Bosra is an extremely ancient city mentioned in the lists of Tutmose III and Akhenaton in the fourteenth century B.C. The first Nabatean city in the second century B.C., it bore the name Buhora, but during the Hellenistic period, it was known by the name of Bustra. Later, the Romans took an active interest in the city, and at the time of the Emperor Trajan, it was made the capital of the Province of Arabia in 106 BC. and was called Neatrajana Bustra. The city saw its greatest period of prosperity and expansion. It became a crossroad on the caravan routes and the official seat and residence of the Imperial Legate. After the decline of the Roman Empire, Bosra played a significant role in the history of early Christianity. It was also linked to the rise of Islam, when a Nestorian monk called Bashira, who lived in the city, met the young Muhammad when his caravan stopped at Bosra, and predicted his prophetic vocation and the establishment of Islam.

Bosra was the first city in Syria to become Muslim. Her square minarets are no doubt the oldest, still standing, in all of Islam. The city, an important resting place for pilgrimages to Mecca, enjoyed prosperity until the 17th century  by then the region was becoming unsafe, and the pilgrims began to take a less dangerous route further west.

The most interesting part of the city today is the famous Roman theater built in the second century A.D., which seats 15 thousand spectators, and is considered one of the most beautiful and well-preserved of Roman amphitheaters in the world. The city itself contains a great number of Roman ruins, a part of the Byzantine Bahira Church, as well as the Al-Mabrak Mosque (also called the Al-Arouss Mosque ), which is the only one of its type remaining from the early days of Islam, retaining its 7^th century primitive form.

An important Muslim citadel, dating back to the Ayoubid and Mamluk period still stands, and one of its towers now houses a museum of Antiquities and Traditional Arts.

The city also boasts: the remains of Nabatean walls, a triumphal third century Roman arch, second century Roman baths, and a Byzantine cathedral.