock-cut steps. At first glance it’s easy to assume that they formed some vast Roman necropolis. Then I wondered if they might perhaps have been underground dwellings, reminiscent of the great underground cities of Cappadocia. The most common assumption seems to be that the surface structures were Roman summer houses complete with wells and that the caves were underground storage units.
On the summit of the hill stands what might perhaps have been a temple but not much seems to be known about Şuayb City beyond the Jethro story. No sooner do you get out of your car than you will probably be approached by a youthful local keen to tell you that you’re in the wrong place, by which they mean, of course, that you are nowhere near the shrine of Jethro. This turns out to be even more closely reminiscent of Cappadocia since the rock-cut steps open into a cave consisting of two rooms, one of them set up for prayer, the other where purportedly Moses acquired the staff.
Şuayb City is an extraordinary place where you could easily poke about in the caves for a couple of hours while dreaming of the forgotten past but it has no facilities so brings snacks and water with you. The likelihood is that you will be mobbed by the local children.
Sleeping
Urfa offers the best choice of accommodation locally, although Harran is another possibility.
Transport info
There’s no public transport to get you here but tour operators in Urfa should be able to organise a visit. The road was upgraded in the 2010s so it’s much less demanding of a motor.
