Syria

(395-1918)

السوري التاريخ

رشدي لورانس

The Birthplace of Civilization The Bronze Age The Fall of Ebla & Mari Ugarit 1200-539 B.C. Alexander the Great

Contents

The Roman Empire The Byzantine Empire Islam The Crusades The Mamelukes The Ottoman Empire

Contents (Continued)

Syria The Ancient Pearl

Included the Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, and present day Syria

Played an important Role through out history Often Described as the cradle Of civilizations

The Birth place of Civilization

Said to be the birthplace Of civilization (9000BC)

Birthplace of agriculture, bronze and copper tools, trade, the very first alphabet and communities

The Bronze Age

3000-2000BC The Great Kingdoms of Ebla and Mari are the

sites where writing was invented. Found in both are tablets of Cuneiform writing In Mari alone an estimated 17000 Tablets

found

The Fall of Ebla and Mari

lasted about 1000 years due to their cultural development, their rising trade with both Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean, and due to the irrigation of the Euphrates

Both kingdoms were taken over by the Akkadians and then the Amorites

Ugarit

Yamkhad the Amorite Kingdom in Aleppo had taken over Ebla and trade began to flourish

Hammurabi the ruler of Babylon destroyed Mari (2000-1600BC)

1200-539BC

Hittites Phoenicians Arameans and Assyrians Barbaric people who came from several

lands,, around the Aegean Sea, and called them selves the Sea Peoples, took over from the Hittites and Ugarit

The Phoenicians at this point were getting stronger and had now moved to the Mediterranean coast were trade was very popular among the Mari and Ebla kingdoms

1200-539BC Continued

The Arameans began to move across Syria spreading the language Jesus would speak nearly 1000 years later

This language is still spoken today in the village of Maaloula

From 800-612BC the Assyrian Empire rose to power and for nearly 2oo years they ruled over Syria and Lebanon

Alexander the Great

333-64BC Defeats Darius and gains Syria The Hellenistic Empire combined both western

and eastern cultures but with a predominate Greek system.

After Alexanders death, the empire was divided into two empires under Ptolemy and Seleucus

Romans

64-395BC The South remained under Nabatean control North was taken by Rome under their leader

Pompey (general for the Romans) Under Rome the Syrians became more modern

with roads, new farming techniques, and trading networks

The Byzantines

(395-632 A.D.)

Mixture of Roman/Greek

Cultures Brought great Architecture

to Syria in the North Brought Christianity to

Syria Removed by Caliphates

(Islamic) in 632 A.D. at the battle of Yarmuk

Constantine

Islam & the Caliphates

(632 – 1099 A.D.)

Caliphates brought Islam to Syria Muawiya, governor of Syria, mad

Damascus capital in 661 A.D. Battle of Goliath’s well in 750

A.D. saved Christendom in Syria The Abbasid Caliphates

neglected Syria, seen by lack of architecture from period

Abbasids demolished Christian churches

The Caliphate Neglect

The Crusades

(1098-1250 A.D.)

First crusaders arrived in 1098 under Raymond

de Saint Gilles of Toulouse, France 1098 – Crusaders Massacred the Male

population of Maarat Al Numan Second Crusade was not able to capture

Edessa or Damascus Saladin recaptured Syria in the Third Crusade

The Crusades

The Mamelukes

(1250-1516 A.D.)

Not a positive period for Syria Mongols attacked in 1271 and were defeated Crusades officially ended in 1302 in Arwad,

Syria A second group of Mamelukes, the Burgis,

took power in 1382 Decades of rivalry ensued and Tamerlane

attacked destroying most of Syria; European trade was also redirected to Africa

The Mamelukes

The Ottoman Empire

(516-1918 A.D.)

In 1516, Sultan Selim I defeated the

Mamelukes in North Aleppo and conquered Syria

The Ottomans saw the return of Architecture to Syria, including the building of the Tekkiu Mosque complex in Damascus

The Ottomans remained in control until the Arab revolt in 1917 led by T.E. Lawrence; who arrived in Damascus in 1918

The Ottomans

نهاية

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