visited it like we visit ruins and shrines nowadays. A rocky cave in the forest was turned into a niche in the name of Virgin Mary; candles and oil lanterns were always lit. If by chance along the way you met an acquaintance coming from the forest and asked him, where were you? The answer would surely be Min Al Ziara, meaning from the visit to Virgin Mary’s forest. But like all native accents, changing a vocabulary, letters flying into thin air, it became known as Miziara. History This article is based on an article of Al Bashir newspaper on Miziara. Miziara was not inhabited before the late 17th century. In its place was a dense forest, filled with wild boars. Part of the land where the today Miziara is located was part of the baklik of the Shia Sheikhs Hamadeh, the rulers of Jebbet Bsharri from 1654 till 1761. Houmeis, belonging also to the Hamadeh Baklik, seemed to have been inhabited prior to the 18th century as there existed some ruins of an earlier settlement. 18th and 19th centuries At the end of the 16th century, and the beginning of the 17th century, the southern Mount Lebanon under the stable rule of the Emir Fakhreddine (1678–1735) attracted many families who were encouraged by the Emir to establish there. An important migration took place from Jebbet Bsharri to the south but also to Aleppo, Syria. After the fall of the Emir Fakhreddine in 1632, the situation in the southern Mount Lebanon became difficult and there were a reverse migration to North Lebanon. This migration from the Metn and Kesrwan accelerated particularly after the Sheikhs Hamadeh, rulers of Jebbet Bsharri started stabilising their rule around 1680. It is in this context that Naamtallah Néhmé, the ancestor of all the Meziarian families, arrived in North Lebanon, like many others. When Naamtallah Néhmé left Bikfaya, Metn, to North Lebanon, he first settled in Arbet Kozhaya. He brought up and raised his family there. Later on, the family moved to Sereel and then to Ejbeh, where they did not stay for long, moving to a small farm beside Sebhel. Rishtaamout was the name of the farm. in Syriac, Rishtaamout means the summit of taste or of pleasure as the farm was famous for its tasty fruits. There Naamtallah's children founded four families: Younis: the origin of the Younis and Béchara families. Abdallah: the origin