The name Syria
is derived from the ancient
Greek name for Syrians:
Σύριοι,
Sýrioi,
or Σύροι,
Sýroi,
which the Greeks applied without distinction to the
Assyrians.[11][12]
A number of modern scholars argued that the Greek
word related to the cognate Ἀσσυρία,
Assyria,
ultimately derived from the Akkadian
Aššur.[13]
Others believed that it was derived from Siryon,
the name that the Sidonians
gave to Mount
Hermon.[14]
However, the discovery of the Çineköy
inscription in 2000 seems to support the
theory that the term Syria derives from Assyria.
“”The
Assyrian people,[25]
most commonly known as Assyrians and other later names, such as:
Ashuriyun, Atorayeh and Syriacs, (see names
of Syriac Christians), are a distinct ethnic
group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia.
They are Semitic
people, who speak and write distinct dialects of Eastern
Aramaic exclusive to Mesopotamia and its immediate
surroundings.””
-
-
- “”Assur (also spelled Ashur, from Assyrian ���� Aššur; Aramaic: ܐܬܘܪ Aṯur; Hebrew: אַשּׁוּר Aššûr; Arabic: آشور Ašur), was one of the capitals of ancient Assyria.””
-
“”The
Çineköy inscription is a Hieroglyphic
Luwian-Phoenician
bilingual,
uncovered from Çineköy, Adana
Province, Turkey (ancient Cilicia),
dating to the 8th century BC. Originally published by Tekoglu and
Lemaire (2000),[1]
it was more recently the subject of a 2006 paper published in the
Journal
of Near Eastern Studies, in which the author, Robert Rollinger,
lends support to the age-old debate of the name "Syria"
being derived from "Assyria" (see Etymology
of Syria).””
“”Eventually,
the Persians
took Syria as part of their hegemony of Southwest Asia; this dominion
was transferred to the Ancient
Macedonians and Greeks
after Alexander
the Great's conquests and
the Seleucid
Empire. The capital of this Empire (founded in 312 BC) was
situated at Antioch, part of historical Syria, but just inside the
Turkish border today. Pompey the Great captured Antioch in 64 BC,
turning Syria into a Roman province. Thus control of this region
passed to the Romans
and then the Byzantines.[17]””
-
- “”The Ummayad dynasty was then overthrown by the Abbasid dynasty in 750, who moved the capital of empire to Baghdad. Arabic — made official under Ummayad rule — became the dominant language, replacing Greek and Aramaic in the Abbasid era.””
-
- N.B. This means that the Greek language was in use in this area for almost 1000 years.
-
-
