"Syria is the cradle of the great civilizations, and the accomplishments of her ancient peoples are renowned throughout the world.
It was here that agriculture began ten thousand years ago, that settlement commenced and civilization emerged. Houses, not caves, became man's dwelling, and he embarked on a journey of self-discovery. He observed heaven and sang the earliest hymns. He tried his hand at drawing and sculpture. Evidence of these ancient arts are found all over Syria, at Mereibet, Jeyroud, Yabroud, and on the river banks.
Syria also presented the world with another discovery. It was here that copper was made pliable and bronze was invented. The Bronze civilization came into being at Tel Halaf.
At Mari (Tel Hariri), by the Euphrates and elsewhere, there was an abundance of palaces, temples and murals reflecting advanced cultural and commercial activity.
The kingdom of Ugarit (Ras Shamra) offered mankind the first alphabet in history. At Ebla (Tel Merdikh), a royal palace was discovered containing one of the largest and most comprehensive documentary archives of the ancient world. These specialized in industrial, diplomatic, commercial and administrative matters, in addition to war and peace relations with other countries.
The Amorites, the Canaanites and the Phoenicians inhabited the coastal region, the Arameans were the highlanders, and the Nabateans inhabited the south.
Successive waves of migrations from the Arab Peninsula gave an Arab identity to Syria, and it managed to withstand the invations by Hittite, Persians, Greeks and Romans. The Islamic conquest of 636 A.D only confirmed this Arab identity and gave a sense of uinty to the land.
The immense strategic importance of Syria is due to her unique position as a meeting-point of three continents (Asia, Africa, and Europe), and as a crossroad between the Caspian Sea, the Indian Ocean, the Black Sea, and the Nile River. Thoughout Syria lay the silk route which led from China to Doura Europos (Salhieh), from Palmyra and Homs to the Syrian ports on the Mediterranean, where for thousands of years Syrian seafarers had ridden the waves in their enormous fleets with gleaming white sails.
This geographical position lent distinction to the country, not only as a trade and caravan route, but also as a melting-pot of diverse ideas, beliefs, talents, and cultures.
A journey through Syria is a journey through time. When you enter the old souks you realize that history is something alive and tangible, something you can see and touch. You walk down the `Street called Straight' (Midhat Pasha) which stretches from Bab Keissan to Bab al-Jabieh, and you feel that you are walking beside Saul of Tarsus where he saw the light of faith, the light on `the Road to Damascus'.
The silk weavers which you see in Damascus, Hama and Aleppo still work at their wooden hand looms just like their ancestors did in Ebla four thousand years ago. Glass blowers at their brick furnaces recall their predecessors who invented coulored glass three thousand years ago. Folk artists still draw pictures of epic heroes almost identical to those engraved on stone by Doura Europos artists the year 3000 B.C.
Syria is often described as the largest small country in the world because of its wealth of ancient civilizations. Modern man is indebted to this land for much of his thought and learning. Indeed it was aptly said that every intellectual has two homelands: his own, and Syria."
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