The Early History of Syria and Palestine

Pyrrhus Press specializes in bringing books long out of date back to life, allowing today’s readers access to yesterday’s treasures. This is a a comprehensive history of the Levant during antiquity, going as far back as the Mesopotamian civilizations and covering through the Romans. From the intro: “IN ancient Babylonian usage Suri, from which our name Syria is derived, meant Northern Mesopotamia and the adjacent districts of the Armenian and Taurus mountain chains. In Greek and Roman times it was limited eastward and northward and was extended southward, so that it came to denote the region between the Taurus, the Euphrates, the Syrian Desert, Egypt, and the Mediterranean. This application of the name has become traditional, but it does not commend itself to the historian of the ancient Orient. From time immemorial the northern half of this region has been peopled by different races from the southern half, and politically the two divisions have been independent until comparatively recently. For these reasons it is advisable to limit the name Syria to the territory between the Taurus and Mount Hermon, and to apply to the remaining portion of the East Mediterranean coast the name of Palestine. This name is due to a late Greek extension of the meaning of Philistia; we have, however, no ancient designation that covers the region so precisely. Oriental history divides naturally into three main periods: the first, that of the development of the Semitic nationalities; the second, of the supremacy of the Indo-Germanic Persians, Greeks, and Romans; the third, of the rise of Islam. The purpose of this volume is to tell the story of the West Semitic peoples during the first of these periods, that is, from the earliest times down to the establishment of the Persian empire. Within the last few years important archaeological finds have been made in Syria and Palestine. On account of their central position they were in constant contact with Babylonia, Assyria, Egypt, and Arabia; and consequently, all discoveries in the Orient throw light upon their early history. In this book I have endeavoured to gather up the results of the most recent explorations, and combining them with the facts already known from the Bible and from other ancient sources, to present them in a clear and popular form. New discoveries are constantly being made, so that before this work leaves the press some of its conclusions will perhaps be already antiquated; nevertheless I trust that in the main it will be found to represent fairly the present stage of archaeological and historical science.”