Syria

sir'i-a, in ancient geography, a region rather than a country lying between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates, Asia Minor, and Arabia. By many Palestine is excluded from Syria. The name is a shortened form of Assyria. The Syrians were a Semitic race related to the Arabians and the Jews. The great pathway from Egypt to Babylonia lay through Syria. The history of Syria is largely that of a change of masters. It was subject successively to the Assyrians, to the Persians under Cyrus, and the Greeks under Alexander. On the division of the latter kingdom, the family of Seleucus established a kingdom with the capital at Antioch. The Romans were the next masters. The most celebrated independent government of Syria was the short-lived rule of Zenobia, queen of Palmyra. At the division of the Roman world Syria naturally formed a part of the Eastern Empire. It was overrun by the Arabs in 636 and was taken from them by the Turks in 1070. Though held in part by the Crusaders, and later by the Mohammedans of Egypt, it is now a part of Turkey in Asia. The Syrians early adopted Christianity. The Bible was translated into the Syrian tongue. The present inhabitants are a sorry lot-degenerate descendants of Syrians, Jews, Turks, Arabs, and Greeks. Many portions of the country are fertile. Were property secure, it is believed that prosperity might come. The introduction of machinery and railroads has done something already to improve the country. See Damascus; Lebanon; Turkey