|
Ancient Syria has always been the principal center of attraction for historians and archaeologists down the ages. Syria as an ancient European land bear traces of human habitations since prehistoric times. These historical evidences unearthed at different times indicate that the land was dwelled by natives since 5000 B.C.
Damascus was perhaps the oldest inhabited city in Ancient Syria, where the Assyrian monarch, Shamshi-Adad I established his capital in 1800 B.C. at Shubat Enlil in northeastern part. Shubat Enlil has been renamed as Tell Leilan in modern times.
Ever since its inception, Ancient Syria had been under the constant rule of Babylonian, Egyptian, Persian, Chaldean and Hittite monarchs. It also formed a part of the massive empire of Alexander the Great in 333 B.C., when one of his generals founded the Syrian capital city of Antioch. Syria in classical age also witnessed conflicts arising between the Egyptian Ptolemies and the Seleucids until 64 B.C., when the country was included as a province under the great Roman Empire.
Following the decline of the powerful Romans and disintegration of their empire in 4th century A.D., Ancient Syria became a part of the Byzantine province and remained so for more than two and a half centuries.
Since time immemorial, Ancient Syria had been invaded by powerful foreign tribes like the Amorite, Canaanites, Phoenicians and Aramaeans. A series of such invasions led to severe political upheavals on Syrian mainland, having extensive impact on the social and cultural lives of the countrymen. Intermarriage among the tribal members became a common social practice, imported from Babylon in Mesopotamia. Extensive intermarriages among these tribes gave birth to subsequent descendants who became the future rulers of this European land.
Ancient Syria is somewhat full of assorted historical happenings, offering the land with diverse social and cultural backgrounds to advance through ages, towards prosperity and modernism.
|
