Product Code Database
Example Keywords: metroid prime -belt $44
   » » Wiki: Syria (region)
Tag Wiki 'Syria (region)'.
Tag

Popular Book Products

They often take pride in not being diverted by impediments such as legal restrictions. Incompetent suitors Clinical features The stalkers who fall into the incompetent typology cover a wide range of individuals, many of whose behaviours and�...

Mid-fifth-century Athens saw the development of the Athenian empire, the radicalization of Athenian democracy through the empowerment of poorer citizens, the adornment of the city through a massive and expensive building program, the classical age of Athen..

This 2003 volume investigates written communication before and after the introduction of printing in England. The Uses Of Script And Print, 1300-1700 available on November 13 2015 from Indigo for 127.77

No Synopsis Available Twisted Entities: Contemporary Polish Art / Zeitgenossische Polnische Kumst available on November 04 2023 from BiggerBooks for 43.0

Syria ( or Shaam), also known as Greater Syria or Syria-Palestine,

(2016). 9781317392309, . .
is a historical region located east of the Mediterranean Sea in , broadly synonymous with the .
(2025). 9780199212972, OUP Oxford. .
The region boundaries have changed throughout history. However, in modern times, the term "Syria" alone is used to refer to the .

The term is originally derived from , an ancient Semitic-speaking civilization centered in northern , modern-day . During the Hellenistic period, the term Syria was applied to the entire Levant as . Under , the term was used to refer to the , later divided into Syria Phoenicia and , and to the province of . Under the , the provinces of and Syria Secunda emerged out of Coele Syria. After the Muslim conquest of the Levant, the term was superseded by the Arabic equivalent Shām, and under the Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, and Fatimid caliphates, was the name of a metropolitan province encompassing most of the region. In the 19th century, the name Syria was revived in its modem Arabic form to denote the whole of Bilad al-Sham, either as Suriyah or the modern form Suriyya, which eventually replaced the Arabic name of Bilad al-Sham.

After World War I, the boundaries of the region were last defined in modern times by the proclamation of and subsequent definition by French and mandatory agreement, as laid out in the Sykes–Picot Agreement. Following the and Franco-Syrian War, the area was divided and passed to French and British League of Nations mandates. Subsequently, five states — , the State of Damascus, the State of Aleppo, the , and the State of Jabal Druze — were established by the French, while the British controlled Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan. The term Syria itself was applied to several mandate states under French rule and the contemporaneous but short-lived Arab Kingdom of Syria. The Syrian-mandate states were gradually unified as the State of Syria and finally became the independent Syrian Republic in 1946. Throughout this period, pan-Syrian nationalists advocated for the creation of a Greater Syria as a step toward achieving a broader .

(2021). 9783110729092, Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. .


Etymology and evolution of the term
Several sources indicate that the name Syria itself is derived from term "Sura/i", and the derivative name: Σύριοι, , or Σύροι, , both of which originally derived from Aššūrāyu () in northern , modern-day For in the 5th century BC, Syria extended as far north as the Halys (the modern Kızılırmak River) and as far south as Arabia and Egypt. For Pliny the Elder and , Syria covered the entire .

In , "Syria" meant a region located to the east of the Mediterranean Sea, west of the , north of the and south of the ,

(2025). 9781857431841, Psychology Press. .
thereby including modern , , , , , and parts of Southern Turkey, namely the and the western half of the Southeastern Anatolia Region. This late definition is equivalent to the region known in by the name ash-Shām ( ,Article "AL-SHĀM" by C.E. Bosworth, Encyclopaedia of Islam, Volume 9 (1997), page 261. which means the north country (from the root šʔm "left, north")). After the Arab conquest of Byzantine Syria in the 7th century , the name Syria fell out of primary use in the region itself, being superseded by the Arabic equivalent Shām, but survived in its original sense in Byzantine and Western European usage, and in Syriac Christian literature. In the 19th century, the name Syria was revived in its modern Arabic form to denote the whole of , either as Suriyah or the modern form Suriyya, which eventually replaced the Arabic name of Bilad al-Sham. After World War I, the name Syria was applied to the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon and the contemporaneous but short-lived Arab Kingdom of Syria.


Geography
In the most common historical sense, 'Syria' refers to the entire northern , including and the Ancient City of or in an extended sense the entire Levant as far south as , including . The area of "Greater Syria" (, ); also called "Natural Syria" (, ) or "Northern Land" (, ), extends roughly over the province of the medieval Arab , encompassing the Eastern Mediterranean (or Levant) and Western Mesopotamia. The Muslim conquest of the Levant in the seventh century gave rise to this province, which encompassed much of the region of Syria, and came to largely overlap with this concept. Other sources indicate that the term Greater Syria was coined during , after 1516, to designate the approximate area included in present-day Israel, Palestine, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon.Thomas Collelo, ed. Lebanon: A Country Study Washington, Library of Congress, 1987.

The uncertainty in the definition of the extent of "Syria" is aggravated by the etymological confusion of the similar-sounding names Syria and Assyria. The question of the etymological identity of the two names remains open today. Regardless of etymology, both were thought of as interchangeable around the time of Herodotus. However, by the time of the , 'Syria' and 'Assyria' began to refer to two separate entities, and .

Killebrew and Steiner, treating the Levant as the Syrian region, gave the boundaries of the region as such: the Mediterranean Sea to the west, the to the south, Mesopotamia to the east, and the of to the north. The Muslim geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi visited the region in 1150 and assigned the northern regions of Bilad al-Sham as the following:

In the Levantine sea are two islands: and Cyprus; and in Levantine lands: Antarsus, , , , , , Tarsus, , Ḥamrtash, , al-Batira, al-Mira, Macri, Astroboli; and in the interior lands: Apamea, , , al-Castel, , , , Rafeqa, al-Jisr, , Mar'ash, Saruj, , , , , , Ḥusn Mansur, Zabatra, Jersoon, al-Leen, al-Bedandour, Cirra and Touleb.

For Pliny the Elder and , Syria covered the entire . In , "Syria" meant a region located to the east of the Mediterranean Sea, west of the , north of the , and south of the , thereby including modern Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, the State of Palestine, and the and the western half of the Southeastern Anatolia Region of southern Turkey. This late definition is equivalent to the region known in by the name ash-Shām (ٱلشَّام ), which means the north country (from the root šʔm شَأْم "left, north"). After the Islamic conquest of Byzantine Syria in the seventh century, the name Syria fell out of primary use in the region itself, being superseded by the Arabic equivalent Bilād ash-Shām ("Northern Land'"), but survived in its original sense in Byzantine and Western European usage, and in literature. In the 19th century, the name Syria was revived in its modern Arabic form to denote the whole of Bilad al-Sham, either as Suriyah or the modern form Suriyya, which eventually replaced the Arabic name of Bilad al-Sham.

(2025). 9781860649127, I.B.Tauris. .
After World War I, the name 'Syria' was applied to the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon, and the contemporaneous but short-lived Arab Kingdom of Syria.

Today, the largest metropolitan areas in the region are , , , , and .

1
2
3
4
5
6


Etymology

Syria
Several sources indicate that the name Syria itself is derived from term "Sura/i", and the derivative name: Σύριοι, , or Σύροι, , both of which originally derived from Aššūrāyu () in northern , modern-day However, during the , this term was also applied to , and henceforth the Greeks applied the term without distinction between the of Mesopotamia and of the Levant.

The oldest attestation of the name 'Syria' is from the 8th century BC in a bilingual inscription in Hieroglyphic Luwian and Phoenician. In this inscription, the Luwian word Sura/i was translated to Phoenician ʔšr "." For in the 5th century BC, Syria extended as far north as the Halys (the modern Kızılırmak River) and as far south as Arabia and Egypt.

The name 'Syria' derives from the name for Assyrians, , which the Greeks applied without distinction to various Near Eastern peoples living under the rule of . Modern scholarship confirms the Greek word traces back to the cognate , .First proposed by Theodor Nöldeke in 1881; cf. .

The classical Arabic pronunciation of Syria is Sūriya (as opposed to the Modern Standard Arabic pronunciation Sūrya). That name was not widely used among Muslims before about 1870, but it had been used by Christians earlier. According to the Syriac Orthodox Church, "Syrian" meant "Christian" in early Christianity. In English, "Syrian" historically meant a Syrian Christian such as Ephrem the Syrian. Following the declaration of Syria in 1936, the term "Syrian" came to designate citizens of that state, regardless of ethnicity. The adjective "Syriac" ( suryāni سُرْيَانِي) has come into common use since as an to avoid the ambiguity of "Syrian".

Currently, the Arabic term Sūriya usually refers to the modern state of Syria, as opposed to the historical region of Syria.

Before 1918, the term 'Syria' described the geographical region of Bilad Ash-Shām. With the introduction of the Mandate System and the emergence of the modern state Syria, the term 'Greater Syria' emerged to distinguish between Bilad Ash-Shām and Syria.


Shaam
Greater Syria has been widely known as Ash-Shām. The term etymologically in Arabic means "the left-hand side" or "the north", as someone in the Hejaz facing east, oriented to the sunrise, will find the north to the left. This is contrasted with the name of Yemen (اَلْيَمَن ), correspondingly meaning "the right-hand side" or "the south". The variation ش ء م ( ), of the more typical ش م ل ( ), is also attested in Old South Arabian, 𐩦𐩱𐩣 (), with the same semantic development.
(2016). 9781589831285, SBL Press.

The root of Shaam, ش ء م ( ) also has connotations of unluckiness, which is traditionally associated with the left-hand and with the colder north-winds. Again this is in contrast with Yemen, with felicity and success, and the positively-viewed warm-moist southerly wind; a theory for the etymology of denoting Yemen, by translation of that sense.

The Shaam region is sometimes defined as the area dominated by , long an important regional center. Ash-Sām on its own can refer to the city of Damascus. Continuing with the similar contrasting theme, was the commercial destination and representative of the region in the same way held for the south.

alludes to this practice of caravans traveling to Syria in the summer to avoid the colder weather and to likewise sell commodities in Yemen in the winter.

(2025). 9780913321058, The Ahmadiyyah Anjuman Ish'at Islam.


Demographics
In Greater Syria a variety of ethnic and religious groups coexist throughout history, influenced by the regions geographical conditions. The largest religious group in the Levant are and the largest ethnic group are . Levantines predominantly speak , who derive their ancestry from the many ancient Semitic-speaking peoples who inhabited the ancient Near East during the and . Others such as Arabs inhabit the and Naqab, and speak a dialect known as that originated in Arabian Peninsula. Other minor ethnic groups in the Levant include , , , , , , and .

Islam became the predominant religion in the region after the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the 7th century.

(2025). 9780306817281, Da Capo Press. .
(2014). 9780521514309, Cambridge University Press. .
The majority of Levantine Muslims are with and (Twelver and Nizari Ismaili) minorities. Alawites and Ismaili Shiites mainly inhabit and the Syrian Coastal Mountain Range, while Twelver Shiites are mainly concentrated in parts of .

Levantine Christian groups are plenty and include Greek Orthodox (Antiochian Greek), , Eastern Catholic (Syriac Catholic, Melkite and ), (), Nestorian, and . mostly belong to the Armenian Apostolic Church. There are also Levantines or Franco-Levantines who adhere to Roman Catholicism. There are also belonging to the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Church.

Other religious groups in the Levant include , , and .

(2011). 9781598843620, Abc-Clio. .


History

Ancient Syria
uses to refer to the stretch of land from the Halys river, including (The Histories, I.6) in today's Turkey to the Mount Casius (The Histories II.158), which Herodotus says is located just south of Lake Serbonis (The Histories III.5). According to Herodotus various remarks in different locations, he describes Syria to include the entire stretch of Phoenician coastal line as well as cities such Cadytis (Jerusalem) (The Histories III.159).


Hellenistic Syria
In Greek usage, Syria and Assyria were used almost interchangeably, but in the , Syria and Assyria came to be used as distinct geographical terms. "Syria" in the Roman Empire period referred to "those parts of the Empire situated between Asia Minor and Egypt", i.e. the western , while "Assyria" was part of the , and only very briefly came under Roman control (116–118 AD, marking the historical peak of ).


Roman Syria
In the Roman era, the term Syria is used to comprise the entire northern Levant and has an uncertain border to the northeast that Pliny the Elder describes as including, from west to east, the Kingdom of Commagene, , and , "formerly known as Assyria".
(1998). 9788424919016, University of Chicago. .

Various writers used the term to describe the entire Levant region during this period; the New Testament used the name in this sense on numerous occasions. A commentary on the Bible, quote "In the time of the Greek predominance it came into use. as it is employed to-day, as the name of the whole western borderland of the Mediterranean, and in the NT it is used several times in that sense (Mt. 4:24, Lk. 2:2, Ac. 15:23,41, 18:18, 21:3, Gal. 1:21)".

In 64 BC, became a province of the Roman Empire, following the conquest by . Roman Syria bordered Judea to the south, Anatolian Greek domains to the north, Phoenicia to the West, and was in constant struggle with Parthians to the East. In 135 AD, Syria-Palaestina became to incorporate the entire Levant and Western Mesopotamia. In 193, the province was divided into Syria proper () and Phoenice. Sometime between 330 and 350 (likely c. 341), the province of was created out of the territory of Syria Coele and the former realm of Commagene, with as its capital.

(1991). 9780195046526, Oxford University Press.

After c. 415 Syria Coele was further subdivided into Syria I, with the capital remaining at , and Syria II or Salutaris, with capital at Apamea on the . In 528, carved out the small coastal province Theodorias out of territory from both provinces.

(1991). 9780195046526, Oxford University Press.


Bilad al-Sham
The region was annexed to the Rashidun Caliphate after the Muslim victory over the at the Battle of Yarmouk, and became known as the province of . During the Umayyad Caliphate, the Shām was divided into five or military districts. They were (for the area of Damascus), (for the area of ), (for the area of Palestine) and (for the area of Jordan). Later was created out of part of Jund Hims. The city of Damascus was the capital of the Islamic Caliphate, until the rise of the Abbasid Caliphate.
(1994). 9780791418277, State University of New York Press. .
(2025). 9780791448809, State University of New York Press. .


Ottoman Syria
In the later ages of the times, it was divided into or sub-provinces the borders of which and the choice of cities as seats of government within them varied over time. The vilayets or sub-provinces of Aleppo, Damascus, and Beirut, in addition to the two special districts of and . Aleppo consisted of northern modern-day Syria plus parts of southern Turkey, Damascus covered southern Syria and modern-day Jordan, Beirut covered Lebanon and the Syrian coast from the port-city of southward to the , while Jerusalem consisted of the land south of the Galilee and west of the and the .

Although the region's population was dominated by , it also contained sizable populations of Shi'ite, and Muslims, , , , and Christians, and .

Cedid Atlas (Syria) 1803.jpg|1803 , showing Ottoman Syria in yellow Bowen, Frances. Turkey in Asia. 1810.jpg|An 1810 map of the Ottoman Empire in Asia, showing the region of Ottoman Syria Maunsell's map, Pre-World War I British Ethnographical Map of eastern Turkey in Asia, Syria and western Persia 01.jpg|Ethnic groups in the Middle East shown in a pre-World War I British government map. The primary population of the region of Syria is described as "Arabs (settled)" and inland as "Arabs (nomadic)"


Arab Kingdom and French occupation
The Occupied Enemy Territory Administration (OETA) was a British, French and Arab military administration over areas of the former Ottoman Empire between 1917 and 1920, during and following World War I. The wave of evolved towards the creation of the first modern Arab state to come into existence, the Hashemite Arab Kingdom of Syria on 8 March 1920. The kingdom claimed the entire region of Syria whilst exercising control over only the inland region known as OETA East. This led to the acceleration of the declaration of the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon and British Mandate for Palestine at the 19–26 April 1920 San Remo conference, and subsequently the Franco-Syrian War, in July 1920, in which French armies defeated the newly proclaimed kingdom and captured Damascus, aborting the Arab state.Itamar Rabinovich, Symposium: The Greater-Syria Plan and the Palestine Problem in The Jerusalem Cathedra (1982), p. 262.

Thereafter, the French general Henri Gouraud, in breach of the conditions of the mandate, subdivided the French Mandate of Syria into six states. They were the states of Damascus (1920), Aleppo (1920), (1920), Jabal Druze (1921), the autonomous Sanjak of Alexandretta (1921) (modern-day in Turkey), and (1920) which later became the modern country of Lebanon.

Although the Mandate System divided Greater Syria into new countries, cultural similarities and economic cooperation and trade remained strong between the countries. The integration into the global economy was an important aspect after the end of World War 1. Politically, besides the increasing importance of , the region saw growing nationalist movements. These occurred within the new countries as well as on a .


In pan-Syrian nationalism
The boundaries of the region have changed throughout history, and were last defined in modern times by the proclamation of the short-lived Arab Kingdom of Syria and subsequent definition by French and British mandatory agreement. The area was passed to French and British Mandates following World War I and divided into , various Syrian-mandate states, Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan. The Syrian-mandate states were gradually unified as the State of Syria and finally became the independent Syria in 1946. Throughout this period, and his party, the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, envisioned "Greater Syria" or "Natural Syria", based on the etymological connection between the name "Syria" and "Assyria", as encompassing the , Cyprus, modern Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, the region of Iran, and the region of Turkey. Translated and Reprinted


Religious significance
The region has sites that are significant to Abrahamic religions:
(1998). 9780191528675, Oxford University Press. .

AcreAcre is home to the Shrine of Baháʼu'lláh, which is the holiest site for the Baháʼí Faith.

Aleppo is home to a Great Mosque, which is believed to house the remains of Zechariah, who is revered in both Gospel of Luke, and .Abdullah Yusuf Ali, ', Note. 905''': "The third group consists not of men of action, but Preachers of Truth, who led solitary lives. Their epithet is: "the Righteous." They form a connected group round Jesus. Zachariah was the father of John the Baptist, who is referenced as "Elias, which was for to come" (Matt 11:14); and John the Baptist is said to have been present and talked to Jesus at the Transfiguration on the Mount (Matt. 17:3)."

Bethlehem has sites which are significant for , and . One of these is Rachel's Tomb, which is revered by members of all three faiths. Another is the Church of the Nativity (of Jesus),
(2025). 9780814659878, . .
revered by Christians, and nearby, the Mosque of Omar, revered by Muslims.
(2025). 9789004325708, ; Lam edition. .

The Old City has a which is considered to be one of the largest and best preserved mosques from the Umayyad era. It is believed to house the remains of Zechariah's son John the Baptist,Burns, 2005, p.88. who is revered in and , like his father. The city is also home to the Sayyidah Zainab Mosque, the shrine of Zaynab bint Ali the grand-daughter of the Islamic prophet , and Sayyidah Ruqayya Mosque, the shrine of Ruqayya the daughter of Husayn, both sites holy to .Sabrina MERVIN, « Sayyida Zaynab, Banlieue de Damas ou nouvelle ville sainte chiite ? », Cahiers d'Etudes sur la Méditerranée Orientale et le monde Turco-Iranien Online, 22 1996, Online since 01 March 2005, connection on 19 October 2014. URL : http://cemoti.revues.org/138

Haifa is where the Shrine of the Báb is located. It is holy to the Baháʼí Faith.

Nearby is . Being associated with the Biblical figure , it is important to Christians, , Jews and Muslims.

(2009). 9781135268121, . .

The Old City is home to the Cave of the Patriarchs, where the figures , his wife , their son , his wife , their son , and his wife are believed buried, and thus revered by followers of the Abrahamic faiths, including Muslims and Jews.
(2025). 9780742501065, Rowman & Littlefield.
(2018). 9781532662133, Wipf and Stock Publishers. .

Hittin is near what is believed to near the shrine of (possibly Jethro). It is holy to Druze and Muslims.
(1999). 9789004112513, . .
(2025). 9781903900369, Sussex Academic Press. .

/ An-Near the city of Jericho in the West Bank is the shrine of Nabi Musa (literally: Moses), which is considered by Muslims to be the burial place of .
(1987). 9789004079298, .

The Old City is home to many sites of seminal religious importance for the three major Abrahamic religions—, , and . These sites include the ,
(2025). 9780881257984, KTAV Publishing House, Inc.. .
(2025). 9780815629122, Syracuse University Press. .
Church of the Holy Sepulchre,
(2025). 9780814659878, . .
and the . It is regarded as the holiest city in Judaism,Since the 10th century BCE:
  • "Israel was first forged into a unified nation from Jerusalem some 3,000 years ago, when seized the crown and united the from this city... For a thousand years Jerusalem was the seat of Jewish sovereignty, the household site of kings, the location of its legislative councils and courts. In exile, the Jewish nation came to be identified with the city that had been the site of its ancient capital. Jews, wherever they were, prayed for its restoration." Roger Friedland, Richard D. Hecht. To Rule Jerusalem, University of California Press, 2000, p. 8.
  • "The centrality of Jerusalem to Judaism is so strong that even secular Jews express their devotion and attachment to the city, and cannot conceive of a modern State of Israel without it.... For Jews Jerusalem is sacred simply because it exists... Though Jerusalem's sacred character goes back three millennia...". Leslie J. Hoppe. The Holy City: Jerusalem in the theology of the Old Testament, Liturgical Press, 2000, p. 6.
  • "Ever since King David made Jerusalem the capital of Israel 3,000 years ago, the city has played a central role in Jewish existence." Mitchell Geoffrey Bard, The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Middle East Conflict, Alpha Books, 2002, p. 330.
  • "Jerusalem became the center of the Jewish people some 3,000 years ago" Moshe Maoz, Sari Nusseibeh, Jerusalem: Points of Friction – And Beyond, Brill Academic Publishers, 2000, p. 1. and the third-holiest in Sunni Islam.Third-holiest city in Islam:
  • (2025). 9780195157130, Oxford University Press. .
  • (2025). 9780231120388, Columbia University Press.
  • (2025). 9780814650813, Michael Glazier Books.
|
In , Mount Gerizim is the holiest site on earth, and the location chosen by God to build a temple. In their tradition, it is the oldest and most central mountain in the world, towering above the and providing the first land for ’s disembarkation.Anderson, Robert T., "Mount Gerizim: Navel of the World", Biblical Archaeologist Vol. 43, No. 4 (Autumn 1980), pp 217–218 In their belief, it is also the location where Abraham almost sacrificed his son Isaac.


See also


Notes

Citations
  • Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic by (4th edition, 1994).
  • Michael Provence, "The Great Syrian Revolt and the Rise of Arab Nationalism", University of Texas Press, 2005.


Further reading
  • (1990). 9780195060225, Oxford University Press. .
    pbk.; illustrated with b&w photos and maps; alternative ISBN on back cover: 0-19-506002-4

Page 1 of 1
1
Post Comment
Font Size...
Font Family...
Font Format...

Page 1 of 1
1

Account

Social:
Pages:  ..   .. 
Items:  .. 

Navigation

General: Atom Feed Atom Feed  .. 
Help:  ..   .. 
Category:  ..   .. 
Media:  ..   .. 
Posts:  ..   ..   .. 

Statistics

Page:  .. 
Summary:  .. 
1 Tags
10/10 Page Rank
5 Page Refs
5s Time