Cradle of Civilisation

With its Biblical sites, Roman cities and Crusader castles, with a Mediterranean coast and desert climate, Syria is part of a region recognized as the very cradle of civilization, not least in the central area around the banks of the Euphrates where evidence of an ancient history dates back to the fourth millennium BC.

Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, early Christians, Crusaders and Arabs have all left their mark - with temples, arcades, churches, castles and mosques.

Syria has been at the forefront of human development for the last ten thousand years and has featured widely in the history of civilization. The oldest churches in the world are to be found in Syria. Christianity began to spread and form its canon here.

In the heart of ancient Syria, the first Ugarit* alphabet was born. The first Olympic games began at Amrit ( Marathus ), the first plough , the first sea-going vessels. The beginning of agriculture first appeared in Syria thousands of years ago.

Mari, the highly urbanized metropolis on the banks of the Euphrates is on Syrian soil. At Mari, there were palaces, temples and murals reflecting advance cultural and commercial activities.

But this historic heritage is matched by an impressive wealth of natural scenery, deserts and oases, coastal beaches, cereal plains, olive groves and snow-capped mountains.

The monuments in Syria reflect these changing times. The classical sites of Apamea and Palmyra are among the finest Roman  remains in the world. Magnificent castles like Crac des Chevaliers indicate the presence of the forces of Christendom here from the First Crusade at the end of 11th century to the 13th century defeat at the hands of Sultan Bybars.

Damascus:

Syria’s capital prides herself on being the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. The focal point of Damascus is its charming Old City, surrounded by a Roman wall, in which the main covered market, the Souq al-Hamadiyeh, lies among cobbled streets in the shadow of the Omayad Mosque, built in 705 AD on the site of ancient temples and a Christian cathedral.

Damascus was the city where St. Paul first preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There are still a large number of ancient churches, many dating to the early centuries of the Byzantine Empire.

Apolodor the Damascene designed the celebrated Trajan Column in Rome and the great bridge on the River Danube.

Emperor Julian named it "the pearl of the Orient."

Aleppo:

Historically one of the great commercial centers of the Middle East, Syria’s second city is almost as old as Damascus itself and even more interesting. There is a plethora of ancient buildings, not least the citadel - an immense structure in the heart of the old city - and the Hammam al-Nasri, the most impressive bath in the whole country. The covered souk, catering for locals not tourists, is another must.

Bosra:

The former capital of the Roman Province of Arabia, Bosra, situated at the crossroads of old trade routes, was the first Muslim city in Syria. Its main point of interest today is an Arab fortress enclosing one of the world’s best preserved Roman amphitheatres, seating up to 15,000 people. There are also baths, columns, capitals and minarets and great pools built to supply a metropolis with water.

Palmyra:

Its rise to glory beginning under the Assyrians, the desert fortress of Palmyra (Tadmor in Arabic) lies in the center of Syria between the Orontes River to the west and the Euphrates to the east. Located beside a hot-water spring, Afqa, this charming oasis town is most notable today for its breathtaking displays of Roman architecture in the form of its Great Colonnade, theatre, Temple of Bel, Valley of the Tombs and many other magnificent ruins covering 6 square kms. Overlooking the town is a 17th-century Arab castle.

Crac des Chevaliers:

Probably the most famous crusader castle in the world, this mighty edifice, in almost good condition, was built between 1150 and 1250 on a mountain pass between Turkey and Lebanon to protect eastern trade routes. From its great height, it provides superb views over the valley and surrounding mountains.

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. Therefore it is properly said that every cultured man belongs to two nations – his own and Syria. In short, a journey to Syria is a voyage of discovery in which the main elements are arts, history, culture and human contact.

A very present past ..

History is no abstraction in Syria. It is not confined to some dusty tome. It lives in every river, hill, colonnade, mosaic, fortress and museum... The tens of thousands of clay tablets engraved with cuneiform script, which have been discovered, neatly classified, in libraries and archives, at Mari, Ugarit and Ebla enable scholars to re-create the beginnings of a civilization which has influenced the whole Western World.

Even more evocative are the objects that have been recovered by the archaeologists, who continue patiently to scratch and sift the sand and mud. Beautifully displayed in museum showcases in Damascus, Aleppo, Tartous and Palmyra, we can see children’s toys, women’s jewelry, the gems that belonged to priests and kings, funerary sculptures and ornaments and, of course, weapons of many kinds. They bring to life the daily life of that distant world.

What would Mari mean to us if we had not seen a five-roomed house, modeled in clay by an architect who lived four thousands years ago?

Thus every period in Syria’s history is brought to life. Should the visitor be interested in the great periods of city building and of Syrian sculpture, he can see them in Palmyra. If it is the early history of Islam, the Umayyad period when the Arab nation attained self-consciousness, that interests him - then he has Damascus. If he is fascinated by that early Christian period in the country where St. Paul preached after his inspiration on the Damascus Road, then he must visit the monasteries of Maalula, Seidnaya, and Mar Mosa and the churches of Damascus, Aleppo and Homs. The remains of the pillar of Simeon Stylites, on which he is said to have spent forty-two years, can still be seen on a hill near Aleppo.

If it is the conflict of Cross and Crescent during the two centuries of the Crusades that he wants to trace, then he has Crac des Chevaliers, Qalaat Salah ed-Din, Marqab Castle and a dozen more.

If he wants to learn more of the Ottoman period with its luxury, and the commercial intrigues and ambitions of the sultans, then he can do so, in peaceful Hama and in bustling Aleppo.

Therapeutic Tourism

Mineral water baths and associated physiotherapy treatments - these have been known for a long time in Central Europe, especially in Germany and the Czech Republic.

However, Syria’s "Spring of Life" contains pure, natural water that is rich in vital minerals which cure diseases of the skin, bones, nervous and immune systems, blood pressure, veins, heart, diabetes, anemia, cancer and many more.

Each human body, in one way or another, is vulnerable to life’s unnatural maladies. Whether it is the flu due to poor immunity or neck aches from sitting at a computer for too long, the human body is constantly faced with such nuisances.

The "Spring of Life" offers an alternate method of healing oneself from minor to chronic diseases.

Welcome to Syria ..

* Ugarit (modern site Ras Shamra) 35°35´ N; 35°45´E) was an ancient cosmopolitan port city, sited on the Mediterranean coast of northern Syria a few kilometers north of the modern city of Latakia. Ugarit was at its height from about 1450 BC to 1200 BC.   en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugarit

a collection of cuneiform tablets with mythological poems and ritual prescriptions excavated at Ras Shamra (ancient Ugarit) in N. Syria from 1929 onwards. The tablets, probably dating from the 14th century BC or earlier, are in a hitherto unknown alphabetical script and in a Semitic dialect closely akin to Hebrew.

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