SYRIA, a province and kingdom of Western Asia, the name, extent, and boundaries of which have been subjects of no little difficulty to both sacred and classic geographers.
The name Syr i a does not occur in Hebrew ; but in the A. V. it is the usual, though not the uniform, rendering of the word Aram (DV.). This creates considerable confusion in sacred geography. Thus in Gen. x. 22 Aram, the youngest son of Shem, is mentioned as the founder of the Aramean nation, from whom the whole country colonised by his descendants took its name. The country is therefore rightly called Aram ' in Num. xxiii. 7 ; hut the very same Hebrew word is rendered lifeso potamia in Judg. 1o, and Syria in Judg. x. 6.
Aram AVM a wide region. It extended from the Mediterranean to the Tigris, and from Canaan to Mount Taurus. It was subdivided into five prin cipalities Aram-Dammesk (called in the A. V. Syria of Damascus') ; 2. Aram-Maachah ; 3. Aram-Beth- Rechob ; 4. Arani-Zobah ; and 5. Aram-Naharaim (Mesopotamia in the A. V.) These have already been described [ARAM" When the kingdom of Damascus attained to great power under the warlike line of Hadad it was called by way of distinction Aram, which unfortunately is rendered Syria' in the A. V. (2 Sam. viii. 5, 12 ; Kings X. 29 ; XV. 18 ; 2 Kings v. ; XXiV. 2, etc.) This lax method of translation was borrowed from the Septuarrint and Vulgate versions. The Tar gums retain'Aram ; and it would tend much to geo graphical accuracy and distinctness were the Hebrew proper names uniformly retained in the A. V.
The region comprehended by the Hebrews under the name Aram was not identical with that which the Greek writers and the authors of the N. T. included under Syria. It embraced all Mesopo tamia and Assyria, while it excluded Phcenicia and the whole territory colonised by the Canaanites.
[AkAta ; CANAAN.] In the N. T. the name Syria (Eupla) is not em ployed with great definiteness. In fact it is doubt ful if ever the Greek geographers were agreed as to the exact boundaries of the country so called. St. Matthew, after mentioning the mighty works and wondrous teachings of our Lord in Galilee, says : His fame went throughout all Syria,' allud ing apparently to the country adjoining, Galilee on the north (iv. 24). St. Luke applies the name tc the Roman province of which Cyrenius was gover nor, and which did not include Palestine (ii. 2). In the same restricted sense the word is used in Acts xv. 23. The apostles in Jerusalem wrote unto the brethren of the Gentiles in Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia ;' and afterwards it is said that Paul, setting out from Antioch, went through Syria and Cilicia' (ver. 41 ; cf. Gal. i. 21). A
wider si,gnification seems to be attached to the name in other passages. It is said of Paul when going to Jerusalem, that he sailed thence (from Greece) into Syria'—giving this general name to Palestine as well as the country north of it (Acts xviii. ; xx. 3). In one passage taken from the Septuagint the name is employed as an equivalent of the Hebrew Aram (Luke iv. 27 ; cf. 2 Kings v. 2o).
The origin of the word is not quite certain. Some make it a corruption of Assyria. Herodotus says : The people whom the Greeks call Syrians are called Assyrians by the barbarians' (vii. 63) ; and these names were frequently confounded by the later Greek writers (Xen. Cyr. V]. 2. 19 ; Viii. 3. 24); and apparently also by some of the Latins (Plin. Ilist. Nat. v. 13). A much more probable etymology is that which derives Syria from Tsar ("WS), the Hebrew name of the ancient city of Tyre. The distinction between Syria and Assyria is very great in Hebrew. The Greek form of the name derived from Tsur would be Tsuria, but as this could not be expressed by Greek letters it was softened down to Zupia. Assyria is in Hebrew and in Greek 'Ao-aupla, and sometimes 'Aroupia. 'A still greater distinction between the names is found in the Assyrian inscriptions, where Assyria is called As-sur, while the Tyrians are the Tsur-ra-ya, the characters used being entirely dif ferent' (Rawlinson's Herodot. i. 63, note). Tyre was the most important city along the Mediter ranean coast. With it and its enterprising mer chants the Greeks soon became familiar ; and they gave to the country around it the general name Syria—that is, region of Tyre.' It is interesting to observe that the connection between Syria and Aram is noticed by Strabo when commenting on a stanza of Pindar Others understand Syrians by the Arinzi, who are now called Aranuti' (xiii. p. 626 ; and xvi. p. 785) ; and again, Those whom we call Syrians plu' pcus) are by the Syrians themselves called Armenians and Arammaans' ApaAp.alour ; i. 2. 34).
The name Syria was thus of foreign origin. It was never adopted or acknowledged by the people themselves ; nor was it ever employed by native authors except when writing in Greek for Greeks. At the present day it is unknown in the country. It has been seen that in ancient times the name Aram was specially applied to Damascus and its kingdom. There is something analagous to this in modern usage. Esh-Sham (411n) is the name now commonly given to both city and country, though in more correct language the former is styled Dimishk esh-Sham.