Syria: A Short History
SYRIA
A SHORT HISTORY
Being a condensation of the author's
'History of Syria including
Lebanon and Palestine'
BY
PHILIP K. HITTI
Professor Emeritus of Semitic Literature on the
William and Annie S. Paton Foundation
Princeton University
New York
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1959
PREFACE
Ever since the publication of History of Syria including Lebanon and Palestine (1951) the author has entertained the hope of compressing it into a small volume, minus footnotes and other critical apparatus, which would appeal to a wider and more varied audience. It would bear the same relation to the larger volume that the author's The Arabs: A Short History bears to History of the Arabs. But the present heightened interest in Syria and the Syrians and the curiosity aroused about what is happening there, together with its setting and background, called for immediate action which I found myself unable to undertake because of prior commitments. Hence I sought and received the co-operation of my former pupil and colleague, Harry W. Hazard. Dr. Hazard has produced a work worthy of his scholarship and, we trust, adequately satisfying to the needs of the student and the intelligent layman. Three of the maps were newly sketched by him.
The last chapter in the larger volume, dealing with the contemporary scene, has been expanded by the author into four chapters.
P. K. H.
March 1958
| CONTENTS | ||
| PAGE | ||
| PREFACE | V | |
| PLACE IN HISTORY | 1 | |
| THE LAND AND CLIMATE | 5 | |
| PREHISTORIC ERAS | 22 | |
| THE ANCIENT SEMITES | 31 | |
| THE HELLENISTIC AGE | 54 | |
| ROMANS AND SEMITES | 72 | |
| BYZANTINES AND ARABS | 96 | |
| MOSLEM CONQUEST | 108 | |
| THE GLORY THAT WAS DAMASCUS | 119 | |
| LIFE UNDER THE UMAYYADS | 138 | |
| ABBASID PROVINCE | 150 | |
| PETTY DYNASTIES | 160 | |
| UNDER FATIMIDS AND SELJUKS | 168 | |
| THE CRUSADES | 176 | |
| AYYUBIDS AND MAMLUKS | 200 | |
| TURKISH PROVINCE | 213 | |
| INTELLECTUAL AND NATIONALIST STIRRINGS | 228 | |
| WAR, OPPRESSION AND PESTILENCE | 237 | |
| UNDER THE FRENCH MANDATE | 242 | |
| INDEPENDENT REPUBLIC | 250 | |
| INDEX | 259 | |
| LIST OF MAPS | ||
| PAGE | ||
| TOPOGRAPHICAL MAP OF SYRIA | 7 | |
| ANCIENT SYRIA | 41 | |
| CLASSICAL SYRIA | 73 | |
| CRUSADER STATES OF SYRIA AND LEBANON | 180 | |
| SYRIA AND LEBANON ON THE EVE OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR | 245 | |
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