Listed 6 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "SYRIA Ancient country SYRIA".
Total results on 23/7/2001: 1000 for 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
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.
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