SYRIA (Es Sham), a country in Asia belonging to Turkey, is situated along the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, from 29° 45' to 37° 25' N. lat., 34° to 38° 45'E. long. The name Syria occurs in the Greek writers ; the Asiatics call the country Beled-es-Sham, or ' country on the left.' The Mohammedans of Mecca direct their face to the rising sun when they pray, and then Syria, which they call Beled-el Sham (' country on the left '), is to their left hand and Beled-el-Yemen, is on the right. The boundary of Syria towards the north is formed by the Amanus Mountains, which divide it from Asia Minor ; towards the west by the Mediterranean Sea. The boundary between Syria and Egypt begins on the shores of the Mediterranean, south-west of the town of Gaza, and thence runs in an irregular line eastward across the desert, until it meets the Wady Arabah, which it crosses at the base of a high mountain, called Tor Hesma, about eight hours journey from the head of the Gulf of Akabah. From this summit eastward Syria borders on the desert of Arabia, and in these parts the boundary is undefined, except by part of the Haj road from Damascus to Mecca. North of 32° 5' N. lat., Syria extends eastward to the desert, and includes the plain and mountain region of the Haouran, which extends to 37° E. long., and perhaps somewhat farther east. From the parallel of Damascus the boundary is considered to run north-east, passing about 20 miles east of Palmyra, and striking the Euphrates about 30 miles above Rakka. From this point the eastern boundary of Syria is formed by the Euphrates, which separates it from Mesopotamia. A rough estimate gives to Syria an area of about 70,000 square miles. The population is supposed to exceed a million and a half.
The situation of Syria is peculiar. It forms the greater part of an isthmus which separates a sea of water and a sea of sand. On the west extends the Mediterranean over more than 2000 miles. On the east is the desert of Syria and Arabia, which extends about 600 miles to the Persian Gulf and an inlet of the Indian Ocean. To the south of the isthmus lies the Red Sea, whose two great inlets, the gulfs of Suez and Akabah, penetrate deeply into the land.
The form of the surface is no less peculiar. The central part is furrowed by a longitudinal depression, or wide valley, which extends from the Gulf of Akabah, to the base of the Alma Dagh, where it terminates with the Lake of Bohhaire (36° 45' N. lat.). This long valley, which extends over more than seven degrees of latitude, is divided in the middle (between 33° 15' and 33° 25' N. lat.,) into two valleys by a high narrow ridge of mountains, the Jebel Arbel. The southern valley is traversed by the river Jordan on the greater part of its extent, and is in parts considerably below the surface of the sea. The northern valley is drained by the rivera Litany (Leontes) and Azy (Orontes). In its most elevated part, near the town of Baalbek, it attains an elevation at which in Europe corn can seldom be grown. The countries on each side of these valleys extend in some parts in elevated table-lands, in other places sink down into large plains, and again rise into mountains, the summits of some of which are always covered with snow. The changes which the surface and its productive powers undergo in Syria are almost innumerable.
Southern Syria extends from the southern boundary of the country to the Bahr-el-Huleh, or Lake Merom, the ancient Semcchonitis (33° 10' N. lat.), and comprehends the southern valley, and the countries contiguous to it on the west and east.
1. The Southern Valley extends from the most northern point of the Gulf of Akabah to the Bahr-el-Huleh more than 250 miles in a straight line, and is naturally divided into three sections by two deep depressions, which are occupied by two large lakes —the Dead Sea and the Lake of Gennesareth, now called Bahr Tabarieh, from the town of Tabarieh on its western shore, which occupies the site of the ancient Tiberias. The southern part of the valley, between the Golf of Akabah and the Dead Sea, is called Wady-el-Arabah; the central portion, between the Dead Sea and the Bahr Tabariels, El s:Thor ; and the northern, or that part of it which extends from the Bahr Tabarieh to the Bahr Houleh, is called Wady Seiseaban.