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100-592: In his numerous and elaborate treatises, he collected as much contemporary knowledge in theology, philosophy, science and history as was possible in 13th century Syria . Most of his works were written in Classical Syriac language. He also wrote some in Arabic , which was the common language in his day. It is not clear when Bar Hebraeus adopted the Christian name Gregory ( Syriac : ܓܪܝܓܘܪܝܘܣ Grigorios ), but according to

200-516: A Syrian Christian such as Ephrem the Syrian . Following the declaration of Syria in 1936, the term "Syrian" came to designate citizens of that state, regardless of ethnicity. The adjective "Syriac" ( suryāni سُرْيَانِي ) has come into common use since as an ethnonym to avoid the ambiguity of "Syrian". Currently, the Arabic term Sūriya usually refers to the modern state of Syria, as opposed to

300-621: A hermit . From Antioch Bar Hebraeus went to Tripoli in Phoenicia (actually in the County of Tripoli , a Crusader state in his time), and studied rhetoric and medicine. In 1246, he was consecrated bishop of Gubos by the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius III David , and in 1252 he was transferred to Aleppo . In 1255 he was again transferred to the see of Laqabin and finally was made primate , or maphrian , of

400-678: A Persian name which means "river of Afrah", and which the Russian orientalist Vladimir Minorsky considered to seem reminiscent of the name of Phraata. He added that it is unlikely that Maragheh did not exist during the Roman era, due to its favorable location. During the Arab conquest of Iran , the towns of Adharbayjan (which also must have included Maragheh) were captured by al-Mughira . The Umayyad prince Marwan ibn Muhammad briefly stayed at Maragheh following his expedition to Muqan and Gilan in 740. It

500-634: A cave which probably corresponds to the later Chay-Baghi, a mountain called Zanjaqan with its calcareous spring, and the "impregnable" fortress of Ru'in Dez. In 1304, the Ilkhanate ruler Öljaitü ( r.  1304–1316 ) appointed Nasir al-Din Tusi's son as the new head of the observatory. In 1306, the prominent Sufi poet Awhadi Maraghai settled in Maragheh, living there until his death on 6 April 1338. In 1312, Qara-Sunqur,

600-613: A certain Ahmadil ibn Ibrahim ibn Wahsudan was appointed as the ruler of Maragheh. The background of the latter is obscure, but some modern historians consider him to be from the Rawadid dynasty. Following Ahmadil's death on 16 May 1116, he was reportedly succeeded by his slave Aq Sunqur, who by 1122 had emerged as a semi-independent subject of the Seljuks. This marked the start of the Ahmadili dynasty ,

700-414: A citadel as well, enclosed a space of 340 by 135 meters, and the foundations of the walls were 1.3 to 2 meters in thickness. The observatory was constructed in the thirteenth century and was said to house a staff of at least ten astronomers and a librarian who was in charge of the library which allegedly contained over 40,000 books. This observatory was one of the most prestigious during the medieval times in

800-578: A dependency of Maragheh. Mustawfi reports that inhabitants of Maragheh spoke pahlavī-e moḡayyar ("modified Pahlavi"), i.e. the vernacular of northwestern and central Iran. The 17th century Ottoman Turkish traveler Evliya Çelebi mentioned that the women or the "female society" in Maragheh mostly conversed in Pahlavi. According to Mortaza Firuzi, Hossein Hassanpashaei, and Sanaz Rahkarfarshi, some sources either falsely disregard this language or deem it as

900-490: A few translations of Arabic works into Syriac, as well as some treatises written in Arabic. The most important work of Bar Hebraeus is Awsar Raze , "Storehouse of Secrets", a commentary on the entire Bible , both doctrinal and critical. Before giving his doctrinal exposition of a passage, he first considers its critical state. Although he uses the Peshitta as a basis, he knows that it is not perfect, and therefore controls it by

1000-631: A general of the Buyid ruler Rukn al-Dawla ( r.  935–976 ). Following the death of the Sallarid Ibrahim I ibn Marzuban I in 983, Azerbaijan (excluding a small part, possibly Miyana ) was conquered by the Kurdish Rawadids , former vassals of the Sallarids. In 1039, Maragheh was sacked by a wave of immigrating Oghuz Turks , who destroyed its mosque and killed many of its inhabitants. In 1054,

1100-478: A name they are commonly referred as due to their connection to Ahmadil. Aq Sunqur secretly conspired with the rebel prince Tughril ibn Muhammad, encouraging the latter to invade Maragheh in return for soldiers and aid. The rebellion failed in 1122/23, and led to the dismissal of Aq Sunqur by the Seljuk ruler Mahmud II ( r.  1118–1131 ). However, Aq Sunqur was soon re-appointed as the governor of Maragheh. In 1150,

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1200-599: A province of the Roman Empire, following the conquest by Pompey . Roman Syria bordered Judea to the south, Anatolian Greek domains to the north, Phoenicia to the West, and was in constant struggle with Parthians to the East. In 135 AD, Syria-Palaestina became to incorporate the entire Levant and Western Mesopotamia. In 193, the province was divided into Syria proper ( Coele-Syria ) and Phoenice . Sometime between 330 and 350 (likely c. 341),

1300-647: A single common ground that is without any difference between them. In this field, we have from Bar Hebraeus Menarath Qudhshe , "Lamp of the Sanctuary", and the Kethabha dhe-Zalge , "Book of Rays", a summary of the first. These works have not been published, and exist in manuscript in Paris , Berlin , London, Oxford, and Rome . Ascetical and moral theology were also treated by Bar Hebraeus, and we have from him Kethabha dhe-Ithiqon , "Book of Ethics", and Kethabha dhe-Yauna , "Book of

1400-479: A star catalogue with detailed information about each star. Another notable work from Nasir al-Din al-Tusi was an astronomical book that contained detailed notes and observations about the movement of planets. Under Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, scholars from across the Islamic world came to the Maragheh observatory in order to further their studies in math, science, and astronomy. Furthermore, many new instruments were introduced to

1500-416: A theory for the etymology of Arabia Felix denoting Yemen, by translation of that sense. The Shaam region is sometimes defined as the area dominated by Damascus , long an important regional center. Ash-Sām on its own can refer to the city of Damascus. Continuing with the similar contrasting theme, Damascus was the commercial destination and representative of the region in the same way Sanaa held for

1600-399: A wall was erected around Maragheh and a garrison was also established there. This was done under the orders of Khuzayma ibn Khazim , the governor of Adharbayjan and Arminiya (Armenia), a position he had probably reached in 803. Following the launch of the rebellion of Babak Khorramdin in 816/17, the people sought shelter in Maragheh. The caliph al-Mam'un ( r.  813–833 ) soon had

1700-457: Is a translation by Paul of Tella. His exegetical and doctrinal portions are taken from the Greek Fathers and previous Syriac Orthodox theologians. No complete edition of the work has yet been issued, but many individual books have been published at different times. Bar Hebraeus has left a large ecclesiastical history called Makhtbhanuth Zabhne ( Chronicon ), in which he considers history from

1800-532: Is called the "Book of Splendours" (Ktābā d-ṣemḥe). Both were edited by Paulin Martin in 1872. Beside previously mentioned, Bar Hebraeus has left many other works on mathematics, astronomy, cosmography, medicine and philosophy, some of which have been published, but others exist only in manuscripts. The more important of them are: A full list of Bar Hebraeus's other works, and of editions of such of them as have been published, can be found in several scholarly works. He

1900-552: Is known as the Chronicon Syriacum . The standard edition of the Chronicon Syriacum is that of Paul Bedjan . An English translation by E. A. Wallis Budge was published in 1932. This was to give context to the second portion, known as the Chronicon Ecclesiasticum and covering the religious history. That section begins with Aaron and consists of a series of entries of important individuals. The first half covers

2000-639: Is regarded as a saint by the Syriac Orthodox Church , who hold his feast day on July 30. Syria (region) Syria is a historical region located east of the Mediterranean Sea in West Asia , broadly synonymous with the Levant . Other synonyms are Greater Syria or Syria-Palestine . The region boundaries have changed throughout history. However, in modern times, the term "Syria" alone

2100-635: Is sometimes arabised as ibn al-ʿIbrī ( Arabic : ابن العبري ). E. A. W. Budge says Bar Hebraeus was given the baptismal name John ( Syriac : ܝܘܚܢܢ , Yōḥanan ), but this may be a scribal error. As a Syriac bishop, Bar Hebraeus is often given the honorific Mār ( Syriac : ܡܪܝ , pronounced Mor in West Syriac dialect), and thus Mar/Mor Gregory. He is also known as Abu'l Faraj (in Latin , Abulpharagius). A Syriac bishop, philosopher, poet, grammarian, physician, biblical commentator, historian, and theologian, Bar Hebraeus

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2200-605: Is to be found in Angelo Mai , "Scriptorum Veter. Nova Collectio", vol. x. Linguistic works of Gregory Bar Hebraeus resulted from his studies of Syriac language and Syriac literature . He wrote two major grammatical works. First is the " Book of grammar in the meter of Mor Ephrem ", also known as the " Metrical Grammar ", written in verses with commentaries, and extant in some 140 copies from various periods. In that work, he referred to his native language both as Aramaic (ārāmāytā) and Syriac (sûryāyā). His other grammatical work

2300-529: Is used to refer to the Syrian Arab Republic . The term is originally derived from Assyria , an ancient civilization centered in northern Mesopotamia , modern-day Iraq . During the Hellenistic period , the term Syria was applied to the entire Levant as Coele-Syria . Under Roman rule , the term was used to refer to the province of Syria , later divided into Syria Phoenicia and Coele Syria , and to

2400-658: The Ahvaz region of Iran, and the Kilikian region of Turkey. The region has sites that are significant to Abrahamic religions : Nearby is Mount Carmel . Being associated with the Biblical figure Elijah , it is important to Christians, Druze , Jews and Muslims. Maragheh Maragheh ( Persian : مراغه ) is a city in the Central District of Maragheh County , East Azerbaijan province, Iran , serving as capital of both

2500-653: The Armenian Apostolic Church . There are also Levantines or Franco-Levantines who adhere to Roman Catholicism . There are also Assyrians belonging to the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Church . Other religious groups in the Levant include Jews , Samaritans , Yazidis and Druze . [REDACTED] Asia portal Herodotus uses Ancient Greek : Συρία to refer to

2600-542: The Bilad al-Sham province of the medieval Arab caliphates , encompassing the Eastern Mediterranean (or Levant) and Western Mesopotamia. The Muslim conquest of the Levant in the seventh century gave rise to this province, which encompassed much of the region of Syria, and came to largely overlap with this concept. Other sources indicate that the term Greater Syria was coined during Ottoman rule , after 1516, to designate

2700-474: The Creation down to his own day. Bar Hebraeus used almost all that had been written before him, showing particular favor to the now lost chronographic records published by Theophilus of Edessa (late 8th century, although he has this only through Michael the Syrian and other dependents). The work is divided into two portions, often transmitted separately. The first portion deals with political and civil history and

2800-701: The Emirate of Transjordan . The Syrian-mandate states were gradually unified as the State of Syria and finally became the independent Syria in 1946. Throughout this period, Antoun Saadeh and his party, the Syrian Social Nationalist Party , envisioned "Greater Syria" or "Natural Syria", based on the etymological connection between the name "Syria" and "Assyria" , as encompassing the Sinai Peninsula , Cyprus, modern Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait,

2900-668: The Franco-Syrian War , in July 1920, in which French armies defeated the newly proclaimed kingdom and captured Damascus, aborting the Arab state. Thereafter, the French general Henri Gouraud , in breach of the conditions of the mandate, subdivided the French Mandate of Syria into six states. They were the states of Damascus (1920), Aleppo (1920), Alawite State (1920), Jabal Druze (1921),

3000-616: The Hatay Province and the western half of the Southeastern Anatolia Region . This late definition is equivalent to the region known in Classical Arabic by the name ash-Shām ( Arabic : ٱَلشَّام /ʔaʃ-ʃaːm/ , which means the north [country] (from the root šʔm Arabic : شَأْم "left, north")). After the Arab conquest of Byzantine Syria in the 7th century CE , the name Syria fell out of primary use in

3100-618: The Roman Empire , Syria and Assyria came to be used as distinct geographical terms. "Syria" in the Roman Empire period referred to "those parts of the Empire situated between Asia Minor and Egypt", i.e. the western Levant , while "Assyria" was part of the Persian Empire , and only very briefly came under Roman control (116–118 AD, marking the historical peak of Roman expansion ). In the Roman era,

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3200-724: The Seleucid Empire , this term was also applied to The Levant , and henceforth the Greeks applied the term without distinction between the Assyrians of Mesopotamia and Arameans of the Levant. The oldest attestation of the name 'Syria' is from the 8th century BC in a bilingual inscription in Hieroglyphic Luwian and Phoenician . In this inscription, the Luwian word Sura/i was translated to Phoenician ʔšr " Assyria ." For Herodotus in

3300-477: The Southeastern Anatolia Region of southern Turkey. This late definition is equivalent to the region known in Classical Arabic by the name ash-Shām ( ٱلشَّام /ʔaʃ-ʃaːm/ ), which means the north [country] (from the root šʔm شَأْم "left, north"). After the Islamic conquest of Byzantine Syria in the seventh century, the name Syria fell out of primary use in the region itself, being superseded by

3400-502: The State of Syria and finally became the independent Syria in 1946. Throughout this period, pan-Syrian nationalists advocated for the creation of a Greater Syria. Several sources indicate that the name Syria itself is derived from Luwian term "Sura/i", and the derivative ancient Greek name: Σύριοι , Sýrioi , or Σύροι , Sýroi , both of which originally derived from Aššūrāyu ( Assyria ) in northern Mesopotamia , modern-day Iraq and greater Syria For Herodotus in

3500-615: The ancient Near East during the Bronze and Iron Ages . Others such as Bedouin Arabs inhabit the Syrian Desert and Naqab, and speak a dialect known as Bedouin Arabic that originated in Arabian Peninsula . Other minor ethnic groups in the Levant include Circassians , Chechens , Turks , Turkmens , Assyrians , Kurds , Nawars and Armenians . Islam became the predominant religion in

3600-504: The tuman s of Tabriz on the north and Khoy on the west; to the east was Iraq-e Ajam and to the south was Kurdistan. Among the cities underneath Maragheh were Dih-i Khwaraqan , Leylan , and Pasveh . He also described six districts that belonged to Maragheh, some of whose readings are uncertain: Sarajun, Niyajun, Duzakhrud, Gavdul (at the confluence of the Leylan and Jaghatu rivers), Behestan, and Hashtrud . He also mentioned Anguran as

3700-405: The 19th century, the name Syria was revived in its modem Arabic form to denote the whole of Bilad al-Sham, either as Suriyah or the modern form Suriyya , which eventually replaced the Arabic name of Bilad al-Sham. After World War I , the boundaries of the region were last defined in modern times by the proclamation of and subsequent definition by French and British mandatory agreement. The area

3800-502: The 5th century BC, Syria extended as far north as the Halys (the modern Kızılırmak River ) and as far south as Arabia and Egypt. The name 'Syria' derives from the ancient Greek name for Assyrians, Greek : Σύριοι Syrioi , which the Greeks applied without distinction to various Near Eastern peoples living under the rule of Assyria . Modern scholarship confirms the Greek word traces back to

3900-746: The 5th century BC, Syria extended as far north as the Halys (the modern Kızılırmak River ) and as far south as Arabia and Egypt. For Pliny the Elder and Pomponius Mela , Syria covered the entire Fertile Crescent . In Late Antiquity , "Syria" meant a region located to the east of the Mediterranean Sea , west of the Euphrates River , north of the Arabian Desert and south of the Taurus Mountains , thereby including modern Syria , Lebanon , Jordan , Israel , Palestine , and parts of Southern Turkey, namely

4000-666: The Alamut, a castle in the South Caspian province of Qazin, when the Mongols invaded. Hulagu Khan was the leader of the Mongols and grandson of Genghis Khan. He was a fearless leader and warrior who was determined to conquer not only the Alamut, but many other countries across the globe as well. In order to spare his life, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi told Hulagu that he could predict the future if only he had better equipment. Being interested in science, Hulagu believed him and appointed Nasir al-Din al-Tusi as

4100-526: The Arabic equivalent Bilād ash-Shām ("Northern Land'"), but survived in its original sense in Byzantine and Western European usage, and in Syriac Christian literature. In the 19th century, the name Syria was revived in its modern Arabic form to denote the whole of Bilad al-Sham, either as Suriyah or the modern form Suriyya , which eventually replaced the Arabic name of Bilad al-Sham. After World War I ,

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4200-524: The Dove", an ascetical guide. Both have been edited by Bedjan in "Ethicon seu Moralia Gregorii Barhebræi" (Paris and Leipzig, 1898). The "Book of the Dove" was issued simultaneously by Cardahi (Rome, 1898). Bar Hebraeus codified the juridical texts of the Syriac Orthodox, in a collection called Kethabha dhe-Hudhaye , "Book of Directions", edited by Bedjan, "Barhebræi Nomocanon " (Paris, 1898). A Latin translation

4300-449: The East by Ignatius IV Yeshu in 1264 . His episcopal duties did not interfere with his studies; he took advantage of the numerous visitations, which he had to make throughout his vast province, to consult the libraries and converse with the learned men whom he happened to meet. Thus he gradually accumulated an immense erudition, became familiar with almost all branches of secular and religious knowledge, and in many cases thoroughly mastered

4400-447: The Elder and Pomponius Mela , Syria covered the entire Fertile Crescent . In Late Antiquity , "Syria" meant a region located to the east of the Mediterranean Sea , west of the Euphrates River , north of the Arabian Desert , and south of the Taurus Mountains , thereby including modern Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, the State of Palestine, and the Hatay Province and the western half of

4500-816: The Hebrew", was a reference to his Jewish background. Modern scholarship has moved away from this affirmation, because it is not substantiated by other facts. The name may refer to the ancestral origin of his family from ʿEbrā, a village by the Euphrates near Malatya , the city in which he grew up. A few Syriac sources give Bar Hebraeus's full Arabic name as Jamāluddīn Abū'l-Faraj Ġrīġūriyūs bin Tājuddīn Hārūn bin Tūmā al-Malaṭī ( Arabic : جمال الدين ابو الفرج غريغوريوس بن تاج الدين هارون بن توما الملطي ). However, all references to this longer name are posthumous. The Syriac nickname Bar ʿEbrāyā

4600-401: The Hebrew, the Septuagint , the Greek versions of Symmachus , Theodotion , Aquila , by Oriental versions, Armenian and Coptic, and finally by the other Syriac translations, Heraclean, Philoxenian and especially the Syro-Hexapla . The work of Bar Hebraeus is of prime importance for the recovery of these versions and more specially for the Hexapla of Origen , of which the Syro-Hexapla

4700-408: The Islamic Empire during the golden age of Islamic science. The famous astronomer Ibn al-Shatir of Damascus built on the work of Maragha astronomers 100 years later. In 1256 Nasir al-Din al-Tusi came to work at the Maragheh observatory after being attacked by a group of Mongols who came from the east. These Mongols ambushed Iran, crushing everything in their path. Nasir al-Din al-Tusi was located at

4800-420: The Pupils of the Eyes") is a compendium of logic and dialectics . Other works are to be found in various manuscripts, preserved at Florence , Oxford , London , and elsewhere. The Teghrath Teghratha ("Commerce of Commerces") is a résumé of the preceding, while Kethabha dhe-Sewadh Sophia ("Book of Speech of Wisdom") represents a compendium of knowledge in physics and metaphysics . To these should be added

4900-572: The Rawadid ruler Abu Mansur Wahsudan ( r.  1019–1058/9 ) was forced to submit to the Seljuk ruler Tughril ( r.  1037–1063 ). In 1070, Tughril arrested Wahsudan's son and successor Abu Nasr Mamlan II ( r.  1058/9–1070 ) and incorporated Azerbaijan into his domain, thus marking the end of the Rawadid dynasty. In 1104, the Seljuk brothers and rivals Berkyaruq ( r.  1094–1105 ) and Muhammad I Tapar ( r.  1105–1118 ) had their peace treaty signed near Maragheh. A year later, Muhammad I visited Maragheh. In 1111/12,

5000-436: The Seljuk ruler Ghiyath ad-Din Mas'ud ( r.  1133–1152 ) besieged Maragheh, due to a conflict between Aq Sunqur's son and successor Arslan Aba and another local ruler. The town was captured after two days, but a resolution was soon reached through the mediation of various military leaders. In 1174/75, the Eldiguzid prince (and subsequent ruler) Muhammad Jahan Pahlavan ( r.  1175–1186 ) besieged Maragheh, but

5100-448: The Syriac Orthodox tradition of naming high priests, it may have occurred at the time of his consecration as bishop. Throughout his life, he was often referred to by the Syriac nickname Bar ʿEvrāyā ( ܒܪ ܥܒܪܝܐ , which is pronounced and often transliterated as Bar Ebroyo in the Western Syriac Rite of the Syriac Orthodox Church, giving rise to the Latinised name Bar Hebraeus. It was previously thought that this name, which means "Son of

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5200-434: The abundant water supply makes the surrounding area very fertile. Maragheh is surrounded by extensive vineyards and orchards, all well watered by canals led from the river, and producing great quantities of fruit. The hills west of the town consist of horizontal strata of sandstone covered with irregular pieces of basalt . The remains of the historic Maragheh observatory crown one of these hills. Maragheh lies just off

5300-560: The account of his death was written by his brother, the maphrian Gregory III (Grigorius bar Saumo; d. 1307/8). Bar Hebraeus' great encyclopedic work is his Hewath Hekhmetha , "The Cream of Science", which deals with almost every branch of human knowledge, and comprises the whole Aristotelian discipline, after Avicenna and Arabian writers. This work, so far, has not been published, with the exception of one chapter, by Margoliouth , in Analecta Orientalia ad poeticam Aristoteleam (London, 1887), 114–139. The Kethabha dhe-Bhabhatha ("Book of

5400-427: The approximate area included in present-day Palestine , Syria, Jordan, Lebanon. The uncertainty in the definition of the extent of "Syria" is aggravated by the etymological confusion of the similar-sounding names Syria and Assyria . The question of the etymological identity of the two names remains open today. Regardless of etymology, both were thought of as interchangeable around the time of Herodotus. However, by

5500-461: The area of Jordan). Later Jund Qinnasrîn was created out of part of Jund Hims. The city of Damascus was the capital of the Islamic Caliphate, until the rise of the Abbasid Caliphate . In the later ages of the Ottoman times, it was divided into wilayahs or sub-provinces the borders of which and the choice of cities as seats of government within them varied over time. The vilayets or sub-provinces of Aleppo, Damascus, and Beirut, in addition to

5600-401: The area of Malatya, and falling ill, sought for a physician. Aaron, the Hebrew physician, was summoned. Upon his recovery, the Mongol general and Aaron, who took his family with him, went to Antioch (see Principality of Antioch and Franco-Mongol alliance ). There Bar Hebraeus continued with his studies and when he was about seventeen years of age he became a monk and began to lead the life of

5700-557: The autonomous Sanjak of Alexandretta (1921) (modern-day Hatay in Turkey), and Greater Lebanon (1920) which later became the modern country of Lebanon. The boundaries of the region have changed throughout history, and were last defined in modern times by the proclamation of the short-lived Arab Kingdom of Syria and subsequent definition by French and British mandatory agreement. The area was passed to French and British Mandates following World War I and divided into Greater Lebanon , various Syrian-mandate states, Mandatory Palestine and

5800-494: The bibliography of the various subjects which he undertook to treat. Bar Hebraeus preserved and systematized the work of his predecessors, either by way of condensation or by way of direct reproduction. Both on account of his virtues and of his science, Bar Hebraeus was highly esteemed. He died in Maragheh , Ilkhanate Persia , and was buried at the Mor Mattai Monastery , near Mosul . He left an autobiography, to be found in Giuseppe Simone Assemani , Biblioth. Orient. , II, 248–263;

5900-429: The cognate Greek : Ἀσσυρία , Assyria . The classical Arabic pronunciation of Syria is Sūriya (as opposed to the Modern Standard Arabic pronunciation Sūrya ). That name was not widely used among Muslims before about 1870, but it had been used by Christians earlier. According to the Syriac Orthodox Church , "Syrian" meant "Christian" in early Christianity . In English, "Syrian" historically meant

6000-481: The county and the district. Maragheh is on the bank of the river Sufi Chay . It is 130 kilometres (81 mi) from Tabriz , the largest city in northwestern Iran. It has been long suggested that Maragheh was identical with Phraaspa/Phraata, the winter capital of Atropatene . The 9th-century Muslim historian al-Baladhuri (died 892) reports that the town was originally known as Akra-rudh (called "Afrah-rudh" by Ibn al-Faqih , and "Afrazah-rudh" by Yaqut al-Hamawi )

6100-441: The creation of the first modern Arab state to come into existence, the Hashemite Arab Kingdom of Syria on 8 March 1920. The kingdom claimed the entire region of Syria whilst exercising control over only the inland region known as OETA East. This led to the acceleration of the declaration of the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon and British Mandate for Palestine at the 19–26 April 1920 San Remo conference , and subsequently

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6200-507: The dominant language of Maragheh, which was most likely Turkman based on the account of Evliya Çelebi. According to the Encyclopedia of Islam, the current inhabitants speak Azeri Turkish, but in the 14th century, they still spoke “arabicized Pahlawi," an Iranian dialect of the north western group. Between the 18th and 20th centuries, Maragheh was governed by the Moqaddam family . The population consists mostly of Iranian Azerbaijanis who are bilingual in Azerbaijani and Persian . At

6300-440: The end of his life decided to write a history in Arabic largely based on the Chronicon Syriacum , adapted for a wider Arabic-reading readership rather than solely for Syriac-literate clergy. The work became known under the name al-Mukhtaṣar fi-l-Duwal . This was first published by Edward Pococke in 1663 with Latin comments and translation. A modern edition was first published by Fr. Anton Salhani in 1890. In theology Bar Hebraeus

6400-408: The former amir al-umara of Aleppo, was appointed ruler of Maragheh by Öljaitü. This event is described by the 14th-century Maghrebi scholar Ibn Battuta , who also reports that Maragheh was called "Little Damascus". Qara-Sunqur died in 1328. Writing c. 1340, Hamdallah Mustawfi described Maragheh as the capital of a tuman which included all the southern portion of Azerbaijan. It bordered

6500-404: The governor of Adharbayjan and Armenia in 889/90, or more likely, in 892. The latter belonged to the Sajid family , native to Ushrusana and most likely of Sogdian origin. Muhammad's first challenge came in the form of 'Abd-Allah ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Hamdani, a rebel who had taken control of Maragheh. Muhammad convinced him to surrender in 893 by promising his safety, but once 'Abd-Allah did so he

6600-432: The historical region of Syria. Greater Syria has been widely known as Ash-Shām . The term etymologically in Arabic means "the left-hand side" or "the north", as someone in the Hejaz facing east, oriented to the sunrise, will find the north to the left. This is contrasted with the name of Yemen ( اَلْيَمَن al-Yaman ), correspondingly meaning "the right-hand side" or "the south". The variation ش ء م ( š-ʾ-m ), of

6700-403: The history of the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Patriarchs of Antioch, while the second half is devoted to the Church of the East , the Nestorian Patriarchs, and the Jacobite Maphrians . The current edition of the Chronicon Ecclesiasticum is that of Abbeloos and Lamy , Syriac text, Latin translation. An English translation by David Wilmshurst was published in 2016. Bar Hebraeus towards

6800-481: The main highway from Tabriz to Kermanshah , which instead goes through Bonab further west. Another important road skirts around the south and southeast sides of Mount Sahand and connects Maragheh with Ardabil and Zanjan further east. On a hill west of the town are the remains of the famous Maragheh observatory called Rasad Khaneh , constructed under the direction the Ilkhanid king, Hülagü Khan for Nasir al-Din al-Tusi . The building, which no doubt served as

6900-432: The more typical ش م ل ( š-m-l ) , is also attested in Old South Arabian , 𐩦𐩱𐩣 ( s²ʾm ), with the same semantic development. The root of Shaam , ش ء م ( š-ʾ-m ) also has connotations of unluckiness, which is traditionally associated with the left-hand and with the colder north-winds. Again this is in contrast with Yemen, with felicity and success, and the positively-viewed warm-moist southerly wind;

7000-585: The name 'Syria' was applied to the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon , and the contemporaneous but short-lived Arab Kingdom of Syria . Today, the largest metropolitan areas in the region are Amman , Tel Aviv , Damascus , Beirut , Aleppo and Gaza City . Several sources indicate that the name Syria itself is derived from Luwian term "Sura/i", and the derivative ancient Greek name: Σύριοι , Sýrioi , or Σύροι , Sýroi , both of which originally derived from Aššūrāyu ( Assyria ) in northern Mesopotamia , modern-day Iraq However, during

7100-662: The name Syria was applied to the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon and the contemporaneous but short-lived Arab Kingdom of Syria . In the most common historical sense, 'Syria' refers to the entire northern Levant , including Alexandretta and the Ancient City of Antioch or in an extended sense the entire Levant as far south as Roman Egypt , including Mesopotamia . The area of "Greater Syria" (Arabic: سُوْرِيَّة ٱلْكُبْرَىٰ , Sūrīyah al-Kubrā ); also called "Natural Syria" (Arabic: سُوْرِيَّة ٱلطَّبِيْعِيَّة , Sūrīyah aṭ-Ṭabīʿīyah ) or "Northern Land" (Arabic: بِلَاد ٱلشَّام , Bilād ash-Shām ), extends roughly over

7200-880: The northern route to Derbent and the Northern Caucassus, which culminate with the Battle of the Kalka River in 1223. In 1225, the Khwarazmshah of the Anushtegin dynasty , Jalal al-Din Mangburni ( r.  1220–1231 ), reached Maragheh, which he was able to enter without any trouble, due the discontentment of the locals towards the raids and oppression by the Kingdom of Georgia . Mangburni attempted to restore Maragheh to its previous successful state. In 1231, Mongol rule over Maragheh

7300-416: The observatory, which made him and his team's work a competitor to that of Europe. The Maragheh observatory eventually had its downfall in the 13th century. The Mongol leader, Hulagu, died in 1265, and Nasir al-Din al-Tusi died in 1274. Nasir al-Din al-Tusi's son became the director of the observatory after his father's death, however, there weren't enough scholars at the observatory to fund the research that

7400-512: The province of Euphratensis was created out of the territory of Syria Coele and the former realm of Commagene, with Hierapolis as its capital. After c. 415 Syria Coele was further subdivided into Syria I, with the capital remaining at Antioch , and Syria II or Salutaris, with capital at Apamea on the Orontes River . In 528, Justinian I carved out the small coastal province Theodorias out of territory from both provinces. The region

7500-551: The province of Syria Palaestina . Under the Byzantines, the provinces of Syria Prima and Syria Secunda emerged out of Coele Syria. After the Muslim conquest of the Levant , the term was superseded by the Arabic equivalent Shām, and under the Rashidun , Umayyad , Abbasid , and Fatimid caliphates , Bilad al-Sham was the name of a metropolitan province encompassing most of the region. In

7600-688: The region after the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the 7th century. The majority of Levantine Muslims are Sunni with Alawite and Shia ( Twelver and Nizari Ismaili ) minorities. Alawites and Ismaili Shiites mainly inhabit Hatay and the Syrian Coastal Mountain Range , while Twelver Shiites are mainly concentrated in parts of Lebanon . Levantine Christian groups are plenty and include Greek Orthodox ( Antiochian Greek ), Syriac Orthodox , Eastern Catholic ( Syriac Catholic , Melkite and Maronite ), Roman Catholic ( Latin ), Nestorian , and Protestant . Armenians mostly belong to

7700-669: The region in 1150 and assigned the northern regions of Bilad al-Sham as the following: In the Levantine sea are two islands: Rhodes and Cyprus; and in Levantine lands: Antarsus, Laodice , Antioch , Mopsuhestia , Adana , Anazarbus , Tarsus , Circesium , Ḥamrtash, Antalya , al-Batira, al-Mira, Macri , Astroboli; and in the interior lands: Apamea , Salamiya , Qinnasrin , al-Castel, Aleppo , Resafa , Raqqa , Rafeqa, al-Jisr, Manbij , Mar'ash , Saruj , Ḥarran , Edessa , Al-Ḥadath , Samosata , Malatiya , Ḥusn Mansur, Zabatra, Jersoon, al-Leen, al-Bedandour, Cirra and Touleb. For Pliny

7800-485: The region itself, being superseded by the Arabic equivalent Shām , but survived in its original sense in Byzantine and Western European usage, and in Syriac Christian literature. In the 19th century the name Syria was revived in its modern Arabic form to denote the whole of Bilad al-Sham , either as Suriyah or the modern form Suriyya , which eventually replaced the Arabic name of Bilad al-Sham. After World War I ,

7900-511: The region's population was dominated by Sunni Muslims , it also contained sizable populations of Shi'ite , Alawite and Ismaili Muslims, Syriac Orthodox , Maronite , Greek Orthodox , Roman Catholics and Melkite Christians, Jews and Druze . The Occupied Enemy Territory Administration (OETA) was a British, French and Arab military administration over areas of the former Ottoman Empire between 1917 and 1920, during and following World War I . The wave of Arab nationalism evolved towards

8000-507: The scientific advisor of the Mongols. Hulagu allowed Nasir al-Din al-Tusi to build an observatory, and Nasir al-Din al-Tusi chose Maragha, Iran. In 1259, the Maragheh observatory began construction, which took a total of three years to complete. Hulagu also put Nasir al-Din al-Tusi in charge of waqfs which were religious endowments. As director of the observatory, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi and his team were able to make fascinating discoveries in astronomy, physics, and mathematics. Nasir al-Din al-Tusi

8100-471: The south. Quran 106:2 alludes to this practice of caravans traveling to Syria in the summer to avoid the colder weather and to likewise sell commodities in Yemen in the winter. The largest religious group in the Levant are Muslims and the largest ethnic group are Arabs . Levantines predominantly speak Levantine Arabic , who derive their ancestry from the many ancient Semitic-speaking peoples who inhabited

8200-574: The stretch of land from the Halys river, including Cappadocia (The Histories, I.6) in today's Turkey to the Mount Casius (The Histories II.158), which Herodotus says is located just south of Lake Serbonis (The Histories III.5). According to Herodotus various remarks in different locations, he describes Syria to include the entire stretch of Phoenician coastal line as well as cities such Cadytis (Jerusalem) (The Histories III.159). In Greek usage, Syria and Assyria were used almost interchangeably, but in

8300-499: The term Syria is used to comprise the entire northern Levant and has an uncertain border to the northeast that Pliny the Elder describes as including, from west to east, the Kingdom of Commagene , Sophene , and Adiabene , "formerly known as Assyria". Various writers used the term to describe the entire Levant region during this period; the New Testament used the name in this sense on numerous occasions. In 64 BC, Syria became

8400-444: The time of the Roman Empire , 'Syria' and 'Assyria' began to refer to two separate entities, Roman Syria and Roman Assyria . Killebrew and Steiner, treating the Levant as the Syrian region, gave the boundaries of the region as such: the Mediterranean Sea to the west, the Arabian Desert to the south, Mesopotamia to the east, and the Taurus Mountains of Anatolia to the north. The Muslim geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi visited

8500-401: The time of the 2006 National Census, the city's population was 146,405 in 38,891 households. The census in 2011 counted 162,275 people in 47,552 households. The 2016 census measured the population of the city as 175,255 people in 54,958 households. Maragheh is situated in a narrow valley running nearly north and south at the eastern end of a well-cultivated plain opening towards Lake Urmia ,

8600-627: The two special districts of Mount Lebanon and Jerusalem . Aleppo consisted of northern modern-day Syria plus parts of southern Turkey, Damascus covered southern Syria and modern-day Jordan, Beirut covered Lebanon and the Syrian coast from the port-city of Latakia southward to the Galilee , while Jerusalem consisted of the land south of the Galilee and west of the Jordan River and the Wadi Arabah . Although

8700-592: The walls of Maragheh and moved his capital to Ardabil . In 909, Yusuf was officially acknowledged as the ruler of Adharbayjan and Armenia by the newly ascended caliph al-Muqtadir . A dirham struck by Yusuf at Maragheh from the same year has been found. The last Sajid ruler, Abu'l-Musafir al-Fath , was killed at Maragheh in 929. Following the collapse of the Sajid kingdom, the Kurdish commander Daysam ibn Ibrahim al-Kurdi attempted to establish his rule over Azerbaijan, but he

8800-464: The walls of the town was restored, followed by the re-population of the place. In 836, Maragheh served as the winter quarters of Khaydhar ibn Kawus al-Afshin during his expedition against Babak. In an attempt to reduce the unstable autonomy of the Arab chieftains of Adharbayjan and partly to curb the dominance of the Bagratid kings of Armenia , the caliph al-Mu'tamid installed Muhammad ibn Abi'l-Saj as

8900-450: The world's sixth-largest saltwater lake, which lies 30 km to the west. It lies at the southern foot of Mount Sahand , which separates it from the city of Tabriz to the north. The historical core of the city is on the east bank of the Sufi Chay , which comes down from Mount Sahand before turning west and eventually flows out into Lake Urmia. The climate is relatively mild and moist, and

9000-532: Was a Miaphysite . He once mused: When I had given much thought and pondered on the matter, I became convinced that these quarrels among the different Christian Churches are not a matter of factual substance, but of words and terminology; for they all confess Christ our Lord to be perfect God and perfect human, without any commingling, mixing, or confusion of the natures... Thus I saw all the Christian communities, with their different christological positions, as possessing

9100-716: Was annexed to the Rashidun Caliphate after the Muslim victory over the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of Yarmouk , and became known as the province of Bilad al-Sham . During the Umayyad Caliphate , the Shām was divided into five junds or military districts. They were Jund Dimashq (for the area of Damascus), Jund Ḥimṣ (for the area of Homs ), Jund Filasṭīn (for the area of Palestine ) and Jund al-Urdunn (for

9200-400: Was being conducted. Therefore, the Maragheh observatory became inactive at the beginning of the 14th century. Over time, the observatory began to crumble due to consistent earthquakes and the lack of preservation of the observatory. Furthermore, the contents of the observatory were stolen during Mongol raids which wiped out important documents and books that were contained within the libraries of

9300-455: Was during this period that the settlement was given the name of "Maragheh" (meaning "place where an animal rolls") due to the large quantity of dung there. Marwan also engaged in some building activities in the town. Control over the town was later handed to the daughters of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid ( r.  786–809 ). Due to the rebellion of the lord of Tabriz , Wajna ibn Rawwad,

9400-635: Was eventually defeated in 941/42 by Marzuban ibn Muhammad ( r.  941/42–957 ), who gained control over the region, expanding his realm as far as Dvin in Armenia. The latter belonged to the Sallarid dynasty , of Daylamite stock and originally centered in the Tarum district of Daylam . In 948, Azerbaijan was briefly controlled by the Buyid dynasty , as demonstrated by a coin struck at Maragheh by Abu Mansur Muhammad ,

9500-489: Was executed by the Sajid. Maragheh was afterwards made Muhammad's capital, though he usually resided in Barda'a . Muhammad amassed so much authority that he briefly declared independence from the caliphate. Following Muhammad's death to an epidemic in 901, his troops installed his son Devdad ibn Muhammad on the throne. Five months after, however, the latter was removed from power by his uncle Yusuf ibn Abi'l-Saj , who destroyed

9600-546: Was made definite. After the Mongol ruler Hulagu Khan ( r.  1256–1265 ) had captured Baghdad in 1258 , he established his residence in Maragheh. He also had an observatory built under the directorship of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi . Other buildings from this period are lacking, since the first Mongol Ilkhanate rulers lived a semi-nomadic life. Zakariya al-Qazwini , who wrote a geographical dictionary around 1275, seems to have known Maragheh well. He described its mineral springs,

9700-417: Was passed to French and British Mandates following World War I and divided into Greater Lebanon , various states under Mandatory French rule , British-controlled Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan . The term Syria itself was applied to several mandate states under French rule and the contemporaneous but short-lived Arab Kingdom of Syria . The Syrian-mandate states were gradually unified as

9800-630: Was the director of the Maragheh observatory, and made many new discoveries while he was there. Such discoveries include the Tusi-couple, a system based on geometry that includes a smaller circle within a larger circle that is twice the diameter of the smaller circle. The rotations of the smaller circle allow a specific point on the circumference to oscillate back and forth in linear motion. The Tusi-couple solved many issues with Ptolemaic's systems over planetary motion. Also, he helped astronomy become more accurate by discovering brand new stars as well as composing

9900-442: Was the son of a physician, Aaron ( Hārūn bin Tūmā al-Malaṭī , Arabic : هارون بن توما الملطي ). Bar Hebraeus was born in the village of ʿEbra (Izoli, Turk.: Kuşsarayı) near Malatya , Sultanate of Rum (now Turkey, in the province of Elazığ ). Under the care of his father, he began as a boy ( a teneris unguiculis ) the study of medicine and of many other branches of knowledge, which he never abandoned. A Mongol general invaded

10000-453: Was unsuccessful in capturing it. The last Ahmadili ruler of Maragheh was Sulafa Khatun ( r.  1209–1225 ). She was at Ru'in Dez during the Mongol conquest of Maragheh in 1221, led by generals Jebe and Subutai . The Mongols "stormed" the city on 30 March 1221 and burned it and killed its inhabitants. They continued south to capture and destroy Hamadan , until they finally took again

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