HISTORY. About B.C. 1500 the kings of Egypt brought the greater part of Syria under their dominion. Their advance was opposed by the Hittites (q.v.). who were long dominant in northern Syria, and who spread also into the southern part of the country. The non-Semitic people were gradually amalgamated with the Semites among whom they dwelt, their speech be coming Semitic. About 13.C. 1000 the Phoenicians were at the height of their power and prosperity and the Hebrew kingdom was firmly established. By this time the _Hittites, whose State had be come disintegrated into a number of principali ties, had begun to feel the power of Assyria. Un der David and Solomon the Israelites extended their sway over a great part of Syria, subduing the southern Hittites, the Amorites, and other peoples and subjeeting Damascus and other im portant cities. On the southern part of the coast the Philistine cities were united iu a pow erful confederacy. After the disruption of the Hebrew realm Damascus became the seat of a powerful independent kingdom. This was de stroyed in the second half of the eighth century B.C. by the Assyrians, who imposed their yoke upon the Philistine cities, and put an end to the kingdom of Israel, while the Phcenician cities paid them tribute. About this time the last of the Hittite principalities were swallowed up by the same enemy. At the beginning of the sixth century u.c. Syria came under the rule of Baby lon, which was succeeded in B.C. 538 by that of Persia. In B.C. 333-332 Alexander of Macedon established his sway. At the close of the century Upper Syria was appropriated by Seleucus, one of Alexander's generals, who founded Antioch as the seat of his kingdom. The Ptolemies and the Seleucidm (q.v.) contended for the possession of the rest of the country, which finally passed to the latter, whose realm, which embraced a large part of Western Asia, came to be known as the Kingdom of Syria. A number of Greek cities were founded by this dynasty. In B.C. 167-141 Palestine threw off the yoke of the Seleueithe. In B.C. 64 Syria was made a Roman province and in the following year Judea was made tributary to the Romans.
In the third century A.D. the Kingdom of Pal myra, on the eastern borders of Syria, enjoyed a short-lived splendor. After the close of the fourth century Syria formed part of the Byzan tine Empire, from which it was wrested in 634 36 by the Saracens. In 661 Damascus became the seat of the caliphs, but about a century later it was supplanted by Bagdad. In the second half of the eleventh century the Seljuks occupied the country. In 1099 the Crusaders took Jeru salem. which was made the capital of a king dom. At the some time was founded the Princi pality of Antioch. In the middle of the next century the Christian power in Syra was shat tered by the assaults of Sultan Nureddin, whose seat was at Aleppo. In 1174-87 Saladin, Sultan of Egypt, wrested Syria from the successors of Nureddin and overthrew the Kingdom of Jerusa lem. In the thirteenth century lihwaresmians and Mongols swept over Syria. In 1291 Acre, the last stronghold of the Christians on the Syrian coast, was taken by the Mameluke ruler of Egypt and Syria. In 1510 Syria was conquered by the Ottoman Turks. In 1S31-32 Mehemet Ali of Egypt made himself master of the country, but was forced to relinquish it to the Sultan in 1S41. In 1800 there were massacres of the Maronites by the Druses and a frightful slaugh ter of Christians at Damascus.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. De Vogiia, Syrie, Palestine, Bibliography. De Vogiia, Syrie, Palestine, Mont Athos (Paris, 1870) Sachn, Reise in Syrian and Alcsopotanlen (Leipzig, 1883) : Hull, Memoir of the Geology and Geography of Arabia. Petram, Palestine, and the Adjoining Districts (London, 1886) : Post, Essays on the Sects and Yationalities of Syria and Palestine (ib., 1890); il ler. Alone Through Syria (lb., 1891) ; Charmes, Voyage en R.1ffie (Paris. 1891) : Post, Flora. of Syria, Palestine, and Sinai (Beirut, 1890) ; Petrie, Syria and Egypt from the Tel-el Letters (New York, ISOS) Deverell, Mm Tour in Palestine and Syria (London, 1899) ; Burton and Drake, Unexplored Syria (ib., 1872) ; Lady Burton. Inner Life of Syria (ib,, 1S75) ; Salverte, La Syrie avant ISO (Paris, 1861).