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    Beyond the Chaos: The Remarkable Heritage of Syria
    Beyond the Chaos: The Remarkable Heritage of Syria
    Beyond the Chaos: The Remarkable Heritage of Syria
    Ebook143 pages1 hour

    Beyond the Chaos: The Remarkable Heritage of Syria

    By Michael B. Barry

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    About this ebook

    Syria has one of the most extensive ranges of historical sites in the world and is truly part of the cradle of civilisation. It is currently not possible to visit Syria to see this exquisite patrimony: its inheritance of many civilisations and eras. Much of it is under threat; some has already been damaged during the present conflict. In this illustrated book, author Michael Barry, using a series of stunning photographs taken in 2008, tells the history of Syria and reveals its priceless heritage.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBookBaby
    Release dateFeb 14, 2014
    ISBN9780956038340
    Beyond the Chaos: The Remarkable Heritage of Syria

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      Book preview

      Beyond the Chaos - Michael B. Barry

      Syria.

      Chapter 1

      Early Syria

      Syria is located within the general northern sweep of the Fertile Crescent (the arc-shaped region which includes the rivers Tigris and Euphrates) and from there along to the Mediterranean. There is evidence here of a people who cultivated a form of wheat in the ninth millennium BC. In the millennia that followed, it is the development of a primitive form of recording, using marks on clay tablets, that has special resonance for us today, since it led to the development of a form of writing. Excavations to the south of Aleppo (Northern Syria) have yielded a hoard of clay tablets from the period of around 2500 BC, which described the life of the kingdom of that region. It was a centre of advanced literacy as demonstrated by the cuneiform (wedge-shaped) script called Ugaritic, after its discovery in Ugarit in northern Syria in 1928. These date from around 1500 BC and form the basis of an alphabetic script, as distinct from such ideographic scripts as Egyptian hieroglyphics, or syllabic ones like those on the Linear B tablets in early Greek.

      The Hittites were dominant in the area around 1300 BC. (Incidentally, the Israelites were becoming established in Palestine around this time). The Hittites clashed with the superpower of the time, the Egyptians. We next see the Phoenicians, a Semitic people, on the coast of what is present-day Lebanon, establishing a great trading empire, with up to 50 colonies spread all over the Mediterranean. From around 900 BC a great military power, the Assyrians, rose in northern Mesopotamia (northern Iraq). They expanded to dominate the region. No empire lasts and Assyria went into decline. The Scythians, mounted warriors, came in the seventh century BC and devastated Syria. Long-established Babylon enjoyed a resurgence under its ruler, Nebuchadnezzar II. He led his troops to drive the Egyptians out of Syria and Palestine at the beginning of the sixth century BC.

      In 539 BC, Cyrus the Great led his Persians to conquer the Babylonians. Syria became a province of the Persian Empire and settled down to being part of a well-run polity. The Persians were in power when the expansionary Alexander the Great and his army swept in. He defeated the Persians in a decisive battle at Issus (now southeast Turkey) in 333 BC. Now the way was open for the Greek army to surge southwards, and continue as far as the Indus. After Alexander’s death at Babylon in 323 BC, his generals jostled for control and they established states which included Syrian territory. One of them, Seleucus I, emerged as the ruler of the (Seleucid) kingdom, which included northern Syria with Apamea and Antioch as well as Babylonia. Another, Ptolemy I, established a domain which ranged from southern Syria to Egypt. With an influx of soldier-settlers, and a Greek form of administration, over time a Hellenic influence became well established. A Greek elite emerged in the urban centres and the Greek language was used. The name Syria comes from the Greek for ‘Assyrian’.

      Apamea. To walk along the colonnaded arcade, in complete solitude, offers a pleasant encounter with the classical past. The Graeco-Roman remains here are evidence of just two of the periods when Syria was invaded and ruled by foreign conquerors.

      A typical scene at Apamea, with a miscellany of carved stonework, including Corinthian capitals and pieces of columns strewn around. They lead the eye towards a line of columns, carved with twisted fluting.

      Still visible on the battered stone frieze, flowers, fruit and leaves, as well as a deeply incised egg-and-dart pattern.

      The colonnaded cardo (Roman main street) at Apamea. This extraordinary avenue, consisting of two parallel rows of columns, extends over two kilometres. One report from the current conflict tells of thieves stealing two large capitals from the top of columns along the colonnade.

      Apamea on a quiet and serene day: lichen-covered capitals strewn among the weeds, with columns in the

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