Syria

Syria is home to one of the oldest

civilizations in the world, with a rich
artistic and cultural heritage. From its
ancient roots to its recent political
instability and the Syrian Civil War, the
country has a complex and, at times,
tumultuous history.

NOVEMBER 27

Damascus university
Authored by: RAMA ALKHIYAMI

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Title Heading

Ancient Syria
Modern-day Syria, a country located in the Middle East on the shore of the
Mediterranean Sea, is one of the most ancient inhabited regions on Earth.

The oldest human remains found in Syria date back to roughly 700,000
years ago. Archeologists have uncovered skeletons and bones
of Neanderthals  that lived in the region during this period.

Ebla, a city in Syria that’s thought to have existed around 3,000 B.C., is
one of the oldest settlements to be excavated.

Throughout ancient times, Syria was occupied and ruled by several

empires, including the Egyptians, Hittites, Sumerians, Mitanni, Assyrians,
Babylonians, Canaanites, Phoenicians, Arameans, Amorites, Persians,
Greeks and Romans.

Ancient Syria was a region referred to often in the Bible. In one well-known
account, the apostle Paul cited the “road to Damascus”—the largest city in
Syria—as the place where he had visions that led to
his Christian  conversion.

When the Roman Empire fell, Syria became part of the Eastern
or Byzantine Empire .

In 637 A.D., Muslim armies defeated the Byzantine Empire and took control
of Syria. The Islamic religion spread quickly throughout the region, and its
different factions rose to power.

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Damascus eventually became the capital of the Islamic world, but was
replaced by Baghdad in Iraq around 750 A.D. This change led to economic
decline in Syria, and for the next several centuries, the region became
unstable and was ruled by various groups.

In 1516, the Ottoman Empire  conquered Syria and remained in power until

1918. This was considered a relatively peaceful and stable period in Syria’s
history.

DEIR ELZOUR
Dayr al-Zawr, also spelled Deir ez-Zor, town, eastern Syria. The town is
situated on the right bank of the Euphrates River; its name, meaning
“monastery of the grove” (zawr, “tamarisk”), is probably derived from the
ancient city of Auzara, or Azuara, situated nearby. The Ottomans built the
present town in 1867 to curb the nomads of the Euphrates area. Under the
Ottomans it was the capital of an administrative region, the seat of the
governor, and the site of outposts policing the surrounding country.
Occupied by the British after the Ottoman retreat in 1918, Dayr al-Zawr
was then taken by Fayṣ al I (son of Ḥ usayn ibn ʿAlī, king of Hejaz) for a
short time before the French occupation began in 1921. In 1941,
during World War II, it was captured by a British force to prevent Syria
and Lebanon from falling to Axis troops. In 1946 the town became part of
the Republic of Syria.

Dayr al-Zawr is the principal trade centre of the Aleppo-Mosul

and Damascus-Mosul roads and is also on several cross-desert
routes. Dayr al-Zawr has a university (1977), a cultural centre
for painting, sculpture, dramatic art, and folk dancing, and a
museum (housed in a shopping mall until a museum building
could be completed in the 1980s) that contains objects from
such nearby excavations as Tall Birāk, Buqrus, Tall Leilan, and
Ashara. The major tourist attraction along the corniche (road
along the river) is the suspension bridge across the Euphrates
built by the French in 1924. The town serves as a supply and
recreation centre for oil exploration teams working in the area.
Extensive newer residential construction features single-family

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houses built in the local stone, with individual gardens. Pop.
(2003 est.) 223,212.