

SYRIA. 



SYHTKS. 



7-0 



inhabitants captive to Kir about the year B.C. 740. From this time 

 Syria formed a part of the Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and Mace- 

 donian empires in succession. 



After the battle of Ipsus (B.C. 301), Syria, with the exception at 

 first of Coele-Syria and Palestine, Ml to the share of Seleucus Nicator, 

 and henceforth it became the central portion of the kingdom of the 

 Seleucidx, the usual abode of the kings being at its capital, Antioch. 

 The empire of the Seleucidoe was destroyed, and Syria was declared a 

 Roman province by Pompcy in the year B.C. 65. The small district 

 of Commagene was left for a time under its own princes. During the 

 civil wars of Rome, Syria suffered much from the conflicts of the two 

 parties, the power of native robbers, and the incursions of the 

 Partisans, and it was not till the reign of Augustus that it became 

 quietly settled as a part of the Roman empire. It waa governed by a 

 pro-consul, who commonly resided at Antioch. In the year A.D. 6, 

 upon the banishment of Archelaus, Judaea and Samaria were added 

 to the province of Syria, to which they henceforth belonged, with a 

 short interruption during the reign of Herod Agrippa I. 



Under the Cseearo, Syria was one of the most populous, flourishing, 

 and luxurious provinces of the empire. It had a considerable com- 

 merce, and formed indeed the emporium which connected the eastern 

 and western quarters of the ' world. Hadrian, upon his accession 

 (A.D. 117), fixed the eastern boundary of the empire at the Euphrates, 

 and henceforth the frontier province of Syria was exposed to repeated 

 inroads, first from the Parthian*, and afterwards from the Persians. 

 The province was overran and almost subdued by Sapor (A.D. 258), 

 from whom it was rescued by the Arab Odenathus (261-264), who 

 WM raued to a share in the empire by Gallienus. Odenathus waa 

 murdered by a cousin or nephew, with the consent of his wife, the 

 celebrated Zenobia. in 266. The attempt of Zenobia to establish an 

 independent sovereignty in the eastern part of the empire led to her 

 defeat and capture by Aurelian (273). 



At the end of the 3rd century, and in the 4th, the Saracens, or 

 Arabs of the Desert, began to appear sometimes in the legions, but 

 oftner among the enemies of Rome. In the reign of Phocas, 

 Chosroes II., after reducing Mesopotamia and the neighbouring state*, 

 crorsed the Euphrates, reduced Hierapolis, Chalcis, and Heroes, and 

 finally Antioch, which he almost completely destroyed in 611. Herac- 

 li<i-, who had obtained the empire in 610, took the field in 622 

 against Chotroes, who bad in the meantime conquered not only Syria, 

 but also Palestine (614), and had overrun Egypt and Asia Minor (61 6). 

 In a eeries of brilliant campaign!", Heraclius repeatedly defeated 

 Chosroes, and at last drove him beyond the Tigris (627), and Siroes, 

 his son (and, by the murder of his father, his successor) made a treaty 

 of peace with Heraclius (628), one of the conditions of which was the 

 restoration of the ' true cross,' which had been carried into Persia 

 after the sacking of Jerusalem in 614. But this brilliant recovery of 

 the eastern provinces was only the prelude to their final loss under 

 the same emperor. 



Mohammed, at the head of the Arabs, had taken a few towns of 

 Syria (630), and his successor, Abu Bekr, had scarcely mounted the 

 throne when he sent a circular letter to the Arabian tribes, calling 

 them to the invasion of Syria (632). A large army of Saracens 

 assembled at Medina, whence they marched into Syria under the 

 nominal command of Abu Obeydah, but virtually led by the fierce 

 Khaled, ' the sword of Allah.' They first attacked Bosra, on the east 

 of the Jordan, which was betrayed by the governor Romanus. They 

 then laid siege to Damascus (633). The defence was obstinate ; and 

 in the meantime Heraclius had assembled an army of 70,000 men at 

 Bmeti, under the command of his general, Vardan. The armies met 

 at Aiznadin the Greeks were utterly routed, and the Arabs returned 

 to the riege of Damascus, which fell, after an obstinate resistance, in 

 034, about July or August After some irregular exploits, the 

 conquest of the country was carried on by the reduction first of 

 Heliopolis and I'.mesa, and then of other important towns. In the 

 meanwhile Heraclius had prepared for a last effort in defence of 

 Syria. An arn.y of 80,000 men, brought from the different provinces 

 of the empire, with a light-armed force of 60,000 Christian Arabs, 

 encountered the Mohammedans on the banks of the river Yermuk ; 

 but few Christians escaped from the field of battle (634). Hence- 

 forward the conquest proceeded with but little opposition. The 

 sacred character of Jerusalem procured for it an honourable capitu- 

 lation, which the khalif Omar himself came from Medina to receive 

 (637). Aleppo submitted, but the castle offered an obstinate resist- 

 ance, and was taken by surprise ; and Antioch purchased its safety at 

 the expence of obedience and 300,000 pieces of gold (638). In the 

 same year Heraclius fled from Antioch to Constantinople, and, after a 

 show of resistance at Cscsarea by ConeUntine, his eldest son, the 

 province was abandoned to the Saracens, to whom the remaining 

 cities at once submitted. 



Under the Urnmeyahs, or Ommaiade*, the seat of government was 

 at Damascus, whither it was removed from Kufa by Moawiya, who 

 reigned from 650 to 679, but it lost thii distinction in 749, when the 

 AbbaMides took up their residence at Baghdad. Syria was subjected, 

 together with Egypt, to the Turkish usurper Ahmed Ebn e' Tooloon, 

 whose dynasty lasted from 868 to 906, when the khalif Moktafee 

 recovered both countries ; and afterwards to another Turkish usurper, 

 Akhshed Mohammed Ebn Tughg (930), whose dynasty lasted till 970, 



SUM. DIV. YOU IT. 



when Moez, a successor of Mahdee, conquered Egypt, and soon after- 

 wards Syria, as far as Damascus, and founded the dynasty of the 

 Fatimite khalifa, whose capital was at Cairo. In 1076 the'Turka 

 invaded Syria and Palestine, took Damascus and Jerusalem, and 

 established an independent kingdom under the princes of the house of 

 Ortok. The klnlif Mostali retook Jerusalem in 1090, but lost it again, 

 with a large portion of Syria, in the first crusade, at the close of 

 which the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem was established, which 

 included the ancient Palestine and a tract of country round Antiocli. 

 This kingdom lasted from 1099, the year in which the Crusaders took 

 Jerusalem, to 1 1 87, when Salah-ed-Deen (Salariin) recovered it. His 

 dynasty, the Eyoobites, lasted till 1250, when it was destroyed in 

 Egypt and Damascus by the revolt of the Baharite Memlooks. Seit'- 

 ed-Deen, the sultan of Aleppo, great-graudson of Salah-cd-Deeu, 

 recovered Damascus ; but he was overthrown and slain iu an invasion 

 of the Moguls from Persia in 1200. 



Syria continued subject first to the Baharite and then to tho 

 Circassian Memlooks. Their possession of the country waa however 

 interrupted for a short time by Tamerlane, who invaded Syria and 

 sacked Aleppo in 1400, and in the next year destroyed Damascus. He 

 did not however attempt to keep possession of the country. In the 

 year 1516 Syria wns conquered and united to the Turkish empire by 

 the sultan Selim I. It was unsuccessfully invaded by General 

 Bonaparte in 1799. In the year 1831, Mehemet AH, viceroy of Egypt, 

 formed the design of erecting Egypt and Syria into an independent 

 kingdom. His son, Ibrahim Pasha, invaded Syria, took Gaza, and on 

 the 9th of December attacked Acre, which he took on the 21st of 

 May following, and Damascus on the 13th of June. On the 7th of 

 July be defeated the army of the sultan at Hema, took Antioch ou 

 the 1st of August, and on the 21st of December utterly routed tho 

 forces of the sultan at Konieh in Asia Minor, taking the grand vizier 

 prisoner, and then pressed on for Constantinople. In the meantime 

 the sultan claimed the help of Russia. That power prepared to act 

 against Mehemet Ali by sea and land. By the interference of Fran-.-e 

 and England a peace was concluded, and the sultan (May 6, 1S33) 

 confirmed Mehemet Ali in bis government of Egypt and Caudin, 

 granting to him in addition that of Damascus, Tripoli, Said, Safed, 

 Nal'loun, and Jerusalem. Mehemet Ali still cherished his project. 

 Hostilities were renewed in May, 1 839. At the battle of Nezib (June 25) 

 Ibrahim defeated the Turkish army, and soon after the Turkish fleet 

 deserted to Mehemet Ali (July 4). Upon this, Mehemet announced 

 to the new sultan, Abd-ul-Medjid, bis determination to assert his 

 claim to the hereditary government of all the provinces under his 

 command, as a reply to the sultan's offer of the hereditary govern- 

 ment of Egypt. England, France, Austria, Russia, and Prussia, now 

 tried to bring about a settlement. Negotiations which followed emlcd 

 in the secession of France and the conclusion of a treaty between the 

 remaining four other powers and Turkey, to compel tho submission of 

 Mehemet. The treaty was signed iu London on the 15th of July 

 1840. In pursuance of this treaty, a fleet, -consisting of English. 

 Austrian, and Turkish vessels, commenced operations on the coast of 

 Syria by the storming of Beyrut. Acre and Sidon shared the same 

 fate; and, after much negotiation, Mebemet consented to give up 

 Syria, and receive the hereditary government of Egypt (January 11, 

 1841). 



(Pococke ; Volney ; Burckhardt ; Buckingham ; Schubert, Rtitc in 

 dot Moryrnland ; Robinson, Trarclt in Palatine and fiyria ; London 

 Geographical Journal ; Robinson, B'Mical Reiearchet ; Chesncy, E.rpc- 

 dition to the Euphratti and Tigrit ; Lynch, Expedition to the Hirer 

 Jordan ; De Saulcy, Diicovery of the Site of the Vettroyed Ctiiet of the 

 Plain.) 



SYRTES was the name given by the Greek* and Romans to two 

 gulf.-) on the northern coaat of Africa, one of which they called Syrtis 

 Major, and the other Syrtis Minor. Both were the terror of tho ancient 

 mariners. The name is said to be derived from the Greek word for 

 ' draw,' from their drawing in ships and swallowing them up in their 

 sandy shoals. A more probable derivation is tho Arabic ' serf (sand), 

 which is at this day applied to the district on the shores of the Syrtes. 



The Greater Syrtis, now called the Gulf of fidra, is a very largo 

 bay on the northern coast of Tripoli, lying between the promontories 

 of Boreum (Raa Teyonss) on the east, and Cephaloe (Ras Kbarra) on 

 the west, the distance between which is 204 miles : its greatest depth 

 is about 126 miles. The Sahara, or Great Desert, comes down 

 almost to the sea, leaving here and there only a narrow strip of land 

 inhabitable. The gulf is very shallow and full of quicksands, and the 

 coast is covered by a chain of little islands. On this dangerous shore 

 it was difficult to prevent ships from being driven by the north winds, 

 to which the gulf is completely exposed, while the effect of such 

 winds on the water made the soundings very uncertain. 



The Lesser Syrtis, now the Gulf of Jfhabs, on the southern corner 

 of Tunis, lies between the promontory of Brachodes, or Caput Vada 

 (Ras Kapondiah), ou the north, and the island Meninx (Jerbnh) 

 on the- south. Besides this island, those of Cercina and Cercinitis 

 (Karkennali) lie in its mouth, the width of which from these islands 

 to that of Meninx is 69 miles. This gulf is said by Scylax to be even 

 more dangerous than the Greater Syrtis. Its dangers however, snvs 

 Renuell, arise not so much from quicksands as from "the variations 

 and uncertainty of the tides on a flat shelvy coast," Tho Syrtes 



3 



