SIRIA

SYRIA. —

I. GEOGRAPHY

A historic region and (since 1946) an independent state of Western Asia, bordering Turkey, Iraq, Transjordan, Israel, and Lebanon.

Its territory (187,000 sq. km.), which extends from the Levantine Sea to Upper Mesopotamia (Tigris) and from the Taurus Mountains to the Jabal al-Druze, encompasses a vast desert or semi-desert sector to the east and a far more varied and resource-rich area to the west. Between the interior highlands (Golan, Hermon, Anti-Lebanon) and the coast, which is also bordered by high terrain, lies a depressed corridor where the Orontes (Nahr al-‘Āṣī) and the Leontes (Nahr al-Lītānī) flow in opposite directions. Except in the highest and most abrupt zones, the country suffers from a scarcity of water (the Mediterranean-type climate intensifies this characteristic inland). Its economic potential is thus conditioned by the ability to resolve the irrigation problem, especially since pastoralism lacks adequate grazing land and mineral resources are limited.

Cultivated land covers barely one-eighth of the territory and essentially meets domestic needs (cereals, legumes, vines, olives, sesame, cotton), while tobacco and fruit trees (apricots) hold some importance. Sheep and goats dominate livestock (cattle are scarce), but sericulture is far more significant, its product feeding a substantial and traditional artisan sector; skilled craftsmen also work with cotton, artificial silk, and leather. Industry, though developing, remains largely confined to processing local raw materials. The two largest cities are also the country’s most active manufacturing centers.

The population, almost entirely concentrated in western Syria, is highly heterogeneous both ethnically (with significant minorities of Arabs, Turks, Armenians, Persians, Europeans, etc.) and religiously. There are many large centers, many with ancient traditions and serving as cultural hubs; only Homs exceeds 100,000 inhabitants. Syria lacks an adequate port (Latakia and Tartus are merely fishing centers); most of its maritime trade passes through Beirut (Lebanon).

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SYRIA. — II. HISTORY.

From its prolonged status as a province within the Islamic caliphate, Syria saw the succession of various dynasties from 877 to 1516, most of them originating in Egypt and ruling from there. This period includes the long interval of the Crusades (1097–1291). From 1516 to 1920, Syria was under Ottoman rule. From 1920 onward, through the French mandate, the subsequent phases of Syrian independence unfolded, culminating in 1946.

The history of Syria is highly fragmented. There has been no strong national unity; rather, it is the history of individual regions and cities. Reference should therefore be made, on the one hand, to entries on regions (e.g., LEBANON) and major cities (ALEPPO; DAMASCUS, etc.), and on the other, to ISLAM for the period under caliphate rule; EGYPT for dynasties originating there; and TURKEY for the Ottoman occupation period.

Note that chronological indications for individual dynasties refer only to their periods of rule in Syria.

1937. The Conquest (634–40)

The main phases of the Arab conquest of Syria (and simultaneously of Palestine [q.v.]) were: the victories at Aghadajn (634) and Fihl (Pella, 635); the capture of Damascus (635); the decisive Battle of the Yarmuk River (636); and the conquests of Jerusalem (638) and Caesarea (640).

Under early Arab administration, as elsewhere (q.V. ISLAM, Historical Expansion), Syria initially retained a military occupation character. It was divided into *gund*, or military districts: Damascus, Hims, Palestine, and Jordan; Caliph Yazid I later added Qinnasrin. The subject population was subjected to land tax (*kharāj*) and poll tax (*jizya*). Converts to Islam (*mawālī*) were exempted from the *jizya* and incorporated as clients into Arab tribes.

1938. Syria under the Caliphate (640–877; 905–35)

With the rise of the Umayyad dynasty (661–750), Syria became the center of the caliphate. The capital was moved to Damascus and remained there, though the later Umayyad caliphs rarely resided there, until Marwan II (744–750) transferred it to Ḥarrān in Mesopotamia—a move that contributed to the dynasty’s downfall. The foundation of Umayyad power lay in the army, composed of the Arab tribes already present in Syria before the conquest, joined by the conquerors. However, internal strife among these tribes (divided into Qaysite and Yamanite factions) undermined the state’s stability. The gradual disappearance of military camps led to parallel ethnic and linguistic Arabization; this process was reinforced by the introduction of Arabic into administration under ‘Abd al-Malik (685–705) and the partial removal of indigenous elements from administrative posts. Islamization was limited, with relatively few *mawālī*, indicating the general tolerance enjoyed by non-Muslim subjects.

The Abbasids, who came to power in 750, transferred the capital to Baghdad. Syria became a mere province, and control of the state was taken from the Syrians. They repeatedly attempted revolts, but persistent tribal discord rendered them futile. Tax pressure increased, as did religious pressure, culminating in the discriminatory measures of al-Mutawakkil (847–61).

The Tulunids of Egypt conquered Syria in 878. This was followed by a brief Abbasid restoration (905–39), after which the series of Egyptian dynasties resumed. These faced challenges from dynasties originating in the east (notably the Seljuks and atabegs) and from the Crusader states.

1939. Autonomous Dynasties Prior to the Seljuk Invasion (877–905; 935–1076)

The Tulunids ruled Syria from 877 to 905; the Ikhshidids from 939 to 969. Both dynasties were Turkish. Against the Ikhshidids, the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad opposed the Hamdanids, who advanced from Mesopotamia into northern Syria and ruled from Aleppo (944–1003), with the greatest Hamdanid sovereign being Sayf al-Dawla, at whose court the poet al-Mutanabbī lived. In the north, the Hamdanids confronted the Byzantines, who had occupied Antioch (608) and pushed as far as ‘Arqah. In the south, the Fatimids, having conquered Egypt in 969, simultaneously advanced into Syria, ousting the Ikhshidids and later the Hamdanids. Through the exploitation by their governors, the Fatimids weakened the country’s resources; Shi‘ite propaganda developed, manifesting in extremist movements such as the Druze, Nusayri, and Mutawa‘li (q.V. ISLAM, Sects). In the 11th century, the Fatimids declined. In Aleppo, the Mirdasid dynasty was established (1023–79), followed by the ‘Uqaylid dynasty from Mesopotamia (1079–85). The Fatimid rule in Syria may be considered ended with the Seljuk capture of Damascus (1076).

1940. The Seljuks and the Atabegs

The Seljuks (q.V. TURKEY), having conquered Syria, remained there through a branch of the family until 1117. The formation of atabeg dynasties—common throughout the empire—also occurred in Syria: the Burids governed Damascus (1103–54), while the Zangids ruled Aleppo and later Damascus (1128–81), bringing a period of prosperity under Nūr al-Dīn.

Meanwhile, the Crusades (q.v.) had begun. Christians captured Antioch in 1098, Jerusalem in 1099, and Tyre in 1124. Their control extended along the coast and parts of the interior but did not reach the major cities: Aleppo, Hama, Hims, Ba‘albek, or Damascus. With Nūr al-Dīn, Muslim recovery began.

1941. The Ayyubids (1174–1206)

The Ayyubid Salāh ad-dīn (Saladin), who had replaced the Fātimids in Egypt in 1171, upon the death of Nūr ad-dīn undertook the conquest of Syria, completing it between 1174 and 1183. He then turned against the Crusaders and in 1187 defeated them at Ḥaṭṭīn, reconquering Jerusalem and driving them back to the fortified coastal cities. Here the Crusaders achieved some gains during the Third Crusade, which secured for them Acre and the coastal stretch from Tyre to Jaffa. Upon Saladin’s death in 1193, al-Malik al-Kāmil ceded Jerusalem to Frederick II by treaty in 1229, though the city was definitively retaken in 1244. The Ayyubid dynasty was supplanted in Egypt by the Mamluks in 1250. Of the secondary branches into which it had divided, the most important—those of Syria, Damascus, and Aleppo—ended in 1260; Ḥimṣ in 1262; the branch of Ḥamāh lasted until 1341, but under Mamluk authority.

1942. The Mamluks (1260–1516)

The Mamluks exploited in Syria the Mongol invasion, winning victories at ‘Ayn Jālūt (1260) and Marāghah al-Suffar (1303). They continued the struggle against the Crusaders until they expelled them definitively in 1291 with the capture of ‘Aṭṭīf. In 1401, Timur Lang (Tamerlane) invaded Syria, sacked Aleppo and Damascus, and then withdrew. Administratively, the Mamluks divided the region into six departments (niẓābah), namely Damascus, Aleppo, Ḥamāh, Tripoli, Safad, and Kerak. The governors (nā’ib), among whom that of Damascus was preeminent, were frequently changed so as to prevent them from becoming autonomous. Their economic exploitation depressed Syria, whose commercial activity had already suffered a severe blow from the end of the Crusades. Among the internal disturbances of this period, noteworthy was that of Lebanon, linked to extremist Shī‘ite movements (1293–1305). Mamluk rule in Syria ended in 1516, when Selim I, with his victory at Marj Dābiq, annexed the region to the Ottoman Empire.

1943. Syria under the Ottoman Empire (1516–1920)

Syria was divided administratively into the pashaliks of Aleppo, Tripoli, Damascus, and later Sidon. Like the Mamluk nā’ibs, the pashas, who were changed with great frequency, engaged in economic exploitation of the country, furthering its decline. Their authority did not extend beyond the major cities and their surroundings; the countryside and mountains remained under local emirs. In particular, Lebanon (v.) was semi-autonomous: it was inhabited by heterodox Muslim communities (Druzes, Nuṣayrīs, Metawālīs) alongside Christian groups (Melkites, Jacobites, Maronites). The emir Fakhr ad-dīn (Faccardino, 1585–1635), of the Banū Ma‘n dynasty, rebelled against the Ottomans, becoming for a time independent and establishing relations with several European states. Another center of rebellion was later Acre: the local lord al-Zāhir maintained autonomy from the Sublime Porte from 1750 to 1775; his successor Jazzār (1775–1804) likewise wielded great power, successfully resisting Napoleon’s attack in 1779.

The support of the Lebanese emir Bashīr, of the Ikhshīdid dynasty that succeeded the Ma‘n, facilitated in 1831 the Egyptian conquest of Syria; only in 1840, under pressure from the European powers, did the troops of Muḥammad ‘Alī withdraw, and Ottoman authority was restored.

In 1860, Lebanon became the center of new disturbances: the massacres of Maronites by the Druzes prompted French intervention; the region was granted administrative autonomy and placed under a Catholic governor, whose appointment required approval by the European powers.

The years preceding World War I saw, in the face of intensified Turkish oppression and their indifference to the country’s economic progress, a nationalist awakening in Syria and a rapprochement between Christians and Muslims against the common enemy. France contributed capital for the construction of a railway and the opening of schools. There was a notable cultural flourishing, which placed Syria, together with Egypt, at the vanguard of Muslim countries; here the Jesuits were particularly effective, founding in 1875 the Université Saint-Joseph in Beirut, a center of cultural activity.

At the outbreak of World War I (1914), the Turks suppressed Lebanese autonomy. Through Syria, they twice attempted (1915 and 1916) to invade Egypt; the Allied counteroffensive routed them. The British occupied Damascus in 1918; the French established themselves on the coast. The armistice was signed in the same year. Two years later, Emir Fayṣal proclaimed himself king in Damascus, but the French, to whom the Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916) assigned control of the region, forced him to flee. On 10 August 1920, the Treaty of Sèvres sanctioned Syria’s separation from the Ottoman Empire and foreshadowed the mandate regime.

1944. Contemporary Syria (from 1920 onward)

The mandate was entrusted to France (1922). In 1925, Syria was divided into four autonomous states: Syria proper; the State of the ‘Alawīs (the new name for the Nuṣayrīs) or of Latakia; the Jabal Druze; and Greater Lebanon.

Despite French policy aimed at the country’s economic and cultural progress, the nationalist movement continued to agitate for independence. A revolt was suppressed in 1925–26. In 1936, a Franco-Syrian treaty recognized Syria’s and Lebanon’s independence within three years; in the same year, the States of the ‘Alawīs and the Jabal Druze were annexed to Syria. The treaty’s failure to be ratified by France provoked strong agitation.

With the outbreak of World War II (1939) and the fall of France, the French troops in Syria followed the Vichy government. Defeated by the British and Free French (1941), the latter replaced them. In the same year, General Catroux proclaimed the independence of Syria and Lebanon, subject to wartime limitations. The persistence of these limitations, exacerbated by French repressive policies, led in 1945 to a violent revolt. British intervention compelled the French to withdraw definitively in 1946.

The early years of independent Syria were marked by great political instability. Internal party strife and the struggle for influence among foreign powers were reflected in a series of government changes and coups d’état. The most recent of these brought to power (29 November 1951) the military movement led by Adīb and Sāsaklī; leaders of the “People’s Party” were imprisoned, the Chamber was dissolved, and all political parties were abolished.

IV. CURRENT SITUATION OF CATHOLICS

The territory of present-day Syria is part of the ancient patriarchate of Antioch (v.). From the 5th century, Monophysitism flourished there as well, and the hierarchy of the Jacobites (v.) was formed.

According to an official government census of 17 July 1952, the Syrian population is divided as follows: Catholics 114,086 (of whom: Melkites 51,493, Syriacs 18,127, Armenians 18,010, Chaldeans 5,116, Maronites 15,112, Latins 6,228); dissidents 319,289 (of whom: Greeks 156,886, Jacobites 44,971, Gregorian Armenians 107,251, Nestorians 10,181); Protestants 12,671. Christians in total number 446,046, compared to 2,644,991 Muslims.

The Catholic hierarchy is present in Syria with the following ecclesiastical circumscriptions: for the Melkites: patriarchal see of Damascus, metropolitan sees of Aleppo, Bostra and Hauran, archiepiscopal see of Homs; for the Syriacs: metropolitan sees of Damascus and Homs, patriarchal vicariate of the Upper Jezirah; for the Armenians: archiepiscopal see of Aleppo, patriarchal vicariate of the Upper Jezirah; for the Chaldeans: apostolic administration of Syria (and Lebanon); for the Maronites: episcopal sees of Aleppo and Damascus; for the Latins: apostolic vicariate of Aleppo. It must however be borne in mind that, since the political borders between Syria and Lebanon were only recently fixed, some circumscriptions with their centre in Syria extend also into Lebanon and vice versa.

Aleppo, among Syrian cities, is the one with the largest number of Christians: all Catholic rites and dissident rites are represented there, and many educational and welfare institutions flourish. The Christian population of Aleppo is 40-50% of the total; this percentage is decreasing due to the emigration of many Armenians and the influx, for economic reasons, towards the coast. Damascus, instead, is the moral capital of Syrian Christians, because the dissident patriarchs and the Melkite (Catholic) patriarch reside there: from a demographic point of view, the Christians of the capital are only about 10% of the population. The Alawite State, formerly called the “State of the Alawites,” also has a preponderant Christian presence, as Christians—mostly dissident Greeks—amount to about 25% of the population. Homs, the ancient Emesa, is the seat of the Jacobite patriarchate; however, there is also a very flourishing Melkite community. The Hauran region presents itself as a mission field; the Upper Jezirah has welcomed numerous groups of Assyrian refugees.

From 1762 to 1947, the Holy See was represented in Syria by an Apostolic Delegate, who was also the Apostolic Vicar of Aleppo for the Latins. After Lebanon’s separation from Syria, while an Apostolic Nuncio was sent to Beirut, in Syria the Holy See was represented from 1951 by a chargé d’affaires (for the Apostolic Delegation) with residence in Damascus. Recently, regular diplomatic relations have been established: the Holy See is represented by an Apostolic Internuncio, and Syria has accredited a plenipotentiary minister to the Vatican (cf. L’Osservatore Romano, 22 Feb. 1953).

In addition to the religious orders and congregations of the various Eastern rites, many Latin-rite orders and congregations, both male and female, carry out their apostolate in Syria through schools and welfare works, which also benefit dissidents, Jews, and Muslims.

In 1950, on the occasion of the drafting and discussion of the new Constitution, the leaders of the Christian communities (Catholics and dissidents) took effective action to safeguard ecclesiastical rights: thus it was possible to prevent Islam from being proclaimed the State religion in the Constitution. Indeed, the religion of Islam entails a legislation that affects the various activities of citizens; therefore, if Islam had become the State religion, it would have been easy to conform all State legislation accordingly, even to the point of challenging as unconstitutional any law not in conformity with Islamic principles. In the preamble to the Constitution, approved on 5 Sept. 1950, it is stated: “inasmuch as the majority of the people professes Islam, the State proclaims its attachment to Islam and to its sublime ideals. We declare that our people are determined to strengthen the bonds of cooperation with the peoples of the Arab and Muslim world, to build the State on the foundations of sound morality as conceived by Islam and the other revealed religions, and to combat atheism and the dissolution of morals.” And in Art. 3: “The religion of the President of the Republic is Islam. Muslim law is the principal source of legislation. Freedom of belief is guaranteed. The State respects all revealed religions and guarantees freedom of worship, except for acts against public order. The personal status of religious communities is guaranteed and protected.”

Art. 28 deals with schools and education: it contains positive elements inasmuch as it affirms and sanctions the principle of the coexistence of private schools alongside state schools, establishes compulsory education in accordance with the beliefs of the pupils, and gives a spiritual orientation to the education of the younger generations. At the same time, however, it grants excessive interference and severe, meticulous control by the State over private schools and, indirectly, over the education of the pupils themselves. Indeed, this control is not limited to the subjects of the government curriculum, which is also compulsory for secondary schools, but extends also to supplementary subjects, which, according to the constitutional text, will be determined by a special law. Nor is there less concern regarding the regulation of sports and scouting movements, which, wherever they are organized, remain under the aegis of the State, which reserves the right to “protect” and “develop” them through laws and regulations.

The fears of Catholics increased with the issuance of Legislative Decree no. 175 of 17 March 1952, which reorganized non-state education in Syria on new bases. The most prejudicial innovation for Christian communities was the outright (though implicit) abolition of the concept of denominational schools: by means of a clever distinction between the founder and the director of denominational schools, the decree removed the school from the protection and effective direction of the bishop, considering the director as the sole responsible party, who, to take up his duties, needs government approval; other articles made the government the exclusive arbiter of the existence of individual denominational schools, as well as of their activity and administration. Particularly damaging to the Catholic Church was the blow struck against missionary schools (defined as foreign), since their future establishment was absolutely prohibited.

The Christian leaders, in agreement, lodged the necessary protests and succeeded in obtaining significant mitigations. Another Legislative Decree, no. 199 of 8 April 1952, also harmed Catholic interests: all scout organizations were to be absorbed into state ones; to avoid the worst, Catholic scouts preferred to dissolve themselves.

V. SYRIAC LANGUAGE

One of the Semitic languages (v.), proper to the Eastern Syriac Church, developed from the Eastern Aramaic spoken in Edessa, capital of Osrhoene and the region ruled at the time of Christ’s birth by the Abgarid dynasty. It is distinguished into two dialects, the Eastern, more conservative, in use among the Nestorians, and the Western, used by the Jacobites. These dialects became more clearly distinct following the political and then religious separation of the 4th century, which subjected the Westerners to Byzantium and the Easterners to the Sassanids.

The phonetic system of the language is characterized by a marked reduction of final vowels in words, an effect of the accent that falls on other syllables. Originally short vowels in open and unstressed syllables are alternately reduced to a very short indistinct vowel (Heb. šēwā’), with which a preceding j merges into l. This rule, however, is suspended in secondary, later formations. In the syllable preceding the accent, unlike Hebrew, the vowel is shortened. The rich Semitic consonantal system is simplified, as in common Aramaic. The original dental spirants under various explosive (momentane) conditions become: d > d, t > t, d > ’ (no longer q), s > t; instead of s there is š; only one ’ and one h (Eastern h) remain. The non-emphatic explosives, which are aspirated, become spirants under the same conditions as in Hebrew, with the exception that w and j of diphthongs are consonants that close the syllable. Consonantal assimilation prevails over dissimilation (e.g., Syr. nedda’, Aram. jinda’). The accent’s stress is mostly on the same syllable as in Hebrew; however, pausal forms are not observed. In closed and unstressed syllables, i normally becomes e, and a becomes o. In Western Syriac, a and e have become o and i, though e from a’ is preserved (e.g., tēhod = you will take). Eastern Syriac has preserved a more ancient vocalism, and in its consonantal system, e.g., instead of h, a voiceless laryngeal spirant, it has h, a voiceless velar spirant.

In verbal morphology, regarding theme formations, the intransitive qatula has become very rare: qatula spe

rso blends with qatala. The n-passives, the n-reflexives, and the conative are entirely lacking; the causative is formed with ’, though traces of the causative in sa and ha also exist. There is also a reflexive proper to the basic theme, the intensive theme, and the causative theme. Occasionally, a formation with a diphthong (aw, aj) appears in the first syllable: e.g., sajbar = to nourish, gawzel = to kindle. Reduplication of the 3rd radical occurs, e.g., ’abded = to enslave, ’ajnen = to look; repetition of the 2nd and 3rd radicals, e.g., in hēsawzī = to appear repeatedly; i.e. = to go proudly, estérragar = to fantasize, gives šērāgā = lamp. Often the entire root is repeated in biradical roots, e.g., ramrem = to elevate, qangen = to sing. Quadriliteral roots frequently arise from the dissimilation of the reduplicated radical of a qatala, e.g., ’argelda’ = to roll, pargi = to lengthen, from the root pegjā = to please. Regarding inflection, it is observed that in the imperfect there is no longer a jussive or an energic form. Certain modalities, however, are expressed with forms of the verb “to be” (hēcā) combined with participles or finite forms. Some traces remain of the fact that, as in Arabic, in Syriac a perfect qatula corresponded to an imperfect jagtulu, which still appears in forms like neqrob = will be near, nehōb = will be lean. A new tense even appears in the construct state, while the absolute participle with a value of an author has been reduced to an absolute value.

In nominal morphology, a trace of the ancient Semitic cases may remain in the old locative kaddā = sufficiently. Forms like bēhāwējōm = on that day, bēhāwēdār = in that generation, seem to attest that the noun itself is occasionally fully determined, as in Arabic, etc. The definite article has lost its determining value but can be replaced by a suffix, e.g., latre’sar talmidaw (Sin) toùs šōdēxā wādhītā (Mk. 6, 7); such a suffix is normally used before a determined genitive (with dē), a determined accusative, or a preposition, e.g., ’alēh’ = medittā = against the city. A remnant of the mimation, i.e., the ancient indefinite article, occurs, e.g., in imām = by day. The construct state with its governing noun now expresses a single and new concept, e.g., huppāk = ‘answer’; not infrequently (mainly if a participle or verbal adjective) it is followed by a preposition, e.g., nāšaj bappē = hypocrites, mēsām bērēsā = punishment. The feminine ending -at, an ancient marker for different classes of