Syria's recorded history stretches back further than almost anywhere on earth. This is the full account, era by era, empire by empire, told straight through to the present.
How old is Syria's recorded history? Over 4,000 years of continuous written record, with settlement going back further still. Ebla, one of the first cities to leave behind a written archive, was already a major power by 2500 BCE.
If you only read two pages in this entire section, these are the ones. Both are genuinely underexplored, even in mainstream history coverage.
Ebla, Mari, and Ugarit were writing, trading, and building bureaucracies a thousand years before most of what gets called "ancient history."
Read the full storyIn 750 CE, power shifted from the Umayyads in Damascus to a new dynasty in Baghdad. What that transition actually looked like on the ground.
Read the full storyThinking in empires rather than dates? Start with a grouping instead.
Thirteen years, told year by year, from the first protests in Daraa to the fall of the Assad government. Its own dedicated hub, not a footnote.
Over 4,000 years of continuous written record, among the longest documented histories of any place on earth.
The name has roots disputed between Assyrian and Greek origins, and the region was known by different names under each successive empire.
Sites like Ebla and Mari show organized cities, writing, and trade networks among the earliest anywhere in the world.
The Ottomans, for roughly four centuries, from 1516 to the end of the First World War.