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SYRIA 217 SYBIAC falling again in the S. to 3,500 feet. Behind these mountains lies a table-land, that gradually falls away E. to the des- ert. The prevailing winds being W., the slopes of the mountains next the Medi- terranean and the valleys ensconced among them, together with the immedi- ate seaboard, get a tolerably plentiful supply of moisture during the rainy half of the year (October to May) ; snow even falls on the highest summits of the mountain ranges. The climate on the plateau is generally dry, and in certain localities hot. The valley of the Jordan is remarkably hot. The soil is in many parts possessed of good fertility, and in ancient times, when irrigation was more extensively practiced, yielded a much greater return than it does at the pres- ent time. Damascus is noted for its gardens and orchards. Hauran produces excellent wheat. Northern Syria is the home of the olive. The vine grows in nearly all parts of the country. Fruit (oranges, figs, etc.) is cultivated on the coast plains. Sheep and goats are the most important of the domestic animals. The principal exports are silk, cereals, wool, olive oil, lemons and oranges, soap, sponges, sesame, licorice, cottons, and to- bacco. Manchester (England) goods constitute the chief item in the imports. Besides these there are woolens, rice, copper and iron, sacking, timber, and hides. The chief port is Beyrout, and to it must be added Acre, Caiffa (Haifa), Tyre, and Tripoli. The pop. is esti- mated at 3,675,000. The bulk of the in- habitants are Mohammedans, but do not all profess the orthodox Sunnite creed: for instance, there are the Druses, cer- tain sects of Shiites, and others. The Christians make up about one-fifth of the total. The principal ethnic elements in the population are descendants of the ancient Syrians (Aramseans) and Arabs, these last both settled and no- mad; besides there are Jews, Turks, and Europeans. The earliest historical records that treat of Syria are those that relate the histories of the Hittites, the Phoenicians, and the Hebrews. The first named were for several centuries supreme in north- ern Syria, and at times stretched their authority S. as far as the hills of south- ern Palestine. Yet they had most for- midable rivals on both sides of them in Assyria and Egypt, from both of which countries their subjects derived no small share of their skill in manufacturing in- dustry, and in the arts and manners of life. The other two peoples mentioned occupied the most prominent place in southern Syria. Nevertheless at differ- ent periods we read of flourishing Ara- maean (Semitic) principalities, such as Damascus, Hamath, Zobah, and similar petty states. These, as well as most of northern Syria, were conquered during the 8th century B. c. by the kings of Assyria; the Jewish kingdoms experi- enced the same fate at the hands of the Babylonian kings in the 7th and 6th cen- turies. As previous to the 9th century B. c. Syria had been the battle ground of the Egyptian and Hittite armies, so af- ter that period it was, as a province of Assyria (Babylonia), involved in the struggle between that great empire and Egypt. (The Greeks first knew this re- gion as a province of Assyria; hence the contracted name Syria.) Toward the end of the 6th century B. c. Syria fell under the dominion of the Persian em- pire; and two centuries later it was conquered by Alexander of Macedon. When his empire broke to pieces the Sel- eucidae made Antioch the capital of their empire of Syria. From the Seleucidae it passed, through the hands of Tigranes of Armenia, to the Romans, for whom it was won by Pompey in 64 B. c. Under these new masters the country flourished and became celebrated for its thriving industries, its commercial prosperity, and its architectural magnificence (see Baalbek: Nabat^ans: Palmyra). On the division of the Roman world Syria became part of the Byzantine empire, and of it remained a province till its conquest by the Mohammedan Arabs in 636. It still continued to be prosperous under the Arabs and their successors the Egyptian sovereigns, in spite of the unsettled pe- riod of the Crusades. The first severe blow it suffered came from the Mongols in 1260, and its ruin was completed when in 1516 it passed from the Egsrptians to the Ottoman Turks. By the Anglo- French agreement of 1916 Syria was di- vided into two zones under these powers. Following the World War disputes arose between Great Britain and France re- garding mutual rights in the territory. Their differences were adjusted. In 1917 British forces under General Al- lenby captured Beersheba Oct. 31, Gaza, Nov. 7, and Jaffa on Nov. 17. On Dec. 9 a triumphal entry was made into Jeru- salem and Great Britain created the in- dependent state of Palestine to which Sir Herbert Samuel iq.v.) was appointed Commissioner in 1920. SYBIAC, a dialect or branch of the Aramaic, and thus one of the Semitic family of languages. It was a vernacu- lar dialect in Syria during the early cen- turies of our era, but ceased to be spoken as a living language about the 10th cen- tury, being crowded out by that of the Arabian conquerors. A very corrupted form of it, however, is still spoken by a