Ashqout

{{Infobox settlement | name = Ashqout | native_name = عشقوت | native_name_lang = ara | settlement_type = Municipality | image_skyline = | image_alt = | image_caption = | pushpin_map = Lebanon | pushpin_label_position = | pushpin_map_alt = Map showing the location of Ashqout within Lebanon | pushpin_map_caption = Location within Lebanon | coordinates = {{coord|33.987353|35.707626|region:LB_type:city|display=inline,title}} | coordinates_footnotes = | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = Lebanon | subdivision_type1 = Governorate | subdivision_name1 = Keserwan-Jbeil | subdivision_type2 = District | subdivision_name2 = Keserwan | established_title =  | established_date = | founder = | leader_party = | leader_title = | leader_name = | area_footnotes = | area_total_km2 = 7.88 | area_note = | elevation_footnotes = | elevation_m = 1,250 | elevation_min_m = | elevation_max_m = | population_footnotes = | population_total = | population_as_of = | population_density_km2 = auto | population_note = | timezone1 = EET | utc_offset1 = +2 | timezone1_DST = EEST | utc_offset1_DST = +3 | postal_code_type = Postal code | postal_code = | area_code_type = Dialing code | area_code = +961 | website = | footnotes = }} '''Ashqout''' ({{langx|ar|عشقوت|ʿAshqūt}}; also spelled ''Ashkout'', ''Achqout'', ''`Ashqut'') is a town and municipality in the Keserwan District of the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate of Lebanon. It is located 31 kilometers north of Beirut. Ashqout's average elevation is 1,000 meters above sea level and its total land area is 588 hectares.<ref name="localiban">{{cite web|title=Aachqout|url=http://www.localiban.org/article4402.html|website=Localiban|publisher=Localiban|accessdate=2009-07-24|date=2008-01-18}}</ref> Its inhabitants are predominantly Maronite Catholic, with Christians from other denominations in the minority.<ref>{{cite web|title=Elections municipales et ikhtiariah au Mont-Liban |url=http://www.localiban.org/IMG/pdf/Elections_municipales_libanaises_2010_-_Mont-Liban.pdf |website=Localiban |publisher=Localiban |accessdate=2016-02-12 |page=19 |format=pdf |date=2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150724081015/http://www.localiban.org/IMG/pdf/Elections_municipales_libanaises_2010_-_Mont-Liban.pdf |archivedate=2015-07-24 }}</ref>

Ottoman tax records indicate Ashqout had 43 Christian households in 1523, 43 Christian households and seven bachelors in 1530, and 33 Christian households and 14 bachelors in 1543.{{sfn|Bakhit|1972|p=275}}

The town has three schools, one public and two private, in the town, with a total of 739 students as of 2008.<ref name="localiban"/> The El-Hajj Hospital, which has 28 beds, is located in Ashqout.<ref name="localiban"/> It is the birthplace of Ahmad Faris Shidyaq (1804–1887); Paul Peter Massad (1806–1890); and Rayyane Tabet (born 1983).<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=June 12, 2021 |title=Rayyane Tabet's first US museum commission opens at the Walker |url=https://artdaily.com/news/136525/Rayyane-Tabet-s-first-US-museum-commission-opens-at-the-Walker#.YkfAzW7MJUk |access-date=2022-04-02 |website=Artdaily.com}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==Bibliography== *{{cite thesis |last=Bakhit |first=Muhammad Adnan Salamah |title=The Ottoman Province of Damascus in the Sixteenth Century |publisher=School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London |date=February 1972 |type=PhD}}

Category:Populated places in Keserwan District Category:Maronite Christian communities in Lebanon