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 SYRIA

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SYRIA

and subdivided into four districts according to the number of its chief cities, viz.: Antiooh Epidaphne; Seleucia, in Pieria; Apamea, and Laodicea; (3) Cale- Syria, comprising Laodicea ad Libanum, Chalcis, Abilene, Damascus, Ituraea, and others farther south, included in Palestine; (-1) Phoenicia; (5) Judtea. Pliny's divisions are still more numerous than those of Strabo. It appears that each city on rising to importance gave its name to a sur- rounding territory, larger or smaller, and this in time assumed the rank of a province. Ptolemy mentions thirteen provinces: Cammagene, Pieria, Cyrrhestica, Seleucia, Casiotis, Chahbonitis, Chalcis, Apamene, Laodicea, Phoenicia, Ccele-Syria, Palmy- rene, and Batanca, and he gives a long list of the cities contained in them. Under the Romans, Syria became a province of the empire. Some portions of it were permitted to remain for a time under the rule of petty princes, dependent on the imperial government. Gradually, however, all the.se were incorporated, and Antioch was the capital. Under Hadrian the prov- ince was divided into two parts: Syria Major, on the north, and Syria-Phoenice, on the south. Towards the close of the fourth century another partition of Syria was made, and formed the basis of its ecclesiasti- cal government: (1) Syria Prima, with Antioch as its capital; (2) Syria Secunda, with Apamea as capital; (3) Phcenicia Prima, including the greater part of an- cient Phoenicia, with Tyre as its capital ; (4) Phoenicia Secunda, also called Phoenicia ad Libanum, with Damascus as its capital. During the Arabian domination, i. e. from the seventh to the fifteenth cen- tury, Syria was generally divided into six large dis- tricts (GiiOTiis), viz.: (l)Pilistin (Palestine), consisting of Juda!a, Samaria, and a portion of the territory east of the Jordan, its capital was Ramlah, Jerusalem ranking next; (2) Urdun (Jordan), of which the capital was Tabaria (Tiberias), roughly speaking it consisted of the rest of Palestine as far as Tyre; (3) Damascus, a district which included Baalbek, Tripoli, Beirut, and the Hauran; (-1) Hom.s, including Hamah; (5) Qin- nasrin, corresponding to Northern Syria; the capital at first was Qinnasrin, to the south of Aleppo, by which it was afterwards superseded; (6) the sixth district was the military frontier {'aicdsim) bordering upon the Byzantine dominions in Asia Minor. Under the pres- ent Turkish rule, Syria is divided into the following six vilayets, or provinces: (1) the Vilayet of Aleppo, with the 3 liwas of Aleppo, Marash, and Urfa: (2) the inde- pendent Liwa of Zor (Deir ez-Zor); (3) the Vilayet of Beirut, including the coast south of the mouth of the Orontes, the mountain-district of the Nosairiyeh and Lebanon to the south of Tripoh, further the town of Beirut and the country between the sea and the Jor- dan from Saida to the north of Jaffa, and is divided into 5 liwas: Ladikij'eh, Tarabulus, Beirut, 'Akka (Acre), and Nabulus; (4) Lebanon, from the south of Tripoli to the north of Saida, exclusive of the town of Beirut, forms an independent Una, administered by a governor with the rank of mushtr; (.5) the Vilayet of Suriyya (Syria) comprises the country from Hamah to the Hijaz — the capital is Damascus — and is di- vided into the liu-as of Hamah, Damascus, Hauran, and Kcrak; (6) El-Quds, or Jerusalem, is an inde- pendent liwa under a mutesarrif of the first class. At the head of each vilayet is a vali, or governor-general, whose province is divided into departments {sanjak, liwa) each presided over by a mntc.iaTrif; each depart- ment again contains .so many divisions (kaimniakam- lik, kadn) each under a kainnnnkam: ixi\(\{\\v»o again are divided into districts {nuidiriiieh, nahiya) under mudirs. The independent litvas of Ez-Zor and El- Quds stand in direct connexion with the central gov- ernment at Constantinople.

Ethnooraphy of Modern Syria — Ethnographi- cally, the modern inhabitants of Syria consist of Syri- ans, .(Vrabs, Turks, Jews, and Franks or Europeans.

(1) The SjTians are the direct descendants of the an- cient Arameans who inhabited the country from about the first millenniimi b. c, and who spoke Aramaic. Most of these embraced Christianity and continued to speak Aramaic till about the seventh century, when the Arab invasion forced the Arabic language to become the vernacular tongue of the country. Aramaic, however, held its ground for a considerable time, and traces of it are still to be found in the liturgy of the so -called Syrian, Chaldean, and Maronite Churches, as well as in three villages of the anti-Libanus. (2) The Arabian population consists of hadari, or settled, and bedawi (pi. bcdu) or nomadic tribes. The settled population is of very mixed origin, but the Bedouins are mostly of pure Arab blood. They are the direct descendants of the half-savage nomads who have inhabited Arabia from time im- memorial. Their dwellings consist of portable tents made of black goats' hair. There are two main branches; one of these consists of the 'jEnezch, who migrate in winter towards Central Arabia, while the other embraces those tribes which remain perma- nently in Syria. (3) The Turks are not a numerous class of the community of SjTia. They are intellectu- ally inferior to the Arabs, but the lower classes are generally characterized by patriarchal simplicity of manner. There are two parties of Turks, the Old, and the Young, or Liberal Party. In Northern Syria, as well as on the Great Hcrmon, are still several nomadic Turkish tribes, or Turcomans, whose mode of life is the same as that of the Bedouin Arabs. (4) The Jews who remained in the country are but few in number; most of those who now reside in Palestine are comparatively recent settlers from Europe, (o) The Franks (Europeans) form a very small pro- portion of the population. Distinct from them are the so-called "Levantines", who are either Europeans or descendants of Europeans, who have entirclj* adopted the manners of the country.

Religions op Moder.n Syria. — In regard to religion the modern inhabitants of Sj"ria consist of Mohammedans, Christians, and Jews. The first are divided into Sunnites or orthodox Mohammedans, Metawileh, Nusairij-j-eh or Ansairiyyeh, and Isma- iliy>-eh. To these may be added the Druzes. The Christians include Roman Catholics of the Latin Rite; Greek Orthodox; Roman Cathohc Greeks or Melchites; Maronites (all Roman CathoUc); Roman Catholic SjTians, Roman Catholic Chaldeans, Roman CathoUc Armenians; Schismatic SjTians, i. e. Mono- physites, commonly called Jacobites; Schismatic Ar- menians, Cathohc Armenians, and Protestants.

The Mohammedans or Moslems are and have been for the last twelve centuries the lords of the land and still constitute the great majority of its inhabitants. They are generally ignorant ami fanatical, although of late education has spread among the better class in the larger towns. Till a few years ago they were inclined to look with contempt on all other peoples and religions. This, however, is gradually disappearing owing mainly to the wonderfvil stride the Christians of Syria have been making of late in the matter of schools, universities, hospitals, seminai'ics, and educational and commercial institutions. The Syrian Moslems are generally noble in bearing, polite in address, and profuse in hospitality; but they are regardless of truth, dishonest in tlieir deahngs, and immoral in their conduct. In large towns the greater proportion of the ujiper classes are both physically and mentally feeble, owing to the effects of polyg- amy, early marriages, and degrading vices; but the peasantry are robust and vigorous, and much might be hoped from them if they were lirought under the influence of liberal institutions, and if they had exam- ples around them of the industry and tlie enterprise of Western K\irope. Kxjierience, indeed, has already shown that they are not slow to adopt the improve-