title: Marayan
text: # Marayan
  
  Marayan (Arabic: مرعيان, also spelled Mir'ian) is a village in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Ariha District of the Idlib Governorate. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Marayan had a population of 2,274 in the 2004 census. Its inhabitants are predominantly Sunni Muslims. Nearby localities include Ihsim and Iblin to the south, Sarjah to the east, and al-Rami and Ariha to the north.
  
  In the 1960s, Marayan was a small village containing a mosque and a spring. In the village's immediate vicinity are the ruins of Byzantine-era grottoes, which were being used as underground residences in the 1960s.
  
  