SYRIA: An Outline History

In its historical, wider sense, Syria includes modern Syria, Lebanon, Israel/Palestine and Jordan. It has always been at the centre of events of world importance. It was in this region that pastoral-stock rearing, settled agriculture and alphabetic writing were invented, and the dog domesticated. From Syria, Phoenician explorers set out to explore the whole Mediterranean region and sailed round Africa 2,000 years before Vasco de Gama. Succeeding centuries offer a rich tapestry of turbulent change, a cycle of repeated conquest, unification, rebellion and division. This sweeping overview takes us from the end of the Ice Age through the procession of Assyrian, Phoenician, Persian, Greek, Roman, Arab, Turkish, French and British attempts to dominate this area. Key events and influences are explained and analysed explaining much of what we now see on our TV screens in the context of 12,000 years of history and the consequences of the Great War 1914-2011. 358pp in Pen & Sword publication.