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Portal:Syria

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Syria Portal

Syria (Arabic: سوريا ‎or سورية ), officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية العربية السورية ), is a country in the Middle East, bordering Lebanon to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north. The modern state of Syria attained independence from the French mandate of Syria in 1946, but can trace its roots to the fourth millennium BC; its capital city, Damascus, was the seat of the Umayyad Empire and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Empire.

Historically, Syria has often included the territories of Lebanon, Historical Palestine, and parts of Jordan, but excluded the Jazira region in the north-east of the modern Syrian state. In this historic sense, the region is also known as Greater Syria or by the Arabic name Bilad al-Sham (بلاد الشام). Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel administers Golan Heights to the southwest of the country; a dispute with Turkey over the Hatay Province has subsided.

The name Syria comes from the ancient Greek name for the former colonial territories of Assyria such as Canaan and Aram. At the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea between Egypt and Arabia to the south and Cilicia to the north, stretching inland to include Mesopotamia, and having an uncertain border to the northeast that Pliny the Elder describes as including from west to east Commagene, Sophene, and Adiabene, "formerly known as Assyria" (N.H. 5.66). By Pliny's time, however, this larger Syria had been divided into a number of provinces under the Roman Empire (but politically independent from each other): Judaea (or "Judea" and later renamed Palestina in AD 135—the region corresponding to the modern states of Israel and Jordan and the Palestinian territories) in the extreme southwest, Phoenicia corresponding to Lebanon, with Damascena to the inland side of Phoenicia, Coele-Syria (or "Hollow Syria") south of the Eleutheris river, and Mesopotamia.

Syria has a population of 19 million. The majority are Arabic-speaking Sunni Muslims, as well as 16% other Muslim groups, including the Alawi, Shi'a, and Druze, and 10% Christian. Since 1963 the country has been governed by the Baath Party; the head of state since 1970 has been a member of the Assad family. Syria's current President is Bashar al-Assad, son of Hafez al-Assad, who held office from 1970 until his death in 2000.

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The fortress of Shaizar

Shaizar or Shayzar was a medieval town and fortress in Syria, ruled by the Banu Munqidh dynasty, which played an important part in the Christian and Muslim politics of the crusades. Located on the Orontes to the northwest of Hama, Shaizar was an ancient town, known as Senzar or Sezar in the Amarna letters. To the Greeks it was known as Sidzara, but the Seleucid dynasty renamed it Larissa, after the town of the same name in Thessaly from which many colonists came. It reverted to its earlier name under the Roman Empire and was known as Sezer under the Byzantine Empire. The crusaders rendered the name in Latin as Caesarea. It is no longer inhabited today, but the ruins are known as Saijar in modern Arabic.

see also : Azem Palace

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The Citadel of Aleppo is an immense fortification in the centre of the old city of 'Aleppo, northern Syria. It is considered to be one of the oldest and largest castles in the world. Usage of the Citadel hill dates back at least to the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. Subsequently occupied by many civilizations including the Greeks, Byzantines, Ayyubids and Mamluks, the majority of the construction as it stands today is thought to originate from the Ayyubid period. A great deal of conservation work has taken place over the last seven years by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture in collaboration with the Syrian Directorate General of Antiquities.

The recently-discovered Temple of the Ancient Storm God, Hadda, dates use of the hill to the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, and it is referred to in Cuniform texts from Ebla and Mari refer to the temple. The prophet Abraham is said to have milked his sheep on the citadel hill. After the decline of the Neo-Hittite state centred in Aleppo, the Assyrians dominated the area (4-8th century BC), followed by the Neo-Babylonians and the Persians (539-333).

see also : Crac des Chevaliers

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The statue of Saladin in front of the Damascus Citadel

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Shukri al-Quwatli (1891, Damascus, Syria — June 30, 1967, Beirut, Lebanon) (Arabic: شكري القوتلي) was the president of Syria from 1943-1949 and 1955-1958. Quwatli entered Syrian politics in the 1930s as a member of the National Bloc, a coalition of Arab parties that led the opposition to French rule. As a young man, he had been involved in al-Fatat, an underground opposition group in Ottoman Syria, and been arrested for his activities in 1916. In jail, because of harsh torture, he feared that he would tell the names of his comrades in al-Fatat. To avoid the he slit open his wrist in a suicide attempt but was saved at the last minute by his friend and colleague Dr Ahmad Qadri. He was released when World War I ended to become a civil servant in post-Ottoman era of King Faisal I. After Atassi resigned the presidency in 1939 over objections to continued French intervention in Syria, several years of (WWII-related) instability and direct French and British military ruled followed. The National Bloc remained the dominant expression of Syrian nationalism, and, when elections were again held in 1943, the bloc helped elect Quwatli president. His major preoccupation was to conclude a treaty with France, which had exercised control over Syria for more than two decades. This was accomplished with British help, and by 1946 all foreign troops had evacuated. In 1947 Quwatli enacted an amendment that removed a one-term limit from the constitution, and he was reelected in 1948.


see also : Nizar Qabbani , Hafez al-Assad

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Aleppo (Arabic: حلب‎ ['ḥalab], 36°13′N, 37°10′E) is a city in northern Syria, capital of the Aleppo Governorate. The city has a population of around 1.9 million, making it the second largest city in Syria after Damascus. Aleppo is one of the oldest inhabited cities in history. It knew human settlement since the eleventh millennium B.C. through the residential houses which were discovered in Al-Qaramel Hill. It was known to antiquity as Khalpe, Khalibon, to the Greeks as Beroea (Veroea), and to the Turks as Halep; during the French Mandate, Alep was used. It occupies a strategic trading point midway between the sea and the Euphrates; initially, it was built on a small group of hills in a wide fertile valley on both sides of the river Quweiq (قويق). The province or governorate extends around the city for over 16,000 km² and has around 3.7 million inhabitants.

see also : Damascus , Homs , Hama , Lattakia

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Syria Buildings and structures in Syria Communications in Syria Syrian culture Economy of Syria Education in Syria Environment of Syria Geography of Syria Government of Syria Health in Syria History of Syria Syrian law Syria-related lists Military of Syria Syrian people Politics of Syria Science and technology in Syria Syrian society Sport in Syria Transport in Syria Syria stubs edit  

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Quotes

Philip Hitti : "the scholars consider Syria as the teacher for the human characteristics,"

Andrea Parrout : "each civilized person in the world should admit that he has two home countries: the one he was born in, and Syria."

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Syria edit  

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Join us in Wikiproject Syria

The main goals of this WikiProject are to:

  • Improve and maintain Syria-related articles: fact and prose checking, expanding and ensuring currency of information, providing reliable citations and references, maintaining a NPOV, bringing more selected articles up to Featured article or Good article status;
  • Expand Wikipedia's coverage of Syria-related topics: check for completeness of articles, start new articles, expand entries on neglected subjects;
  • Maintaining consistency in article organization: maintaining a similar structure, coverage and presentation across articles, maintaining categories and links;
  • Develop tools and resources for others to use in article production: templates, categories, infoboxes, diagrams, base maps, useful and commonly used references;
  • Coordinating collaborations: between editors to establish priorities and avoid duplication of effort, gaining consensus on disputed issues.


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Syria topics


v • d • eSyrian History , Culture and People

Persian Empire · Seleucid Empire · Hasmonean kingdom
Roman Empire · Byzantine Empire

  • Damascus citadel

Geography , Culture , and People

Syria People

Writers , Poets , Novelists

Historians

  • Mohammad Kurd Ali

Directors

syrian Kitchen

yabra' , falafel , Kebeh , Maqlobah , Cheese sweet , Taboleh

Music of Syria

Old musicians :Omar al-Batsh , Muhammad Abdelkarim

Calssical singers : Sabah Fakhri , Myada al-Hinawi , Classical-modern : George Wasoof

Modern Singers : Nur Mahana, Asala Nasri
v • d • ePolitics of Syria * Modern Times : History of Syria
(clockwise from top-left) Yusuf al-Azmah, Sultan al-Atrash, Hashim al-Atassi, Shukri al-Quwatli
  • Presidents :

Before Independence

Image:Nazim al Kudsi.jpg
(clockwise from top-left) Gamal Abdel Nasser , Nazim al-Kudsi, Hafez al-Assad, Bashar_al-Assad

After Independence


v • d • eSyria Map

Syrian Governates : see the number on the Map

  1. Damascus
  2. Rif Dimashq
  3. Quneitra
  4. Daraa
  5. As Suwaydā'
  6. Homs
  7. Tartous
  8. Latakia
  9. Hama
  10. Idlib
  11. Aleppo
  12. Ar Raqqah
  13. Deir ez-Zor
  14. Al Hasakah



v • d • eDetailed Syria Categories Detailed Category Tree Categoriesrelevant to this Project (see also this category listing)
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Associated Wikimedia

Syria on  Wikinews  Syria on  Wikiquote  Syria on  Wikibooks  Syria on  Wikisource  Syria on  Wiktionary  Syria on Wikimedia CommonsNews Quotations Manuals & Texts Texts Definitions Images & Media
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