1. (395-1918)

2. لورانس رشدي

3.   The Birthplace of Civilization  The Bronze Age  The Fall of Ebla & Mari  Ugarit  1200-539 B.C.  Alexander the Great Contents

4.   The Roman Empire  The Byzantine Empire  Islam  The Crusades  The Mamelukes  The Ottoman Empire Contents (Continued)

5.  Syria The Ancient Pearl  Included the Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, and present day Syria  Played an important Role through out history  Often Described as the cradle Of civilizations

7.  The Birth place of Civilization  Said to be the birthplace Of civilization (9000BC)  Birthplace of agriculture, bronze and copper tools, trade, the very first alphabet and communities

9.  The Bronze Age  3000-2000BC  The Great Kingdoms of Ebla and Mari are the sites where writing was invented.  Found in both are tablets of Cuneiform writing  In Mari alone an estimated 17000 Tablets found

11.  The Fall of Ebla and Mari  lasted about 1000 years due to their cultural development, their rising trade with both Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean, and due to the irrigation of the Euphrates  Both kingdoms were taken over by the Akkadians and then the Amorites

13.  Ugarit  Yamkhad the Amorite Kingdom in Aleppo had taken over Ebla and trade began to flourish  Hammurabi the ruler of Babylon destroyed Mari (2000-1600BC)

15.  1200-539BC  Hittites Phoenicians Arameans and Assyrians  Barbaric people who came from several lands,, around the Aegean Sea, and called them selves the Sea Peoples, took over from the Hittites and Ugarit  The Phoenicians at this point were getting stronger and had now moved to the Mediterranean coast were trade was very popular among the Mari and Ebla kingdoms

16.  1200-539BC Continued  The Arameans began to move across Syria spreading the language Jesus would speak nearly 1000 years later  This language is still spoken today in the village of Maaloula  From 800-612BC the Assyrian Empire rose to power and for nearly 2oo years they ruled over Syria and Lebanon

18.  Alexander the Great  333-64BC  Defeats Darius and gains Syria  The Hellenistic Empire combined both western and eastern cultures but with a predominate Greek system.  After Alexanders death, the empire was divided into two empires under Ptolemy and Seleucus

20.  Romans  64-395BC  The South remained under Nabatean control  North was taken by Rome under their leader Pompey (general for the Romans)  Under Rome the Syrians became more modern with roads, new farming techniques, and trading networks

22.  The Byzantines (395-632 A.D.)

24.   Mixture of Roman/Greek Cultures  Brought great Architecture to Syria in the North  Brought Christianity to Syria  Removed by Caliphates (Islamic) in 632 A.D. at the battle of Yarmuk Constantine

26.  Islam & the Caliphates (632 – 1099 A.D.)

28.   Caliphates brought Islam to Syria  Muawiya, governor of Syria, mad Damascus capital in 661 A.D.  Battle of Goliath’s well in 750 A.D. saved Christendom in Syria  The Abbasid Caliphates neglected Syria, seen by lack of architecture from period  Abbasids demolished Christian churches The Caliphate Neglect

30.  The Crusades (1098-1250 A.D.)

32.   First crusaders arrived in 1098 under Raymond de Saint Gilles of Toulouse, France  1098 – Crusaders Massacred the Male population of Maarat Al Numan  Second Crusade was not able to capture Edessa or Damascus  Saladin recaptured Syria in the Third Crusade The Crusades

34.  The Mamelukes (1250-1516 A.D.)

36.   Not a positive period for Syria  Mongols attacked in 1271 and were defeated  Crusades officially ended in 1302 in Arwad, Syria  A second group of Mamelukes, the Burgis, took power in 1382  Decades of rivalry ensued and Tamerlane attacked destroying most of Syria; European trade was also redirected to Africa The Mamelukes

38.  The Ottoman Empire (516-1918 A.D.)

40.   In 1516, Sultan Selim I defeated the Mamelukes in North Aleppo and conquered Syria  The Ottomans saw the return of Architecture to Syria, including the building of the Tekkiu Mosque complex in Damascus  The Ottomans remained in control until the Arab revolt in 1917 led by T.E. Lawrence; who arrived in Damascus in 1918 The Ottomans

42.  نهاية شكرا