Damascus
Damascus or Dimashq, capital and chief city of Syria, in southwestern Syria, on the Baradá River, near the Anti-Lebanon Mountains in the southwestern part of the country. The greater part of Damascus, including the rectangular ancient city, is on the south bank of the Baradá. Modern suburbs extend from the north bank.

Damascus has long been an important commercial center. In former times it was famous for dried fruit, wine, wool, linens, and silks. Damask, a type of patterned fabric, was named for the silk fabrics woven in Damascus. The city was notable also for the manufacture and transshipment of damascened steel sword blades, which were exceptionally hard and resilient. Today the city is the trading center for figs, almonds, and other fruit produced in the surrounding region. Industries in Damascus include handicrafts, such as the weaving of silk cloth and the making of leather goods, filigreed gold and silver objects, and inlaid wooden, copper, and brass articles. Among the city's other manufactures are processed food, clothing, and printed material.

The streets of the city, with the exception of the “street called Straight” (mentioned in the Bible in Acts 9:11), on which Saint Paul is supposed to have lived, are crooked and narrow. The houses frequently combine a splendidly decorated interior with a plain and somber exterior. The walls fronting the street are usually without windows.

Damascus has more than 200 mosques, of which 70 are still in use. Of these, the Umayyad Mosque, or Great Mosque, is the most important. Said to have been a heathen temple, it was converted into a Christian church at the end of the 4th century. It then contained what was believed to be the head of Saint John the Baptist and was named the Cathedral of Saint John. Other noteworthy mosques are the Sinani-yah, with a striking green-tiled tower, and the Tekkeyah, which was founded in 1516 on the riverbank west of the city as a refuge for poor pilgrims. The National Library, the National Museum, and the University of Damascus (1923) are in the city.

Damascus is one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. According to 15th-century bc Egyptian inscriptions, Damascus was the capital of a city-state. During biblical times the city was subjugated by David, king of Judah and Israel (see 2 Samuel 8:5-6; 1 Chronicles 18:5), and later engaged in warfare with Israel. In 732 bc Damascus was conquered by the Assyrians, under Tiglath-pileser III, and in 333 and 332 bc it fell to Alexander the Great. After the death of Alexander in 323 bc, Damascus became part of the Seleucid Kingdom (see Seleucids). It was conquered by Pompey the Great in 64 bc.

Christianity was introduced into Damascus during the 1st century ad, and the city became the seat of a bishop's diocese. In 635 it was taken by the Muslims, and for a time before the foundation of Baghdad in 762, the city was the residence of the caliphs and was greatly adorned and fortified. In 1076 Damascus was seized by the Seljuk Turks (see Seljuks), and in 1154 it fell to the Egyptians. Damascus was the headquarters of Saladin, sultan of Egypt and Syria, during the Third Crusade. In 1401 the Turkic conqueror Tamerlane pillaged and burned the city. It was soon rebuilt and in 1516 was wrested from Egypt by the Ottoman Empire. Damascus was returned to Egyptian rule by Ibrahim Pasha in 1832; in 1841 it was restored to the Ottoman Empire as part of Syria. An uprising of the Muslim population in 1860 resulted in the destruction of the Christian quarter and the massacre of many Christians.

During World War I (1914-1918), Ottoman and German troops, directing their operations against the Suez Canal, were based in Damascus. In 1918 the city was captured by combined forces under British Field Marshal Edmund Henry Allenby and the Arab leader who became Faisal I, king of Iraq. Faisal later attempted to make Damascus the capital of an independent Arab state, and in March 1920 he was proclaimed king of Syria by a Syrian congress meeting in Damascus. In July the French, who had been granted a mandate over Syria by the Supreme Council of the Allied Powers, occupied Damascus. Between 1925 and 1927, the French were driven out of Damascus twice during revolts by the Druze, a religious sect; each time, they reoccupied the city after heavy bombardments. Much of the city was ruined in the fighting, and many inhabitants were killed. Following the defeat of France by Germany in 1940, during World War II, the pro-German Vichy government of France established in Damascus a colonial regime favorable to Germany. In 1941 a combined Allied force attacked Syria and took Damascus, which became the capital of independent Syria in 1946. Population (1995 estimate) 2,036,000

Aleppo
Halab or Aleppo (ancient Beroea), city in northern Syria, capital of ?alab Governorate. It lies on a plateau 427 m (1400 ft) high, midway between the Mediterranean Sea and the Euphrates River. The second largest city of Syria, ?alab is an agricultural trading center and has factories producing carpets; silk, cotton, and wool textiles; silverware and gold ware; leather goods; and embroidery. ?alab consists of an old and a new town; the former is enclosed within a wall dating from medieval times. Among the most important buildings are the modern citadel, surrounded by a moat and standing on a hill 61 m (200 ft) high, and the Mosque of Zacharias, said to contain the tomb of Saint John the Baptist's father. Also in ?alab are a number of European schools and Christian churches and missions. The University of ?alab was founded in 1960. The city is connected by rail with Damascus, and with Beirut (Bayrut), Lebanon, and by caravan route with Iraq and parts of the Kurdish cultural region. In the 3rd century ad, ?alab became the greatest center of trade between Europe and lands farther east. The history of the city, which was settled by the Hittites before 1000 bc, parallels that of Syria. Population 1,582,930 (1994).

Deir Ezzor
The tamarisk groves on banks of Euphrates river, give the name to this city "The Convent of the Groves".

It is the most important urban center in East of Syria, 320 km south east of Aleppo. Situated on the banks of the Euphrates, flowing gently through the plain, Deir Ezzor, stands guard to the five bridges that span the river, the lifeline of the regional economy and navigable corridor of civilization through the ages.

Countless armies, conquerors and merchants have come and gone leaving behind a legacy of cultural and architectural diversity in public and private stone buildings and flower gardens. It is well placed for access to important archaeological sites like Dura Europos 85 km to the south east and Mari 125 km to the south east.

Lattakia
Lattakia is Syria's busiest and most modern seaport located 186 km south west of Aleppo.

Until the fall of Ugarit, the area was part of that kingdom. This was an important ancient Canaanite urban center and its language has had a marked effect on our knowledge of early religion and literature and Biblical studies.

After the division of Alexander's Empire it fell under the influence of the Seleucids and became a major city and port. Seleucus Nicator renamed the city to Laodicea, in honor of his mother, and today's name is a corruption of that Greek name.

Palmyra
Palmyra, ancient city of Syria, in an oasis on the northern edge of the Syrian Desert, 240 km (150 mi) northeast of Damascus. The ruins of Palmyra are located 5 km (3 mi) west of the modern town of Tadmuriyah. Palmyra (meaning “Palm City”) was the Greek and Latin name of the place, but in more ancient times it bore a name similar to that of the modern town. In inscriptions dating to the time of King Tiglath-pileser I of Assyria, around 1100 bc, the city is called Tadmar. In the Bible it is called Tadmor (1 Kings 9:18 and 2 Chronicles 8:4).

According to tradition, Palmyra was founded by Solomon, king of ancient Israel. It was the easternmost city of Solomon's empire. Palmyra owed its prominence to its strategic location on the ancient trade routes between Egypt and the Persian Gulf.

The earliest surviving inscription from Palmyra dates from 32 bc. Palmyra was a prosperous caravan station in the 1st century bc. It became a Roman outpost and a major city-state within the Roman Empire in the 1st century ad. Its chief commercial rival was Petra, an ancient city in what is now southwestern Jordan. Palmyra prospered even more when the Romans conquered Petra in ad 106. The Roman emperors lavished favors on Palmyra. In 129 Emperor Hadrian restored many of its buildings and named it Hadriana Palmyra after himself. Septimius Severus (reigned 193-211) gave it the standing of a Roman colony. For the most part, however, Palmyra maintained a relatively independent and neutral position between the empire of Rome to the west and the empire of Parthia to the east.

Palmyra reached its high point in the 3rd century ad under its ruler Odenathus. An ally of Rome, Odenathus helped the Romans regain territory they had lost to King Shapur I of Persia (reigned 241-272). Upon the assassination of Odenathus, probably in 267, his widow, Zenobia, succeeded him. Within three years she extended her rule to all of Syria, to Egypt, and to most of Asia Minor. Her ambition led to war with Rome, and in 272 Emperor Aurelian captured her and sacked Palmyra. The city never recovered its importance and splendor.

Palmyra was conquered by Muslim Arabs in 634 and made an Arab fortress. In 1089 it was destroyed by an earthquake. Plundering hastened its decay, and it sank rapidly to the ruins that remain to this day.

Excavations were made at Palmyra by German archaeologists in 1902 and 1917 and by French archaeologists beginning in 1925. An account of the German work was published by German archaeologist Theodor Wiegand in 1932.

The chief structures of the ancient city included the temple of Bel, or Baal (1st century bc); the temple of Bel-shamin (1st century ad); the agora, or marketplace (2nd century ad); the theater and civic center; and the rectangular walled caravanserai, or inn for caravans. The temple of Bel, or Baal, also known as the temple of the Sun, still stands. Also still standing is the colonnade, nearly 1.6 km (1 mi) long, which originally consisted of some 1,500 Corinthian columns. The main street of the ancient city was the old caravan road. In Roman times it was transformed into a long and beautiful avenue adorned with colonnades and monumental arches.

Homs
H ims or Homs, city in western Syria, on the Orontes River. Known in antiquity as Emesa, the city had a temple to the sun god, in which the Roman emperor Heliogabalus, a native of ?ims, was at one time a priest. The town was made a Roman colony under Emperor Caracalla in the early part of the 3rd century. Rebelling Syrian forces under Zenobia, queen of Palmyra, were defeated here by the Roman army of Emperor Lucius Domitius Aurelian in 273. In 636 the town was captured by the Arabs. The chief industry in the city is the manufacture of silk. Population 540,133 (1994).