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ΣΥΡΙΑ (Χώρα) ΜΕΣΗ ΑΝΑΤΟΛΗ
This is the official site of the Ministry of Tourism of Syria (the Syrian Arab republic). The Site Contains information about destinations in Syria, Travel information and services available to the tourist in Syria.
ΣΥΡΙΑ (Χώρα) ΜΕΣΗ ΑΝΑΤΟΛΗ
ΑΝΤΑΡΑΔΟΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
Antaradus (Antarados, Ptol. v. 15. § 16; Hierocles, p. 716: Tartus),
a town of Phoenicia, situated at its northern extremity, and on the mainland over
against the island of Aradus, whence its name. According to the Antonine Itinerary
and Peutinger Table, it was 24 M. P. from Balanea, and 50 M. P. from Tripolis.
The writer in Ersch and Groer's Encyclopadie (s. v.) places Antaradus on the coast
about 2 miles to the N. of Aradus, and identifies it with Carne (Steph. B. s.
v.) or Carnos, the port of Aradus, according to Strabo (xvi. p. 753; comp. Plin.
v. 18). It was rebuilt by the emperor Constantius, A.D. 346, who gave it the name
of Constantia. (Cedren. Hist. Comp. p. 246.) It retained, however, its former
name, as we find its bishops under both titles in some councils after the reign
of Constantius. In the crusades it was a populous and well fortified town (Guil.
Tyr. vii. 15), and was known under the name of Tortosa (Tasso, Gerusalem. Liberata,
i. 6; Wilken, Die Kreuzz, vol. i. p. 255, ii. p. 200, vii. p. 340, 713). By Maundrell
and others the modern Tartus has been confounded with Arethusa, but incorrectly.
It is now a mean village of 241 taxable Moslems and 44 Greeks, according to the
American missionaries. (Bibliotheca Sacra, vol. v. p. 247.) The walls, built of
heavy bevelled stones, are still remaining the most imposing specimen of Phoenician
fortification in Syria. (Memoires sur les Pheniciens par l' Abbe Mignot, Acad.
des Belles Lettres, vol. xxxiv. p. 239; Edrisi, par Jaulert, p. 129, 130.)
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ΑΠΑΜΕΙΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
Apameia -ea, or -ia (Apameia: Eth. Apameus, Apameensis, Apamensis,
Apamenus, Apameus). (Kulat el-Mudik), a large city of Syria, situated in the valley
of the Orontes, and capital of the province of Apamene. (Steph. B. s. v.; Strab.
xvi. p. 752; Ptol. v. 15. § 19; Festus Avienus, v. 1083; Anton. Itin.; Hierocles.)
It was fortified and enlarged by Seleucus Nicator, who gave it its name after
his wife Apama (not his mother, as Steph. B. asserts; comp. Strab. p. 578). In
pursuance of his policy of Hellenizing Syria, it bore the Macedonian name of Pella.
The fortress (see Groskurd's note on Strabo, p. 752) was placed upon a hill; the
windings of the Orontes, with the lake and marshes, gave it a peninsular form,
whence its other name of Cherrhonesos. Seleucus had his commissariat there, 500
elephants, with 30,000 mares, and 300 stallions. The pretender, Tryphon Diodotus,
made Apamea the basis of his operations. Josephus (Ant. xiv. 3. § 2) relates,
that Pompeius marching south from his winter quarters, probably at or near Antioch,
razed the fortress of Apamea. In the revolt of Syria under Q. Caecilius Bassus,
it held out for three years till the arrival of Cassius, B.C. 46. (Dion. Cass.
xlvii. 26-28; Joseph. B. J. i. 10. § 10.)
In the Crusades it was still a flourishing and important place under
the Arabic name of Famieh, and was occupied by Tancred. (Wilken, Gesch. der Ks.
vol. ii. p. 474; Abulfeda, Tab. Syr. pp. 114, 157.) This name and site have been
long forgotten in the country. Niebuhr heard that Famieh was now called Kulat
el-Mudik. (Reise, vol. iii. p. 97.) And Burckhardt (Travels, p. 138) found the
castle of this name not far from the lake El Takah; and fixes upon it as the site
of Apamea.
Ruins of a highly ornamental character, and of an enormous extent,
are still standing, the remains, probably, of the temples of which Sozomen speaks
(vii. 15); part of the town is enclosed in an ancient castle situated on a hill;
the remainder is to be found in the plain. In the adjacent lake are the celebrated
black fish, the source of much wealth.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited July 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΑΡΑΔΟΣ (Νησί) ΣΥΡΙΑ
Aradus (he Arados: Eth. Aradios, Aradius: O. T. Arvad, Arvadite,
Gen. x. 18, 1 Chron. i. 16; Aradioi LXX.: Ruad), an island off the N. coast
of Phoenicia, at a distance of 20 stadia from the mainland. (Strab. p. 753.)
Pliny (v. 17), in estimating this distance at only 200 paces, falls short of
the true measurement (perhaps we should read 2,200 paces; see Tzschucke, ad
Pomp. Mel. ii. 7. § 6). Strabo describes it as a rock rising from the midst
of the waves, 7 stadia in circumference. Modern travellers state that it is
of oblong shape, with a slight rise towards the centre and steep on every side.
Though a rock rather than an island, it was extremely populous, and, contrary
to Oriental custom, the houses had many stories. According to Strabo, it owed
its foundation to Sidonian exiles. (Comp. Joseph. Ant. i. 6. § 2.) The city
of Aradus was next in importance after Tyre and Sidon. Like other Phoenician
cities, it was at first independent, and had its own kings; and it would seem
that the strip of land extending from Paltus to Simyra was dependent upon it.
In the time of the prophet Ezekiel (xxvii. 8, 11) it supplied Tyre with soldiers
and sailors. Along with the rest of Phoenicia, it became subject to Persia.
Afterwards, during the campaign of Alexander, Gerostratus, king of Aradus, was
serving in the Persian fleet under Autophradates, when his son Straton submitted
to the conqueror. Gerostratus assisted the Macedonians at the siege of Tyre.
(Arrian, Anab. i. 13, 20.) It fell into the hands; of the family of the Lagidae,
when Ptolemy Soter, B.C. 320, seized on Phoenicia and Coele Syria. Its wealth
and importance was greatly increased by the rights of asylum they obtained from
Seleucus Callinicus, B.C. 242, whom they had supported against Antiochus Hierax;
so much so that it was enabled to enter into an alliance with Antiochus the
Great. (Pol. v. 68.) Whence it may be inferred that it had previously become
independent, probably in the war between Ptolemy Philadelphus and Antiochus
Theos. The fact of its autonomy is certain from coins. (See Eckhel, vol. iii.
p. 393.) All these. advantages were lost under Antiochus Epiphanes, who, on
his return from Aegypt, took possession of the town and district. (Hieronym.
in Dan. xi.) In the war between Antiochus Grypus and Antiochus Cyzicenus it
declared itself in favour of the, latter; and when he was slain by Seleucus,
Antiochus Eusebes, his son, found shelter there, and by its aid, in concert
with other cities, maintained himself with varying success, till Syria submitted
to: Tigranes king of Armenia, and finally came under; the dominion of Rome.
In common with the rest of the province, it was mixed up in the Civil Wars.
(Appian, B.C. iv. 69, v. 1.) Coins of Aradus, ranging from Domitian to Elagabalus,
are enumerated in Eckhel. Under Constans, Mu awiyah, the lieutenant of the khalif
Omar, destroyed the city, and expelled the inhabitants. (Cedren. Hist. p. 355;
Theophan. p. 227.) As the town was. never rebuilt, it is only the island which
is mentioned by the historians of the Crusades. Tarsus was said to be a colony
from Aradus. (Dion Chrys. Orat. Tarsen. ii. p. 20, ed. Reiske.) A maritime population
of about 3,000 souls occupies the seat of this once busy and industrious hive.
Portions of the old double Phoenician walls are still found on the NE. and SE.
of the island, and the rock is perforated by the cisterns of which Strabo speaks.
The same author (see Groskurd's note, p. 754) minutely describes the contrivance
by which the inhabitants drew their water from a submarine source. Though the
tradition has been lost, the boatmen of Ruad still draw fresh water from the
spring Ain Ibrahim in the sea, a few rods from the shore of the opposite coast.
Mr. Walpole (The Ansayrii, vol. iii. p. 391): found two of these springs. A
few Greek inscriptions, taken from columns of black basalt, which, as there
is no trap rock in the island, must have been, brought over from the mainland,
are given (in the. Bibliotheca Sacra, New York, vol. v. p. 252) by the Rev.
W. Thomson. (Mignot, Mem. de l' Acad. des Inscript. vol. xxxiv. p. 229; Winer,
Real Wort. Buch. s. v. Arvad; Rosenmuller, Hand. Bib. Alt. vol. ii. pt. i. p.
7, with the Extracts from Maundrell, Shaw, Pococke, and Volney; Chesney, Exped.
Euphrat. vol. i. p. 451.)
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ΑΡΕΘΟΥΣΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
Arethusa (Arethousa: Eth. Arethousios, Arethusius, Plin. v. 23), a
city of Syria, not far from Apamea, situated between Epiphania and Emesa. (Anton.
Itin.; Hierocles.) Seleucus Nicator, in pursuance of his usual policy, Hellenized
the name. (Appian, Syr. 57.) It supported Caecilius Bassus in his revolt (Strab.
p. 753), and is mentioned by Zosimus (i. 52) as receiving Aurelian in his campaign
against Zenobia. (For Marcus, the well-known bishop of Arethusa, see Dict. of
Biog. s. v.) It afterwards took the name of Rastan (Abulf. Tab. Syr. p. 22), under
which name it is mentioned by the same author (An. Mus. ii. 213, iv. 429). Irby
and Mangles visited this place, and found some remains.
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ΔΑΜΑΣΚΟΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
Damascus (Damaskos: Eth. Damaskenos: the territory he Damaskene),
the capital city of Syria, both in ancient and modern times, though its preeminence
was disputed during the classical period by Antioch. It is an exceedingly ancient
city, being mentioned first in the history of Abraham's pursuit of the defeated
kings (Gen. xiv. 15); and his steward Eliezer was a native of Damascus (xv. 2).
Josephus ascribes its foundation to Uz, a grandson of Shem (Ant. i. 6. § 3). During
the period of the Hebrew monarchy it was the head or capital of Syria (Isaiah,
vii. 8), and the Syrian king is called the king of Damascus (2 Chron. xxiv. 23).
But during the struggles between these neighbouring kingdoms it occasionally fell
into the hands of the Israelites. Thus David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus,
and the Syrians became servants to David (2 Sam. viii. 6; 1 Chron. xviii. 6),
after he had defeated Hadarezer, king of Zobah, to whom the Syrians of Damascus
had allied themselves. The fact that Tadmor in the wilderness was built by Solomon
(2 Chron. viii. 4), which further gives countenance to the very ancient and consistent
tradition of his connection with Baalbek, proves that David's son and successor
retained possession of southern Syria; but Damascus was during this time subject
to Rezon, a vassal of Hadarezer. (1 Kings, xi. 23-25.) Subsequently to the division
of the Hebrew kingdom, cir. B.C. 900, we find a Hebrew quarter in Damascus ceded
by treaty to Ahab by Benhadad (1 Kings, xx. 34), and the city was at length recovered
to Israel by Jeroboam, son of Joash, king of Israel (cir. B.C. 822). (2 Kings,
xiv. 28.) The alliance of Syria with Israel against Judah led Ahaz to call in
the aid of Tiglathpileser, king of Assyria, who, in consequence, went up against
Damascus and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir (cir. B.C. 740),
according to the prophecy of Amos, delivered about fifty years before the event.
(2 Kings, xvi. 9; Amos, i. 5.) From this time it followed the fortunes of the
Assyrian empire, but does not appear at any time to have had much importance in
a military view. Besides which, its political and commercial importance after
the time of Alexander the Great was eclipsed by Antioch and other cities founded
by the Seleucidae; which may further account for the scanty notices of it that
occur in classical authors. Strabo describes it as polis axiologos, schedon ti
kai epiphanestate ton tautni kata ta Persika (xvi. p. 756). Pliny says that according
to some it was reckoned as one of the cities of the Dccapolis (v. 18). He only
further mentions it for its alabaster (xxxvi. 18). It is, however, strange that
so renowned a city, the subject of such extravagant eulogy in the poems and romances
of the Orientals, should be almost unnoticed in the classical poets; the ventosa
Damascus of Lucan - certainly not a well-chosen epithet - being the sum of their
tribute to this most remarkable and beautiful city (iii. 215).
In the annals of the church it is noted for the conversion and first
preaching of the apostle St. Paul, which synchronised with the occupation of the
city by the ethnarch of Aretas, the king apparently of Arabia or Petra. (2 Cor.
xi. 32.) As the event is not chronicled by any historian, the circumstances under
which this petty king had come into possession of so important a place are very
doubtful; but it is certain that it was subject to the Roman rule until the reign
of Heraclius, when it was taken by the Saracens in the 13th year of the Hejira
(A.D. 634), from which time, as if to compensate for its temporary eclipse, it
has been the delight and glory of the East, and celebrated by the Arabian poets
as the terrestrial Paradise.
Damascus, now called Es-Sham, is situated at the distance of two days'
journey, or about 60 miles from the coast of the Mediterranean, not far from the
eastern base of the range of Antilibanus, and at the western extremity of the
great desert of El-Hauran (Auranitis), which extends westward to the Euphrates,
and southward to the Arabian peninsula. It presents the peculiar phenomenon of
a city in the midst of gardens, watered by numerous streams. It is surrounded
by a wall, which is however in a state of ruinous decay, and scarcely defines
the limits between the city and its suburbs. In 1843, the population of Damascus
was stated at 111.552, of which number about 12.000 were Christians, and 5000
Jews. It is governed by a pasha, whose rule extends from the Euphrates to the
Jordan, and from the vicinity of Aleppo to the confines of Arabia.
The Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, are of Scripture celebrity
(2 Kings, v. 12), and both Strabo and Pliny mention the Chrysorroa, to which the
latter ascribes the fertility of the soil ( Damascum ex epoto riguis amne Chrysoroa
fertilem); and Strabo remarks that its waters are almost entirely consumed in
irrigation, for that it waters a large extent of deep soil. There are, in fact,
as the writer ascertained, two copious sources in the eastern roots of Antilibanus,
the Barada and the Phege. Of these, the Barada is far the most copious, and being
divided into numerous rivulets on emerging from the mountains above the city,
waters its innumerable gardens. The water, however, is not good for drinking,
and the inhabitants of the villages along its course in the Wady Barada are subject
to goitre. Even the poor of Damascus do not ordinarily drink this water. This
is probably the Abana of Scripture. The Pharpar is represented by the Phege, a
smaller stream of delicious water, whose source was explored by Pocock. It emerges
from the mountain range through the same valley as the Barada, and is conducted
by aqueducts and pipes to all parts of the city for the purpose of supplying the
inhabitants with drinking water. The scanty surplus of the two streams forms a
small lake below the city, called Bahr-el-Merj.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΕΜΕΣΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
Emesa or Emissa (Emissa: Eth. Emisenoi), a city of Syria, reckoned
by Ptolemy to that part of the district of Apamene, on the right or eastern bank
of the Orontes (v. 15. § 19), to which Pliny assigns a desert district beyond
Palmyra (v. 26). It is chiefly celebrated in ancient times for its magnificent
temple of the Sun; and the appointment of its young priest Bassianus, otherwise
called Elagabalus or Heliogabalus, to the imperial dignity, in his fourteenth
year, by the Roman legionaries of Syria (A.D. 218; Dict. of Biogr. s. v. Elagabalus).
It was in the neighbourhood of Emesa that Zenobia, queen of Palmyra, was defeated
by the emperor Aurelian, A.D. 272. (Vopisc. Aurel. 25.) It was originally governed
by independent chiefs, of whom the names of Sampsiceramus and lamblichus are preserved.
(Strab. xvi. p. 753.) It was made a colony with the Jus Italicum by Caracalla
(Ulpian, ap. Dig. 50. tit. 15. s. 1), and afterwards became the capital of Phoenicia
Libanesia. (Hierocl.; Malal. xii. p. 296, ed. Bonn.) There are still extant coins
of Caracalla and Elagabalus, in which it is called a metropolis. On the coins
of Caracalla it is called a colony, and on those of Elagabalus a metropolis, to
which dignity it was no doubt elevated by the latter emperor. The annexed coin
of Caracalla represents on the reverse the temple of the Sun. (Eckhel, vol. iii.
p. 311.). The present name of Emesa is Hems.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΕΠΙΦΑΝΕΙΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
Epiphaneia (Epiphaneia: Eth. EpiphaneWs), a city of Syria, placed
by Ptolemy in 69° 36', 30° 26', in the district of Cassiotis, in which also Antioch
and Larissa were situated. The Itinerary of Antoninus places it 16 miles from
Larissa, 32 from Emesa (Arethusa lying half way between it and the latter), and
so 101 from Antioch of Syria. It was situated on the western bank of the Orontes,
lower down the stream than Emesa (i. e. to the north), and is supposed to be identical
with the ancient Hamath (2 Sam. viii. 9; 1 Kings, viii. 65; Is. x. 9), called
also Hamath the Great (Amos, vi. 2). St. Jerome states that both Antioch and Epiphaneia
were formerly named Hamath. and mentions that the first station on the road to
Mesopotamia (qy. from Antioch) was in his day named Emmas, probably the modern
Hems Emesa. Eusebius (Onomast. s. v. Emath) does not think it to be Epiphaneia
near Emesa; but St. Jerome, in the same place, maintains their identity, and says
that Epiphaneia was still called Hamath by the native Syrians. (Comp. Onomast.
s. v. Aemath.) Aquila also rendered Emath, gen Epiphaneian ges Surias. (Theodoret.
Quaest. 22 in 2 King.); and Theodoret, in common with St. Jerome, mentions both
Epiphaneia and Emesa as Hamath, and says that the former was still so called.
(Comment. in Jerem. xlvi. and iv.) Reland, however (Palaest. pp. 119, 120, 317),
doubts the identity, and is disposed to place the Hamath of Scripture further
south, and nearer to the confines of the land of Israel, as indeed Numb. xiii.
21 and other passages above referred to seem to require. This, however, would
not disprove the assertion that Epiphaneia was formerly called Hamath, the proof
of which rests on independent ground, and is greatly confirmed by the fact of
its retaining that name among the natives in St. Jerome's time, as indeed it does
to this day. being still called Hamah, which is described by Irby and Mangles
as delightfully situated in a hollow, between and on the sides of two hills, near
the west bank of the Orontes, but in itself presents nothing worthy of notice
at this day. (Travels, p. 244.)
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ΙΕΡΑΠΟΛΙΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
Hierapolis (Hiera polis), the Sacred City of Cyrrhestica in Syria,
situated on the high road from Antioch to Mesopotamia, 24 M. P. to the W. of the
Euphrates and 36 M. P. to the SW. of Zeugma (Pent. Tab.), 2 1/2 days' journey
from Beroea, and 5 days' from Antioch (Zosim. iii. 12).
Hierapolis, or Hieropolis as it is called always on coins and in Stephanus
of Byzantium, obtained its Hellenic name from Seleucus Nicator (Aelian, H. A.
xii. 2), owing to the circumstance of Bambyce (Bambuke), as it was called by the
natives, being the chief seat of the worship of the Syrian goddess Astarte, or
personification of the passive powers of Nature. (Lucian, de Dea Syr. c. i.)
Bambycen quae alio nomine Hierapolis vocatur; Syris vero Magog. Ibi
prodigiosa Atargatis, Graecis autem Deeceto dicta, colitur, Plin. v. 19. Sillig
(ad loc.) has in his text Mabog, which is the correct reading, and appears in
the Oriental forms Munbedj (Jaubert, Geog. d'Edrise, vol. ii. pp. 138, 155), Manbesja,
Manbesjum (Schultens, Vita Salad.), Menba, Manba (Schultens, Index Geogr.), Manbegj
(Abu-l-feda, Tab. Syr. p. 128), and the modern name Kara Bambuche, or Buguk Munbedj.
Under the Seleucidae, from its central position be-tween Antioch and Seleuceia
on the delta of the Tigris, it became a great emporium. Strabo (xvi. p. 748) has
given an interesting account of the passage of the caravans from Syria to Seleuceia
and Babylon; the confusion of Edessa and Hierapolis is an error probably of the
transcriber (comp. Groskurd, ad loc.). Crassus plundered the rich temple of the
goddess, who presided over the elements of nature and the productive seeds of
things, and seized upon the treasures, which it took several days to weigh and
examine. And it was here that an ill omen befel him. (Plut. Crass. 17.)
Under Constantine, Hierapolis became the capital of the new province
Euphratensis. (Malal. Chron. xiii. p. 317.) Julian, in his Persian campaign, appointed
Hierapolis as the rendezvous for the Roman troops before their passage of the
Euphrates. He has given an account of his march to it, which took up five days,
in a letter to Libanius (Ep. xxvii.), and remained there three days, at the house
of Sopater, a distinguished pupil of Iamblichus. At Hierapolis one of those unlucky
signs which Ammianus (xxiii. 2. § 6) has so carefully recorded, took place at
his entrance into the town. (Comp. Gibbon, c. xxiv; Le Beau, Bas Empire, vol.
iii. p. 58.)
With the establishment of Christianity, Hierapolis recovered its ancient,
indigenous Syrian name, but lost its splendour and magnificence by the downfall.
of the old worship (A.D. 540). Buzes, who commanded during the absence of Belisarius
in the East, concentrated his forces at Hierapolis, but it only escaped being
pillaged by Chosroes by the payment of tribute. (Procop. B. P. ii. 6; Gibbon,
c. xlii.; Le Beau, vol. ix. p. 12.)
A.D. 1068 it was captured by the emperor Romanus Diogenes, in his
valiant efforts to resist the progress of the Turks. (Zonar. vol. ii. p. 279;
Le Beau, vol. xiv. p. 472.)
It does not fall within the province of this article to trace the
connection between Bambyce = Bombycina urbs, Bombyciis copiis gaudens, and the
introduction of the silk-worm from the East; much curious information on this
point will be found in Ritter (Erdkunde, vol. x. pp. 1056-1062).
The ruins of this city were first discovered and described by Maundrell
(Journal, p. 204) and by Pococke (Trav. vol. ii. pt. i. p. 166). But it was not
till the period of Colonel Chesney's Expedition. that the position was accurately
fixed.
At a distance of 16 miles W. by S. of the passage of Kal‘--at-en-ejm,
at about 600 feet above the Euphrates, the ruins of Hierapolis occupy the centre
of a rocky plain, where, by its isolated position, the city must not only have
been deprived of running water, but likewise of every advantage which was likely
to create and preserve a place of importance.
Some ruined mosques and square Saracenic towers, with the remains
of its surrounding walls and ditches, mark the limits of the Muslim city, within
which are four large cisterns, a fine sarcophagus, and, among other ancient remains,
the scattered ruins of an acropolis and two temples.
Of the smaller, the inclosure and portions of seven columns remain;
but it seems to possess little interest compared with the larger, which may have
been that of the Syrian Queen of Heaven. Among the remains of the latter are some
fragments of massive architecture, not unlike the Aegyptian, and 11 arches form
one side of a square paved court, over which are scattered the shafts of columns
and capitals displaying the lotus.
A little way to the W. of the walls there is an extensive necropolis,
which contains many Turkish, with some Pagan, Seljukian, and Syriac tombs; the
last having some almost illegible inscriptions in the ancient character. (Chesney,
Exped. Euphrat. vol. i. p. 516.) Hierapolis was the ecclesiastical metropolis
of the province Euphratensis. (Neale, Hist. of East. Church, vol. i. p. 134.)
Eckhel (vol. iii. p. 261) has noticed the fact, that the coins of
Hierapolis copy the type of those of Antioch: they are Seleucid, autonomous, and
imperial, ranging from Trajan to the elder and younger Philip.
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ΚΑΙΣΑΡΕΙΑ ΦΙΛΙΠΠΩΝ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
Paneas, Panias, or Paneias (Paneas, Panias, Paneias, Hierocl. p. 716),
more usually called either Caesareia Paneas (Kaisareia Paneas or Panias, Joseph.
Ant. xviii. 2. § 3, B. Jud. ii. 9. §1; Ptol. v. 15. § 21; Plin. v. 15. s. 15;
Sozom. v. 21; on coins, K. hupo Paneioi and pros Paneioi; in Steph. B. incorrectly
pros pei Paneadi) or Caesareia Philippi (K. he Philippou, Matth. xvi. 13; Mark,
viii. 27; Joseph. Ant. xx. 8. § 4, B. J. iii. 8. § 7, 2. § 1; Euseb. H. E. vii.
17), a city in the north of Palestine, called by Ptolemy and Hierocles (ll. cc.)
a city of Phoenicia, situated upon one of the sources of the Jordan, at the foot
of Mt. Panium, one of the branches of Lebanon. Mt Panium contained a cave sacred
to Pan, whence it derived its name. (Philostorg. vii. 7.) At this spot Herod erected
a temple in honour of Augustus. (Joseph. Ant. xv. 10. § 3, B. J. i. 21. § 3.)
Paneas was supposed by many to have been the town of Laish, afterwards called
Dan; but Eusebius and Jerome state that they were separate cities, distant 4 miles
from each other. (Reland, Palaestina, p. 918, seq.) Paneas was rebuilt by Philip
the Tetrarch, who called it Caesareia in honour of the Roman emperor, and gave
it the surname of Philippi to distinguish it from the other Caesareia in Palestine.
(Joseph. Ant. xviii. 2. § 3, B. J. ii. 9. § 1.) It was subsequently called Neronias
by Herod Agrippa in honour of the emperor Nero. (Joseph. Ant. xx. 8. § 4; Coins.)
According to ecclesiastical tradition it was the residence of the women diseased
with an issue of blood. (Matth. ix. 20; Euseb. H. E. vii. 18; Sozom. v. 21; Theoph.
Chronogr. 41 ; Phot. cod. 271.) Under the Christians Paneas became a bishopric.
It is still called Banias, and contains now only 150 houses. On the NE. side of
the village the river, supposed to be the principal source of the Jordan, issues
from a spacious cavern under a wall of rock. Around this source are many hewn
stones. In the face of the perpendicular rock, directly over the cavern and in
other parts, several niches have been cut, apparently to receive statues. Each
of these niches had once an inscription; and one of them, copied by Burckhardt,
appears to have been a dedication by a priest of Pan. There can be no doubt that
this cavern is the cave of Pan mentioned above; and the hewn stones around the
spring may have belonged perhaps to the temple of Augustus. This spring was considered
by Josephus to be the outlet of a small lake called Phiala, situated 120 stadia
from Paneas towards Trachonitis or the NE. Respecting this lake see Vol. II. p.
519, b.
(Reland, Palaestina, p. 918, seq.; Eckhel, vol. iii. p. 339, seq.; Burckhardt,
Syria, p. 37, seq.; Robinson, Bibl. Res. vol. iii. p. 347, seq.)
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ΚΟΙΛΗ ΣΥΡΙΑ (Αρχαία επαρχία) ΣΥΡΙΑ
Marsyas (Marsums), a river of Coelesyria, mentioned only by Pliny
(v. 23) as dividing Apameia from the tetrarchy of the Nazerini. It was probably
the river mentioned-without its name--by Abulfeda as a tributary of the Orontes,
which, rising below Apameia, falls into the lake synonymous with that city, and
so joins the Orontes. The modern name Yarmuk is given by Pococke, who places it
in his map on the east of the Orontes. (Abulfeda, Tabula Syriae, ed. Koehler,
pp. 151, 152; Pococke, Description of the East, vol. ii. p. 79.) It doubtless
gave its name to Marsyas, a district of Syria, mentioned by Strabo, who joins
it with Ituraea, and defines its situation by the following notes:-It adjoined
the Macra Campus, on its east, and had its commencement at Laodiceia ad Libanum.
Chalcis was, as it were, an acropolis of the district. This Chalcis is joined
with Heliopolis, as under the power of Ptolemy, son of Mennaeus, who ruled over
Marsyas and Ituraea. (Strab. xvi. pp. 753, 755.) The same geographer speaks of
Chalcidice apo tou Marsuou kathekousa (p., 153), and extends it to the sources
of the Orontes, above which was the Aulon basilikos (p. 155), now the Bekaa. From
these various notices it is evident that the Marsyas comprehended the valley of
the Orontes from its rise to Apameia, where it was bounded on the north probably
by the river of the same name. But it extended westward to the Macra Campus, which
bordered on the Mediterranean. (Mannert, Geographic von Syrien, pp. 326, 363.)
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ΚΟΜΜΑΓΗΝΗ (Αρχαία χώρα) ΣΥΡΙΑ
Commagene (Kommagene, Ptol. v. 15; Strab. xi. p. 521, xii. pp. 533,
535, xvi. p. 749; Plin. v. 12. s. 24; Tac. Ann. ii. 42), a district of Syria,
lying to the N., bounded on the E. by the Euphrates, on the W. by Cilicia, and
on the N. by Amanus. It was celebrated for its rich and fertile country (Strab.
xii. p. 535; Tac. Ann. xv. 12), and was attached to the Syrian kingdom in the
flourishing period of the Seleucidae. But in the civil wars of Grypus and his
brothers, and in the disorders which followed, Commagene gradually acquired independence,
and had its own sovereigns connected with the Seleucid family. It remained an
independent kingdom for upwards of a century. It is only necessary to give here
a list of the kings of Commagene; since a full account of them will be found in
the Dictionary of Biography under each name: Antiochus I.; Mithridates I.; Antiochus
II.; Mithridates II.; Antiochus III. After the death of Antiochus III. in A.D.
17, Commagene became for a short time a Roman province, but was afterwards given
in A.D. 38 to the son of the late king Antiochus IV. In A.D. 73, it was again
reduced to the condition of a province, and its capital Samosata received the
additional name of Flavia, and a new aera which commences with the year A.D. 71.
(Eckhel, vol. iii. p. 252; Clinton, F.R. vol. i. p. 60; Suet. Vesp. 8; Eutrop.
viii. 19; Oros. vii. 9.)
In later time this district, united with that of Cyrrhestica, received
the name of Euphratensis (Amm. Marc. xiv. 8. § 7, xxiii. 6. § 21; Procop. Aed.
ii. 8, B. P. i. 17, ii. 20), or Augusto-phratensis (Aurel. Vict. Epit. ix. 13),
and was placed under a praeses. Constantine made Hierapolis the capital instead
of Samosata (Malal. Chron. xiii. p. 317). In A.D. 543 the Persians under Chosroes
made an inroad upon Euphratensis, intending to advance by that route upon Jerusalem,
but were compelled to retreat by Belisarius. (Le Beau, Bas Empire, vol. ix. p.
68; Norisius, de Epoch. Syro-Mac. Diss. ii. c. 4; Clinton, F. H. vol. iii. p.
343; St. Martin, Mem. sur l'Armenie, vol. i. p. 193; Ritter, Erdkzunde, vol. x.
p. 929.)
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ΛΑΟΔΙΚΕΙΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
The modern city is named Ladikiyeh, and still exhibits faint traces
of its former importance, notwithstanding the frequent earthquakes with which
it has been visited. Irby and Mangles noticed that the Marina is built upon foundations
of ancient columns, and there are in the town, an old gateway and other antiquities,
as also sarcophagi and sepulchral caves in the neighbourhood. (Travels, p. 223.)
This gateway has been more fully described by Shaw and Pococke, as a remarkable
triumphal arch, at the SE. corner of the town, almost entire: it is built with
four entrances, like the Forum Jani at Rome. It is conjectured that this arch
was built in honour of Lucius Verus, or of Septimius Severus. (Description of
the East, vol. ii. p. 197.) Shaw noticed several fragments of Greek and Latin
inscriptions, dispersed all over the ruins, but entirely defaced. Pococke states
that it was a very inconsiderable place till within fifty years of his visit,
when it opened a tobacco trade with Damietta, and it has now an enormous traffic
in that article, for which it is far more celebrated than ever it was for its
wine. The port is half an hour distant from the town, very small, but better sheltered
than any on the coast. Shaw noticed, a furlong to the west of the town, the ruins
of a beautiful cothon, in figure like an amphitheatre, and capacious enough to
receive the whole British navy. The mouth of it opens to the westward, and is
about 40 feet wide.
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ΜΑΡΑΘΟΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
Marathus (Marathos: Eth. Marathenaios al. Marathenos), a city on the
coast of Syria, north of Aradus, placed by Ptolemy in the district of Cassiotis,
which extended as far north as Antioch. It is joined with Enydra, and was a ruin
in Strabo's time. It was on the confines of Phoenice, and the district was then
under the dominion of the Aradians (Strab. xvi. p. 753; comp. Plin. v. 20), who
had been foiled in a former attempt to reduce it to their power. The story, as
given in a fragment of Diodorus (lib. xxxii. vol.x. p.76-78, ed. Bipont; vol.
ii. p. 593, ed. Wess.), is as follows. The people of Aradus having seized what
they considered a favourable opportunity for the destruction of the people of
Marathus, sent privately to Ammonius, prime minister of Alexander Balas, the king
of Syria, and bribed him with the offer of 300 talents to deliver up Marathus
to them. The unfortunate inhabitants of the devoted city attempted in vain to
appease their enemies. The Aradians violated the common laws of suppliants, broke
the very ancient images of the local deities,- which the Maratheni had brought
to add solemnity to their embassy, - stoned the ambassadors, and cast them into
prison: according to another account, they murdered some, and forged letters in
their names, which they sealed with their seals, promising succour to Marathus,
with a view of introducing their troops into the city under this pretence. But
discovering that the citizens of Marathus were informed of their design, they
desisted from the attempt. The facts of its final subjugation to Aradus are not
preserved. Pliny (v. 20) places Marathus opposite to the island of Aradus, which
he says was 200 passus (=1000 Roman feet) from the coast. Diodorus (l. c.) states
the distance between Aradus and Marathus to be 8 stadia; which need not be inconsistent
with the statement of Pliny, as the latter may be supposed to measure to the point
on the mainland nearest to Aradus, the former the distance between that island
and the town of Marathus. The fact, however, is, that even the statement of Diodorus
is too short for the nearest point on the coast; for this island is, according
to Maundrell (March 7, p. 19), about a league distant from the shore. And Pococke,
who crossed the strait, says it is reckoned to be about two miles from the continent.
(Observations on Syria, p. 201.) The 20 stadia of Strabo is therefore much more
correct than either of the other authorities. He says that the island lay off
an exposed coast (rhachiodous kai alimenou), between its port (Caranus lege Carnos)
and Marathus: and what was the respective situation of these towns he intimates
in another passage, where, reckoning from the north, he enumerates Balanaea, Carnos,
Enydra, Marathus. Pococke takes Tortosa to be without doubt Caranus (Carnos) the
port of Aradus on the continent; and as this is two miles north of Aradus, he
properly looks for Marathus to the south,--identifying Enydra with Ein-el-Hye
(the Serpent's Fountain), directly opposite to Aradus (p. 203), and suggesting
that some ruins which he observed on a raised ground, at the northern extremity
of a plain, about 7 miles south of Tortosa, might possibly be Marathus (p. 204).
These conjectures may be admitted with some slight modifications. Thus, e. g.,
instead of identifying Tortosa with Carnos, this naval arsenal of the Arvadites
must be placed about 2 1/2 miles north of Tortosa, where a late traveller has
discovered extensive ruins, called by the Arab peasants Carnoon,- the site, doubtless,
of the Carnos or Caranus of the ancients. The people from Arvad still quarry stones
from these ruins; and below it, on the north, is a small harbour, which appears
to have been fortified like that of Tortosa. (Thompson, in Bibliotheca Sacra,
vol. v. p. 254.) A fresh-water spring in the sea, is mentioned by Strabo; and
a mile to the south, between Carnoos and Tortosa, a few rods from the shore, an
immense fountain, called ‘Ain Ibrahim (Abraham's fountain), boils up from the
bottom. Tortosa, then, will be, as many mediaeval writers maintained, Antaradus,
which Arabic geographers write Antartus and Antarsus; whence the common Arabic
name Tartus, in Italian Tortosa (l.c. p.247, n. 1). ‘Ain-el-Hiyeh, written by
Pococke Ein-el-Hye, is certainly the Enydra of Strabo; the geographer, or his
informant, having in this, as in so many other instances, retained the first half
of the native name, and translated the latter half,- En being the usual Greek
and Latin equivalent for the Semetic ‘Ayn =fountain, and the hydra a sufficiently
close representative of the Semetic Hiyeh = serpent. South of this fountain are
very extensive quarries, five or six miles to the south of Tortosa. This neighbourhood
is called by the Arabs Amreed or Maabed Amreet ` the fane of Amreet.' This name
the Greeks probably changed into Marathus, and the old vaults, foundations, sarcophagi,
&c., near ‘Ain-el-Hiyeh (Serpent's Fountain), may mark the precise locality of
ancient Marathus. (Thompson, l. c. p. 250.) Pococke describes here a rock-hewn
temple, and monolithic house and chambers; besides a kind of semicircle, which
he thinks might serve for some sports to divert the people of Aradus and Antaradus,
or of the ancient Marathus, if that was near. It was probably a circus (p. 203).
It was the more necessary to identify these sites, as D'Anville placed
the ancient Marathus at the modern Marakiah, which is, doubtless, the representative
of Mutatio Maraccas of the Jerusalem Itinerary, on the confines of Syria and Phoenice,
13 M. P. south of Balaneas (now Baneas), and 10 M. P. north of Antaradus: and
this error is perpetuated in Arrowsmith's map.
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ΝΙΚΗΦΟΡΙΟΝ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
Nicephorium (Nikephorion, Strab. xvi. p. 747; Ptol. v. 18. § 6; Steph.
B. s. v.), a place of considerable importance in Mesopotamia, on the river Euphrates.
According to Isidorus (Mans. Parth. i. ed. Muller) and Pliny (v. 24. s. 21, vi.
26. s. 30), it owed its foundation to Alexander the Great; according, however,
to Appian, to Seleucus I., which is much more likely (Syriac. c. 57). It is mentioned
by Dion Cassius (xl. 13) and by Tacitus (Ann. vi. 40), but simply as one of many
towns founded by the Macedonians. Strabo calls it a town of the Mygdonians in
Mesopotamia (xvi. p. 747). Nothing is known of its intermediate history; but Justinian
erected a fortress here (Procop. de Aedif. ii. 7); and the emperor Leo, who probably
added several new works to it, is said to have changed its name to Leontopolis.
(Cf. Hierocl. p. 715; and Chron. Edess. ap. Assemani, i. p. 405.)
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ΟΡΟΝΤΗΣ (Ποταμός) ΣΥΡΙΑ
The most renowned river of Syria, used by the poet Juvenal for the
country, in Tiberim defluxit Orontes. (Juv. iii.) Its original name, according
to Strabo, was Typhon (Tuphon), and his account both of its earlier and later
names, follows his description of Antioch. The river Orontes flows near the city.
This river rising in Coele-Syria, then sinking beneath the earth, again issues
forth, and, passing through the district of Apamea to Antiocheia, after approaching
the city, runs off to the sea towards Seleuceia. It received its name from one
Orontes, who built a bridge over it, having been formerly called Typhon, from
a mythic dragon, who being struck with lightning, fled in quest of a hiding-place,
and after marking out the course of the stream with its trail, plunged into the
earth, from whence forthwith issued the fountain. He places its embouchure 40
stadia from Seleuceia (xvi. p. 750). He elsewhere places the source of the river
more definitely near to Libanus and the Paradise, and the Egyptian wall, by the
country of Apamea (p. 756). Its sources have been visited and described in later
times by Mr. Barker in 1835. The river is called by the people El-‘A' si, ‘the
rebel,’ from its refusal to water the fields without the compulsion of water-wheels,
according to Abulfeda (Tab. Syr. p. 149), but according to Mr. Barker, from its
occasional violence and windings, during a course of about 200 miles in a northerly
direction, passing through Hems and Hamah, and finally discharging itself into
the sea at Suweidiah near Antioch. (Journal of the Geog. Soc. vol. vii. p. 99.)
The most remote of these sources is only a few miles north of Baalbek, near a
village called Labweh, at the foot of the range of Anti-libanus on the top of
a hillock, near which passes a small stream, which has its source in the adjoining
mountains, and after flowing for several hours through the plain, falls into the
basin from which springs the Orontes. These fountains are about 12 hours north
of Labweh, near the village Kurmul, where is a remarkable monument, square, and
solid, terminating above in a pyramid from 60 to 70 feet high. On the four sides
hunting scenes are sculptured in relief, of which the drawing borders on the grotesque.
(Robinson, Journal of Geog. Soc. vol. xxiv. p. 32.) There can be no difficulty
in connecting this monument with the Paradise or hunting park mentioned by Strabo
near the source of the Orontes, similar, no doubt, in origin and character, to
those with which the narrative of Xenophon abounds, within the territories of
the Persian monarchs. The rise and course of this river and its various tributaries
has been detailed by Col. Chesney (Expedition, vol. i. pp. 394-398), and the extreme
beauty of its lower course between Antioch and the sea has been described in glowing
terms by Captains Irby and Mangles. (Travels, pp. 225, 226.)
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ΠΑΛΜΥΡΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
Palmyra (Palmura, Ptol. v. 15. § § 19, 24, viii. 20. § 10; Appian,
B.C. v. 9: Palmira, Joseph. Ant. viii. 2; and Palmira, Plin. v. 25. s. 21: Eth.
Palmyrenus, or Palmirenus, Id. l. c.), a city of Syria, situated in 34° 24? N.
lat., and 38° 20' E. long. Its Hebrew name, Tadmor, or Thadmor, denotes, like
its Greek one, a city of palms; and this appellation is preserved by the Arabs,
who still call it Tedmor. Tadmor was built, or more probably enlarged, by Solomon
in the tenth century B.C. (1 Kings, ix. 18; 2 Chron. viii. 4), and its identity
with Palmyra is shown in the passage of Josephus before cited. It is seated in
a pleasant and fruitful oasis of the great Syrian desert, and is well watered
by several small streams; but the river mentioned by Ptolemy is nowhere to be
found. Its situation is fine, under a ridge of hills towards the W., and a little
above the level of an extensive plain, which it commands on the E. (Wood, Ruins
of Parlmyra, p. 5), at a distance of about 140 miles ENE. of Damascus. It is not
mentioned by Xenophon, who must have passed near it, nor in the accounts of the
conquests of Alexander the Great. The first historical notice that we find of
it is in Appian, who tells us that M. Antony, under pretence of punishing its
equivocal conduct, but in reality to enrich his troops with the plunder of a thriving
commercial city, directed his march towards it, but was frustrated of his object
by the inhabitants removing their goods to the other side of the Euphrates. (B.
Civ. v. c. 9.) This account shows that it must have been a town of considerable
wealth; and indeed its advantageous situation must have long rendered it an entrepot
for the traffic between the east and Damascus and the Phoenician cities on the
Mediterranean. Yet its name is not mentioned either by Strabo or Mela. Under the
first Roman emperors it was an independent city; and its situation on the borders
of the Roman and Parthian empires gave it a political importance, which it seems
to have preserved by a well-judged course of policy, though naturally exposed
to much danger in the quarrels of two such formidable neighbours. ( Inter duo
imperia summa, et prima--in discordia semper utrinque cura, Plin. l. c.) It is
called a colonia on the coins of Caracalla, and Ulpian mentioned it in his first
book de Censibus as having the Jus Italicum. It appears, from an inscription,
to have assisted the emperor Alexander Severus in his wars against the Persians.
(Wood, Inscr. xix.) It is not, however, till the reign of Gallienus that we find
Palmyra playing any important part in history; and at this period we have notices
of it in the works of Zosimus, Vopiscus, and Trebellius Pollio. Odenathus, a noble
of Palmyra, and according to Procopius (B. Pers. ii. c. 5) prince of the Saracens
who inhabited the banks of the Euphrates, for his great and splendid services
against the Persians, received from Gallienus the title of Augustus, and was acknowledged
by him as his colleague in the empire. After the assassination of Odenathus by
his nephew Maeonius, the celebrated Zenobia, the wife of the former, whose prudence
and courage had been of great assistance to Odenathus in his former successes,
ascended the vacant throne, and, assuming the magnificent title of Queen of the
East, ruled with a manly vigour during a period of five years. Under this extraordinary
woman, whose talents and accomplishments were equalled by her beauty, and whose
love of literature is shown by her patronage of Longinus, Palmyra attained the
highest pitch of its prosperity. She claimed to be descended from the Macedonian
kings of Egypt, and her achievements would not have disgraced her ancestry; though,
according to other accounts, she was a Jewess. (Milman, Hist. of the Jews, iii.
p. 175.) Besides the sovereignty of Syria and Mesopotamia, she is said to have
extended her sway over Egypt (Zosim. i. c. 44); but by some critics this fact
has been questioned. Claudius, the successor of Gallienus, being engaged in the
Gothic War, tacitly acknowledged her authority. But after the termination of the
short reign of that emperor, the progress of Zenobia in Asia Minor was regarded
by Aurelian with jealousy and alarm. Her arms and intrigues already menaced the
security of Bithynia (IB.C. 50), when Aurelian marched against her, and defeated
her in two great battles near Antioch and Emesa, at both of which she commanded
in person. Zenobia now retreated to Palmyra, and prepared to defend her capital
with vigour. The difficulties of the siege are described by Aurelian himself in
an original letter preserved by Vopiscus. (Aurel. c. 26.) After defying for a
long time the arms of the Roman emperor, Zenobia, being disappointed of the succour
which she expected to receive from the Persians, was ultimately compelled to fly,
but was. overtaken on the banks of the Euphrates by the light horse of Aurelian,
and brought back a prisoner. Shortly after this event her capital surrendered,
and was treated with clemency by the conqueror, who, however, sullied his fame
by the cruel execution of Longinus and some of the principal citizens, whom Zenobia
had denounced to him. The personal adventures of Zenobia we need not pursue, as
they will be found related in the Dictionary of Biography and Mythology. No sooner
had Aurelian crossed the Hellespont than he was recalled by the intelligence that
the Palmyrenians had risen against and massacred the small garrison which he had
left in their city. The emperor immediately marched again to Palmyra, which now
paid the full penalty of its rebellion. In an original letter Aurelian has himself
recorded the unsparing execution, which extended even to old men, women, and children.
(Vopisc. Aur. c. 31.) To the remnant of the Palmyrenians, [p. 537] indeed, he
granted a pardon, with permission to repair and inhabit their ruined city, and
especially discovered much solicitude for the restoration of the Temple of the
Sun. But the effects of the blow were too heavy to be retrieved. From this period
(A.D. 273) Palmyra gradually dwindled into an insignificant town, and at length
became only a place of refuge for a few families of wandering Arabs. It served
indeed for some years as a Roman military station; and Diocletian partially restored
some of its buildings, as appears from an inscription preserved by Wood. About
the year 400 the first Illyrian legion was quartered there (Not. Imp.); and Procopius
tells us that it was fortified by Justinian (de Aed. ii. 2). But this is the last
that we hear of Palmyra under the Romans; and the sinking for-tunes of their empire
probably soon led them to abandon it.
The remains of the buildings of Palmyra are chiefly of the Corinthian
order, which was the favourite style of architecture during the two or three centuries
which preceded Diocletian; whence we may infer that the splendour which it once
exhibited was chiefly owing to Odenathus and Zenobia. For many centuries even
the site of Palhyra remained totally unknown except to the roving Arabs of the
desert, whose magnificent accounts of its ruins at length excited the curiosity
of the English merchants settled at Aleppo. Under the auspices of the Levant Company,
an expedition started in 1678 for the purpose of exploring them; but the persons
who composed it were robbed and ill-treated by the Arabs, and compelled to return
without having accomplished their object. In 1691 the expedition was renewed with
better success, and an account of the discoveries then made was published in the
transactions of the Royal Society. (Sellers, Antiquities of Palmyra, Pref.) Subsequently
Palmyra was visited in 1751 by Wood and Dawkins, who published the results of
their journey in a large folio volume with magnificent engravings. The account
in Volney (vol. ii.) is chiefly taken from this work. Among the more recent descriptions
may be mentioned that of Irby and Mangles (Travels, ch. v.), who visited Palmyra
in 1816. According to these travellers the plates of Wood and Dawkins have done
more than justice to the subject; and although the view of the ruins from a distance,
with their line of dazzling white columns extending between one and two miles,
and relieved by the contrast of the yellow sand of the desert, is very striking,
yet, when examined in detail, they excite but little interest. Taken separately,
not a single column or architectural member is worthy of admiration. None of the
former exceed 40 feet in height and 4 feet in diameter, and in the boasted avenue
they are little more than 30 feet high. The remains of the Ternmple of the Sun
form the most magnificent object, and being of the Ionic order, relieve the monotony
of the prevailing Corinthian style. These columns, which are 40 feet high and
4 feet in diameter, are fluted, and formed of only three or four pieces of stone;
and in former times were surmounted by brazen Ionic capitals. The facade of the
portico consists of 12 columns, like that of the temple of Baalbec, besides which
there are other points of resemblance. On the whole, however, the ruins are far
inferior to those at Baalbec. At the time of Messrs. Irby and Mangles' visit the
peristyle court of the Temple of the Sun was occupied by the Arabian village of
Tadmor; but with this exception, and the Turkish burial ground, the space was
unencumbered, and there was nothing to obstruct the researches of the antiquary.
In some places the lines of the streets and the foundations of the houses were
distinctly visible. The sculptures are uniformly coarse and bad; the stone is
of a perishable description, and scarcely deserves the name of marble. The sepulchres
outside the walls formed perhaps the most interesting part of the remains. These
consist of square towers, from three to five stories high, forming sepulchral
chambers, with recesses for the reception of the bodies. In these tombs mummies
and mummy cloths are found, prepared very much after the Egyptian manner; but
there are no paintings, and on the whole they are far from being so interesting
as the Egyptian sepulchres. There was a sculptured tablet in bas-relief, with
seven or eight figures standing and clothed in long robes, supposed to represent
priests. Several Greek and Palmyrene inscriptions, and two or three in Latin and
Hebrew, have been discovered at Palmyra. They will be found in Wood's Ruins of
Palmyra, and the following works may also be consulted: Bernard and Smith, Inscriptiones
Graecae Palmyrenorum, Utrecht, 1698; Giorgi, De Inscriptionibus Palmyrenis quae
in Musaeo Capitolino adservantur interpretandis Fpistola, Rome, 1782; Barthelemy,
in Mem de l'Academie des Inscr. tom. xxiv.; and Swinton, in the Philosophical
Transactions, vol. xlviii.(...)
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ΣΟΥΡΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
Sura (ta Soura: Eth. Sourenos), a city of Syria, situated on the Euphrates,
in the district of Palmyrene, long. 72° 40', lat. 35° 40' of Ptolemy, who places
it between Alalis and Alamata (v. 15. § 25); apparently the Sure of the Peutinger
Table, according to which it was 105 M.P. distant from Palmyra. It is called in
the Notitiae Imperil ( § 24) Flavia Turina Sura (ap. Mannert, p. 408). It is probably
identical with the Ura of Pliny, where, according to him, the Euphrates turns
to the east from the deserts of Palmyra (v. 24. s. 87). lie, however, mentions
Sura (26. s. 89) as the nearest town to Philiscum, a town of the Parthians on
the Euphrates. It was 126 stadia distant from Heliopolis, which was situated in
what was called Barbaricus campus. It was a Roman garrison of some importance
in the Persian campaigns of Belisarius; and a full account is given of the circumstances
under which it was taken and burned by Chosroes I. (A.D. 532), who, having marched
three long days' journey from Circesium to Zenobia, along the course of the Euphrates,
thence proceeded an equal distance up the river to Sura. Incidental mention of
the bishop proves that it was then an episcopal see. (Procop. Bell. Pers. i. 18,
ii. 5.) Its walls were so weak that it did not hold out more than half an hour;
but it was afterwards more substantially fortified, by order of the emperor Justinian.
(Id. de Aedificiis Justiniani, ii. 9.) About 36 miles below Balls (the Alalis
of Ptolemy), following the course of the river, are the ruins of Sura; and about
6 miles lower is the ford of El-Hammam, which Col. Chesney identifies with the
Zeugma of Thapsacus, where, according to local tradition, the army of Alexander
crossed the Euphrates (Expedition for Survey, &c. vol. i. p. 416). In the Chart
(iii.) it is called Sooreah, and marked as brick ruins, and it is probable that
the extensive brick ruins a little below this site, between it and Phunsa (Thapsacus),
may be the remains of Alamata, mentioned in connection with Sura by Ptolemy. Ainsworth
is certainly wrong in identifying the modern Suriyeh with the ancient Thapsacus
(p. 72).
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ΧΑΛΚΙΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
Chalcis Ad Belum. Pliny (v. 23. § 19) speaks of a city of this name
in the district Chalcidene, which he describes as the most fertile of all Syria.
The Chalcis, Chalkis of Strabo (xvi. p. 753), was a city and district subject
to Ptolemy, son of Mennaeus, who held besides the city of Heliopolis (Baalbec),
the plain of Marsyas, and the mountain region of Ituraea. Josephus expressly describes
it as under Mount Lebanon (Antiq. xiv. 7. § 4, B. J. i. 9. § 2). It has
been confounded with the Chalcis S. of Aleppo, but the statement of Josephus (comp.
Antiq. xiv. 3. § 2; Reland, Palaest. p. 315) shows that its
position must be sought for elsewhere. Ptolemy was succeeded by his son the first
Lysanias; whose possessions after his murder by Antony were farmed by Zenodorus.
(Joseph. Antiq. xv. 10. § 1, B. J. i. 20. § 4.) In A.D. 41 Claudius bestowed
Chalcis on Herod, a brother of the elder Herod Agrippa. On his death in A.D. 48
his kingdom went to his nephew, the younger Herod Agrippa (B. J. ii.
12. § 1). He held it four years, and was then transferred with the title of king
to the provinces of Batanaea, Trachonitis, Abilene, and others (Antiq.
xx. 7. § 1). Afterwards Aristobulus, son of Herod, king of Chaletis, obtained
his father's kingdom which had been taken from his cousin Agrippa II., and in
A.D. 73 was still dynast of the district (B. J. vii. 7. § 1). During
the reign of Domitian it appears to have become incorporated in the Roman province,
and the city to have received the additional name of Flavia. (Eckhel, vol. iii.
p. 263; Marquardt, Handbuch der Rom. Alter. p. 181; Noris. de
Epoch. Syro.-Mac. (c. ix. § 3.)
The town of Chaletis was therefore situated somewhere in the Bukaa,
probably S. of Baalbec. The valley has not yet been examined with reference
to the site of this city. It has been suggested that its position may be at or
near Zahle, in the neighbourhood of which at the village of Heusn
Nieha, are some remarkable remains (comp. Chesney, Exped. Euphrat.
vol. i. p. 472). Or perhaps at Majdel Anjar, where Abu-l-feda (Tab.
Syr. p. 20) speaks of great ruins of hewn stones. (Robinson, Biblioth.
Sacr. vol. v. p. 90).
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ΑΜΦΙΠΟΛΙΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
Old Test. Thipsach. An Aramean word, signified "a ford";
now Dibsi. A city of Syria, in the province of Chalybonitis, on the left bank
of the Euphrates, 2000 stadia south of Zeugma, and fifteen parasangs from the
mouth of the river Chaboras, the Araxes of Xenophon.
ΑΠΑΜΕΙΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
Apamea ad Orontem, a city of Syria built by Seleucus Nicator on the site of the older city Pella on the river Orontes, and named in honour of his wife Apama.
ΑΡΑΔΟΣ (Νησί) ΣΥΡΙΑ
An island off the coast of Phoenicia, with a flourishing city, reputed to have been founded by exiles from Sidon. Its harbour, on the mainland, was called Antaradus.
ΒΕΡΟΙΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
A town of Syria, now Aleppo or Haleb, near Antioch, and enlarged by Seleucus Nicator, who named it Beroea after the town in Macedon. In the Old Testament it is called Chelbon.
ΔΑΜΑΣΚΟΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
Damaskos; in Hebrew, Dammesek; in Arabic, Dimeshk-es-Sham).
One of the principal cities of Syria, in what was called Coele-Syria, a few miles
to the east of Antilibanus, where the chain begins to turn off to the southeast,
under the name of Carmel. It is beautifully situated in an extensive and pleasant
plain, and watered by a river called by the Greeks Bardine or Chrysorrhoas, "the
golden stream," now Barada. The Biblical name of this stream was Abana. Damascus
is supposed to have been founded by Uz, the eldest son of Aram. However this may
be, it existed in the time of Abraham, and may be reckoned one of the most ancient
cities of Syria. It was conquered by David, but freed itself from the Jewish yoke
in the time of Solomon, and became the seat of a new principality, which often
harassed the kingdoms of both Judah and Israel. It afterwards fell, in succession,
under the power of the Assyrians and the Persians, and came from the latter into
the hands of the Seleucidae. Damascus, however, did not flourish much under the
Greek dynasty, as it had while held by the Persians. The Seleucidae neglected
the place, and bestowed all their favour on the new cities erected by them in
the northern parts of Syria; and here, no doubt, lies the reason why the later
Greek and Roman writers say so little of the city itself, though they are all
loud in their praises of the adjacent country. Damascus was seized by the Romans
in the war of Pompey with Tigranes, B.C. 65, but still continued, as under the
Greek dynasty, a comparatively unimportant place until the time of Diocletian.
This emperor, feeling the necessity of a strongly fortified city in this quarter,
as a depot for munitions of war and a military post against the frequent inroads
of the Saracens, selected Damascus for the purpose. Everything was done, accordingly,
to strengthen the place; extensive magazines were also established, and likewise
numerous workshops for the preparation of weapons of war. It is not unlikely that
the high reputation to which Damascus afterwards attained for its manufacture
of sword-blades and other works in steel, may have had its first foundations laid
by this arrangement on the part of Diocletian. The city continued from this time
to be a flourishing place. In the seventh century it fell into the hands of the
Saracens, and was for some time after this the seat of the califs. Its prosperity,
too, remained unimpaired, since the route of the principal caravans to Mecca lay
through it. It was sacked by Tamerlane, and finally became subject to the Turks.
The Great Mosque of Damascus still shows traces of the Graeco-Roman
architecture.
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ΔΟΥΡΑ ΕΥΡΩΠΟΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
A town in Mesopotamia on the Euphrates, founded by the Macedonians. It was also styled Nicanoris and Europus.
ΕΚΒΑΤΑΝΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
A town of Syria, in Galilaea Inferior, at the foot of Mount Carmel. Here Cambyses gave himself a mortal wound as he was mounting his horse, and thus fulfilled the oracle which had warned him to beware of Ecbatana.
ΕΜΕΣΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
or Emissa (Emissa). A city of Syria on the east bank of the Orontes, the native city of Iulia Domna, Elagabalus (q.v.), and of Alexan [p. 590]
der Severus. It was the scene of the decisive battle between Aurelian and Zenobia (A.D. 273).
ΕΠΙΦΑΝΕΙΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
A city of Syria, on the Orontes, below Apamea. Its Oriental
and true name was Hamath, and it was reckoned by the people of the East one of
the most magnificent cities in the world, having been founded, as they imagined,
by Hamath, one of the sons of Canaan. Allusion is frequently made to Hamath in
the Old Testament. Its name was changed to Epiphanea, in honour of Antiochus Epiphanes.
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ΙΕΡΑΠΟΛΙΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
Formerly Bambyce (Bambuke), a city in the northeast of Syria, one of the chief seats of the worship of Astarte.
ΚΑΙΣΑΡΕΙΑ ΦΙΛΙΠΠΩΝ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
Caesarea Philippi, a town on the northern confines of Palestine,
in the district of Trachonitis, at the foot of Mount Paneus, and near the springs
of the Jordan. It was also called Leshem, Laish, Dan, and Paneas. The name Paneas
is supposed to have been given it by the Phoenicians. The appellation of Dan was
given to it by the tribe of that name, because the portion assigued to them was
"too little for them," and they therefore "went up to fight against
Leshem, and took it," calling it "Dan, after the name of Dan, their
father". Eusebius and Jerome distinguish Dan from Paneas as if they were
different places, though near each other; but most writers consider them as one
place, and even Jerome himself, on Ezek. xlviii., says that Dan or Leshem was
afterwards called Paneas. Philip, the tetrarch, rebuilt it, or at least embellished
and enlarged it, and named it Caesarea, in honour of the emperor Tiberius; and
afterwards Agrippa, in compliment to Nero, called it Neronias.
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ΚΟΙΛΗ ΣΥΡΙΑ (Αρχαία επαρχία) ΣΥΡΙΑ
Koile Suria, "Hollow Syria". The name given to the
great valley between the two ranges of Mount Lebanon (Libanus and Anti-Libanus),
in the south of Syria, bordering upon Phoenicia on the west and Palestine on the
south. In the wars between the Ptolemies and the Seleucidae, the name was applied
to the whole of the southern portion of Syria, which became subject for some time
to the kings of Egypt.
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ΚΟΜΜΑΓΗΝΗ (Αρχαία χώρα) ΣΥΡΙΑ
Kommagene. The northeasternmost district of Syria, lying between
the Taurus and the Euphrates. It formed a part of the kingdom of Syria, after
the fall of which it maintained its independence under a race of kings, the family
of the Seleucidae, and was not united to the Roman Empire until the reign of Vespasian.
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ΜΑΡΑΘΟΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
(Marathos). An important city on the coast of Phoenicia, opposite to Aradus and near Antaradus.
ΝΙΚΗΦΟΡΙΟΝ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
(Nikephorion). A fortified town of Mesopotamia, on the Euphrates, and due south of Edessa, built by order of Alexander the Great, and probably completed under Seleucus. It is identical with Callinicus. Still later it was called Leontopolis.
ΟΡΟΝΤΗΣ (Ποταμός) ΣΥΡΙΑ
The largest river of Syria, rising in the Anti-Libanus, flowing past Antioch, and falling into the sea at the foot of Mount Pieria. Its earlier name was Typhon.
ΠΑΛΜΥΡΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
Palmyra (Palmura; the O. T. Tadmor). A celebrated city of Syria, standing
in an oasis of the great Syrian Desert, which from its position was a halting-place
for the caravans between Syria and Mesopotamia. Here Solomon built a city, which
was called in Hebrew Tadmor--that is, "a city of palm-trees." Of this
name the Greek Palmyra is a translation. Under Hadrian and the Antonines it was
highly favoured, and reached its greatest splendour. The history of its temporary
elevation to the rank of a capital, in the third century of the Christian era,
is related under Odenathus and Zenobia. After its capture by Aurelian in A.D.
270 it was partly destroyed, but was made a frontier fortress, and under Justinian
was strongly fortified. When the Arabs overran the country it was taken by them,
and in the year 1400 was plundered by the Tartars under Tamerlane. Its splendid
ruins, which form a most striking object in the midst of the desert, are of the
Roman period. They resemble those of Heliopolis, though less fine. Among them
are the remains of a temple of the Sun (or Baal), a great colonnade which originally
consisted of some 1500 columns of the Corinthian order, and was nearly a mile
in length. There are also a number of square sepulchral towers of much interest;
and the streets can still be traced. Several inscriptions in Greek, Latin, Hebrew,
and the Palmyrean dialect are still extant.
ΣΥΡΙΑ (Αρχαία χώρα) ΣΥΡΙΑ
(he Suria, in Aramaean Surja; now Soristan, EshArab. -Sham,
i. e. "the land on the left," Syria), a country of western Asia, lying
along the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, between Asia Minor and Egypt.
In a wider sense the word was used for the whole tract of country bounded by the
Tigris on the east, the mountains of Armenia and Cilicia on the north, the Mediterranean
on the west, and the Arabian Desert on the south; the whole of which was peopled
by the Aramaean branch of the great Semitic (or SyroArabian) race, and is included
in the Old Testament under the name of Aram. The people were of the same races,
and those of the north of the Taurus in Cappadocia and Pontus are called White
Syrians (Leukosuroi), in contradistinction to the people of darker complexion
in Syria Proper, who are sometimes even called Black Syrians (Suroi melanes).
Even when the name of Syria is used in its ordinary narrower sense, it is often
confounded with Assyria, which only differs from Syria by having the definite
article prefixed. Again, in the narrower sense of the name, Syria still includes
two districts which are often considered as not belonging to it, namely, Phoenice
and Palaestina, and a third which is likewise often considered separate, namely,
Coele-syria; but this last is generally reckoned a part of Syria. In this narrower
sense, then, Syria was bounded on the west (beginning from the south) by Mount
Hermon, at the southern end of Antilibanus, which separated it from Palestine,
by the range of Libanus, dividing it from Phoenice, by the Mediterranean, and
by Mount Amanus, which divided it from Cilicia; on the north (where it bordered
on Cappadocia) by the main chain of Mount Taurus, and striking the Euphrates just
below Iuliopolis, and considerably above Samosata; hence the Euphrates forms the
eastern boundary. The western part of the country was intersected by a series
of mountains, running south from the Taurus, under the names of Amanus, Pieria,
Casius, Bargylus, and Libanus and Antilibanus; and the northern part, between
the Amanus and the Euphrates, was also mountainous. The chief river of Syria was
the Orontes, and the smaller rivers Chalus and Chrysorrhoas were also of importance.
The valleys among the mountains were fertile, especially in the northern part;
even the east, which is now merged in the great desert of Arabia, appears to have
had more numerous and more extensive spaces capable of cultivation, and supported
great cities, the ruins of which now stand in the midst of sandy wastes. In
the earliest historical period Syria contained a number of independent kingdoms,
of which Damascus was the most powerful. These were subdued by David , but became
again independent at the end of Solomon's reign; from which time we find the kings
of Damascus sometimes at war with the kings of Israel, and sometimes in alliance
with them against the kings of Judah, till the reign of Tiglath-Pileser, king
of Assyria, who, having been invited by Ahaz, king of Judah, to assist him against
the united forces of Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, king of Israel, took Damascus,
and probably conquered all Syria, about B.C. 740. Having been a part successively
of the Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and Macedonian Empires, it fell, after the
battle of Ipsus (B.C. 301), to the share of Seleucus Nicator, and formed a part
of the great kingdom of the Seleucidae, whose history is given in the articles
Antiochus; Demetrius; Seleucus. In this partition, however, Coelesyria and Palestine
went, not to Syria, but to Egypt, and the possession of those provinces became
the great source of contention between the Ptolemies and the Seleucids. By the
irruptions of the Parthians on the east, and the unsuccessful war of Antiochus
the Great with the Romans on the west, the GreekSyrian kingdom was reduced to
the limits of Syria itself, and became weaker and weaker, until it was overthrown
by Tigranes, king of Armenia, B.C. 79. Soon afterwards, when the Romans had conquered
Tigranes as well as Mithridates, Syria was quietly added by Pompey to the empire
of the Republic, and was constituted a province B.C. 54; but its northern district,
Commagene, was not included in this arrangement. As the eastern province of the
Roman Empire, and with its great desert frontier, Syria was constantly exposed
to the irruptions of the Parthians, and, after them, of the Persians; but it long
remained one of the most flourishing of the provinces. The attempt of Zenobia
to make it the seat of empire is noticed under Zenobia. While the Roman emperors
defended this precious possession against the attacks of the Persian kings with
various success, a new danger arose, as early as the fourth century, from the
Arabians of the Desert, who began to be known under the name of Saracens; and,
when the rise of Mohammed had given to the Arabs that great religious impulse
which revolutionized the Eastern world, Syria was the first great conquest that
they made from the Eastern Empire, A.D. 632-638. In the time immediately succeeding
the Macedonian conquest, Syria was regarded as consisting of two parts--the north,
including the whole country down to the beginning of the Lebanon range, and the
south, consisting of Coelesyria in its more extended sense. The former, which
was called Syria Proper, or Upper Syria (he ano Suria, Syria Superior), was divided
into four districts or tetrarchies, which were named after their respective capitals,
Seleucis, Antiochene, Laodicene, and Apamene.
The Roman province of Syria, as originally constituted by Pompey
in B.C. 64, was by no means a single homogeneous region. Owing to the different
nationalities and interests which Syria properly so called comprised, it was at
first parcelled out between the Roman jurisdiction and a number of independent
territories which were allowed to remain within it. Under the Roman proconsul
of Syria were at first Upper Syria (with the chief towns Antioch, Seleucia, Apamea,
Laodicea, Cyrrhus, Hieropolis, and Beroea), and the land of Phoenicia, including
Tripolis, Byblus, Tyre, and Sidon; but Iudea was left for a time nominally independent,
except for a short time when Gabinius broke it up into five districts. Caesar
made Iudea a client State under its own princes, and it did not become a Roman
province (of the second rank, under a procurator) until A.D. 6. Similarly Commagene
was left under its own princes until A.D. 17, and again from 38 till 72, when
it was finally joined to the province of Syria; Chalcis retained its own princes
till 92, when Domitian added it to the province; Abilene till 49; Arethusa and
Emesa till 78; Damascus was not included in the province of Syria till 106. The
province of Syria under the Empire was governed by an imperial legate residing
at Antioch: it was eventually divided into ten districts, named (mostly after
their capital cities) Commagene, Cyrrhestice, Pieria, Seleucis, Chalcidice, Chalybonitis,
Palmyrene, Apamene, Cassiotis, and Laodicene; but the last is sometimes included
under Cassiotis. From A.D. 66 Iudea or Syria Palaestina was recognized as a separate
province, and at the end of the second century Syria was divided into two provinces,
Syria Magna or Coelesyria, and Syria Phoenice. Constantine the Great separated
the two northern districts--namely, Commagene and Cyrrhestice--and erected them
into a distinct province, called Euphratensis or Euphratesia; and the rest of
Syria was afterwards divided by Theodosius II. into the two provinces of Syria
Prima, including the sea-coast and the country north of Antioch, and having that
city for its capital; and Syria Secunda, the district along the Orontes, with
Apamea for its capital; while the eastern districts were now a part of Persia.
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ΧΑΛΚΙΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
A city of Syria, in a fruitful plain, near the termination of the river Chalus; the chief city of the district of Chalcidice, which lay to the east of the Orontes.
ΔΟΥΡΑ ΕΥΡΩΠΟΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
ΑΠΑΜΕΙΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
Apamea. One of the four great cities founded by Seleucus I Nicator (301-281
B.C.) in N Syria, Apamea on the Orontes was a citadel of the Seleucid kings, their
treasury, and their horse-breeding center. In the 1st c. B.C. Pompey destroyed
the fortress and Augustus punished the city for having sided with Anthony. Reestablished
in the 1st c. A.D. under the name Claudia Apamea, in the Late Empire it was the
seat of famous schools of philosophy. It became an important Christian metropolis,
was fortified by Justinian, sacked by the Persians, and destroyed in the Moslem
conquest in the 7th c. A.D. Only the acropolis, which was made into a fortress,
remained inhabited.
The site is a plateau on the SW tip of Jebel Zawiye overlooking the
valley of the Orontes. The ancient ramparts enclosed an area of more than 200
ha. The principal remains are a theater, a great colonnaded avenue, a basilican
building and a forum, several large churches, the N rampart gate, and some necropoleis.
The citadel was on a hill to the W separated from the plateau by a
slight hollow; the only traces are the many stones reused in the Saracen ramparts
and in modern houses. In the hollow SE of the acropolis are the ruins of a large
theater of the Roman period, with a diameter of 145 m. The hemicycle, which is
badly damaged, is supported by the slope of the hill to the W and by thick, radiating
walls and arcades to the E. The scaenae frons follows the Roman pattern of a semicircular
exedra flanked by two rectangular ones, while the Corinthian pilasters on the
rear facade of the stage building and the precision of the stone-cutting and joints
exemplify the Hellenistic tradition.
Linking the ruins is a N-S avenue ca. 1600 m long built in the 2d
c. A.D.; it is 24 m wide, and has a covered portico 10.5 m high and 7.5 m wide
on each side. In different sections the columns have plain shafts, straight fluting,
or curious spiral fluting. Several sections have been restored. At the extreme
S the rear wall of the W portico, which has doorways at ground level and windows
above, bears traces of painted inscriptions from the Late Empire, actually a wine
tariff. At the center of the avenue, to the E, is a section made up of columns
with spiral fluting and brackets, engaged in the shafts, that carried statues
of Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, and Lucius Verus. The portico at the N end
still bears a series of inscriptions honoring the founder, Lucius Julius Agrippa,
who dedicated the portico, a basilica, and some adjacent baths in A.D. 116. A
large part of the porticos was paved with mosaics.
Near the middle of the avenue, to the E, is a quadrangular pillar
carved with vine scrolls and Bacchic scenes, among them the legend of Lycurgus
and Ambrosia. This pillar supported a great arch at the entrance to a cross street.
The E-W streets off the great avenue are regularly spaced at intervals of ca.
110 m; the N-S streets are 55 m apart. The gridiron plan probably dates from the
beginning of the Hellenistic period.
At the center of the great avenue, on its W side, are the massive
remains of a monument, basilican in plan, which an inscription apparently identifies
as the Tycheion. Three large bays, with arches over them supported by engaged
Corinthian columns, led to a huge three-naved hall lighted on the other three
sides by windows with grilles. The hall stands on a podium ca. 3 m high. To the
W is the forum, a large rectangular courtyard lined with columned porticos. It
is reached from the great avenue by a street 9 m wide, with a double colonnade.
At the entrance to this street were two enormous columns with spiral fluting,
at the other end four similar columns carrying honorific statues. The outer wall
of the forum had windows with grilles let into it, and the outside of the wall
bore brackets for statues. On the N side stood a large portico, only a few columns
of which are still standing. They have swelling bases carved with five rows of
ivy leaves with broad acanthus leaves above them, and are supported by two molded
plinths placed one on top of the other.
Near the intersection of the great avenue and the street leading from
the theater was a circular building ca. 25 m in diameter that consisted of a portico
surrounding a courtyard. To the SE was a market, a section of which was paved
with mosaic in the middle of the 5th c. A.D. At 150 m S of the intersection was
an enormous church with an atrium, opening onto the E side of the colonnade. Its
earliest mosaics date from the end of the 4th c. A.D., but it was rebuilt several
times in the 5th and 6th c. The church was found to have been built over the great
synagogue of the late 4th c. A.D., which had an enormous floor mosaic containing
numerous Greek donor inscriptions. The principal mosaic was a composition in the
Pompeian style in shimmering colors, representing the Muses dancing.
Ruins of several other Christian basilicas of conventional plan (three
naves and a narthex) have been found, one NW of the city, another outside the
city walls, 500 m to the N. A large Christian church had been built with materials
from a monument of the Roman period, mosaics from which have been found beneath
the marble floors. A number of buildings, notably a large house with a triclinium
now being excavated, contain storied floor mosaics in many colors. The majority
of the Apamea mosaics as well as many pieces of marble sculpture have been moved
to the Damascus and Brussels museums (part of the Brussels collection was lost
in a fire).
At the N end of the great avenue is a gate in the wall, rebuilt in
the Byzantine period. It consists of a semicircular archway flanked by two half-ruined
towers. The necropoleis, principally to the N and E of the city, contain various
types of tombs, sarcophagi, urns, and hypogaea with arcosolia; many stelai were
reused in the ramparts during the Byzantine period.
J. P. Rey-Coquais, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΑΡΑΔΟΣ (Νησί) ΣΥΡΙΑ
An island 3 km SW of Tartus, which was the Antaradus of antiquity.
A powerful Phoenician city that led a federation of mainland cities extending
as far as the Orontes valley, Aradus submitted to Alexander, was granted autonomy
by the Seleucids, and declined in the Roman era, while Antaradus flourished. After
a long period of resistance, it was conquered in A.D. 641 by Moawiya, who laid
waste the city.
The island has a perimeter of 1.5 km. According to Strabo, the houses
had several stories; Chariton mentions a temple of Aphrodite and a vast agora
lined with porticos, but no trace of these has been found. The main ruins are
those of a sturdy rampart that encircled the island. A few sections of it, consisting
of four or five courses of huge blocks of stone, are still standing on the side
of the island facing the open sea. The methods of stone-cutting and joining range
from the Persian to the Roman periods. The base of the rampart consists of a berm
cut in the living rock. Excavation has uncovered an esplanade, wider to N and
S and today partly buried: it had a regular floor and the foundations of huge
buildings. The port, which faces the mainland, consists of two coves separated
by a natural dike which was raised in antiquity by adding a layer of enormous
blocks to make a jetty. There is no trace of quays.
J.P. Rey-Coquais, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΒΑΙΤΟΚΗΚΗ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
About 30 km E of Tartus in the heart of the Alaouite mountains at
an altitude of close to 1000 m, Baetocece was the federal sanctuary of the Phoenicians
of Arados. A long inscription tells of its importance, both religious and commercial,
from the beginning of the Hellenistic period to the Late Empire.
The site, which has never been excavated, contains two groups of monuments:
to the N, some improperly identified remains and to the S, the principal sanctuary
dedicated to a local god identified with Zeus.
The sanctuary has a rectangular surrounding wall with a door in the
middle of each side. The wall, remarkably well preserved, is built of large stones
laid edgewise. The main entrance, to the N, is a triple gateway with a triangular
pediment over it; the propylaea portico has disappeared. The molding and carved
ornamentation are austere. From inscriptions and from similarities in religious
iconography to Arados coins it is possible to date the complex to the 3d c. A.D.
The cella stood on a podium in the center of the enclosure; its facade, to the
N, consisted of a four-columned portico, and its walls were decorated on the outside
with engaged columns with ionic capitals. To the E of the cella stood a bronze
altar, dedicated in A.D. 185-86.
J. P. Rey-Coquais, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΒΕΡΟΙΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
A leading city of N Syria, on the caravan route between the Euphrates
and the Mediterranean, Beroea was made a Macedonian city by Seleucus Nicator between
301 and 281 B.C. It was sacked by Chosroes in A.D. 540.
The plan of the Macedonian colony survives in the modern city. Traces
of the original grid plan can be seen on the 25 ha area E of the tell: a series
of streets, parallel or at right angles to each other, are oriented to the cardinal
points and laid out with uniform space between them. An avenue 20-25 m wide, now
occupied by souks, cut across the city from W to E, from the W gate to the foot
of the citadel, and a monumental three-bay arch ornamented with military emblems
marked the W exit. Colonnaded porticos were added to the arch probably in the
2d or 3d c. A.D. The agora was precisely in the center of the city, where the
great mosque stands today, at the end of the aqueduct that pipes water from a
spring 13 km to the N.
The wall that ringed the ancient city forms a more or less regular
rectangle, 1000 by 950 m. On the W the rampart, flanked by wide rectangular towers,
ran parallel to the streets; its E face took advantage of the hill of the citadel,
which bears no traces of either the Hellenistic or the Roman periods. The mediaeval
gates are probably where the ancient gates stood.
J. P. Rey-Coquais, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΒΟΣΤΡΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
Bosra (Busra) Syria. A royal Nabataean city in the Hauran plain, Bostra was annexed by
Trajan in A.D. 106, becoming chief city of the Roman province of Arabia and the
camp of Legio III Cyrenaica. An important Christian city in the late Byzantine
period, Bostra was fortified by Justinian, then seized by the Moslem Arabs in
A.D. 637.
Bostra was built of black basalt; the modern town lies over the ancient
one, and many houses are constructed of reused stones. The wall surrounding the
ancient city is very nearly oval. The rampart is best preserved on its W face,
where it is ca. 4 m thick. The only gate still standing is that to the W, a high
bay with semicircular arches, flanked by two square towers; in front of the gate
there is an open place oval in shape. The main avenue is the decumanus, running
from the W gate to the E end of the city. It was paved and was lined with porticos,
the column shafts of which can still be seen. At the intersection of the decumanus
and cardo, a tetrapylon stood in the center of a circular area. To the E, on the
N side of the decumanus, was a vaulted cryptoporticus ca. 100 m long, lit by slits
arranged in the steps of the porticos. Farther E is a monumental arch more than
12 m high and 18 m wide; it has a great semicircular bay flanked by two small
ones; arches cut in the other direction permitted passage along the decumanus.
The facade facing the decumanus has pilasters with Corinthian capitals and brackets
for statues. At the N angles of the lateral faces and on either side of the central
bay, to the S, are engaged columns with Ionic capitals, marking the beginning
of the porticos.
At the S end of the street is a remarkably well-preserved theater,
built in the second half of the 2d c. A.D. and transformed into a fortress at
the end of the 8th c. It is built on level ground and strictly integrated into
the city plan. The hemicycle, which is slightly over half a circle and has a diameter
of more than 100 m, faces N. Its three tiers of 14, 18, and S rows of seats are
crowned by a portico with a composite colonnade. Interior galleries, stairways,
and admirably built vomitoria made for easy circulation; the direct access to
the middle and upper stories and to the tribunals above the vaulted paradoi is
remarkable. The orchestra is paved with stone. The scaenae frons, over 26 m high,
is decorated with two rows of Corinthian columns in pink Egyptian granite, and
flanked by two tall folded-back wings that have steps and loges descending laterally
to the stage. Equally noteworthy are the vast side foyers, into which the paradoi
are incorporated by a series of arcades. Coherent both architecturally and organically,
this theater is considered the most perfect of all Roman and Italian theaters.
To the W of the theater there was probably a stadium; S of it was
the hippodrome, which could accommodate 30,000 spectators. Only a few seats have
been found.
To the E of the street and S of the decumanus are the ruins of baths
of the Roman period, covered by modern houses, and called the S, W, or Trajan's
baths. Designed on a T-shaped plan, they opened to the N through an 8-columned
portico and two semicircular, arched doorways with a niche between them. The first
room was the apodyterion, an 8-sided oblong hall with four semicircular recesses
in the oblique sides. It was roofed with a flattened arch of volcanic scoriae.
In the entrance axis was a wide arch leading to the tepidarium, and beyond that,
in the same axis, to another room with a large window in its S wall. Both rooms
had transverse cradle vaults. On either side, to E and W, are a series of rooms
and exedras; the vaulting of the latter is still intact.
Farther along the decumanus are four tall, well-proportioned Corinthian
columns with hexagonal bases, on a line diagonal to the intersection of the avenue
and a cross street. Behind them was the broad curve of the apse of a nymphaeum.
On the other side of the street are tall, slender Corinthian columns, one of which
carries an entablature fragment supported by a pilaster; they were part of a late
monument not identified. The facade is at an oblique angle to the street plan.
The cross street is edged in part by an Ionic colonnade now included in the walls
of houses; it leads N to the Omar mosque. This monument, of the early Omayyad
period was built of magnificent reused marble columns with Corinthian and Ionic
capitals. On the other side of the street are the baths and, some 50 m to the
NE, more baths, now badly damaged.
At the top of the decumanus is the so-called Nabataean gate, with
its great semicircular bay decorated with round pilasters and engaged columns
surmounted by characteristic crocket capitals. Beside it, to the SE, is the building
commonly known as Trajan's palace. It can be seen only from the E, where a large
well-built basalt wall decorated with two superimposed rows of semicircular niches
and rectangular doors gave on to two stories of outer porticos now gone. The palace
formed an enormous rectangle with an E entrance opening onto a large porticoed
courtyard. The residential wings, which were several stories high and had angle
towers, were on the N and S sides. The first story in the N wing contained a spacious
apartment with an entrance to the N, great apses to the E and W, and a deep rectangular
exedra to the S.
To the NE is the 6th c. cathedral. Its square nave was completely
covered by a large cupola supported by four semi-cupolas. Farther N is a rectangular
basilica with pediments. The long S and N sides are lined with low porticos and
pierced with windows; the W gable wall contains a great arch, while that to the
E has an elliptical arch opening onto a semicircular apse and in the pediment,
a row of three rectangular windows with an axial window over them. Remarkably
simple in design and decorated with elegant molding, this basilica, which was
used as a church, probably dates from Christian times. To the N are the ruins
of a little apsidal structure built in the same style and with the same methods.
To the NW inside the surrounding wall is a great oblong-shaped excavation
with springs flowing at the bottom of it. It is often referred to as the Naumachia,
and may have been built in antiquity.
J. P. Rey-Coquais, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΓΑΒΑΛΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
A small coastal town 20 km S of Laodicea ad Mare. Gabala was a Phoenician
city of the confederation of Arados and became independent in the 1st c. B.C.
Pausanias mentions one of its sanctuaries, dedicated to a Nereid, and in the 5th
c. A.D. Theodoretos of Cyrrhos declared it to be a charming little town.
The town was built on a grid plan, probably dating from the Seleucid
period. Its main monument is a theater, erected in the center of the town during
Roman times. It was still well preserved in the 19th c. and has now been partially
cleared. It was built on flat ground and oriented N-NE. The hemicycle has a diameter
of 90 m, and its three tiers of seats are entirely supported by vaults. There
are no vomitoria, but a series of outside entryways under the arcades of the facade
and two interior corridors leading to the parodoi guaranteed easy circulation.
The elegant profile of the tiers of seats, the delicacy of the sculptured decoration
of the scaenae frons, the polychromy of the imported marbles and granites, all
indicate Hellenistic influence. The ramparts are of Roman date. The port is of
a type frequent in Phoenicia: a beach behind an opening in the sandstone barrier
which forms the coast, with an outer harbor.
J. P. Rey-Coquais, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΔΑΜΑΣΚΟΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
In the interior of S Syria, between the mountains and the desert,
in the midst of irrigated gardens, famous for their produce. It was conquered
by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C. The Lagids and Seleucids wrangled over it,
and the latter gave it the name of Demetrias. It was threatened by the Iturii
and passed under Nabataean control in 85 B.C. under Aretas III Philhellene. Conquered
by Pompey in 64 B.C., Damascus flourished in the Roman period. It was the birthplace
of Apollodorus, Trajan's architect, and became a Roman colony under the Severans.
Diocletian set up an arsenal here; Julian visited the town, and Theodosius and
Arcadius built a church in honor of St. John the Baptist. Taken by the Persians
in 612, it was reconquered by Heraclius in 628 and in 635-36 by the Moslems.
The site has never been abandoned, but there are few Greek or Roman
remains: notably the Temple of Damascene Jupiter and the ancient plan of the city.
The Street called Straight, mentioned in The Acts of the Apostles, can still be
seen.
The sanctuary of Damascene Jupiter, now occupied by the mosque of
the Omayyads, was the largest of all Syrian sanctuaries. It consisted of a temple
(completely destroyed in the Omayyad period) built in the middle of two concentric
courts. The inner one was 150 m E-W by 100 m N-S, and surrounded by a monumental
peribolos built in the first half of the 1st c. A.D. This has become the enclosing
wall of the mosque. The stone walls are 14 regular courses high, capped by stepped
merlons. Towers containing staircases stand at each corner; the S towers serve
as foundations for two of the minarets of the mosque.
The monumental entry was to the E, where propylaea 33 m long jutted
out 15 m from the line of the walls. The great stairway, which still has 15 steps,
is buried to over half of its original height. Three bays led to the interior,
with two small lateral rooms for the porters. On the W was a single axial bay,
with a large doorway topped by an arch on each side, to admit carts and sacrificial
animals. Spacious rooms (chambers and exedras) extended right and left of the
E and W gates up to the towers. On both N and S sides was a triple bay adorned
with sculptures and, in the W part of the S side, a gate topped by an arch. In
Byzantine times three Christian inscriptions were engraved over other words on
the lintels of the S gates.
The outside enclosure consisted of a massive rampart. The exterior
was adorned with large pilasters and a portico was built against it on the interior.
The remains of the wall and colonnade are mainly visible to the E, where a monumental
gate with a triple bay lies exactly on the axis of the large propylaea of the
peribolos. The axial arrangement on the W side can be seen in the souk which leads
to the W door of the mosque: a pediment supported by four large Corinthian columns
framed by two piers; beside these are pilasters which undoubtedly matched the
colonnade of the portico. An inscription of A.D. 90-91 indicates that there was
an entry for carts on the W side, as well as a gamma-shaped annex which stood
against the enclosure and was supported by the town ramparts on its N side.
The exact location of the Church of St. John the Baptist within the
sanctuary of Damascene Jupiter is a matter of controversy; apparently it cannot
have become the Omayyad mosque.
On the axis of the E entry to the temple, a wide avenue, 240 m long
and bordered with colonnades in the Roman period, led to a spacious agora. The
grid of the ancient streets, which dates to Hellenistic times, has been traced
in the present plan of the E part of the old town, E of the temple: the streets
running N-S are spaced 45 m apart, those running E-W 100 m apart. Some irregular
streets appear E of the agora, however, in a district whose popular name suggests
that it was the Nabataean quarter. In the 1st c. A.D. there were so many Nabataeans
in Damascus that King Aretas IV maintained an ethnarch there.
The axis of the ancient town was the Street called Straight, bordered
with colonnades in Roman times. It ran from the W gate to Bab Sharqi, the well-preserved
E gate with three bays with semicircular arches. The central pavement was more
than 13 m wide, the lateral porticos 6 m apiece. Actually the Street called Straight
had three sections with different axes, but two monumental arches masked the slight
changes in orientation. One arch can be seen 500 m W of Bab Sharqi; it has a lateral
bay with a semicircular vault and a sturdy masonry mole. The other was 250 m farther
W. Not far from the second arch, on the S side of the avenue, a hillock often
called a tell may cover the ruins of a palace. A tall column bearing a huge imperial
statue stood near it during the Late Empire. Farther W, S of the avenue, the curving
course of the streets suggests the existence of a Roman theater. Its hemicycle
opened to the N and must have had a diameter of ca. 100 m.
The ramparts of the Moslem town follow the course of the ancient walls
only in a short stretch on either side of the E Gate, where the line is strictly
rectilinear and perpendicular to the axis of the Street called Straight. Even
there, the ancient materials are all reused. Various indications, however, have
allowed a reconstruction of the course of the ancient fortification. It was a
huge rectangle, and therefore must date to Roman times; the mediaeval gates mark
the sites of the ancient ones. The remains of a Roman bridge over the river can
be seen some m from Bab Tuma, on the axis of the gate. The citadel, XV of the
temple, contains nothing ancient except reused materials. On the inside, however,
it preserves part of the W front of the Roman ramparts.
J. P. Rey-Coquais, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains 5 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΙΑΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
Town in the Hauran on the road from Damascus S to Bostra. The few
visible remains include four columns of a peripteral temple of Nabataean times,
on the main street. Their Corinthian capitals carry figurines carved above the
corbel, and the entablature is adorned with vine branches.
Farther W are the remains of a large basilica with five naves, and
sections of a Roman theater now hidden under houses. There are also a monumental
arch, a marble fountain (dated to the time of Trajan by an inscription), and a
water tower (built under Commodus), the terminal for aqueducts coming from nearby
springs. The tomb of Hamrath stood on a hill beyond the ravine crossed by the
ancient bridge. The tomb is now destroyed, but a bilingual Greek and Aramaic inscription
dates it to the 1st c. B.C. It was a massive cube adorned with Doric pilasters,
between which were sculptured helmets, breastplates, or shields; it was crowned
by a Doric frieze and a stepped pyramid. A funerary tower stood at the W exit
of the town.
Numerous basalt sculptures, notably a Minerva, some winged Victories,
and fine mosaics are now in the Soueida and Damascus museums.
J. P. Rey-Coquais, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΔΟΥΡΑ ΕΥΡΩΠΟΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
Caravan center 96 km S of Deir-ez-zor on the Syrian Euphrates, founded
with a Hellenistic grid plan of streets by Macedonians ca. 300 B.C. The Parthians,
occupying Dura about 100 B.C., made it their frontier fortress against the Romans
until Verus (A.D. 165), retreating from Seleucia on the Tigris, left it in Roman
hands. After capture by Sasanians in A.D. 256, the city was abandoned.
Dura is exceptional in the character of its remains. The embankment
along the circuit wall facing the desert encased religious paintings and preserved
cloth, wood, parchments, and papyri. Most noteworthy are the paintings in the
Temple of Palmyrene Gods, the Christian paintings, the Mithra temple in the Roman
camp, and the astonishing series of paintings from the synagogue (A.D. 246). Evidences
of siege operations were also preserved by the embankment. Sudden abandonment
left many inscriptions and pieces of sculpture intact and in situ.
Some of the first finds are in the Louvre; the synagogue has been
reconstructed in the museum of Damascus, the paintings of the Christian building
and the temple of Mithra in the Gallery of Fine Arts at Yale. On the site there
remain the stone walls of the circuit, the Parthian citadel, and the Redoubt palace,
as well as the foundations of temples and of private and public buildings. The
cliff, broken by the river, has carried away part of the citadel and the circuit
wall to the S.
To the S of the main gate along the wall are a Roman bath and private
houses in the first block; the Christian building (the baptistery with paintings
was the NW room) in the NW corner of the second block; the Temple of Zeus Kyrios
against the city wall close to the tower at the S end of the same block; and,
beside the next tower to the S, the battlements above a Sasanian tunnel running
beneath the fortifications. In the SW corner of the city lies the Temple of Aphlad.
In the first block N of the main gate the embankment contained a Tychaion;
the synagogue was in the second, the Temple of Mithra four blocks beyond, and
the Temple of Palmyrene Gods in the NW corner. In the block E of the synagogue
lies the Temple of Adonis.
On the N side on the main street, the third block from the gate constituted
the caravanserai. Three blocks beyond and one block to the left (N) of the main
street lie the remains of the agora, with stone foundations of Hellenistic buildings
beneath rubble colonnades and shops of later periods. Opposite the agora and one
block S of the main street are the temples of Artemis in the W block, the Temple
of Atargatis on the E. The Temple of the Gadde lies between that of Atargatis
and the main street.
Three blocks E of the agora was the Temple of Zeus Theos, and E of
that one looks directly to the middle of the citadel wall. On the citadel the
stone foundations of the Parthian palace lie over stone Hellenistic foundations.
Parts of both were lost in the fall of the cliff.
In front of the N entrance to the citadel lies the little Roman military
temple. On the S slope of the E-W wadi S of the citadel rises the Hellenistic
embossed wall of the Redoubt palace. Between Redoubt and citadel were a Roman
bath and private houses; to the S, behind the palace, was the Temple of Zeus Megistos.
The NW section of the city contains the Roman camp with barracks, a Roman bath
and, in the center, the praetorium. Behind the praetorium is the Temple of Azzonathkona.
A Parthian bath lies just beside the amphitheater on the S side of the camp.
The NE corner of the city contains the headquarters of the Dux (3d
c.) and the Dolicheneum. In the desert lie innumerable subterranean tombs and
the foundations of funerary towers. The temple of the necropolis is NW of the
main gate, and the remains of the triumphal arch of Trajan are N of the city over
the former road up the river.
C. Hopkins, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΕΜΕΣΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
Town near the Orontes, between Palmyra and the sea. It was the capital
of the Emesene Arabs, whose dynasts (called Jamblichus, Sohaem, or Samsigeram)
were vassals of the Romans from the 1st c. B.C. to the 1st c. A.D. It was the
native town of the emperor Elagabalus, and of Julia Domna, wife of Septimius Severus.
Emesa was raised to colonial status and flourished at the beginning of the 3d
c. A.D. It was famous for its temple of the Sun and the cult of its black stone.
It declined with the fall of Palmyra, but became an important Christian metropolis.
There are few ancient remains. The great mosque occupies the site
of the temple. Coins show that the temple had sculptured columns of a rare type.
The necropoleis have produced fine basalt stelai with portraits of the dead (in
the Damascus museum). The main monument (replaced by the railway station) was
a tall, square, funerary tower with two stories, adorned with engaged columns,
a frieze of wreaths and ox-bucrania, and capped by a tall pyramid. It was the
mausoleum of Caius Julius Sampsigeramus, who died in 78 or 79. The same necropolis
has produced a funerary mask with attached helmet in chased silver, parade weapons,
pieces of armor, and jewelry (in the Damascus museum). The countryside around
Homs shows traces of centuriation.
J. P. Rey-Coquais, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΚΑΙΣΑΡΕΙΑ ΦΙΛΙΠΠΩΝ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
City on the NW slope of Mt. Hermon on one of the tributaries of the
Jordan. Its great god was Pan, who was identified with Zeus and associated with
the Nymphs. The city was refounded under the name Caesarea by Philip the Tetrarch,
son of King Herod the Great, in 2-1 B.C., and renamed Neronias under Agrippa II.
The site has not been excavated. Remains of ramparts with towers were
visible some time ago, as well as numbers of column shafts scattered in the orchards
or incorporated in the mediaeval fortifications, and Doric frieze fragments reused
in the parapet of the bridge on the Nahr es-Saari.
The Sanctuary of Pan and the Nymphs was a grotto from which the river
emerged under an arched opening; it was set among plane trees and poplars. Niches
with shells, framed by fluted pilasters to form little chapels, were carved in
the rock face. Dedicatory inscriptions in Greek indicate that two of the niches
held statues of Hermes and the nymph Echo. Two columns in front of the grotto
may have supported a canopy. Gratings or openwork metal gates protected these
rustic sanctuaries, which date from the Roman period.
J. P. Rey-Coquais, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΚΑΙΣΑΡΕΙΑ ΦΙΛΙΠΠΩΝ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
City on the NW slope of Mt. Hermon on one of the tributaries of the
Jordan. Its great god was Pan, who was identified with Zeus and associated with
the Nymphs. The city was refounded under the name Caesarea by Philip the Tetrarch,
son of King Herod the Great, in 2-1 B.C., and renamed Neronias under Agrippa II.
The site has not been excavated. Remains of ramparts with towers were
visible some time ago, as well as numbers of column shafts scattered in the orchards
or incorporated in the mediaeval fortifications, and Doric frieze fragments reused
in the parapet of the bridge on the Nahr es-Saari.
The Sanctuary of Pan and the Nymphs was a grotto from which the river
emerged under an arched opening; it was set among plane trees and poplars. Niches
with shells, framed by fluted pilasters to form little chapels, were carved in
the rock face. Dedicatory inscriptions in Greek indicate that two of the niches
held statues of Hermes and the nymph Echo. Two columns in front of the grotto
may have supported a canopy. Gratings or openwork metal gates protected these
rustic sanctuaries, which date from the Roman period.
J. P. Rey-Coquais, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΚΑΝΑΘΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
In the Hauran N of Soueida, Canatha was one of the cities of the Decapolis
at the end of the Hellenistic period. The city, perched on a steep plateau bordered
to the E by a deep ravine, contains many ancient monuments: temples, palaces,
churches, a triumphal arch, the SW rampart gate, and tower tombs. Travelers in
the past saw a dozen of the latter, still several stories high.
On a wooded slope to the NW stood a temple, a peripteral structure,
with Corinthian columns and carved pedestals and bases. The principal street led
E to a flagged space bordered by columns, then some ruins of baths, and nearby
a building with a vaulted hall containing inscriptions that refer to Agrippa,
Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, and Julia Domna. On the opposite side of the ravine
was an odeon designed like a theater, almost entirely cut in the rock, and next
to it a nymphaeum. At the highest point of the city, at the E end of a long terrace,
was a portico of Corinthian columns, then an atrium that led to a basilica. The
latter had a doorway framed with carved foliated scrolls and maeanders. A church
is attached to the W side of the atrium by its chevet. This church is a modification
of a building with a porticoed entrance to the N and a semicircular three-lobed
exedra to the S, originally a praetorium. Farther S, beyond a Byzantine cistern,
are the ruins of a so-called temple of Jupiter.
J. P. Rey-Coquais, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΚΥΡΡΟΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΥΡΙΑ
Kyrrhos. Town founded by the Macedonians, 70 km N-NW of Aleppo, an important
strategic position at the beginning of the Hellenistic period and later under
Roman rule. It was sacked by the Sasanians in A.D. 256. In the 5th c. it experienced
a brief renascence as a center of pilgrimage under its bishop Theodoretus. In
the 6th c. Justinian fortified and adorned the town, and in A.D. 637 it yielded
to the Moslems.
It is at a bend of a tributary to the Afrin, not far from their confluence.
It forms a rough triangle, from the acropolis to the W to the high cliff above
the river to the E. Bridges, ramparts, a great avenue, Christian sanctuaries,
a theater, and a mausoleum are the principal ancient remains.
The Byzantine bridges are still in use S of the town: they cross first
the Afrin, then its tributary. To the N the bridge over the river is in ruins,
but the ancient road is visible beyond it.
The ramparts have square or semicircular towers and date from the
Byzantine period. An inscription on a gate of the citadel gives the names of Justinian,
Theodora, Belisarius, and the domestikos Eustathius. The vast enclosure is of
Hellenistic date, as are the polygonal blocks preserved in various sectors. The
acropolis was roughly rectangular, with a gate to the outside and a gate to the
lower town. The lower town itself had three gates, to the N, S, and E.
The orthogonal street plan dates from Hellenistic times; the main
axis is a wide street from the S to the N gate, bordered by porticos. A spacious
rectangular enclosure has the ramparts to the W, and on its S and E sides two
monumental gates flanked by rectangular towers; two other towers stand at the
corners of the E side, parallel to the great avenue. Inside this space (once mistaken
for an agora) was a church with three naves and a narthex to the W; it has ancient
fluted columns and is built of materials of many colors. To the NE of this sanctuary
and E of the colonnade are the remains of a large Christian basilica with several
apses.
The theater is ca. 60 m from the avenue; it backs against the hill
of the acropolis and faces E. Only the 24 rows of the lower tier of seats survive;
the upper tier has disappeared. There are seats with backs in front of the diazoma,
and those next to the radial staircases have elbow rests in the form of dolphins.
The scaenae frons had five doors, opening onto alternately rectangular and semicircular
exedras. The theater reveals the influence of Antioch and Daphne and may date
to the middle of the 2d c. A.D.
The best-preserved necropolis is to the NW. A large hexagonal mausoleum,
reused as a Moslem sanctuary, has pilasters at the corners of the ground floor.
It is crowned with an entablature, decorated with lions' heads, that supports
a skylight with windows which have archivolts and Corinthian pilasters. The skylight
is capped by a slender pyramid, with a capital adorned with acanthus leaves at
the top. The capital is big enough to carry a statue.
J. P. Rey-Coquais, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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