The village of Qanawat lies at the top of a hill overlooking Wadi Qanawat and is located in the Jabal Al - Arab region,  about 7 km North-East of Sweida and has been identified with the city of (Canatha) mentioned  by Flavius Josephus (A.D. 37-100), Pliny the elder (A.D. 23-79) and Eusebius of Caesrea (A.D. 265-340) in ancient sources. The village is home to fairly well preserve remains of three basilicas, four temples, one theatre, several cisterns, city wall and funerary towers.  As the city is located on volcanic territory, basalt was the only building material, giving a great unity both to the ancient city and to the traditional houses built among its ruins.

Canatha was probably associated with the sanctuary of Sia’ dedicated to the god Baal Shamin[1] and with the temple dedicated to the god Dou Sharat and its territory extended relatively far to the West, including the Nuqrah plain, well known for its fertility.  Canatha was one of the Decapolis, a federation of Hellenistic cities mostly located east of the river Jordan which claim Greek ancestors, but most of them were founded by Pompey when he created the province of Syria in B.C. 64-63. The cities included in this federation varied in time, but at its peak, 14 cities were included.

Canatha derived its prosperity from being a stopping place between Damascus and Bosra and was organised as a Graeco – Roman city, including a local senate, a council of elders, a president, magistrates and market police. Great economic progress came from the 1^st. century A.D., especially from agriculture related activities. This economic expansion continued during the Roman and Byzantine periods, with large programmes of public building. Christianity, which gradually spread the entire population, provided great impetus for the construction of some of the most impressive monuments. The coming of Islam did not interrupt the development of the region which continued despite the incursions of the Sassanians from Iraq. In 635, Qanawat became part of the province of “Bilal esh Sham” and it was not until the end of the Umayyad period when political power was transferred from Damascus to Baghdad that the Jebal started to decline and the land was abandoned to nomads. From the 18^th century onwards, the economic prospects of Qanawat revived again with the arrival of the Druze from Lebanon. Some of the ancient monuments were repaired to accommodate the new community and others were dismantled to provide building material. Since that time, Qanawat has become one of the more dynamic villages of the area.