From tian records in stone and papyrus it seemsEgYalt), at the earliest times known to us, Syria, or at any rate Palestine, was at times a dependency of Egypt. As regards commerce, manufactures and agriculture the country- had reached a considerable degree of civilization. A record of the days of Rameses II (1300-1280 Lc.) mentions 38 fortified places in Palestine and 18 more north of Tyre. At an early period Syria became part of the Assy rian Empire, and afterwards passed to the Per sians under Cyrus, and the Greeks under Alex ander, who conquered the country after the bat tle of Issus in 333 a.c. Ten years later Ptolemy took possession of Syria and Palestine, and in 312 a.c. began the era of the Seleucides, when Antioch was founded. The Seleucide dominion lasted 248 years, when the conquering Romans made Syria a Roman province in 64 a.c. At this period the Aramaic language was chiefly spoken throughout Syria, although the Greek language and culture were gradually being in troduced. Under the Greek and the later Roman supremacy there sprang up, even in re mote parts of the country, numerous buildings of great splendor. About the beginning of our era Palmyra was particularly noted for the magnificence of its architecture. The whole of Christian Syria, including Palestine, was wrested from the Eastern Roman Empire by the Persians in A.D. 611-614. Nomadic tribes of Arabs had from time immemorial ranged over the Syrian plain as far as Mesopotamia, and certain Arab tribes from the Yemen were set tled in Syria particularly in the Hauran. For centuries beeore the rise of Islam the Arabs were everywhere a disturbing element to the Byzantine Empire. The new religion promul gated by Mohammed produced extraordinary results. As by magic, long-standing intertribal feuds among the Arabs disappeared— they be came a united nation galvanized by religious en thusiasm. Shonly after the death of the Prophet the Arabs defeated the Byzantines, and Syria fell into their hands (636). It was gov erned by caliphs till 883, and then passed un der various masters till it was conquered by the Seljulc Turlcs, who gradually obtained pos session of the whole country (1070-85). The first Crusade began in 1096; Antioch fell to the Crusaders in 1098. By 1118 the kingdom of Jerusalem had been established and the Franks had taken Cmsarea, Tripoli and Beirut. The next 140 years included the romantic period of Richard Cceur de Lion and Saladin, the latter becoming master of the whole of Syria except the Frankish possessions (1183). North and central Syria were conquered by the Mongols in 1259-60; in 1291 the Mamelukes ended the Frank rule in Palestine and later united Syria wit.h Egypt. After this period the history of Syria presents few points of interest; internal strife continued between the Mamelukes, Cir cassian sultans and Mongolian governors. In 1400 carne the Mongol invasion of Tamerlane, when great numbers of the inhabitants were massacred.
War broke out in 1516 between the Otto man Turks and the Mamclukes; the latter were defeated by Sultan Selim, and in the following year the whole of Syria was incorporated in the Turkish or Ottoman Empire —a connection destined IO be severed 400 years later by the Great War. The more important events in the modern history of Syria are its conquest by Mehemet Ali of Egypt in 1833, and its subse quent restoration to Turkey in 1840 by the in tervention of the great European powers; and the disturbances that broke out in the Lebanon district in 1860 between the Maronites and the Druses. A Maronite monk was found mur dered, and suspicion fell upon the Druses. The latter made a general attack on the Maronite villages near Beirut and a large town under Mount Hermon. With a promise of protection the Turkish commander ordered the Maronites to lay down their arms. On this being done, they were abandoned to their enemies, who thereupon swarmed into their villages and mas sacred all men, women and children. So far from rendering the promised protection, Turk ish troops were said to have assisted in the butchery. France and Great Britain intervened;
a French expedition was dispatched to the scene. Its active services, however, were not required. As a result of that intervention the Lebanon district was created an independent sanjak, the governor of which was required to profess the Christian religion.
During the European War in June 1917 Syria was invaded by a British force under General Allenby who captured Beersheba 31 Oct., Geza 7 Nov., and Jaffa 17 Nov. The victorious troops entered Jerusalem 9 Dec., and Palestine, separated from Syria, was created an independent sanjak under British administration.
See ANTIOCH ; BAALBEK ; BASHAN ; BEIRUT ; CRUSADES; DAMASCUS ; DEAD SEA; DRUSES ; GILEAD; HITTITES ; JAFFA ; JORDAN ; LEBANON, MOUNTAINS OF; MARONITES ; MOAB ; PALESTINE; PALMYRA ; PERSIA, History; PETRA ; SAMARIA ; SEMITES ; SEMITIC LANGUAGES; SYRIAC LAN GUAGE; TURKEY; TURKOMANS ; TYRE; WAR, EUROPEAN - TURKISH CAMPAIGNS.
Bibliography.— Baedeker's 'Palestine and Syria' (Leipzig) ; Bambus, VV., 'Palistina, Land and Leute' (ib. 1898); Bell, Miss G. L., 'Syria' (new ed., London 1919); Bevan, E. R., The House of (2 vols., London 1902) and 'The Land of the Two Rivers' (ib. 1917) ; Bliss, F. J., 'The Religions of Modern Syria and Palestine' (Edinburgh 1912) ; Blunt, W. S., and Lady, 'Bedouins of the Euphrates' (London 1879) ; Burton and Drake, 'Unex plored Syria' (1872) and Lady Burton's 'Inner Life of Syria' (London 1875) ; Butler's 'American Archaeological Expedition to Syria' ; Childs, W. T., 'Across Asia Minor on Foot' (London 1917); Conder, 'Syrian Stone Lore' (London) ; Cook, A. W., 'Palestine in Geog raphy and History' (2 vols., London 1901); Cook's Tourists' 'Handbook for Palestine and Syria) (ib. 1906) ; Cuinet, V., 'Syrie Liban et Palestine' (Paris 1896) ; Dassaud, R., 'Les Arahes en Syrie avant l'Islam' (ib. 1907); Gallois, E., 'Asie-Mineure et Spiel (ib. 1909); Goodrich-Freer, Miss A., 'In a Syrian Saddle' (London 1905); Harrer, G. A., 'Studies in the History of the Roman Province of Syria' (Princeton 1915) ; Huntington, H., 'Palestine and its Transformation' (London 1911) ; Jes sup, H. H., 'Fifty-three Years in Syria' (2 vols., New York 1910) ; Khairallah, K. T., 'La Syrie: territoire, origines ethniques et politiques, etc.' (Paris 1912) ; Leech, C., 'The Romance of the Holy Land' (London 1911); Leary, 'Syria, the Land of Lebanon' ; Lortet, L., 'La Syrie d'aujourd'hui' (1884) ; Macmillan's 'Palestine and Syria' (London 1912); Malech, G. D., 'History of the Syrian Nation' (Minneapolis 1910); Maspero, G., 'Struggle of the Nations: Egypt, Syria and Assyria' (New York 1897) ; Miller, Helen, 'Alone through Syria' (London 1891); Moore, J. Jr., 'Outlying Europe and the Nearer Orient' (Philadelphia 1880) ; Moutran, N., 'La Syrie de demain; France et Syrie' (Paris 1916); Navratzki, C., 'Die judische Kolonisation Palfistinas) (Munich 1914); Ober hummer und Zimmer, 'Durch Syrien ttnd Kleinasien' (Leipzig 1898) ; Parry, O. H., 'Six Months in a Syrian (London 1895); Paton, L. B., 'The Early History of Syria and Palestine' (ib. 1902) ; Perrot and Chipiez, 'History of Art in Judaea and Syria' (2 vols., London 1890); Petrie, W. M. F., 'Syria and Egypt from the Tel-el-Amarna Letters' (London 1898); Porter, J. L., 'Five Years in Damascus' (1855); Post, Dr. E. G., 'The Flora of Syria' (London 1896) and 'Essays on the Sects and Nationalities of Syria and Palestine) (ib. 1890); Ramsay, Sir W. M., 'Historical Geography of Asia Minor' (ib. 1890); Rupin, A., (Syrien als Wirtschafts gebiet' (Berlin 1917); Sayce, A. H., 'The Races of the Old Testament' (London 1891); Schumacher, (Across the Jordan' (ib. 1886); Segall. J., 'Travels through Northern Syria' (ib. 1910); Smith, Sir G. A., 'Historical Geography of the Holy Land' (2 vols., London 1897) and 'Syria and the (pam phlet, ib„ 1918); Vogue de, (Syrie Centrale, architecture civile,) etc. (Paris 1861-77) ; Wetz stein, 'Reisebericht fiber den Hauran und die Trachonen' (Berlin 1860); Wood and Daw kins, 'Les ruines de Palmyra' (Paris 1812).