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76-548: The concept of al-thughūr (الثغر), the frontier zones or marches between the dār al-ḥarb and the dār al-islām , was found throughout the Islamic world. The marches were not fixed, but fluctuated with the fortunes of Islam. The stability of the frontier in Spain between the late 8th and the early 11th centuries is responsible for the outsized role and relatively well-defined nature of the thughūr there. The tripartite division

152-524: A Syrian Christian such as Ephrem the Syrian . Following the declaration of Syria in 1936, the term "Syrian" came to designate citizens of that state, regardless of ethnicity. The adjective "Syriac" ( suryāni سُرْيَانِي ) has come into common use since as an ethnonym to avoid the ambiguity of "Syrian". Currently, the Arabic term Sūriya usually refers to the modern state of Syria, as opposed to

228-553: A chain of fortified strongholds, known as al-thughūr ( اَلـثُّـغُـوْر ; sing. al-thaghr , اَلـثَّـغْـر , "cleft, opening"), and the rear or inner regions of the frontier zone, which was known as al-ʿawāṣim proper. On the Byzantine side, the Muslim marches were mirrored by the institution of the kleisourai and the akritai (border guards). The term thughūr was also used in the marches of al-Andalus and Transoxiana , and

304-537: A month's rest by a summer raid (10 July–8 September), usually the main campaign of the year, and sometimes by a winter raid in February–March. The importance of these raids is summarized by Islamic scholar Hugh N. Kennedy : "the ṣāʿifa (summer raid) was as much a part of the symbolic and ritual functions of the Caliph as was organising and providing leadership for the annual hajj to Mecca ". The frontier zone

380-613: A province of the Roman Empire, following the conquest by Pompey . Roman Syria bordered Judea to the south, Anatolian Greek domains to the north, Phoenicia to the West, and was in constant struggle with Parthians to the East. In 135 AD, Syria-Palaestina became to incorporate the entire Levant and Western Mesopotamia. In 193, the province was divided into Syria proper ( Coele-Syria ) and Phoenice . Sometime between 330 and 350 (likely c. 341),

456-831: A rear zone along northern Syria. The Mamluks entrusted the defence of the Syrian/Cilician march to the client Turkmen principality of the Ramadanids , while the Dulkadirid principality fulfilled the same role in the Mesopotamian thughūr . To safeguard their control of the frontier zone, and to keep the two client beyliks separated and under control, the Mamluks also retained garrisons in seven strategically important sites: Tarsus, Ayas , Serfendikar , Sis , Darende , Malatya and Divriği . Ahmad al-Qalqashandi gives

532-585: A resurgent Byzantium. The Battle of Lalakaon in 863 broke the power of Malatya, altering the balance of power in the region, and signalled the beginning of a gradual Byzantine encroachment on the Arab borderlands. With the onset of the Abbasid Caliphate's terminal period of crisis after 928, control of the Muslim frontier cities shifted to the Ikhshidid and Hamdanid dynasties. In the 930s, under

608-416: A theory for the etymology of Arabia Felix denoting Yemen, by translation of that sense. The Shaam region is sometimes defined as the area dominated by Damascus , long an important regional center. Ash-Sām on its own can refer to the city of Damascus. Continuing with the similar contrasting theme, Damascus was the commercial destination and representative of the region in the same way Sanaa held for

684-587: Is hardly a sultan who does not send hither some auxiliary troops." Ibn Hawqal 's description of Tarsus as a centre for jihad against Byzantium The caliphs repopulated the area by bringing in colonists and regular soldiers from Syria but also Persians , Slavs , Arab Christians , and people from the eastern edges of the Muslim world: settlers from Khurasan , the Sayābija tribe or Jatts (Ar. Zuṭṭ ) from India. The regular troops stationed there were favoured with lower taxes (the tithe or ʿushr instead of

760-585: The Levant . Other synonyms are Greater Syria or Syria-Palestine . The region boundaries have changed throughout history. However, in modern times, the term "Syria" alone is used to refer to the Syrian Arab Republic . The term is originally derived from Assyria , an ancient civilization centered in northern Mesopotamia , modern-day Iraq . During the Hellenistic period , the term Syria

836-470: The kharāj land tax), higher pay and small land grants ( qaṭā'i ). In early Abbasid times these troops numbered some 25,000, half of them drawn from Khurasan and the rest from Syria and Upper Mesopotamia. They were complemented by volunteers, drawn by the religious motivation of jihad against the Byzantines but often paid a salary by the state as well. All this entailed a heavy financial burden on

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912-556: The Amanus mountains. There was no overall governor or administrative centre for the Thughūr , although Tarsus and Malatya emerged as the most important towns in Cilicia and the Mesopotamian sector respectively. The towns of the Thughūr came variously under the administrative control of the jund al-ʿAwāṣim or functioned as separate districts; the situation is complicated by the fact that by

988-685: The Armenian Apostolic Church . There are also Levantines or Franco-Levantines who adhere to Roman Catholicism . There are also Assyrians belonging to the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Church . Other religious groups in the Levant include Jews , Samaritans , Yazidis and Druze . [REDACTED] Asia portal Herodotus uses Ancient Greek : Συρία to refer to

1064-555: The Bilad al-Sham province of the medieval Arab caliphates , encompassing the Eastern Mediterranean (or Levant) and Western Mesopotamia. The Muslim conquest of the Levant in the seventh century gave rise to this province, which encompassed much of the region of Syria, and came to largely overlap with this concept. Other sources indicate that the term Greater Syria was coined during Ottoman rule , after 1516, to designate

1140-730: The Emirate of Transjordan . The Syrian-mandate states were gradually unified as the State of Syria and finally became the independent Syria in 1946. Throughout this period, Antoun Saadeh and his party, the Syrian Social Nationalist Party , envisioned "Greater Syria" or "Natural Syria", based on the etymological connection between the name "Syria" and "Assyria" , as encompassing the Sinai Peninsula , Cyprus, modern Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait,

1216-644: The Franco-Syrian War , in July 1920, in which French armies defeated the newly proclaimed kingdom and captured Damascus, aborting the Arab state. Thereafter, the French general Henri Gouraud , in breach of the conditions of the mandate, subdivided the French Mandate of Syria into six states. They were the states of Damascus (1920), Aleppo (1920), Alawite State (1920), Jabal Druze (1921),

1292-693: The Hatay Province and the western half of the Southeastern Anatolia Region . This late definition is equivalent to the region known in Classical Arabic by the name ash-Shām ( Arabic : ٱَلشَّام /ʔaʃ-ʃaːm/ , which means the north [country] (from the root šʔm Arabic : شَأْم "left, north")). After the Arab conquest of Byzantine Syria in the 7th century CE , the name Syria fell out of primary use in

1368-470: The Rashidun , Umayyad , Abbasid , and Fatimid caliphates , Bilad al-Sham was the name of a metropolitan province encompassing most of the region. In the 19th century, the name Syria was revived in its modem Arabic form to denote the whole of Bilad al-Sham, either as Suriyah or the modern form Suriyya , which eventually replaced the Arabic name of Bilad al-Sham. After World War I , the boundaries of

1444-639: The Roman Empire , Syria and Assyria came to be used as distinct geographical terms. "Syria" in the Roman Empire period referred to "those parts of the Empire situated between Asia Minor and Egypt", i.e. the western Levant , while "Assyria" was part of the Persian Empire , and only very briefly came under Roman control (116–118 AD, marking the historical peak of Roman expansion ). In the Roman era,

1520-461: The Rūm "). This process was marked by a gradual consolidation of the previously deserted zone and its transformation into a settled and fortified borderland, especially after the Byzantines abandoned Cilicia during the reign of Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ( r.  685–705 ). The Muslims began to move into the area, reoccupying and repairing the abandoned towns and forts. The process started under

1596-753: The Seleucid Empire , this term was also applied to The Levant , and henceforth the Greeks applied the term without distinction between the Assyrians of Mesopotamia and Arameans of the Levant. The oldest attestation of the name 'Syria' is from the 8th century BC in a bilingual inscription in Hieroglyphic Luwian and Phoenician . In this inscription, the Luwian word Sura/i was translated to Phoenician ʔšr " Assyria ." For Herodotus in

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1672-482: The Southeastern Anatolia Region of southern Turkey. This late definition is equivalent to the region known in Classical Arabic by the name ash-Shām ( ٱلشَّام /ʔaʃ-ʃaːm/ ), which means the north [country] (from the root šʔm شَأْم "left, north"). After the Islamic conquest of Byzantine Syria in the seventh century, the name Syria fell out of primary use in the region itself, being superseded by

1748-511: The Tagus . According to Aḥmad al-Rāzī , its northern extensions towards the Duero comprised the districts of Santaver , Racupel , Zorita , Guadalajara and Medinaceli with their fortresses, including Castejón de Henares , Uclés , Cuenca , Huete and Huelamo . Towards the former Lower March were the fortresses of Talavera , Madrid, Coria , Coimbra . The thughūr persisted in name through

1824-638: The ancient Near East during the Bronze and Iron Ages . Others such as Bedouin Arabs inhabit the Syrian Desert and Naqab, and speak a dialect known as Bedouin Arabic that originated in Arabian Peninsula . Other minor ethnic groups in the Levant include Circassians , Chechens , Turks , Turkmens , Assyrians , Kurds , Nawars and Armenians . Islam became the predominant religion in

1900-487: The 10th century, the terms Thughūr and al-ʿAwāṣim were often used interchangeably in the sources. In addition, from the early 10th century, with the Byzantine advance into Armenia , the frontier around Diyār Bakr became a third sector, al-Thughūr al-Bakrīya ( الـثُّـغُـوْر الـبَـكْـرِيَّـة ). In the Cilician sector, Mopsuestia (Ar. al-Maṣṣīṣa) was the first city to be re-occupied and garrisoned, already under

1976-510: The 5th century BC, Syria extended as far north as the Halys (the modern Kızılırmak River ) and as far south as Arabia and Egypt. The name 'Syria' derives from the ancient Greek name for Assyrians, Greek : Σύριοι Syrioi , which the Greeks applied without distinction to various Near Eastern peoples living under the rule of Assyria . Modern scholarship confirms the Greek word traces back to

2052-839: The 5th century BC, Syria extended as far north as the Halys (the modern Kızılırmak River ) and as far south as Arabia and Egypt. For Pliny the Elder and Pomponius Mela , Syria covered the entire Fertile Crescent . In Late Antiquity , "Syria" meant a region located to the east of the Mediterranean Sea , west of the Euphrates River , north of the Arabian Desert and south of the Taurus Mountains , thereby including modern Syria , Lebanon , Jordan , Israel , Palestine , and parts of Southern Turkey, namely

2128-506: The Abbasid government. Under Harun al-Rashid, taxation from the Cilician sector brought in 100,000 gold dinars every year, which were all spent locally for public works, salaries, espionage etc. In addition, the costs of cross-border expeditions typically ranged between 200,000 and 300,000 dinars annually. The Mesopotamian sector's revenue amounted to some 70,000 dinars, to which the central government added 120,000–170,000 dinars each year for

2204-482: The Arabic equivalent Bilād ash-Shām ("Northern Land'"), but survived in its original sense in Byzantine and Western European usage, and in Syriac Christian literature. In the 19th century, the name Syria was revived in its modern Arabic form to denote the whole of Bilad al-Sham, either as Suriyah or the modern form Suriyya , which eventually replaced the Arabic name of Bilad al-Sham. After World War I ,

2280-450: The Cilician plain, holding smaller garrisons of a dozen or so men. In the more mountainous terrain of the Mesopotamian frontier zone, the main strongholds were located in the fertile parts of relatively isolated valleys, controlling the entrances of passes over the mountains: Mar'ash (Gr. Germanikeia), rebuilt already under Muawiyah I ( r.  661–680 ) and again under Harun al-Rashid, al-Ḥadath (Gr. Adata), likewise refortified by

2356-451: The Elder and Pomponius Mela , Syria covered the entire Fertile Crescent . In Late Antiquity , "Syria" meant a region located to the east of the Mediterranean Sea , west of the Euphrates River , north of the Arabian Desert , and south of the Taurus Mountains , thereby including modern Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, the State of Palestine, and the Hatay Province and the western half of

Central March - Misplaced Pages Continue

2432-722: The Hamdanids of Aleppo became a tributary state. After their conquest of Syria in the late 13th century, the Egyptian Mamluks re-established the al-thughūr wa-l-ʿawāṣim as a defensive zone to shield Syria from the Turkoman states of Asia Minor and the Caucasus, including at a later stage the Ottoman Empire . Like the earlier model, the thughūr were divided into a Syrian and a Mesopotamian march, as well as

2508-687: The Outer Lands") and in Greek as ta akra ( τὰ ἄκρα , "the extremities") emerged between the two powers in Cilicia , along the southern approaches of the Taurus and Anti-Taurus ranges, leaving Anatolia in Byzantine hands. Both Emperor Heraclius ( r.  610–641 ) and the Caliph ʿ Umar ( r.  634–644 ) pursued a strategy of destruction within this zone, trying to transform it into an effective barrier between their realms. Nevertheless,

2584-593: The Umayyads, but intensified under the first Abbasids , especially during the rule of Harun al-Rashid ( r.  786–809 ). Thus a line of forts was gradually established, stretching from Tarsus (Ar. Ṭarsūs ) on the Mediterranean coast to Malatya (Ar. Malaṭiyā , Gr. Melitene) and Kemah (Arabic Ḥiṣn Kamkh ) on the upper course of the Euphrates . These were located at strategic choke points at

2660-667: The Umayyads, who settled 300 soldiers there in 703, a number raised under the first Abbasids to some 4,000. Adana followed in 758–760, and Tarsus in 787/8. Tarsus quickly became the largest settlement in the region and the Arabs' most important base of operations against the Byzantines, counting between 4,000 and 5,000 troops in its garrison. Other important fortresses in Cilicia, which however were little more than military outposts, were 'Ayn Zarba (Gr. Anazarbus ), al-Hārūniya , founded by Harun al-Rashid, Tall Gubair and al-Kanīsat al-Sawdā . These were complemented by smaller forts dotted across

2736-427: The approximate area included in present-day Palestine , Syria, Jordan, Lebanon. The uncertainty in the definition of the extent of "Syria" is aggravated by the etymological confusion of the similar-sounding names Syria and Assyria . The question of the etymological identity of the two names remains open today. Regardless of etymology, both were thought of as interchangeable around the time of Herodotus. However, by

2812-650: The area of Jordan). Later Jund Qinnasrîn was created out of part of Jund Hims. The city of Damascus was the capital of the Islamic Caliphate, until the rise of the Abbasid Caliphate . In the later ages of the Ottoman times, it was divided into wilayahs or sub-provinces the borders of which and the choice of cities as seats of government within them varied over time. The vilayets or sub-provinces of Aleppo, Damascus, and Beirut, in addition to

2888-610: The autonomous Sanjak of Alexandretta (1921) (modern-day Hatay in Turkey), and Greater Lebanon (1920) which later became the modern country of Lebanon. The boundaries of the region have changed throughout history, and were last defined in modern times by the proclamation of the short-lived Arab Kingdom of Syria and subsequent definition by French and British mandatory agreement. The area was passed to French and British Mandates following World War I and divided into Greater Lebanon , various Syrian-mandate states, Mandatory Palestine and

2964-577: The cognate Greek : Ἀσσυρία , Assyria . The classical Arabic pronunciation of Syria is Sūriya (as opposed to the Modern Standard Arabic pronunciation Sūrya ). That name was not widely used among Muslims before about 1870, but it had been used by Christians earlier. According to the Syriac Orthodox Church , "Syrian" meant "Christian" in early Christianity . In English, "Syrian" historically meant

3040-615: The contemporaneous but short-lived Arab Kingdom of Syria . The Syrian-mandate states were gradually unified as the State of Syria and finally became the independent Syria in 1946. Throughout this period, pan-Syrian nationalists advocated for the creation of a Greater Syria. Several sources indicate that the name Syria itself is derived from Luwian term "Sura/i", and the derivative ancient Greek name: Σύριοι , Sýrioi , or Σύροι , Sýroi , both of which originally derived from Aššūrāyu ( Assyria ) in northern Mesopotamia , modern-day Iraq and greater Syria For Herodotus in

3116-635: The creation of the first modern Arab state to come into existence, the Hashemite Arab Kingdom of Syria on 8 March 1920. The kingdom claimed the entire region of Syria whilst exercising control over only the inland region known as OETA East. This led to the acceleration of the declaration of the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon and British Mandate for Palestine at the 19–26 April 1920 San Remo conference , and subsequently

Central March - Misplaced Pages Continue

3192-462: The entire region from the Byzantine border in the north and west to the Euphrates in the east and a line running south of Antioch (Ar. Anṭākiya), Aleppo (Ar. Ḥalab, Gr. Berroia) and Manbij (Gr. Hierapolis). Manbij and later Antioch were the new province's capitals. The al-ʿAwāṣim proper served as the second defensive line behind the Thughūr , stretching across northern Syria and comprising

3268-443: The first taifa (faction) period following the collapse of the caliphate in the 11th century, but by the 12th they were gone. The Reconquista (Christian reconquest) of the northern lands of al-Andalus (Islamic Iberia) had rendered the old system of fortresses and districts impossible. Thughur Al-ʿAwāṣim ( Arabic : العواصم , "the defences, fortifications"; sing. al-ʿāṣimah , اَلْـعَـاصِـمَـة , "protectress")

3344-412: The first Abbasid caliphs and provided with 4,000 troops, and Malatya, which had been colonized by the Umayyads, destroyed by the Byzantines and rebuilt again and likewise garrisoned with 4,000 men in 757/8. Further fortresses of lesser importance in the Mesopotamian sector were Salaghus , Kaisum , Ḥiṣn Zibaṭra (Gr. Zapetra/Sozopetra ), Sumaisaṭ (Gr. Samosata ), Ḥiṣn Qalawdhiya and Ḥiṣn Ziyad . Some of

3420-589: The great towns within the borders of Persia and Mesopotamia, and Arabia, Syria, Egypt, and Morocco, there is no city but has in Tarsus a hostelry for its townsmen, where the warriors for the Faith from each particular country live. And, when they have once reached Tarsus, they settle there and remain to serve in the garrison; among them prayer and worship are most diligently performed; from all hands, funds are sent to them, and they receive alms rich and plentiful; also there

3496-484: The historical region of Syria. Greater Syria has been widely known as Ash-Shām . The term etymologically in Arabic means "the left-hand side" or "the north", as someone in the Hejaz facing east, oriented to the sunrise, will find the north to the left. This is contrasted with the name of Yemen ( اَلْيَمَن al-Yaman ), correspondingly meaning "the right-hand side" or "the south". The variation ش ء م ( š-ʾ-m ), of

3572-411: The intersections of major roads or at the mouths of important passes. The entire frontier zone was initially part of the jund (one of the military administrative divisions into which Muslim Syria was divided) of Homs . After 680 it formed part of the new jund of Qinnasrin (Gr. Chalkis), until Harun al-Rashid established a separate jund al-ʿAwāṣim ( جُـنْـد الْـعَـوَاصِـم ) in 786, covering

3648-415: The leadership of John Kourkouas , the Byzantines broke through and conquered Malatya and most of the Mesopotamian sector of the Thughūr . Although the Hamdanid emir of Aleppo , Sayf al-Dawla ( r.  946–967 ), managed to stem the Byzantine advance, his success was only temporary: in 964–965, Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas ( r.  963–969 ) captured Cilicia, followed soon after by Antioch, while

3724-432: The more typical ش م ل ( š-m-l ) , is also attested in Old South Arabian , 𐩦𐩱𐩣 ( s²ʾm ), with the same semantic development. The root of Shaam , ش ء م ( š-ʾ-m ) also has connotations of unluckiness, which is traditionally associated with the left-hand and with the colder north-winds. Again this is in contrast with Yemen, with felicity and success, and the positively-viewed warm-moist southerly wind;

3800-585: The name 'Syria' was applied to the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon , and the contemporaneous but short-lived Arab Kingdom of Syria . Today, the largest metropolitan areas in the region are Amman , Tel Aviv , Damascus , Beirut , Aleppo and Gaza City . Several sources indicate that the name Syria itself is derived from Luwian term "Sura/i", and the derivative ancient Greek name: Σύριοι , Sýrioi , or Σύροι , Sýroi , both of which originally derived from Aššūrāyu ( Assyria ) in northern Mesopotamia , modern-day Iraq However, during

3876-662: The name Syria was applied to the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon and the contemporaneous but short-lived Arab Kingdom of Syria . In the most common historical sense, 'Syria' refers to the entire northern Levant , including Alexandretta and the Ancient City of Antioch or in an extended sense the entire Levant as far south as Roman Egypt , including Mesopotamia . The area of "Greater Syria" (Arabic: سُوْرِيَّة ٱلْكُبْرَىٰ , Sūrīyah al-Kubrā ); also called "Natural Syria" (Arabic: سُوْرِيَّة ٱلطَّبِيْعِيَّة , Sūrīyah aṭ-Ṭabīʿīyah ) or "Northern Land" (Arabic: بِلَاد ٱلشَّام , Bilād ash-Shām ), extends roughly over

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3952-543: The next two centuries, border fortresses might change hands between Byzantines and Arabs, but the basic outline of the Arab–Byzantine border remained essentially unaltered. Thus the term al-thughūr , which initially meant "fissures, clefts" (cf. their Greek name ta Stomia , τὰ Στόμια , "the mouths/openings") and designated the actual borderlands, came to mean "boundaries", employed in phrases like Thughūr al-Islām ( ثُـغُـوْر الْإِسْـلَام , "Boundary of Islam ") or Thughūr al-Rūmiyya ( الثُّغُور الرُّومِيَّة , "Boundary of

4028-420: The northern fortresses of the al-ʿAwāṣim province, like Dulūk or Cyrrhus, were also sometimes included in it. Further north, the relatively isolated fortress towns of Qālīqalā (Gr. Theodosiopolis, modern Erzurum ) and Kamacha formed the northernmost outposts of Muslim rule. The Thughūr al-Bakrīya included, according to Qudama ibn Ja'far , Sumaisaṭ, Ḥānī, Malikyan, Gamah, Ḥaurān and al-Kilis. "...from all

4104-457: The province of Euphratensis was created out of the territory of Syria Coele and the former realm of Commagene, with Hierapolis as its capital. After c. 415 Syria Coele was further subdivided into Syria I, with the capital remaining at Antioch , and Syria II or Salutaris, with capital at Apamea on the Orontes River . In 528, Justinian I carved out the small coastal province Theodorias out of territory from both provinces. The region

4180-617: The region after the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the 7th century. The majority of Levantine Muslims are Sunni with Alawite and Shia ( Twelver and Nizari Ismaili ) minorities. Alawites and Ismaili Shiites mainly inhabit Hatay and the Syrian Coastal Mountain Range , while Twelver Shiites are mainly concentrated in parts of Lebanon . Levantine Christian groups are plenty and include Greek Orthodox ( Antiochian Greek ), Syriac Orthodox , Eastern Catholic ( Syriac Catholic , Melkite and Maronite ), Roman Catholic ( Latin ), Nestorian , and Protestant . Armenians mostly belong to

4256-617: The region in 1150 and assigned the northern regions of Bilad al-Sham as the following: In the Levantine sea are two islands: Rhodes and Cyprus; and in Levantine lands: Antarsus, Laodice , Antioch , Mopsuhestia , Adana , Anazarbus , Tarsus , Circesium , Ḥamrtash, Antalya , al-Batira, al-Mira, Macri , Astroboli; and in the interior lands: Apamea , Salamiya , Qinnasrin , al-Castel, Aleppo , Resafa , Raqqa , Rafeqa, al-Jisr, Manbij , Mar'ash , Saruj , Ḥarran , Edessa , Al-Ḥadath , Samosata , Malatiya , Ḥusn Mansur, Zabatra, Jersoon, al-Leen, al-Bedandour, Cirra and Touleb. For Pliny

4332-426: The region itself, being superseded by the Arabic equivalent Shām , but survived in its original sense in Byzantine and Western European usage, and in Syriac Christian literature. In the 19th century the name Syria was revived in its modern Arabic form to denote the whole of Bilad al-Sham , either as Suriyah or the modern form Suriyya , which eventually replaced the Arabic name of Bilad al-Sham. After World War I ,

4408-450: The region were last defined in modern times by the proclamation of and subsequent definition by French and British mandatory agreement. The area was passed to French and British Mandates following World War I and divided into Greater Lebanon , various states under Mandatory French rule , British-controlled Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan . The term Syria itself was applied to several mandate states under French rule and

4484-511: The region's population was dominated by Sunni Muslims , it also contained sizable populations of Shi'ite , Alawite and Ismaili Muslims, Syriac Orthodox , Maronite , Greek Orthodox , Roman Catholics and Melkite Christians, Jews and Druze . The Occupied Enemy Territory Administration (OETA) was a British, French and Arab military administration over areas of the former Ottoman Empire between 1917 and 1920, during and following World War I . The wave of Arab nationalism evolved towards

4560-425: The reign of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III (912–961), the classical tripartite division disappeared. The Central March and the Lower March were combined under the name of the latter but with the character of an enlarged Central March. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān moved the capital north from Toledo to a fortress he constructed at Medinaceli. This expanded march included the Sierra de Guadarrama north of Madrid and a string of fortresses along

4636-422: The second half of the 9th century, when the borderlands became a node in a commercial route linking Basra with northern Syria and even Constantinople . After 842 and for most of the later 9th century, the decline of Abbasid power meant that control over the Thughūr gradually devolved to semi-independent border emirates , chiefly Tarsus, Malatya and Qālīqalā, which were left largely to fend on their own against

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4712-423: The south. Quran 106:2 alludes to this practice of caravans traveling to Syria in the summer to avoid the colder weather and to likewise sell commodities in Yemen in the winter. The largest religious group in the Levant are Muslims and the largest ethnic group are Arabs . Levantines predominantly speak Levantine Arabic , who derive their ancestry from the many ancient Semitic-speaking peoples who inhabited

4788-519: The stretch of land from the Halys river, including Cappadocia (The Histories, I.6) in today's Turkey to the Mount Casius (The Histories II.158), which Herodotus says is located just south of Lake Serbonis (The Histories III.5). According to Herodotus various remarks in different locations, he describes Syria to include the entire stretch of Phoenician coastal line as well as cities such Cadytis (Jerusalem) (The Histories III.159). In Greek usage, Syria and Assyria were used almost interchangeably, but in

4864-403: The subdivisions ( niyābāt ) of the Mamluk thughūr as follows: eight for the Syrian sector (Malatya, Divriği, Darende, Elbistan , Ayas, Tarsus and Adana, Serfendikar and Sis) and three on the Euphrates sector ( al-Bira , Qal'at Ja'bar and al-Ruha ). Syria (region) Syria is a historical region located east of the Mediterranean Sea in West Asia , broadly synonymous with

4940-443: The term Syria is used to comprise the entire northern Levant and has an uncertain border to the northeast that Pliny the Elder describes as including, from west to east, the Kingdom of Commagene , Sophene , and Adiabene , "formerly known as Assyria". Various writers used the term to describe the entire Levant region during this period; the New Testament used the name in this sense on numerous occasions. In 64 BC, Syria became

5016-444: The time of the Roman Empire , 'Syria' and 'Assyria' began to refer to two separate entities, Roman Syria and Roman Assyria . Killebrew and Steiner, treating the Levant as the Syrian region, gave the boundaries of the region as such: the Mediterranean Sea to the west, the Arabian Desert to the south, Mesopotamia to the east, and the Taurus Mountains of Anatolia to the north. The Muslim geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi visited

5092-422: The towns of Baghras , Bayās , Dulūk (Gr. Doliche or Telouch), Alexandretta (Ar. Iskandarīya), Cyrrhus (Ar. Qūrus), Ra'bān and Tīzīn . The Thughūr , the actual frontier zone, was divided into the Cilician or Syrian ( al-Thughūr al-Sha'mīya , اَلـثُّـغُـوْر الـشَّـأْمِـيَّـة ) and the Jaziran or Mesopotamian ( al-Thughūr al-Jazīrīya , اَلـثُّـغُـوْر الْـجَـزِيْـرِيَّـة ) sectors, roughly separated by

5168-421: The two special districts of Mount Lebanon and Jerusalem . Aleppo consisted of northern modern-day Syria plus parts of southern Turkey, Damascus covered southern Syria and modern-day Jordan, Beirut covered Lebanon and the Syrian coast from the port-city of Latakia southward to the Galilee , while Jerusalem consisted of the land south of the Galilee and west of the Jordan River and the Wadi Arabah . Although

5244-418: The ultimate aim of the caliphs remained the outright conquest of Byzantium, as they had done with its provinces in Syria, Egypt and North Africa. It was only the failure of the 717–18 Siege of Constantinople that forced a revision of this strategic objective: although raids into Anatolia continued, the goal of conquest was abandoned. The border between the two powers began to acquire more permanent features. For

5320-444: The upkeep of the fortifications and the salary of the frontier troops. By the 9th century, the Arab raiding expeditions launched against Byzantium from the frontier zone had gradually assumed an almost ritual character and were strictly organized. According to Qudama ibn Ja'far, the conventional pattern of Arab incursions included a first expedition in spring (10 May–10 June), when horses could find abundant fodder, followed after about

5396-438: Was fiercely contested between the Arabs and the Byzantines. Raids and counter-raids were a permanent fixture of this type of warfare. Forts on either side of the notional frontier were captured and razed, or sometimes occupied, but never for long. As a result, the region was often depopulated, necessitating repeated resettlement. There is nevertheless evidence of some prosperity, based on agriculture and commerce, especially during

5472-743: Was annexed to the Rashidun Caliphate after the Muslim victory over the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of Yarmouk , and became known as the province of Bilad al-Sham . During the Umayyad Caliphate , the Shām was divided into five junds or military districts. They were Jund Dimashq (for the area of Damascus), Jund Ḥimṣ (for the area of Homs ), Jund Filasṭīn (for the area of Palestine ) and Jund al-Urdunn (for

5548-485: Was applied to the entire Levant as Coele-Syria . Under Roman rule , the term was used to refer to the province of Syria , later divided into Syria Phoenicia and Coele Syria , and to the province of Syria Palaestina . Under the Byzantines, the provinces of Syria Prima and Syria Secunda emerged out of Coele Syria. After the Muslim conquest of the Levant , the term was superseded by the Arabic equivalent Shām, and under

5624-517: Was certainly in existence by the 9th century. The Central March extended east as far as the edge of the territory known as Bārūsha, which was part of the Upper March and lay south of Daroca , covering Molina . Late in the reign of the Emir Muḥammad I (852–886), there was a chain of fortresses stretching from Bārūsha to Toledo at Madrid , Talamanca , Canales , Olmos and Calataifa . In

5700-480: Was revived by the Mamluk Sultanate in the 14th century, when the areas traditionally comprising the ʿawāṣim and thughūr in the northern Syrian region and Upper Mesopotamia came under their control. Already from late 630s, after the rapid Muslim conquest of the Levant , a vast zone unclaimed by either Byzantines or Arabs and virtually deserted (known in Arabic as al-Ḍawāḥī ( اَلـدَّوَاحِي , "of

5776-537: Was the Arabic term used to refer to the Muslim side of the frontier zone between the Byzantine Empire and the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates in Cilicia , northern Syria and Upper Mesopotamia . It was established in the early 8th century, once the first wave of the Muslim conquests ebbed, and lasted until the mid-10th century, when the Byzantine advance overran it. It comprised the forward marches , comprising

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