'SYRIA (syr'i-a), (Heb. ar-awm' , highland; Gr. Iupfa, soo-ree'ah, Syria).
(1) Territory. It is difficult to define the limits of ancient Syria, as the name seems to have been very loosely applied by the old geographers. In general, however, we may perceive that they made it include the tract of country lying between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean, from the moun tains of Taurus and Amanns in the north, to the desert of Suez and the borde:s of Egypt on the south ; which coincides pretty well with the modern application of the name.
(2) Physical Character. It may be described as composed of three tracts of land, of very differ ent descriptions. That which adjoins the Mediter ranean is a hot, damp, and rather unwholesome, but very fruitful valley. The part next to this consists of a double chain of mountains, running parallel from southwest to northeast, with craggy, precipitous rocks, devious valleys, and hollow defiles. The air is here dry and healthy ; and on the western declivities of the mountains are seen beautiful and highly cultivated terraces, alter nating with well-watered valleys, which have a rich and fertile soil, and are densely peopled. The eastern declivities, on the contrary, are dreary mountain deserts, connected with the third region, which may be described as a spacious plain of sand and rock, presenting an extensive and almost unbroken level.
(3) Climate. Spring and autumn are very agreeable in Syria, and the heat of summer in the mountain districts is supportable. But in the plains, as soon as the sun reaches the Equator, it becomes of a sudden oppressively hot, and this heat continues till the end of October. On the other hand, the winter is so mild, that orange tree.", fig trees, palms and many tender shrubs and plants flourish in the open air, while the heights of Lebanon are glittering with snow and hoarfrost. In the districts, however, which lie north and east of the mountains, the severity of winter is greater, though the heat of the summer is not less. At Antioch, Aleppo, and Damascus, there are ice and snow for several weeks every winter. Yet, upon the whole, the climate and soil combine to render this country one of the most agreeable residences throughout the East.
(4) Cities. The principal Syrian towns men tioned in Scripture are the following, all of which are noticed under their respective names in the present work :—Antioch, Seleucia, Helbon, Rez eph, Tiphsah, Rehoboth, Hamath, Riblah, Tad mor, Baal-Gad, Damascus, Hobah, Beth-Eden.
(5) History. Syria, when we first become ac quainted with its history, was divided into a number of small kingdoms, of which the most important of those mentioned in Scripture was that of which Damascus was the metropolis. A sketch of its history is given under DAMASCUS ( which see). These kingdoms were broken up, or rather consolidated by conquerors, of whom the first appears to have been King of Assyria, about 75o B. C. After the fall of the Assyrian monarchy, Syria came under the Chaldean yoke. It shared the fate of Bahylonia when that country was conquered by the Persians; and was again subdued by Alexander the Great. At his death in B. C. 323, it was erected into a separate monarchy under the Seleticidx, and con tinued to be governed by its own sovereigns until, weakened and devastated by civil wars between competitors for the throne, it was finally, about B. C. 65, reduced by Pompey to the condition of a Roman province, after the monarchy had sub sisted two hundred and fifty-seven years. On the decline of the Roman empire, the Saracens became the next possessors of Syria, about A. D. 622 ; and when the crusading armies poured into Asia, this country became the chief theater of the great contest between the armies of the Crescent and the Cross, and its plains were deluged with Chris tian and Moslem blood. For nearly a century the Crusaders remained masters of chief places in Syria ; but at length the power of the Mos lems predominated, and in 1186 A. D. Saladin, Sultan of Egypt, found himself in possession of Syria. It remained subject to the sultans of Egypt till, in A. D. 1517, the Turkish sultan. Se lim I, overcame the Menilook dynasty, and Syria and Egypt became absorbed in the Ottoman em pire. In 1832, a series of successes over the Turkish arms gave Syria to Mehemet Ali, the Pasha of Egypt ; from whom, however, after nine years, it again passed to the Turks, in conse quence of the operations undertaken for that pur pose by the fleet under the command of Admiral Stopford, the chief of which was the bombard ment of Acre in November, 1840. The treaty re storing Syria to the Turks was ratified early in the ensiling year.