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SYRIA , the name given generally to the See also:land lying between the easternmost See also:shore of the Levantine Gulf and a natural inland boundary formed in See also:part by the See also:Middle See also:Euphrates and in part by the western edge of the Hamad or See also:desert See also:steppe. The See also:northern limit is the Tauric See also:system of mountains, and the See also:southern limit the edge of the Sinaitic desert. This See also:long See also:strip extends, therefore, for about 400 M. between 38° and 31° N. See also:lat. with a mean breadth of about 150 M. Since, however, the steppe edge on the See also:east is somewhat indefinite, some See also:early Moslem and other geographers have included all the Hamad in Syria, making of the latter a See also:blunt-headed triangle with a See also:base some 700 M. long resting on. the See also:north Arabian Nefud. But See also:Strabo, See also:Pliny and See also:Ptolemy, as well as the better Moslem geographers, See also:drew the easternonly under the Graeco-See also:Roman See also:administration that we find a definite See also:district known as Syria, and that was at first restricted to the See also:Orontes See also:basin. Later, all that we understand by Syria came to be so known officially to the See also:Romans and Byzantines; but the only See also:province called simply Syria, without qualification, remained in the Orontes valley. Under the See also:present See also:Ottoman See also:distribution " Syria " is the province of Sham or See also:Damascus, exclusive of the vilayets of See also:Aleppo and See also:Beirut and the sanjaks of See also:Lebanon and See also:Jerusalem, which all fall in what is called Syria is the wider See also:geographical sense.
Taking Syria as the strip limited by the See also:sea, the edge of the Hamad, the See also:Taurus and the Sinaitic desert, we have a remark-ably homogeneous geographical See also:area with very obvious natural boundaries; but these, for various reasons, have proved very
frontier obliquely from the Gulf of Akeba to Rakka (Raqqa) on Euphrates, and thus placed the Hamad in See also:Arabia.
The name Syria is not found in the See also:Hebrew See also:original of the Scriptures; but it was used by the See also:Septuagint to translate See also:Aram. See also:Homer knows only "ApiµoL, but See also:Herodotus speaks of " Syrians" as identical with Assyrians, the latter being, he thinks, a " See also:barbarian " See also:form, and he applies the name very widely to include, e.g. north Cappadocians (" See also: Commagene (Kummukh), Cyrrhestica, See also:Phoenicia, See also:Palestine, &c. It is $meryWilkey ec, ineffective in See also:history, especially on the See also:south and east. Syria happens to See also:lie on the See also:line of least resistance for communication between the early subtropic seats of See also:civilization in the See also:Nile and Euphrates valleys and the civilizations of See also:Europe. Its eastern boundary is in See also:great part a steppe, which breeds See also:population, but, unable to nourish increase, sends it over its boundaries in a See also:constant stream of See also:migration. Consequently south Palestine has been continuously " Arabized "; and indeed the whole of Syria has been characterized by racial and religious fusions, and by civilization of a singularly syncretic and derived See also:kind, of which the See also:ancient Phoenician is a sufficient example. The See also:surface configuration of almost all the strip is remarkably See also:uniform. With the exception of the extreme north (Commagene), which is shut off by a barrier of hills and belongs to See also:foreign hydro-graphic systems, the whole See also:country is roughly a gable-shaped See also:plateau, falling north and south from a medial See also:ridge, which crosses Syria at about its central point. This gable is tilted eastwards, and its two long slopes are defined by bordering See also:mountain chains which run across its medial ridge; the See also:main Syrian streams are those which follow those slopes between the chains, thus See also:running either north or south for most of their courses, and only finding their way to the western sea by making See also:sharp elbows at the last. Syrian See also:orography, therefore, is See also:simple, being composed of nothing but these two parallel systems. That on the See also:west, which rises behind the Mediterranean littoral, springs from Taurus in the well-afforested Mt Ama nus (See also:Giaour Dagh), and is continued by See also:Jebel Bereket and J. Akhma, aver the northern end of which runs a single easy pass (Beilan) to the north-east See also:angle of the See also:Levant See also:coast (See also:Alexandretta), while at the southern end is a See also:gap through which the Orontes turns sharply to the sea. South of this, with J. Akra (the Bald Mountain, anc. Casius) begins a further See also:section, rounded and grassy, called J. Ansariya, which presently springs up into a high See also:chain of See also:Jurassic See also:limestone with basaltic intrusions, whose peaks rise to Io,000 ft. and whose passes do not fall under 6000 ft. Here it is called J. al-Gharbi or Libnan (see LEBANON). Thereafter it broadens out and becomes the high table-land of See also:Galilee, See also:Samaria and See also:Judaea, and gradually sinks into the plateau of north See also:Sinai. The eastern system springs from the Tauric offshoot (Kurd Dagh, '&c.), which shuts off the Commagenian basins, and as the triple chain of J. al See also:Ala, it defines the Orontes valley on the east. Like its western parallel it springs up presently into a higher chain and is known as J. es-Sharki, or See also:Anti-Libanus, which culminates in a See also:knot on the south, to which is given the name J. es-See also:Sheikh, or See also:Hermon (8000 ft.). Thereafter it loses much of its distinctive See also:character, but may be traced southwards in J. IUauran and the Moabite hills to See also:Horeb and the Midianite Mountains of the See also:Hebrews, which run into Arabia. See also:Hydrography.—Between these systems run the main See also:rivers; and these naturally rise near the medial ridge, in the lacustrine district of el-Buka'a, or Coelesyria, and flow in opposite directions. That following the northern slope is the Nahr al-'Asi (see ORONTES) into which, when it has turned sharply towards the sea, flow some tributary streams from the Commagenian See also:divide on the north. The main stream flowing south is the See also:Jordan, which fails to reach the sea, being absorbed into the great rift of the See also:Ghor: but a smaller stream, the North Litani (called Kasimiya in its See also:lower course), whose source lies very near that of Jordan, repeats the course of the Orontes on a See also:minor See also:scale and gets through the western mountain system to the sea near Sur (See also:Tyre). Outside the basins of these rivers and their bordering mountain systems there only remain to be considered the following: (I) The Mediterranean littoral strip (the ancient PHOENICIA), with a few torrent-like streams. (2) The shut-off district in the extreme north, ancient Commagene, which consists of two basins divided by a See also:low ridge running from south to north. These basins belong, one to the Cilician See also:river-system, and the other to the Euphratean. In the first See also:lay the ancient Germanicia (mod. See also:Marash) ; in the second the ancient See also:Samosata (mod. Samsat), whose importance has now passed to Adiaman. The southern boundary of both basins is a low chain which leaves the Euphrates near the mouth of the Sajur tributary, and runs west towards Mt Amanus, to which it is linked by a See also:sill whereon stood the ancient fortified See also:palace of Samal (Sinjerli; see See also:HITTITES). (3) A See also:succession of oases lying east of the eastern mountain system on the edge of the steppe, and fed by See also:short See also:local streams. Of these the most important are, from north to south, (a) the Saltpan of See also:Jebeil, fed by the North al-Dahab ; (b) the oases of Kinnesrin and Aleppo, fed by the North Kuwaik; and (c) that of Sham or Damascus, fed by streams from Hermon, of which the Barada (See also:Abana) and the Awaj (Pharpar) are the See also:chief. Since these streams had in no See also:case originally easy See also:access to the sea, we naturally find lakes on their course, and several of them terminate in tracts of more or less permanent inundation. Those which occur on the course of the See also:principal rivers are described under ORONTES and JORDAN. The See also:ethers, which terminate streams, are the See also:Bahr el-Ateiba, which receives the See also:waters of Damascus; the See also:Mat, into which the Kuwaik flows below Kinnesrin; and the Ak Deniz, or Bahrat See also:Antakia, the ancient See also:Lake of See also:Antioch, which collects the waters of the Kara Su and Afrin, the southward from the See also:watershed which shuts off Commagene. The last-named lake has now been almost entirely dried up by the cutting of a channel, which conducts its feeders directly to the Orontes.
See also:Geology.--Geologically, Syria belongs to two distinct regions of the See also:earth's crust, the northern and smaller portion lying within the great See also:belt of folding of southern Europe and central See also:Asia, and the southern and larger portion belonging to the Indo-See also:African area, which, though often faulted, is usually See also:free from crumpling. According to M. Blanckenhorn the boundary between the two regions runs from the See also:Bay of Jebele along the Afrin River to See also:Aintab, and thence to the Euphrates above See also:Birejik. In the southern region, which is by far the better known, the See also:oldest rocks are granites, crystalline See also:schists and other rocks of Archean aspect. These are overlaid by zonglomerates, tuffs, sandstones and arkoses, which perhaps do not all belong to the same See also:period. In Palestine a See also:lime-See also: They are mostly true See also:felspar basalts, but a few contain See also:nepheline in addition to the felspar. In most cases the eruptions appear to be of Pliocene or later date, but in the extreme north some of the basalt seems to belong to the Miocene period. There is historic See also:evidence of mud eruptions in some of the volcanic areas. The most striking feature in the structure of Syria is the existence of long Graben, or narrow depressions formed by faulting. The best known of these Graben is that of the Jordan, but the upper part of the Orontes lies in a similar depression, which is, indeed, very probably the continuation of the Jordan-Araba trough. The faulting which formed the depressions is certainly later than the deposition of the Cretaceous beds and probably belongs to the later portion of the See also:Tertiary era. Little is known of the part of Syria which lies within the folded belt, and includes the Amanus and Kurd mountains. The rocks do not appear to differ very markedly from those farther south, but the Devonian is believed to be represented. The folds are approximately parallel to those of the Taurus, and geologically these mountains may be said to belong to that range.' See also:Climate.—Within historic times the climate, and with it the productivity of the country, cannot have greatly changed; at most the precipitation may have been greater, the area under See also:wood having been more extensive. Except for Jerusalem, we have hardly any accurate meteorological observations; there the mean See also:annual temperature is about 63 ° F.; in Beirut it is about 68°. The rainfall in Jerusalem is 36.22 in., in Beirut 2I.66. The See also:heat at Damascus and Aleppo is great, the cooling winds being kept off by the mountains. See also:Frost and See also:snow are occasionally experienced among the mountains and on the inland plateaus, but never along the coast. Even the steppe exhibits great contrasts of temperature; there the rainfall is slight and the See also:air exceedingly exhilarating and healthy. The See also:sky is continuously cloudless from the beginning of May till about the end of See also:October; during the summer months the nights as a See also:rule are dewy, except in the desert. See also:Rain is brought by the west See also:wind; the north-west wind, which blows often, moderates the heat. On the other See also:hand, an ozoneless east wind (See also:sirocco) is occasionally experienced—especially during the second See also:half of May and before the beginning of the See also:rainy See also:season—which has a prejudicial See also:influence on both See also:animal and See also:vegetable See also:life. On the whole the climate of Syria—if the Jordan valley and the moister districts are excepted—is not unhealthy, though intermittent fevers are not uncommon in some places. The See also:general character of the country, resultant on these conditions, varies according to See also:elevation and See also:latitude. Owing to the high barrier which shuts off almost all Syria from the sea, and precipitates vapours mainly on the western slope, little of the land is highly productive without See also:irrigation, except the narrow littoral strip which was the ancient Phoenicia, and the small deltas, such as that of See also:Latakia (See also:Laodicea). Palestine, being less shut in and enjoying a comparatively large general rainfall, would be still a land " flowing with See also:milk and See also:honey " had its forests not been destroyed, and the terracing, which used to hold up See also:soil on the See also:highlands, been maintained. As it is, it has very fertile patches of See also:lowland, such as the plains of Esdraelon and Jaffa; and the high levels, largely composed of disintegrated igneous See also:rock, west of Jordan, over which the sea-wind carries the rains, offer excellent See also:corn-land. In the extreme south Palestine begins to be affected by the Arabian dryness. For the See also:rest, Syria needs irrigation; and since neither of its larger rivers, Orontes or Jordan, flowing as these do in deep beds, is of much use for this purpose, all See also:Mid-Syria, except the lacustrine oases, is a region mainly occupied by pastures, and yielding only thin cereal crops. Commagene, where not rocky, and the district lying along the southward drains from its divide (anc. Cyrrhestica), is in better case, enjoying perennial streams which can be utilized, and the fringe of the Tauric rainfall. The latter See also:dies away over the plains east and south-east of Aleppo, making them afford See also:good See also:spring pasture, which has attracted the nomads from farther south: but below the latitude of Rakka-See also:Homs thin steppe begins, and quickly degenerates into sheer desert broken only by a chain of poor oases, south of a low ridge running from Anti-Lebanon to Euphrates. Of these the principal are Karietein and Tadmor (Palmyra), through which passes the See also:trade from Damascus to the east. In ancient times, i See O. See also:Fraas, Aus dem Orient, pt. ii. (See also:Stuttgart, 1878) ; C. Diener, Libanon (See also:Vienna, 1886) ; M. Blanckenhorn, Beitrage zur Geologie Syriens (See also:Cassel, 189o, &c.), and Grundziige der Geologie and physikalischen Geographie von See also:Nord-Syrien (See also:Berlin, 1891). See also the references under PALESTINE. A See also:summary by M. Blanckenhorn will be found in Monatsschr. f. wirtschaftl. Erschliessung Palastinas, pp. 289–301 (Berlin, 1904). up to the Arab invasion, the northern part of the eastern plateau, between Orontes and Euphrates, was made habitable and even fertile by storage of rainfall. It supported a large number of villages and small towns, whose remains are remarkably well preserved, and still serve to shelter a sparse See also:pastoral population. See also:Flora.—Two distinct floral regions meet in Syria, that of the Mediterranean and that of the west Asian steppe-land. The first, to be seen on the coast and the western slopes of the highlands, is characterized by a number of See also:evergreen shrubs with small leathery leaves, and by quickly-flowering spring See also:plants. On the lowest levels the southern forms, the Ficus sycomorus and the date-See also:palm, appear, and increase in the direction of See also:Egypt (see LEBANON and PALESTINE). The steppe region, whose flora begins to appear east of the western ridge, is distinguished by the variety of its See also:species, the dry and thorny character of its shrubs, and great poverty in trees. Between these regions the greatly depressed valley of Jordan shows a subtropic vegetation. Among cultivated trees, the See also:olive is at See also:home throughout Syria, except on the steppe; the mulberry is planted extensively in the lower Lebanon; and all sorts of See also:fruit-trees flourish in irrigated gardens, especially on the Phoenician coast, in the Palestinian See also:plain, in the See also:oasis of Damascus, and in the Buka'a, The main cereal regions are the Hauran, and the plains of Antioch and Commagene; and the lower western slopes of the coast range are largely devoted to the culture of See also:tobacco. On the northern inland See also:downs See also:liquorice grows See also:wild and is collected by the peasants and sent down to Alexandretta. See also:Fauna.—The mammals of Syria are rather sharply to be distinguished into those which range only north of Mt See also:Carmel, and those which pass that limit. The first class includes the isabelline See also:bear, See also:badger, See also:pole-See also:cat, See also:ermine, See also:roe and See also:fallow See also:deer, wild See also:ass, Syrian See also:squirrel, pouched See also:marmoset, gerbill and See also:leopard. The second class will be found under PALESTINE; and it includes a sub-class which is not found outside Palestine at all. In the latter are the coney, See also:jerboa, several small rodents and the See also:ibex. Only in the Jordan valley do intrusions from the Ethiopic region appear. Elsewhere the forms are Palaearctic with intrusions from the east; but the length of the Syrian strip and the variety of its surface See also:relief admit of considerable difference in the species inhabiting different districts. The Lebanon and the hills of north Galilee offer the greatest number of mammals. Population.—The actual population of Syria is over 3,000,000, spread over a superficial area of about 600,000 sq. m,, i.e. about 51 persons to the square mile. But this poor See also:average is largely accounted for by the inclusion of the almost uninhabited northern steppe-land; and those parts of Syria, which are settled, show a much higher See also:rate. Phoenicia and the Lebanon have the densest population, over 70 to the square mile, while Palestine, the north part of the western plateau east of Jordan, the oases of Damascus and Aleppo, the Orontes valley, and parts of Cornmagene, are well peopled. The bulk of the population, so far as See also:race goes, is of the Semitic See also:family, and at bottom Aramaean with a large admixture of immigrant Arabian See also:blood, which is constantly being reinforced, and a comparatively small See also:strain of Hebrew blood. The latter appears mainly in Palestine, and has of See also:late been considerably strengthened by See also:immigration of See also:European See also:Jews, who have almost doubled the population of Jerusalem, and settled upon several fertile spots throughout the See also:Holy Land. But how far these, or the indigenous " Jews " are of Hebrew rather than of Aramaean origin is impossible to say. We only know that as long ago as the 1st See also:century B.C. true Hebrew blood was becoming rare, and that a vast proportion of the Jews of Roman times were Hebraized Aramaeans, whose assimilation into the Jewish community did not date much further back than the Maccabaean See also:age. Among this Semitic folk is to be observed a great variety of immigrant See also:stocks, settled in isolated patches, which have done much to contaminate the masses about them. In the extreme north (Commagene) the highlands are almost entirely held by Kurds who entered from beyond Euphrates in comparatively See also:recent times. Kurds live upon the Commagenian plains here and there, as also in the northern trans-Euphratean plains. Among them in the Tauras and Amanus, and outnumbering them on the plains, are Armenian communities, the remains of the Rupenian invasion of the loth century A.D. (see ZEITUN). These are found as far south as the plain of Antioch and the basin of the Sajur. To the north of Aleppo and Antioch live remnants of pre-Aramaean stocks, mixed with many half-settled and settled Turkomans (Yuruks, Avshars, &c.) who came in before the See also:Mahommedan era, and here and there colonies ofrecently imported Circassians. The latter are also settled numerously to the west of Jordan. Mid-Syria shows a medley of populations of more or less mixed origin, in large part See also:alien, for which see See also:DRUSES; See also:MARONITES and LEBANON. In the Phoenician coast towns are many Greeks (to be distinguished from Orthodox Syrians, called also Greeks on See also:account of creed). In the steppe-land and in the southern trans-Jordanic districts are See also:numbers of true See also:Arabs, mostly belonging to the great Anazeh family, which has been coming northwards from See also:Nejd in detachments since the 13th century. These are mainly nomadic, and include offshoots of the great tribes of Ruala, Walad See also:Ali, B. Sokhr, Adwan and Bishr, the first two roaming mainly in the north, the last two in See also:Moab and See also:Ammon. Ottoman See also:Turks, scattered gipsy communities, See also:German settlers in north See also:Pales-tine, and all sorts of Europeans make up a heterogeneous and incompatible population.
See also:Religion.—The religious types also are strongly divergent. The bulk of the population is Mahommedan; the See also:Bedouins have not much religion of any kind, but they profess See also:Islam. Besides orthodox Moslems there are also Shiite sects, as well as a number of religious communities whose See also:doctrine is the out-come of the See also:process of See also:fermentation that characterized the first centuries of Islam. To this last class belong the Ismailites (Assassins), q.v., Metawali, See also:Nosairis, Ansarieh, and especially the Druses (q.v.). In many cases it is obvious that the See also:political antipathy of the natives to the Arabs has found expression in the formation of such sects. The Ansarieh, for instance, and no doubt the Druses also, were originally survivals of the Syrian population. The Jews are found mainly in the larger centres of population. The Christians are an important See also:element, constituting probably as much as a fifth of the whole population; the See also:majority of them belong to the Orthodox Greek See also: The See also:mission of the See also:American Presbyterian Church, which has had its centre in Beirut for the last sixty years, has done much for Syria, especially in the spread of popular See also:education; numerous publications issue from its See also:press, and its medical school has been extremely beneficial. The See also:Catholic mission has done very good See also:work in what relates to See also:schools, institutes and the See also:diffusion of literature. The Christians constitute the educated portion of the Syrian See also:people; but the spirit of rivalry has produced stimulative effects on the Mahommedans, who had greatly fallen away from that zeal for knowledge which characterized the earlier centuries of their faith. See also:Language.—The language throughout southern and middle Syria as high as See also:Killis is Arabic, which has entirely ousted Aramaic and Hebrew from See also:common use, and tends to prevail even over the speech of recent immigrants like the Circassians. The last survivals of Aramaic are to be sought in certain remote villages of Anti-Lebanon, and in the See also:Syriac known to the See also:clergy. From the upper Sajur northwards See also:Turkish prevails, even among the Armenians; but many Kurdish communities retain their own See also:tongue. See also:Government.—The political status of the country is controlled by the Ottoman See also:Empire, of which Syria makes part, divided into the vilayets of Aleppo, Sham or Syria (Damascus), the Lebanon (q.v.) and Beirut, and the See also:separate sanjaks or mutessarifliks of Zor and Jerusalem. Ottoman See also:control is imperfect in Lebanon, the Houran, and over the Armenian mountain region of Zeitun and over the eastern steppe-lands, whose nomadic populations can withdraw themselves out of reach. But considerable success has been achieved in inducing the Syrian Arabs to See also:settle and in supplying a counteracting influence to their unrest by the See also:establishment of agricultural colonies, e.g. those of the Circassians in See also:Bashan, Ammon and Moab. Communications are still very imperfect, but have been greatly improved of late years. See also:Railways run from Beirut to Homs, See also:Hamah, Aleppo and Damascus (See also:French), and to the latter also from See also:Haifa (Turkish). From the termination of the Damascus-Mzerib railway a line (the " See also:Mecca railway ") has been laid by Ottoman enterprise east of Jordan to the southern limit of Syria and beyond. From Jaffa a short line runs to Jerusalem, and a 308 See also:steam See also:tramway connects Beirut with See also:Tripoli. There are See also:carriage roads radiating from Aleppo to the sea at Alexandretta, and to Aintab; and Antioch is also connected with Alexandretta; Beirut and Horns with Tripoli; Damascus with Beirut; and See also:Nazareth with Haifa. But carriage roads in the Ottoman dominions are seldom completely made, and hardly ever kept in repair. The Lebanon district is well supplied with both roads and made See also:mule-tracks. See also:Commerce.—From the See also:Egyptian and Assyno-Babylonian monuments we learn that in ancient times one of the principal exports of Syria was See also:timber; this has now entirely ceased. But it continues to export See also:wheat. Other articles of export are See also:silk cocoons, woo:, hides, See also:sponges, eggs and fruits (oranges, almonds, raisins and the like) ; the amounts of See also:cotton, tobacco and See also:wine sent out of the country are small. The only good harbours are those of Beirut and Alexandretta (Iskanderun). The See also:caravan trade with the East has almost entirely ceased, and the great trade routes from Damascus northwards to Aleppo and eastwards through the See also:wilderness are quite abandoned. The See also:traffic with Arabia has ceased to be important, being limited to the See also:time of the going and returning of the great See also:pilgrimage to Mecca, which continues to have its mustering-See also:place at Damascus, but leaves mainly by See also:rail. The native See also:industries in silk, cotton and See also:wool have been almost entirely destroyed by the import trade from Europe. The land is poor in minerals, including See also:coal; water-See also:power also is deficient, so that the introduction of European industries is attended with difficulties even apart from the insecurity of affairs, which forbids such experiments as the improvement of See also:agriculture by means of European See also:capital. As regards the cultivation of the soil Syria remains See also:stable; but the soil is becoming relatively poorer, the value of the imports constantly gaining upon that of the exports. The latter are estimated at some 22 millions See also:sterling; the former at 4 millions. History.—See also:Rude stone monuments (circles and dolmens) and other prehistoric remains show that Syria must have been inhabited from a very early period. Within historic times a great number of different nationalities have fought and settled within its See also:borders, the majority belonging to the Semitic stock. This last circumstance has rendered possible a considerable degree of fidelity in the tradition of the oldest local names. After the Aramaeans had absorbed what remained of the earlier population, they themselves were very powerfully influenced by Graeco-Roman civilization, but as a people they still retained their Aramaean speech. Of the political relations of Syria in the most ancient times we know but little. Each See also:town with its surrounding district seems to have constituted a small separate See also:state; the conduct of affairs naturally devolved upon the See also:noble families. In the latter part of the 16th century B.C. all north Syria See also:fell under the Cappadocian Hatti domination. The south part of Syria was known to See also:Sargon of See also:Akkad (Agade) as Ammon and was visited by his armies. This is known as the Canaanite period, succeeded about r000 B.C. by the Aramaean. At a very early period—as early probably as the 16th century B.C.—Syria became the See also:meeting-place of Egyptian and Babylonian elements, resulting in a type of western See also:Asiatic culture See also:peculiar to itself, which through the commerce of the Phoenicians was carried to the western lands of the Mediterranean basin. See also:Indus-try especially attained a high state of development; See also:rich garments were embroidered, and See also:glass, pastes, See also:faience, &c., were manufactured. The extant inventories of spoil carried off by the ancient conquerors include a variety of utensils and stuffs. The influence exercised at all times on Syrian See also:art by the powerful neighbouring states is abundantly confirmed by all the recent finds which, in addition to our previous knowledge, show the See also:action of the See also:Aegean culture on Phoenicia and Palestine. The Syrians were more original in what related to religion; every place, every tribe, had its " See also:lord " (Ba'al) and its " See also:lady " (Ba'alat); the latter is generally called `Ashtar or `Ashtaret (i.e. See also:Ishtar, See also:Astarte). Besides the local See also:Baal there were " the See also:god of See also:heaven" (El) and other deities; human sacrifices as a means of propitiating the divine wrath were not uncommon. But in the Syrian See also:mythology foreign influences frequently betray themselves. Over against its want of originality must be set the fact, not merely that Syrian culture ultimately spread extensively towards the West, but that the Syrians (as is shown by the See also:inscriptions of Teima, &c.) long before the See also:Christian era exercised over the northern Arabs a perceptible influence which afterwards, about the beginning of the 1st century, became much stronger through the See also:kingdom of the See also:Nabataeans. The art of See also:writing was derived by the Arabs from the Syrians. Something about the ancient political and geographical relations of Syria can be gleaned from Egyptian See also:sources, especially in connexion with the See also:campaigns of Tethmosis (Thothmes) III. in western Asia and the administration of Amenophis (Amenhotep) IV. (the Tell el-Amarna Letters). The Egyptians designated their eastern neighbours collectively as `Amu. Syria up to and beyond the Euphrates is called more precisely Sahi (or Zahi), and is regarded as consisting of the following parts: (1) Rutenu, practically the same as Palestine (occasionally Palestine with Coelesyria is called Upper Rutenu, as distinguished from Lower Rutenu extending to the Euphrates); (2) the land of the Kheta (sometimes reckoned as belonging to Rutenu with Kadesh on the Orontes as its capital in the Ramesside period; (3) Naharina, the land on both sides of the Euphrates (extending, strictly speaking, beyond the Syrian limits). The Canaanites in general are called Kharu. From these lands the Egyptian See also:kings often derived rich See also:booty, so that in those days Syria must have been civilized and prosperous. Moreover, we possess enumerations of towns in the geographical lists of the See also:temple of See also:Karnak and in a See also:hieratic See also:papyrus dating about 200 years after Tethmosis III. Some of these names can be readily identified, such as Aleppo, Kadesh, See also:Sidon, and the like, as well as many in Palestine. The Tell el-Amarna Letters (15th century B.C.) show Syria held in part by Egyptian viceroys, who are much preoccupied with southward movements in the Buka'a and the rest of the interior beyond their control, due to pressure of Amorite peoples, and of the Mitanni and the Kheta, whose non-Semitic blood was mingled with that of the Aramaeans even in Palestine. On the latter in Syria, see.HITTITES. It need only be said here that this people bulked most largely in the relations of Egypt with Syria from the 16th to the 14th centuries. During the reign of See also:Rameses II. it was centred on the upper Orontes (Kadesh) and had comparatively free access to Palestine and the Egyptian border. Later on we find Kheta focused farther north, on the middle Euphrates (Carchemish), and more or less cut off from Egypt by the Hebrew state. They or their confederacy remained, however, the most powerful of the Syrian elements till the westward See also:extension of Assyria about 1050 B.C., under Tiglath-Pileser I. Late in the 8th century Sargon III. took Carchemish and ended Hittite power. With the fall of the Kheta the Aramaeans were the people who held the most important towns of Syria, gradually advancing until at last they occupied the whole country. Of the Aramaean stocks named in Gen. x. 23, xxii. 21 seq., very little is known, but it is certain that Aramaeans at an early period had their See also:abode See also:close on the northern border of Palestine (in Maachah). A great part was. played in the history of See also:Israel by the state of Aram Dammesek, i.e. the territory of the ancient See also:city of Damascus; it was brought into subjection for a short time under See also:David. The main See also:object of the century-long dispute between the two kingdoms was the See also:possession of the land to the east of the Jordan (IJauran, and especially See also:Gilead). Another Aramaean state often mentioned in the See also:Bible is that of Aram Zobah. That Zobah was situated within Syria is certain, though how far to the west or north of Damascus is not known; in any case it was not far from Ilamath (Ilamah). IIamath in the valley of the Orontes, at the mouth of the Buka'a valley, was from an early period one of the most important places in Syria; according to the Bible, its original inhabitants were Canaanites. The district belonging to it, including amongst other places Riblah (of importance on account of its situation), was not very extensive. In 733 B.C. Tiglath-Pileser II. compassed the overthrow of the kingdom of Damascus; he also took Arpad (Tel Arfad), an important place three See also:hours to the north of Aleppo. Ilamath was taken by Sargon in 720. Henceforward the See also:petty states of Syria were at all times subject to one or other of the great See also:world-empires, and were still in dispute between Babylonia and Egypt as late as Necho. Thereafter the Mesopotamian See also:powers prevailed, even if in some cases a certain degree of See also:independence was preserved, as e.g. by the Phoenician cities. These, however, in spite of more than one revolt, continued to See also:supply fleets to the Persians down to the time of the See also:Macedonia invasion (332 B.C.), and
inland Syria remained comparatively peaceful first under its own local See also:governors, and, after See also:Darius, as a satrapy, till its subjugation by See also: Syria had to endure a sudden but brief invasion by the Parthians. The country soon became one of the most important provinces of the Roman Empire; its proconsulship was from the first regarded as the most desirable, and this See also:eminence became still more marked after-wards. Antioch, adorned with many sumptuous buildings, as the chief town of the provinces of Asia, became in point of See also:size the third city of the empire and an eastern See also:Rome. The high degree of civilization then prevailing in the country is proved by its architectural remains dating from the early Christian centuries; the investigations of De See also:Vogue, See also: To this See also:division Damascus and Palmyra belonged; occasionally they were reckoned to Coelesyria, the middle strip of coast being designated Syrophoenicia. (6, 7, 8) Palestina I., II. and III. (9) Arabia (capital, Bostra), which embraced all the region from the Hauran to the Arnon, and skirted the Jordan valley, stretching southwards to Petrae. Through the kingdom of the Nabataeans Roman influence penetrated from Syria far into northern Arabia. In 616 Syria was subjugated for a brief period by the See also:Persian Choroes II.; from 622 till 628 it was again See also:Byzantine; 636 and the immediately following years saw its See also:conquest by the Mahommedans (see See also:CALIPHATE). Moawiya, the first Omayyad See also:caliph, See also:chose Damascus for his See also:residence; but in 750 the capital of the em )ire was removed by the See also:Abbasids to See also:Bagdad. Under the early caliphs the Arabs divided Syria into the following military districts (goads). (I) Filistin (Palestine), consisting of Judaea, Samaria and a portion of the territory east of Jordan; its capital was Ramleh, Jerusalem ranking next. (2) Urdun (Jordan), of which the capital was Tabaria (See also:Tiberias); roughly speaking, it consisted of the rest of Palestine as far as Tyre. (3) Damascus, a district which included See also:Baalbek, Tripoli and Beirut, and also the Ijauran. (4) Homs, including Hamath. (5) Kinnesrin, corresponding to northern Syria; the capital at first was Kinnesrin (Qinnasrin) to the south of Haleb (Aleppo), by which it was afterwards superseded. (6) The See also:sixth district was themilitary frontier (`awasim) bordering upon the Byzantine dominions in Asia Minor. During the struggles of the Mahommedan dynasties for the possession of Syria the country still enjoyed a considerable degree of prosperity. In the crusading period the kingdom of Jerusalem, whose rulers were never able to establish a foothold to the east of the Jordan, extended northwards to Beirut; next to it lay the countship of Tripoli on the coast; and beyond that in north Syria was the principality of Antioch. Syria suffered severely from the Mongol invasions (126o), and it never recovered its former prosperity. In 1516 the Ottomans took it from the Egyptian Mamelukes. For its subsequent history, see See also:TURKEY: History. Its See also:medieval importance as an intermediary of trade between Europe and the East was greatly impaired by the opening of the Red Sea route, and finally abolished by the See also:Suez See also:Canal; and Syria is at present important mainly for the sentimental See also:reason that it contains the holiest places of Judaism and See also:Christianity, and for the strategic reason that it lies on the flank of the greatest trade-route of the eastern hemisphere. L. Lortet, La Syrie d'aujourd'hui (1884). Travels and Exploration: J. L. See also:Burckhardt, Travels in Syria (1822) ; J. L. See also:Porter, Five Years in Damascus (1855) ; J. See also:Barker, Syria and Egypt (1876); R. F. See also:Burton and C. F. T. See also:Drake, Unexplored Syria (1872); A. von Kremer, Mittelsyrien and Damascus (1853); W. S. and Lady A. Blunt, Bedouins of the Euphrates (1879); M. von See also:Oppenheim, Vom Mittelmeer zum Persischen See also:Golf (1900); C. E. Sachau, Am Euphrat u. See also:Tigris (1900) ; C. Humann and O: Puchstein, Reisen in Nord-Syrien, &c. (189o); W. F. See also:Ainsworth, See also:Personal Narrative of the Euphrates Expedition (1888), and Travels, &e. (1842) ; G. L. See also:Bell, The Desert and the Sown (1907) ; H. C. Butler, Amer. See also:Arch. Exp. to Syria (1904). History: G. See also:Maspero, Hist. anc. See also:des peuples de l'orient classique (1897–1898); W. M. F. See also:Petrie, Syria and Egypt from the Tell el-Amarna Letters (1898). Special See also:Works: G. E. See also:Post, Flora of Syria, Palestine, &c. (1896); C. J. M. De Vogue, Architecture, &c., Syrie centrale (1865–1877); Zwiedineck v. Siidenhorst, Syrien u. See also:seine Bedeutung See also:fur den Welthandel (1873) ; R. E. See also:Brunnow and A. v. Domaszewski, See also:Die Provincia Arabia (1905); E. See also:Renan, Mission de Phenicie (1864–1874); G. A. See also: On coins, see See also:article See also:NUMISMATICS, and Dieudonne', Melanges numism. (See also:Paris, 1909). On recently discovered inscriptions see Amer. Journ. Archaeol., vols. x., xi., xii. See also works quoted s.vv. PHOENICIA; PALESTINE; LEBANON; HITTITES; See also:CRUSADES; TURKEY; See also:PERSIA: Ancient History. (D. G. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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