Listed 15 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "SYRIA Ancient country SYRIA" .
KILI SYRIA (Ancient province) SYRIA
Marsyas (Marsums), a river of Coelesyria, mentioned only by Pliny
(v. 23) as dividing Apameia from the tetrarchy of the Nazerini. It was probably
the river mentioned-without its name--by Abulfeda as a tributary of the Orontes,
which, rising below Apameia, falls into the lake synonymous with that city, and
so joins the Orontes. The modern name Yarmuk is given by Pococke, who places it
in his map on the east of the Orontes. (Abulfeda, Tabula Syriae, ed. Koehler,
pp. 151, 152; Pococke, Description of the East, vol. ii. p. 79.) It doubtless
gave its name to Marsyas, a district of Syria, mentioned by Strabo, who joins
it with Ituraea, and defines its situation by the following notes:-It adjoined
the Macra Campus, on its east, and had its commencement at Laodiceia ad Libanum.
Chalcis was, as it were, an acropolis of the district. This Chalcis is joined
with Heliopolis, as under the power of Ptolemy, son of Mennaeus, who ruled over
Marsyas and Ituraea. (Strab. xvi. pp. 753, 755.) The same geographer speaks of
Chalcidice apo tou Marsuou kathekousa (p., 153), and extends it to the sources
of the Orontes, above which was the Aulon basilikos (p. 155), now the Bekaa. From
these various notices it is evident that the Marsyas comprehended the valley of
the Orontes from its rise to Apameia, where it was bounded on the north probably
by the river of the same name. But it extended westward to the Macra Campus, which
bordered on the Mediterranean. (Mannert, Geographic von Syrien, pp. 326, 363.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
KOMMAGINI (Ancient country) SYRIA
Commagene (Kommagene, Ptol. v. 15; Strab. xi. p. 521, xii. pp. 533,
535, xvi. p. 749; Plin. v. 12. s. 24; Tac. Ann. ii. 42), a district of Syria,
lying to the N., bounded on the E. by the Euphrates, on the W. by Cilicia, and
on the N. by Amanus. It was celebrated for its rich and fertile country (Strab.
xii. p. 535; Tac. Ann. xv. 12), and was attached to the Syrian kingdom in the
flourishing period of the Seleucidae. But in the civil wars of Grypus and his
brothers, and in the disorders which followed, Commagene gradually acquired independence,
and had its own sovereigns connected with the Seleucid family. It remained an
independent kingdom for upwards of a century. It is only necessary to give here
a list of the kings of Commagene; since a full account of them will be found in
the Dictionary of Biography under each name: Antiochus I.; Mithridates I.; Antiochus
II.; Mithridates II.; Antiochus III. After the death of Antiochus III. in A.D.
17, Commagene became for a short time a Roman province, but was afterwards given
in A.D. 38 to the son of the late king Antiochus IV. In A.D. 73, it was again
reduced to the condition of a province, and its capital Samosata received the
additional name of Flavia, and a new aera which commences with the year A.D. 71.
(Eckhel, vol. iii. p. 252; Clinton, F.R. vol. i. p. 60; Suet. Vesp. 8; Eutrop.
viii. 19; Oros. vii. 9.)
In later time this district, united with that of Cyrrhestica, received
the name of Euphratensis (Amm. Marc. xiv. 8. § 7, xxiii. 6. § 21; Procop. Aed.
ii. 8, B. P. i. 17, ii. 20), or Augusto-phratensis (Aurel. Vict. Epit. ix. 13),
and was placed under a praeses. Constantine made Hierapolis the capital instead
of Samosata (Malal. Chron. xiii. p. 317). In A.D. 543 the Persians under Chosroes
made an inroad upon Euphratensis, intending to advance by that route upon Jerusalem,
but were compelled to retreat by Belisarius. (Le Beau, Bas Empire, vol. ix. p.
68; Norisius, de Epoch. Syro-Mac. Diss. ii. c. 4; Clinton, F. H. vol. iii. p.
343; St. Martin, Mem. sur l'Armenie, vol. i. p. 193; Ritter, Erdkzunde, vol. x.
p. 929.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
CAESAREA PHILIPPI (Ancient city) SYRIA
Caesarea Philippi, a town on the northern confines of Palestine,
in the district of Trachonitis, at the foot of Mount Paneus, and near the springs
of the Jordan. It was also called Leshem, Laish, Dan, and Paneas. The name Paneas
is supposed to have been given it by the Phoenicians. The appellation of Dan was
given to it by the tribe of that name, because the portion assigued to them was
"too little for them," and they therefore "went up to fight against
Leshem, and took it," calling it "Dan, after the name of Dan, their
father". Eusebius and Jerome distinguish Dan from Paneas as if they were
different places, though near each other; but most writers consider them as one
place, and even Jerome himself, on Ezek. xlviii., says that Dan or Leshem was
afterwards called Paneas. Philip, the tetrarch, rebuilt it, or at least embellished
and enlarged it, and named it Caesarea, in honour of the emperor Tiberius; and
afterwards Agrippa, in compliment to Nero, called it Neronias.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
EKVATANA (Ancient city) SYRIA
A town of Syria, in Galilaea Inferior, at the foot of Mount Carmel. Here Cambyses gave himself a mortal wound as he was mounting his horse, and thus fulfilled the oracle which had warned him to beware of Ecbatana.
KILI SYRIA (Ancient province) SYRIA
Koile Suria, "Hollow Syria". The name given to the
great valley between the two ranges of Mount Lebanon (Libanus and Anti-Libanus),
in the south of Syria, bordering upon Phoenicia on the west and Palestine on the
south. In the wars between the Ptolemies and the Seleucidae, the name was applied
to the whole of the southern portion of Syria, which became subject for some time
to the kings of Egypt.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
KOMMAGINI (Ancient country) SYRIA
Kommagene. The northeasternmost district of Syria, lying between
the Taurus and the Euphrates. It formed a part of the kingdom of Syria, after
the fall of which it maintained its independence under a race of kings, the family
of the Seleucidae, and was not united to the Roman Empire until the reign of Vespasian.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
SYRIA (Ancient country) SYRIA
(he Suria, in Aramaean Surja; now Soristan, EshArab. -Sham,
i. e. "the land on the left," Syria), a country of western Asia, lying
along the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, between Asia Minor and Egypt.
In a wider sense the word was used for the whole tract of country bounded by the
Tigris on the east, the mountains of Armenia and Cilicia on the north, the Mediterranean
on the west, and the Arabian Desert on the south; the whole of which was peopled
by the Aramaean branch of the great Semitic (or SyroArabian) race, and is included
in the Old Testament under the name of Aram. The people were of the same races,
and those of the north of the Taurus in Cappadocia and Pontus are called White
Syrians (Leukosuroi), in contradistinction to the people of darker complexion
in Syria Proper, who are sometimes even called Black Syrians (Suroi melanes).
Even when the name of Syria is used in its ordinary narrower sense, it is often
confounded with Assyria, which only differs from Syria by having the definite
article prefixed. Again, in the narrower sense of the name, Syria still includes
two districts which are often considered as not belonging to it, namely, Phoenice
and Palaestina, and a third which is likewise often considered separate, namely,
Coele-syria; but this last is generally reckoned a part of Syria. In this narrower
sense, then, Syria was bounded on the west (beginning from the south) by Mount
Hermon, at the southern end of Antilibanus, which separated it from Palestine,
by the range of Libanus, dividing it from Phoenice, by the Mediterranean, and
by Mount Amanus, which divided it from Cilicia; on the north (where it bordered
on Cappadocia) by the main chain of Mount Taurus, and striking the Euphrates just
below Iuliopolis, and considerably above Samosata; hence the Euphrates forms the
eastern boundary. The western part of the country was intersected by a series
of mountains, running south from the Taurus, under the names of Amanus, Pieria,
Casius, Bargylus, and Libanus and Antilibanus; and the northern part, between
the Amanus and the Euphrates, was also mountainous. The chief river of Syria was
the Orontes, and the smaller rivers Chalus and Chrysorrhoas were also of importance.
The valleys among the mountains were fertile, especially in the northern part;
even the east, which is now merged in the great desert of Arabia, appears to have
had more numerous and more extensive spaces capable of cultivation, and supported
great cities, the ruins of which now stand in the midst of sandy wastes. In
the earliest historical period Syria contained a number of independent kingdoms,
of which Damascus was the most powerful. These were subdued by David , but became
again independent at the end of Solomon's reign; from which time we find the kings
of Damascus sometimes at war with the kings of Israel, and sometimes in alliance
with them against the kings of Judah, till the reign of Tiglath-Pileser, king
of Assyria, who, having been invited by Ahaz, king of Judah, to assist him against
the united forces of Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, king of Israel, took Damascus,
and probably conquered all Syria, about B.C. 740. Having been a part successively
of the Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and Macedonian Empires, it fell, after the
battle of Ipsus (B.C. 301), to the share of Seleucus Nicator, and formed a part
of the great kingdom of the Seleucidae, whose history is given in the articles
Antiochus; Demetrius; Seleucus. In this partition, however, Coelesyria and Palestine
went, not to Syria, but to Egypt, and the possession of those provinces became
the great source of contention between the Ptolemies and the Seleucids. By the
irruptions of the Parthians on the east, and the unsuccessful war of Antiochus
the Great with the Romans on the west, the GreekSyrian kingdom was reduced to
the limits of Syria itself, and became weaker and weaker, until it was overthrown
by Tigranes, king of Armenia, B.C. 79. Soon afterwards, when the Romans had conquered
Tigranes as well as Mithridates, Syria was quietly added by Pompey to the empire
of the Republic, and was constituted a province B.C. 54; but its northern district,
Commagene, was not included in this arrangement. As the eastern province of the
Roman Empire, and with its great desert frontier, Syria was constantly exposed
to the irruptions of the Parthians, and, after them, of the Persians; but it long
remained one of the most flourishing of the provinces. The attempt of Zenobia
to make it the seat of empire is noticed under Zenobia. While the Roman emperors
defended this precious possession against the attacks of the Persian kings with
various success, a new danger arose, as early as the fourth century, from the
Arabians of the Desert, who began to be known under the name of Saracens; and,
when the rise of Mohammed had given to the Arabs that great religious impulse
which revolutionized the Eastern world, Syria was the first great conquest that
they made from the Eastern Empire, A.D. 632-638. In the time immediately succeeding
the Macedonian conquest, Syria was regarded as consisting of two parts--the north,
including the whole country down to the beginning of the Lebanon range, and the
south, consisting of Coelesyria in its more extended sense. The former, which
was called Syria Proper, or Upper Syria (he ano Suria, Syria Superior), was divided
into four districts or tetrarchies, which were named after their respective capitals,
Seleucis, Antiochene, Laodicene, and Apamene.
The Roman province of Syria, as originally constituted by Pompey
in B.C. 64, was by no means a single homogeneous region. Owing to the different
nationalities and interests which Syria properly so called comprised, it was at
first parcelled out between the Roman jurisdiction and a number of independent
territories which were allowed to remain within it. Under the Roman proconsul
of Syria were at first Upper Syria (with the chief towns Antioch, Seleucia, Apamea,
Laodicea, Cyrrhus, Hieropolis, and Beroea), and the land of Phoenicia, including
Tripolis, Byblus, Tyre, and Sidon; but Iudea was left for a time nominally independent,
except for a short time when Gabinius broke it up into five districts. Caesar
made Iudea a client State under its own princes, and it did not become a Roman
province (of the second rank, under a procurator) until A.D. 6. Similarly Commagene
was left under its own princes until A.D. 17, and again from 38 till 72, when
it was finally joined to the province of Syria; Chalcis retained its own princes
till 92, when Domitian added it to the province; Abilene till 49; Arethusa and
Emesa till 78; Damascus was not included in the province of Syria till 106. The
province of Syria under the Empire was governed by an imperial legate residing
at Antioch: it was eventually divided into ten districts, named (mostly after
their capital cities) Commagene, Cyrrhestice, Pieria, Seleucis, Chalcidice, Chalybonitis,
Palmyrene, Apamene, Cassiotis, and Laodicene; but the last is sometimes included
under Cassiotis. From A.D. 66 Iudea or Syria Palaestina was recognized as a separate
province, and at the end of the second century Syria was divided into two provinces,
Syria Magna or Coelesyria, and Syria Phoenice. Constantine the Great separated
the two northern districts--namely, Commagene and Cyrrhestice--and erected them
into a distinct province, called Euphratensis or Euphratesia; and the rest of
Syria was afterwards divided by Theodosius II. into the two provinces of Syria
Prima, including the sea-coast and the country north of Antioch, and having that
city for its capital; and Syria Secunda, the district along the Orontes, with
Apamea for its capital; while the eastern districts were now a part of Persia.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
KILI SYRIA (Ancient province) SYRIA
The earliest list of the ten cities of the Decapolis is Pliny's, which mentions Scythopolis, Pella, Hippo, Dion, Gerasa, Philadelphia, Raphana, Canatha, and Damascus.
CAESAREA PHILIPPI (Ancient city) SYRIA
City on the NW slope of Mt. Hermon on one of the tributaries of the
Jordan. Its great god was Pan, who was identified with Zeus and associated with
the Nymphs. The city was refounded under the name Caesarea by Philip the Tetrarch,
son of King Herod the Great, in 2-1 B.C., and renamed Neronias under Agrippa II.
The site has not been excavated. Remains of ramparts with towers were
visible some time ago, as well as numbers of column shafts scattered in the orchards
or incorporated in the mediaeval fortifications, and Doric frieze fragments reused
in the parapet of the bridge on the Nahr es-Saari.
The Sanctuary of Pan and the Nymphs was a grotto from which the river
emerged under an arched opening; it was set among plane trees and poplars. Niches
with shells, framed by fluted pilasters to form little chapels, were carved in
the rock face. Dedicatory inscriptions in Greek indicate that two of the niches
held statues of Hermes and the nymph Echo. Two columns in front of the grotto
may have supported a canopy. Gratings or openwork metal gates protected these
rustic sanctuaries, which date from the Roman period.
J. P. Rey-Coquais, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
Receive our daily Newsletter with all the latest updates on the Greek Travel industry.
Subscribe now!
