Syria
（
ἡ Συρία, 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 (
Λευκόσυροι), in
contradistinction to the people of darker complexion in Syria Proper, who are sometimes even
called Black Syrians (
Σύροι μέλανες). 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,
Phoenīcé and
Palaestīna, 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
Phoenicé, 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
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Typical Syrian of Egyptian Art. (Photograph by Flinders Petrie.)
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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,
Commagēné, 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 (
ἡ ἄνω Συρία, Syria Superior), was divided into four districts or
tetrarchies, which were named after their respective capitals, Seleucis,
Antiochené, Laodicené, and Apamené.
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
Commagené 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; Abilené 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) Commagené,
Cyrrhesticé, Pieria, Seleucis, Chalcidicé, Chalybonitis,
Palmyrené, Apamené, Cassiotis, and Laodicené; but the last is
sometimes included under Cassiotis. (See the several articles.) 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 Phoenicé.
Constantine the Great separated the two northern districts—namely,
Commagené and Cyrrhesticé—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.
