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Originally Telanissos (Mountain of women) was an agricultural settlement. Then a monastery was founded here. In 412 AD the ascetic who would become St. Simeon Stylites joined the monastery. He later moved uphill and started living on a small platform on a pillar there. From 425 pilgrims would come to see him, and after his death in 459 Deir Semaan became a major centre of pilgrimage under imperial patronage. Although now we visit the St. Simeon Stylites Basilica from an easy access point just some ten, fifteen meters below the level of the basilica, in olden times a visit to the basilica would start with a strenuous walk over the Via Sacra, up the basilica hill.

Most of the pilgrims were accommodated in the village, in the pilgrimage center on the hill there was only a guest house in the area of ​​the baptistery at the southern entrance. The three large monastery complexes were in the north-west, south-west and south-east of the city. The north-western monastery was probably built on the site of the simple earlier monastery in which Symeon had stayed. The facilities each included a basilica and a pilgrims' hostel (Pandocheion). The south-eastern monastery from the end of the 6th century is best preserved. The two two-story communal buildings had porticos in front of the facades, separated from them was a building for the monks' apartments, while the small church was housed in an extension. The churches of the two other monasteries that were built earlier were large, separate structures.

I did not visit the whole area, partly because I was tired after two hours of intensive picture taking at St. Simeon. However, the start of the Via Sacra is there, as are some shots of important buildings and there is a visit to the large pandocheion, the major accommodation for pilgrims.