Mhardeh also spelt Muhradah, is a city in the Hama Governorate

Hama Governorate

Hama is one of the fourteen governorates of Syria. It is situated in western-central Syria. Its area depends of sources. It varies from 8,844 km² to 8,883 km². Governorate has a population of 1,593,000...

 of Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

. It is about 23 km North West of Hama

Hama

Hama is a city on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria north of Damascus. It is the provincial capital of the Hama Governorate. Hama is the fourth-largest city in Syria—behind Aleppo, Damascus, and Homs—with a population of 696,863...

 on the Orontes River

Orontes River

The Orontes or ‘Āṣī is a river of Lebanon, Syria and Turkey.It was anciently the chief river of the Levant, also called Draco, Typhon and Axius...

, and is the centre of Mantiqat Mħardeh, one of the governorate's five districts.

Mhardeh is a Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 city with about 22,442 inhabitants in 2010. The Orontes was recently dammed 3 km north, the dam now generates about 2,500 KW-hours of hydroelectric power. Muħardeh dates back to the same Hellenistic

Hellenistic civilization

Hellenistic civilization represents the zenith of Greek influence in the ancient world from 323 BCE to about 146 BCE...

 period of Apamea

Apamea

Apamea or Apameia is the name of several Hellenistic cities in western Asia, after Apama, the wife of Seleucus I Nicator:*Apamea , on the Tigris near the Euphrates, precise location unknown, now in Iraq...

, the most notable archaeological remnant from this period is an old temple with stone doors and columns with Corinthian

Corinthian order

The Corinthian order is one of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric and Ionic. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order...

 capitals transformed later into a church.

Ghada Shouaa

Ghada Shouaa

Ghada Shouaa is a Syrian former heptathlete. At the 1996 Summer Olympics, she won her country's first and only Olympic gold medal....

, the first Syrian athlete

Athletics (track and field)

Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...

 to win an Olympic

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

 gold medal, was born in Mhardeh as well as Patriarch Ignatius IV of Antioch

Ignatius IV of Antioch

Patriarch Ignatius IV of Antioch and All The East is the current primate of the "Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All The East".-Life:...

.