Syria (Arabic Suriyah), officially Al Jumhuriyah al Arabiyah al Suriyah (Syrian Arab Republic), republic in southwestern Asia, bounded on the north by Turkey, on the east by Iraq, on the south by Jordan and Palastine, and on the west by Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea. Syria has an area of about 185,050 sq. km (about 71,498 sq. mi.). The capital and largest city is Damascus, also spelled Dimashq.
Syria-Often called the Cradle of Civilization and the Gateway to History, Syria has a lot to offer history and the development of civilized man. On the other hand Syria's natural boundaries did nothing for the security of the land… its strategic location also made it vulnerable and many conquerors and attackers were able to conquer Syria. It has been a great crossroad for trade between the Mediterranean and the East; it exported the Alphabet to the West, and has been linked to Religion from the beginning, from the Semitic Deities to the monotheistic faiths.
Damascus, the capital of Syria, is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. While all the world is now entering the third millennium, Damascus is entering its sixth.
Damascus is an exceptional example of the timelessness and universality of a great city. A modern capital whose voice - discreet but assured, moderate but yet not lacking in feeling - is having a decisive effect in the Arab World and in the Mediterranean area today, Damascus is said to be "the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world". Damascus is mentioned in the earliest historic texts - Egyptian records of the 19th century BC, and the archives of Mari, dating from the 25th century BC Further back, history gives way to legend and speaks of "Dimachq ach-Sham", the "town of Shem", son of Noah. Legend too, gives way to poetry, in which it is said that when Christ returns to Earth to do battle with the Anti-Christ, he will make his way down by the highest minaret of the Umayyad Mosque.
Damascus, capital of Syria, is a distinguished city which charms the visitor with its old quarters and its modern aspect. Here the old and the new are side by side ; archaeological remains hundred of years old and ultra-modern Europeans style buildings. Damascus was formerly a fortified city, mention of which is found in Egyptian texts of the eighteenth dynasty and even in Assyrian tablets, as well as in Genesis. Besides being the administrative and political capital of Syria, Damascus is the economic capital of Syria, where banks and other leading commercial and industrial companies have their head offices. In addition, the city is an important university, artistic and tourist center. Damascus owes everything to the river Barada. Descending like a torrent from the Anti-Lebanon range, this narrow river, joined by a hundred smaller streams, cascades down the gorges of Ain Al-Fijeh. Then it meanders for a while beside the Beirut road, giving pleasure to the patrons of restaurants and cafes along its lush green banks, before losing itself in myriad branches, canals and ditches. These gardens, fields and orchards, the oasis from which Damascus gets much of its food.
Damascus offers you with the following attractive places to visit and see:- The Old City within the famous ancient walls. The Holy Shrine of Sayida Zeinab. The magnificent Umayaad Mosque. Saladin's Memorial and the Museum of Epigraph. The Azem Palace and the Popular Arts. The Chapel of Annanias. Al-Takieh Al-Suleimaniya, an Ottoman transplant. The Artisans Bazaars. The Covered Bazaars (Al-Hamidieh). The street called Straight. The national Museum of Damascus. The Historical and Army Museum.
Of all the towns of Syria it is Aleppo that leaves the profoundest impression upon the visitor. Aleppo was a key town on the trade routes for thousands of years (the silk route among others) and still uses, for local and regional trade, a considerable proportion of the facilities that were developed in the time of the caravans: khans, courtyards as warehouses with workshops around them : kilometers of narrow covered streets where traders and craftsmen congregate according to their various callings and specialties.
A visit to the covered Souks "12 kms" enables the tourist to see something of the town's everyday life and at the same time see monuments which are often no longer used (the madrases and bimarstans for example) but whose design and decoration is extremely interesting. Aleppo is mentioned in Hittite documents dating from the second millennium BC, when it was the center of a prosperous kingdom called "Yamhad". Aleppo thus has a very long history and has been the scene of many events and activities.The Citadel dominating Aleppo is a masterpiece of Arab military architecture. It stands on an archaeological tell containing vestiges of a very early period, but from the Arab period onwards the hill of Aleppo was more than just a fortress; it was the residence of princes and the seat of government. The entrance to the Citadel is still intact, and is of impressive strength and majesty. A visitor to Syria who misses touring Aleppo can hardly be called a real visitor.
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Latakia, formerly "Laodicea", is a peaceful residential and resort town. But its beaches of golden sand and its holiday chalets with its lively port, which along with the neighboring port of Tartus constitutes Syria's Mediterranean gateway. Latakia is one of the lungs of Syria. It is the ancient settlement of Ramitha, Leuk Akat and Mazabdan of the 4th and 3rd millennia BC It was an important Phoenician city in the 2nd and 1st millennia BC Latakia was later occupied by the Assyrians and the Babylonians. Alexander, the Great, conquered Latakia in 333 BC and the great leader Seleucus Nictar rebuilt it and renamed it Laoicea, in honor of his mother. There are beaches, mountains, lush countryside, archaeological sites and many relics of the Crusaders, all within, at most, a few hour's drive
The great period in the history of this city, as Phoenician port on the mainland, occurred in Byzantine times. The name became "Tortosa". Crowds of Christians used to come here on pilgrimage to pray in a chapel which was said to have been dedicated to the Virgin Mary by Saint Peter, when the Father of the Apostles was in his way from Jerusalem to Antioch. Muslim, then Byzantine again around the year 1000, Tortosa was to become one of the main supply ports fore the Crusades and a military base of considerable importance, held by the Templars. In 1188, Salah Eddin reconquered the town, but could not capture the keep, surrounded as it was by a broad ditch, equipped with advanced engines of war and defended by the best Knights of Order. Tortosa was to remain in the hands of the Franks until 1291.
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Homs is famous for its mausoleum containing the tomb of Khaled Ibn Al-Walid; the great commander of the Muslim armies who brought Islam to Syria in 636. There are many churches there, small modest buildings for the most part. One of them claims to possess "the girdle of the Blessed Virgin". The Church of St. Elian commemorates the only son of a high Roman Official, governor of Homs (Emesa) at the end of the 3rd century, who died a martyr for his faith at the hands of his own father. Homs provided Rome with three emperors, including the famous Caracalla. It is also famous as the birth-place of Elagablal, the High Priest of the Temple of Sun. Its Citadel contains Roman and Islamic fortifications
Hama is one of the most attractive towns in Syria, notable on account of its wooden wheels called "Norias" which draw water from the Orontes. An old town dating back to Neolithic times, Hama charms the visitor with its water and orchards and its picturesque old quarters. A noria is an undershot Vitruvian waterwheel which raises water from a pool or a well to a channel or a cistern above. It is a very ancient technique. Its noise - a "cry" almost like the Muezzin's call to prayer, hatch, plangent and timeless. Hama is filled with historical sites. The most important one is the Azem Palace, built in 1742 AD, now housing a museum with rare pieces. The Old Citadel of Hama consists of at least ten distinct archaeological layers, from the Neolithic period to the Middle Ages. Other sites in Hama are worth visiting such as Al-Nouri Mosque and the two "Khans", the Assad Pacha El-Azem and the Rustom Pacha, with gateways and courtyards built of stone in alternating colors.
Situated in the Northwest of Syria is the Governorate of Idlib. This governorate is the link between the coastal region and the inland steppe, as it was the Syrian gateway to Europe and the West through Bab Al Hawa, Door of the Wind.
The historical importance of Idlib is quite important. The area of Idlib holds over 190 man made tells (hills), the most famous of which is at Tell Mardikh, Ebla. The cuneiform tablets found at Ebla prove that this area has been settled since the 3rd millennium BC. Idlib also has an abundance of Dead Cities, some which are well preserved and others that have been forgotten.
The governorate of Idlib is known for its Olive and Olive Oil, its wheat, cotton and fruit, in particular cherries. The main city of the governorate is the city of Idlib, which lies 59 Km from Aleppo at a height of 500 meters above sea level. The city itself is also very ancient as the Roman and Pagan cemeteries indicate. The museum at Idlib is quite interesting and houses many of the artifacts and tablets excavated at Ebla.
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Originally built by Alexander the Great, who called the site "Nicephorion", but nothing remained of it or of the "callinicos" of the Roman. As the Persians several times fought the Byzantines here, nothing has become down to us of Christian Raqqa. In 722, the Abbassid Caliph Al-Mansour founded a new city, "Al-Rafika", which quickly eclipsed ancient Raqqa, but in the 18th century, the Mongols laid waste the rich city. Raqqa is most famous as the summer resort of the Caliph Harun Ar-Rashid, of the Thousand and One Nights, who built his magnificent palace here, still standing today.
Hasakeh is one of the biggest Syrian Muhafazet in area. It is the most important source of wheat and oil. It is difficult for researchers to know the oldest history of this Muhafazet because the excavations have not finished yet and it is believed that the Khabour valley was within Sourbatu kingdom which extended from Ailaam city to Toros mountains in the third millennium B.C.
This city can be summarized in three words : a town, a river and a bridge. The town is the only important urban center in the East of Syria. Its position, far from the capital and from the nerve-centers of the country, at the entrance to a vast and developing region, gives it a very considerable local importance and is enhancing its sense of its identity.
The ruins of Palmyra are impressive both by their extent and by their remarkable state of preservation. The ancient Arabcity is gradually being restored in all its grandeur. The majestic site of this city, was cited in the 2nd millennium BC, Capppodocian and Akkadian inscriptions. Some of the discoveries are - the agora, the theater, the baths, the Temple of Nabo and the great Temple of Bel, one of the finest monuments in all the East.
The inhabitants of Palmyra had used the Temple as the center of their village and a whole new settlement had to be built for them outside the village walls. Palmyra is one of those exceptional places where art and history have fused to produce a synthesis that will dazzle succeeding generations. This remarkable site in the center of the Syrian desert became a necessary stopping-place for caravans taking the shortest route from the Arabia Gulf to the Mediterranean, as well as for those taking the Silk Route and crossing the Tigris near Seleucisin Babylon. "Tadmor" is mentioned on tablets dating from the 19th century BC From the end of the second millennium Aramean was the language spoken there, this language persisted until the Byzantine period. At the end of 267, Zenobia became a monarch of the city. She expanded the city to be a great kingdom in an open defiance of Rome. In the autumn of 274 Zenobia was taken prisoner to Rome where she was forced to ride in Aurelian's "Triumph" and Palmyra never recovered her position.
Suwayda is situated in the tip of Syria where it is black basalt country. The eruptive rocks that litter the ground give the landscape a very special appearance : black are the stones, black the monuments, black also are the sculptures and the ornaments. Cruder as pieces of art, but how much more strange, are the statues carved in the hard basalt : a representation of a Pantheon showing a mingling of Arab (Nabatean), Hellenistic (after the conquest of Alexander), and Byzantine (the town was the seat of a bishopric in the 5th century) influences. Dusares rubs shoulder with Athens and Venus; Nabatean inscriptions are found close to slabs bearing the cross of Christ. An eagle, wings spread (Nabatean deity), and small but aggressive female busts take on an extraordinary force when carved in the reddish rock.
Located 100 km south of Damascus is the city of Daraa, which is the capital of Daraa governorate, known throughout history as the Horan region.
The city of Daraa is an ancient city dating back to the Canaanites. It was mentioned in Egyptian Hieroglyphic tablets at the time of the Pharoah Thutmos III between 1490 and 1436 BC. It was known in those days as the city of Atharaa, and was later mentioned in the Old Testament as Idraai.
The city is now located on the Damascus-Amman highway and is used as a stopping station for travelers. Located in the city itself are a few ruins like the caves and ancient dwellings, the Roman Amphitheater, and the old Oumari mosque which is of some architectural significance, dating back to the Umayyad and Ayyubid eras.
As for the outskirts of Daraa, the main point of interest is the magnificent amphitheater at Bosra.
The word Quneitra, comes from the word, Qantara meaning a bridge between the countries of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine. It is known for its abundance in water and has been settled by man since the Stone Age. Traces of this have been found at Banat Yacoub bridge and Tell Akkash. It was later occupied by the Amorites, who established their state in 2250 BC. They were succeeded by the Arameans, the Assyrians, Caldeans, and then the Persian and Hellenistic empires.
In 106 AD the Golan was part of the Arab state that was established under the Romans. In 636 AD the battle of Yarmouk took place between the Arabs and the Byzantines who were banished from Syria. It was occupied in 1967 by the Israelis. In 1973 with the October war of liberation under the leadership of Mr. President Hafez Al Assad, Quneitra was taken back into Syrian territory after being completely destroyed by Israel. . The General Assembly of the United Nations condemned Israels destruction of this province in its Resolution No. 3740 dated 29/11/1974, it was also considered a violation of the Geneva convention.
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