Ancient Syria

Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. It corresponds roughly to the territory of modern Iraq. Just beyond it lies southwestern Iran, where the region transitions into the Persian plateau, marking the shift from the Arab world to Iran.

last pre-Islamic Iranian empire (224–651 AD)

Phoenicians were an ancient Semitic people who inhabited city-states in Canaan along the Levantine coast of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily in present-day Lebanon and parts of coastal Syria. Their maritime civilization expanded and contracted over time, with its cultural core stretching from Arwad to Mount Carmel. Through trade and colonization, the Phoenicians extended their influence across the Mediterranean, from Cyprus to the Iberian Peninsula, leaving behind thousands of inscriptions.

right|thumb|Sphinx Gate entrance to the city thumb|The Great Temple in the inner city of Hattusa

thumb|upright=1.5|Cuneiform clay tablets from the Amorite Kingdom of Mari, 1st half of the 2nd millennium BC The Amorites () were an ancient Northwest Semitic-speaking Bronze Age people who emerged from western Mesopotamia. Initially appearing in Sumerian records , they expanded and ruled most of the Levant and Mesopotamia, and parts of Egypt, from the 21st century BC to the start of the 16th century BC.

The Hurrians (; ; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri) were a people who inhabited the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. They spoke the Hurrian language, and lived throughout northern Syria, upper Mesopotamia and southeastern Anatolia.

Aram-Damascus ( ) was an Aramean polity that existed from the late-12th century BCE until 732 BCE, and was centred around the city of Damascus in the Southern Levant. Alongside various tribal lands, it was bounded in its later years by the polities of Assyria to the north, Ammon to the south, and Israel to the west.

Yamhad (Yamḫad) was an ancient Semitic-speaking kingdom centered on Ḥalab (Aleppo) in Syria. The kingdom emerged at the end of the 19th century BC and was ruled by the Yamhad dynasty, who counted on both military and diplomacy to expand their realm. From the beginning of its establishment, the kingdom withstood the aggressions of its neighbors Mari, Qatna and the Old Assyrian Empire, and was turned into the most powerful Syrian kingdom of its era through the actions of its king Yarim-Lim I. By the middle of the 18th century BC, most of Syria minus the south came under the authority of Yamhad,

series of conflicts between the Parthian Empire and the Roman Republic and Roman Empire

battle of the Assyrian conquest of Aram in 853 BCE

successor states of the Hittite empire in the ancient Near East

Syro-Roman sun god

thumb|300px|Map of Roman Judea in the first century; according to Claude Reignier Conder|Conder (1889) Iturea or Ituraea (, Itouraía) is the Greek name of a Levantine region north of Galilee during the Late Hellenistic and early Roman periods. It extended from Mount Lebanon across the plain of Marsyas to the Anti-Lebanon Mountains in Syria, with its centre in Chalcis ad Libanum.

historical region including several Aramean kingdoms covering much of the present-day Syria, southeastern Turkey, and parts of Lebanon and Iraq.

Eber-Nari (Akkadian), also called Abar-Nahara (Aramaic) or Aber Nahra (Syriac), was a region of the ancient Near East. Translated as "Beyond the River" or "Across the River" in both the Akkadian and Aramaic languages, it referred to the land on the opposite side of the Euphrates from the perspective of Mesopotamia and Persia. In this context, the region is further known to modern scholars as Transeuphratea (New Latin: ; or more rarely ; ). Functioning as a satrapy, it was originally administered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire before being absorbed by the Neo-Babylonian Empire and then by the Achae

battle of Mount Gindarus

thumb|250px|Nuhašše's location in Syria Nuhašše (Akkadian: kurnu-ḫa-áš-še; kurnu-ḫa-šeki) or Nuġasse (Ugaritic: 𐎐𐎙𐎘, nġṯ; Egyptian: n-g-ś) was a region in northwestern Syria that flourished in the 2nd millennium BC. It was east of the Orontes River bordering Aleppo (northwest) and Qatna (south). It was a petty kingdom or federacy of principalities probably under a high king. Tell Khan Sheykhun has tenatively been identified as kurnu-ḫa-šeki.

Greek monarch

aramean kingdom in ancient near east (Syria, Arpad town)

Safaitic ( Al-Ṣafāʾiyyah) is a variety of the South Semitic scripts that was used by the Arabs in southern Syria and northern Jordan in the Ḥarrah region, to carve rock inscriptions in various dialects of Old Arabic and Ancient North Arabian. The Safaitic script is a member of the Ancient North Arabian (ANA) sub-grouping of the South Semitic script family, the genetic unity of which has yet to be demonstrated.

ancient arabic inscription

thumb|Tributary procession led by Qalparunda of the Land of Unqi, detail of the throne dais of Shalmaneser III, Iraq Museum Pattin (also known as Pattina, Patina, Unqu and Unqi), was an ancient Luwian Neo-Hittite state at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. It was known to the Assyrians as Unqi and Aramaeans as Unqu.

former country

thumb|right|250px|Yahu-Bihdi being flayed alive, from an Assyrian engraving. Yahu-Bihdi (Akkadian: 𒅀𒌑𒁉𒀪𒁲 ia-ú-bi-ʾ-di, "Yahu created me"), also spelled Yahubidi and additionally recorded as Ilu-Bihdi (Akkadian: 𒀭𒁉𒀪𒁲 ìl-bi-ʾ-di, "El created me") was a governor of Hamath appointed by the Assyrian government. He declared himself king of Hamath in 720 BC and led a revolt which was promptly suppressed. Yahu-Bihdi himself was flayed alive. His revolt occurred roughly shortly after the conquest of the Kingdom of Israel by Sargon II and roughly simultaneously with revolts in Babylon as well

Biryawaza (c. 1350 BC) was a petty ruler in the Beqa and Damascus regions. known from the Amarna Letter as a vassal of the Egyptian Empire during the Late Bronze Age.

Ḫilakku (), later known as Pirindu ( and ), was a Luwian-speaking Neo-Hittite state which existed in southeastern Anatolia in the Iron Age.

thumb|350px|right|Bit-Zamani, shown in the center upper-right Bit-Zamani is an ancient Aramean state in northern Mesopotamia, located within the mountainous region of Tur Abdin. In Bit-Zamani was the city of Amida (Amedu, modern Diyarbakır). It was one of the four Aramean states that bordered Assyria. The others were Bit-Halupe, Bit Bahiani and Laqe. By the ninth century BC all of them lost to Assyria.

history of Assyrian civilization of Mesopotamia between 2500 BCE and 2025 BCE

Proposed Mesopotamia civilization

Arbāyistān ( [ʾrb]ystn; Middle Persian: Arbāyistān, Arāwastān, Arwāstān; Armenian: Arvastan) or Beth Arabaye (Syriac: Bēṯ ʿArbāyē) was a Sasanian province in Late Antiquity. Due to its situation and its road systems, the province was a source of income from commercial traffic, as well as a constant area of contention during the Roman–Persian Wars.

Zobah or Aram-Zobah () was an early Aramean state and former vassal kingdom of Israel mentioned in the Hebrew Bible that extended northeast of David's realm according to the Hebrew Bible.

Irridu (Irrite) was a city in northwestern Mesopotamia, likely located between Harran and Carchemish. It flourished in the middle and late Bronze Age before being destroyed by Assyria.

thumb|Cappadocian Tributaries East Staircase of Apadana, commissioned by [[Darius the Great .]] The Leuco-Syrians or literally White Syrians ( or ), also known as Syrians ( or ), and Cappadocians () were an ancient people in central Anatolia during the period of Classical Antiquity. Until now, whether the White Syrians were a Semitic or Indo-European people, or neither, is unknown.

7th-century collection of essays on Eastern Orthodox hesychasm and asceticism

king of Bit Agusi