Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an
Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the
Levant
The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is ...
. They share common Levantine
Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indigenous elements and the foreign cultures that have come to inhabit the
region of Syria
Syria ( Hieroglyphic Luwian: 𔒂𔒠 ''Sura/i''; gr, Συρία) or Sham ( ar, ٱلشَّام, ash-Shām) is the name of a historical region located east of the Mediterranean Sea in Western Asia, broadly synonymous with the Levant. Other ...
over the course of thousands of years. The mother tongue of most Syrians is
Levantine Arabic
Levantine Arabic, also called Shami ( autonym: or ), is a group of mutually intelligible vernacular Arabic varieties spoken in the Levant, in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, and Turkey (historically in Adana, Mersin and Hatay on ...
, which came to replace the former mother tongue,
Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...
, following the
Muslim conquest of the Levant in the 7th century. The conquest led to the establishment of the
Caliphate
A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
under successive
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
dynasties, who, during the period of the later
Abbasid Caliphate
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
, promoted the use of the Arabic language. A minority of Syrians have retained Aramaic which is still spoken in its
Eastern
Eastern may refer to:
Transportation
*China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai
*Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways
*Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991
*Eastern Air Li ...
and
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
dialects. In 2018, the Syrian Arab Republic had an estimated population of 19.5 million, which includes, aside from the aforementioned majority, ethnic minorities such as
Kurds ug:كۇردلار
Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Ira ...
,
Turks
Turk or Turks may refer to:
Communities and ethnic groups
* Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages
* Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
* Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic ...
,
Armenians
Armenians ( hy, հայեր, '' hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diasp ...
,
Assyrians, and others.
Before the
Syrian Civil War, there was quite a large
Syrian diaspora, who had immigrated to North America (
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
and
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
),
European Union member states (including Sweden, France, and Germany), South America (mainly in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
,
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
,
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
, and
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
), the
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
Six million
refugees of the Syrian Civil War also live outside Syria now, mostly in
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
,
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
, and
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
.
Etymology
Various sources indicate that the name ''Syria'' itself is derived from
Luwian
The Luwians were a group of Anatolian peoples who lived in central, western, and southern Anatolia, in present-day Turkey, during the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. They spoke the Luwian language, an Indo-European language of the Anatolian sub-fam ...
term "Sura/i", and the derivative
ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
name: , ', or , ', both of which originally derived from the
Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to:
* Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire
* Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language
* Akkadian literature, literature in this language
* Akkadian cuneiform
Cuneiform is a logo- syllabi ...
word Aššūrāyu (
Assyria
Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the ...
) in northern
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...
, modern-day Iraq However, during the
Seleucid Empire, this term was also applied to
The Levant
The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is eq ...
, and henceforth the Greeks applied the term without distinction between the
Assyrians of north Mesopotamia and
Arameans of the Levant.
Applications of the name
The Greeks used the terms "Syrian" and "Assyrian" interchangeably to indicate the indigenous
Arameans,
Assyrians and other inhabitants of the
Levant
The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is ...
and
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...
,
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer
A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...
considered "Syria" west of the
Euphrates
The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers''). Originating in Turkey, the Eup ...
. Starting from the 2nd century BC onwards, ancient writers referred to the ruler of the
Seleucid Empire as the
King of Syria
The title King of Syria appeared in the second century BC in referring to the Seleucid kings who ruled the entirety of the region of Syria. It was also used to refer to Aramean kings in the Greek translations of the Old Testament, mainly indicatin ...
or King of the Syrians. The Seleucids designated the districts of
Seleucis and
Coele-Syria
Coele-Syria (, also spelt Coele Syria, Coelesyria, Celesyria) alternatively Coelo-Syria or Coelosyria (; grc-gre, Κοίλη Συρία, ''Koílē Syría'', 'Hollow Syria'; lat, Cœlē Syria or ), was a region of Syria in classical antiquit ...
explicitly as Syria and ruled the Syrians as indigenous populations residing west of the Euphrates (
Aramea) in contrast to Assyrians who had their native
homeland
A homeland is a place where a cultural, national, or racial identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethn ...
in
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...
east of the Euphrates.
However, the interchangeability between Assyrians and Syrians persisted during the
Hellenistic period
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...
.
In one instance, the
Ptolemaic dynasty of the Hellenistic kingdom of
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
applied the term "Syrian Village" as the name of a settlement in
Fayoum
Faiyum ( ar, الفيوم ' , borrowed from cop, ̀Ⲫⲓⲟⲙ or Ⲫⲓⲱⲙ ' from egy, pꜣ ym "the Sea, Lake") is a city in Middle Egypt. Located southwest of Cairo, in the Faiyum Oasis, it is the capital of the modern Faiyum ...
. The term "Syrians" is under debate whether it referred to
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
or to Arameans, as the Ptolemies referred to all peoples originating from Modern Syria and
Palestine as Syrian.
The term ''Syrian'' was imposed upon Arameans of modern
Levant
The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is ...
by the Romans.
Pompey
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of ...
created the province of
Syria, which included modern-day Lebanon and Syria west of the Euphrates, framing the province as a regional social category with civic implications.
Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...
described the indigenous people of this newly created Roman province as "Syrians", so did
Strabo, who observed that Syrians resided west of the Euphrates in Roman Syria,
and he explicitly mentions that those Syrians are the Arameans, whom he calls ''Aramaei'', indicating an extant ethnicity.
Posidonius
Posidonius (; grc-gre, Ποσειδώνιος , "of Poseidon") "of Apameia" (ὁ Ἀπαμεύς) or "of Rhodes" (ὁ Ῥόδιος) (), was a Greek politician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, historian, mathematician, and teacher nativ ...
noted that the people called Syrians by the Greeks refer to themselves as Arameans.
In his book ''The Great Roman-Jewish War'',
Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...
, a
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
native to the Levant, mentioned the Syrians as the non-Hebrew, non-Greek indigenous inhabitants of Syria.
The
Arabs
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
called the
Greater Syria region ''
al-Sham
Syria (Hieroglyphic Luwian: 𔒂𔒠 ''Sura/i''; gr, Συρία) or Sham ( ar, ٱلشَّام, ash-Shām) is the name of a historical region located east of the Mediterranean Sea in Western Asia, broadly synonymous with the Levant. Other s ...
'' ( ar, بِـلَاد الـشَّـام, Bilād al-Šām, lit=the country of Sham). The national and ethnic designation "Syrian" is one that has been reused, accepted and espoused by the Syrian people since the advent of the modern
national identity
National identity is a person's identity or sense of belonging to one or more states or to one or more nations. It is the sense of "a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, and language". National identity ...
, which emanated from Europe and began with the culmination of the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
of the early 1800s.
History
Syrians are of diverse origins; the main influence came from ancient Semitic peoples of the
Levant
The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is ...
such as the
Arameans, as well as populations from
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...
and modern-day
Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plat ...
, with additional
Greco-Roman influence. Ancient Syria of the first millennium BC was dominated by the Aramaeans; they originated in the Northern Levant as a continuum of the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...
populations of Syria, possibly being derived from the same population as ancient
Phoenician or
Canaanite peoples. The Seleucids ruled the Syrians as a conquered nation; Syrians were not assimilated into Greek communities, and many local peasants were exploited financially as they had to pay rent for Greek landlords. Outside
Greek colonies
Greek colonization was an organised colonial expansion by the Archaic Greeks into the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea in the period of the 8th–6th centuries BC.
This colonization differed from the migrations of the Greek Dark Ages in that i ...
, the Syrians lived in districts governed by local temples that did not use the Greek civic system of ''
poleis
''Polis'' (, ; grc-gre, πόλις, ), plural ''poleis'' (, , ), literally means "city" in Greek. In Ancient Greece, it originally referred to an administrative and religious city center, as distinct from the rest of the city. Later, it also ...
'' and colonies. The situation changed after the Roman conquest in 64 BC; Syrians obtained the citizenship of Greek ''poleis'', and the line separating between the colonists and the colonized blurred. The idioms Syrian and Greek were used by Rome to denote civic societies instead of separate ethnic groups.
The Aramaeans assimilated the earlier Greek and Roman populations through their language; combined with the religion of
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
, most of the inhabitants turned into Syrians (Aramaeans). Islam and the Arabic language had a similar effect where the Aramaeans themselves became Arabs regardless of their ethnic origin following the
Muslim conquest of the Levant. The presence of Arabs in Syria is recorded since the 9th century BC, and Roman period historians, such as
Strabo,
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...
, and
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...
, reported that Arabs inhabited many parts of Syria. What antiquity's writers meant by the designation "Arab" is debated; the historian Michael Macdonald suggested that the term is an ethnic designation based on an "ill-defined complex of linguistic and cultural characteristics", while according to academic consensus, "Arab", in addition to it being an ethnic name, had a social meaning describing a nomadic way of life. The ''
urheimat
In historical linguistics, the homeland or ''Urheimat'' (, from German '' ur-'' "original" and ''Heimat'', home) of a proto-language is the region in which it was spoken before splitting into different daughter languages. A proto-language is the r ...
'' of the Arab ethnos is unclear; the traditional 19th century theory locates this in the Arabian Peninsula, while some modern scholars, such as David Frank Graf, note that the epigraphic and archaeological evidence render the traditional theory inadequate to explain the Arabs' appearance in Syria. The Arabs mentioned in Syria by Greco-Roman writers were assimilated into the newly formed "Greco–Aramaean culture" that dominated the region, and the texts they produced were written in Greek, Aramaic and
Old Arabic, the precursor of
Classical Arabic, which was not a literary language; its speakers used Aramaic for writing purposes.
Arabization
On the eve of the
Rashidun Caliphate conquest of the Levant, 634 AD, Syria's population mainly spoke Aramaic as the
Lingua franca, while Greek was the language of administration.
Arabization and
Islamization
Islamization, Islamicization, or Islamification ( ar, أسلمة, translit=aslamāh), refers to the process through which a society shifts towards the religion of Islam and becomes largely Muslim. Societal Islamization has historically occur ...
of Syria began in the 7th century, and it took several centuries for Islam, the Arab identity, and language to spread; the Arabs of the caliphate did not attempt to spread their language or religion in the early periods of the conquest, and formed an isolated aristocracy. The Arabs of the caliphate accommodated many new tribes in isolated areas to avoid conflict with the locals; caliph
Uthman
Uthman ibn Affan ( ar, عثمان بن عفان, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān; – 17 June 656), also spelled by Colloquial Arabic, Turkish and Persian rendering Osman, was a second cousin, son-in-law and notable companion of the Islamic prop ...
ordered his governor,
Muawiyah I, to settle the new tribes away from the original population. Syrians who belonged to
Monophysitic denominations welcomed the Muslim Arabs as liberators.
The
Abbasids in the eighth and ninth century sought to integrate the peoples under their authority, and the Arabization of the administration was one of their methods. Arabization gained momentum with the increasing numbers of Muslim converts from
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
; the ascendancy of Arabic as the formal language of the state prompted the cultural and linguistic assimilation of Syrian converts. Some of those who remained Christian also became arabized, while others stayed Aramean, it was probably during the Abbasid period in the ninth century that Christians adopted Arabic as their first language; the first translation of the gospels into Arabic took place in this century. Many historians, such as
Claude Cahen
Claude Cahen (26 February 1909 – 18 November 1991) was a 20th-century French Marxist orientalist and historian. He specialized in the studies of the Islamic Middle Ages, Muslim sources about the Crusades, and social history of the medieval Isla ...
and Bernard Hamilton, proposed that the Arabization of Christians was completed before the
First Crusade
The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Islamic r ...
. By the thirteenth century, the Arabic language achieved complete dominance in the region, with many of its speakers having become Arabs.
Those who retained the Aramaic language are divided among two groups:
*The
Eastern Aramaic
The Eastern Aramaic languages have developed from the varieties of Aramaic that developed in and around Mesopotamia (Iraq, southeast Turkey, northeast Syria and northwest and southwest Iran), as opposed to western varieties of the Levant (modern ...
Syriac Syriac may refer to:
*Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic
*Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region
* Syriac alphabet
** Syriac (Unicode block)
** Syriac Supplement
* Neo-Aramaic languages a ...
-speaking group, followers of the
West Syriac Rite
The West Syriac Rite, also called Syro-Antiochian Rite, is an Eastern Christian liturgical rite that employs the Divine Liturgy of Saint James in the West Syriac dialect. It is practised in the Maronite Church, the Syriac Orthodox ...
of the
Syriac Orthodox Church and the
Syrian Catholic Church; they kept the pre-Islamic
Syrian (Syriac) identity throughout the ages, asserting their culture in face of the Arab dominance. Linguists, such as
Carl Brockelmann
Carl Brockelmann (17 September 1868 – 6 May 1956) German Semiticist, was the foremost orientalist of his generation. He was a professor at the universities in Breslau, Berlin and, from 1903, Königsberg. He is best known for his multi-volume ...
and
François Lenormant
François Lenormant (17 January 1837 – 9 December 1883) was a 19th-century French Hellenist, Assyriologist and archaeologist.
Biography Early life
Lenormant's father, Charles Lenormant, distinguished as an archaeologist, numismatist and Egypt ...
, suggested that the rise of the
Garshuni Garshuni or Karshuni ( Syriac alphabet: , Arabic alphabet: ) are Arabic writings using the Syriac alphabet. The word "Garshuni", derived from the word "grasha" which literally translates as "pulling", was used by George Kiraz to coin the term "gars ...
writing (using
Syriac alphabet to write Arabic) was an attempt by the Syriac Orthodox to assert their identity. Syriac is still the liturgical language for most of the different Syriac churches in Syria. The Syriac Orthodox Church was known as the Syrian Orthodox Church until 2000, when the holy synod decided to rename it to avoid any nationalistic connotations; the Catholic Church still has "Syrian" in its official name.
*The
Western Neo-Aramaic
Western Neo-Aramaic (), more commonly referred to as Siryon ( "Syrian"), is a modern Western Aramaic language. Today, it is only spoken in three villages – Maaloula, Bakhah and Jubb'adin – in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains of western Syria. W ...
-speaking group, that is, the inhabitants of
Bakh'a,
Jubb'adin
Jubb'adin or Ġuppaҁōḏ ( ar, جبعدين, arc, ܓܦܥܘܕ - ) is a village in southern Syria, administratively part of the Rif Dimashq Governorate, located northeast of Damascus in the Qalamoun Mountains. Nearby localities include Saidnaya ...
and
Ma'loula
Maaloula or Maʿlūlā ( arc, ܡܥܠܘܠܐ in Eastern Aramaic Syriac script, ' in Western Aramaic Maalouli script; ar, مَعلُولَا) is a town in the Rif Dimashq Governorate in Syria. The town is located 56 km to the northeast of Dama ...
. The residents of Bakh'a and Jubb'adin converted to Islam in the eighteenth century (retaining their Aramean identity), while in Ma'loula, the majority are Christians, mainly belonging to the
Melkite Greek Catholic Church, but also to the
Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch ( el, Ελληνορθόδοξο Πατριαρχείο Αντιοχείας), also known as the Antiochian Orthodox Church and legally as the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East ( ar ...
, in addition to a Muslim minority, who speaks the same Aramaic dialect of the Christian residents. The people of those villages use Arabic intensively to communicate with each other and the rest of the country; this led to a noticeable Arabic influence on their Aramaic dialect where around 20% of its vocabulary is of Arabic roots. Bakh'a is steadily losing its dialect; by 1971, people aged younger than 40 could no longer use the Aramaic language properly, although they could understand it. The situation of Bakh'a might eventually lead to the extinction of its Aramaic dialect.
Identity
Besides religious identities, the Syrian people are split among three identities, the Arab, Syriac, and Syrian identities. Many Muslims and some Arabic-speaking Christians describe themselves as Arabs, while many Aramaic-speaking Christians and some Muslims prefer to describe themselves as Syriacs or Arameans. Also some people from Syria, mainly
Syrian nationalists
Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indi ...
, describe themselves only as Syrians or ethnic Syrians. Most of the divisions in ethnic nomenclature are actually due to religious backgrounds.
Genetics
Genetic tests on Syrians were included in many genetic studies. The
genetic marker A genetic marker is a gene or DNA sequence with a known location on a chromosome that can be used to identify individuals or species. It can be described as a variation (which may arise due to mutation or alteration in the genomic loci) that can be ...
which identifies descendants of the ancient
Levant
The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is ...
ines is found in Syrians in high proportion. Modern Syrians exhibit "high affinity to the Levant" based on studies comparing modern and ancient DNA samples. Syrians cluster closely with ancient Levantine populations of the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. A Levantine ancestral genetic component was identified; it is estimated that the Levantine, the Peninsular Arabian and East African ancestral components diverged 23,700-15,500 years ago, while the divergence between the Levantine and European components happened 15,900-9,100 years ago. The Levantine ancestral component is the most recurrent in Levantines (42–68%); the Peninsular Arabian and East African ancestral components represent around 25% of Syrian genetic make-up.
The paternal Y-DNA haplogroup J1, which reaches its highest frequencies in Yemen 72.6% and Qatar 58.3%, accounted for 33.6% of Syrians. The J2 group accounted for 20.8% of Syrians; other Y-DNA haplogroups include the
E1B1B
E-M215, also known as E1b1b and formerly E3b, is a major human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup. It is a division of the macro-haplogroup E-M96, which is defined by the single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) mutation M215. In other words, it is one of ...
12.0%,
I 5.0%,
R1a 10.0% and
R1b 15.0%. The Syrians are closest to other Levantine populations: the
Lebanese, the
Palestinians and
Jordanians
Jordan has a population of around 11 million inhabitants as of 2021. Jordanians ( ar, أردنيون) are the citizens of Jordan. Some 95% percent of Jordanians are Arabs, while the remaining 5% are other ethnic minorities. Around 2.9 million wer ...
; this closeness can be explained with the common Canaanite ancestry and geographical unity which was broken only in the twentieth century with the advent of British and French mandates. Regarding the genetic relation between the Syrians and the Lebanese based on Y-DNA, Muslims from Lebanon show closer relation to Syrians than their Christian compatriots. The people of Western Syria show close relation with the people of Northern Lebanon.
Mitochondrial DNA shows the Syrians to have affinity with Europe; main haplogroups are
H and
R. Based on Mitochondrial DNA, the Syrians, Palestinian, Lebanese and Jordanians form a close cluster. Compared to the Lebanese, Bedouins and Palestinians, the Syrians have noticeably more Northern European component, estimated at 7%. Regarding the
HLA alleles, Syrians, and other Levantine populations, exhibit "key differences" from other
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
populations; based on
HLA-DRB1
HLA class II histocompatibility antigen, DRB1 beta chain is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''HLA-DRB1'' gene. DRB1 encodes the most prevalent beta subunit of HLA-DR. DRB1 alleles, especially those encoding amino acid sequence changes at ...
alleles, Syrians were close to eastern Mediterranean populations, such as the
Cretans
Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...
and
Lebanese Armenians
The Armenians in Lebanon ( hy, Լիբանանահայեր, translit=Libananahayer; ar, الأرمن في لبنان; french: Arméniens du Liban) are Lebanese people, Lebanese citizens of Armenians, Armenian descent. There has been an Armenian pre ...
. Studying the genetic relation between
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
and Syrians showed that the two populations share close affinity. Apparently, the cultural influence of Arab expansion in the
Eastern Mediterranean in the seventh century was more prominent than the genetic influx. However, the expansion of Islam did leave an impact on Levantine genes; religion drove Levantine Muslims to mix with other Muslim populations, who were close culturally despite the geographic distance, and this produced genetic similarities between Levantine Muslims and Moroccan and Yemeni populations. Christians and
Druze became a genetic isolate in the predominantly Islamic world.
Language
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
is the mother tongue of the majority of Syrians
as well as the official state language. The Syrian variety of
Levantine Arabic
Levantine Arabic, also called Shami ( autonym: or ), is a group of mutually intelligible vernacular Arabic varieties spoken in the Levant, in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, and Turkey (historically in Adana, Mersin and Hatay on ...
differs from
Modern Standard Arabic
Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) or Modern Written Arabic (MWA), terms used mostly by linguists, is the variety of standardized, literary Arabic that developed in the Arab world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; occasionally, it also ref ...
.
Western Neo-Aramaic
Western Neo-Aramaic (), more commonly referred to as Siryon ( "Syrian"), is a modern Western Aramaic language. Today, it is only spoken in three villages – Maaloula, Bakhah and Jubb'adin – in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains of western Syria. W ...
, the only surviving Western Aramaic language, is still spoken in three villages (
Ma'loula
Maaloula or Maʿlūlā ( arc, ܡܥܠܘܠܐ in Eastern Aramaic Syriac script, ' in Western Aramaic Maalouli script; ar, مَعلُولَا) is a town in the Rif Dimashq Governorate in Syria. The town is located 56 km to the northeast of Dama ...
,
Al-Sarkha (Bakhah)
Al-Sarkha, Bakhʽah or Bakhʽa ( ar, الصرخه or , arc, ܒܟܥܐ - ) is a Syrian village in the Yabroud District of the Rif Dimashq Governorate. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Al-Sarkha had a population of 1,405 ...
and
Jubb'adin
Jubb'adin or Ġuppaҁōḏ ( ar, جبعدين, arc, ܓܦܥܘܕ - ) is a village in southern Syria, administratively part of the Rif Dimashq Governorate, located northeast of Damascus in the Qalamoun Mountains. Nearby localities include Saidnaya ...
) in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains by both Muslim and Christian residents.
Syriac-Arameans in the northeast of the country are mainly
Surayt/Turoyo speakers but there are also some speakers of
Sureth Aramaic, especially in the
Khabour Valley.
Classical Syriac is also used as a liturgical language by Syriac Christians. English, and to a lesser extent French, is widely understood and used in interactions with tourists and other foreigners.
Religion and minority groups
Religious differences in Syria have historically been tolerated, and religious minorities tend to retain distinct cultural, and religious identities.
Sunni Islam is the religion of 74% of Syrians. The
Alawites
The Alawis, Alawites ( ar, علوية ''Alawīyah''), or pejoratively Nusayris ( ar, نصيرية ''Nuṣayrīyah'') are an ethnoreligious group that lives primarily in Levant and follows Alawism, a sect of Islam that originated from Shia Isl ...
, a variety of
Shia Islam
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, m ...
, make up 12% of the population and mostly live in and around
Tartus
)
, settlement_type = City
, image_skyline =
, imagesize =
, image_caption = Tartus corniche Port of Tartus • Tartus beach and boulevard Cathedral of Our Lady of Tortosa • Al-Assad Stadium&n ...
and
Latakia.
Christians
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...
make up 10% of the country. Most
Syrian Christians Syrian or Syriac Christians may refer to
* Adherents of Christianity in Syria
* Adherents of Syriac Christianity, various Christian bodies of Syriac traditions, especially:
** Syriac/Assyrian/Aramean people, Christian neo-Aramaic speakers through ...
adhere to the
Byzantine Rite; the two largest are the
Antiochian Orthodox Church
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch ( el, Ελληνορθόδοξο Πατριαρχείο Αντιοχείας), also known as the Antiochian Orthodox Church and legally as the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East ( ar ...
and the
Melkite Greek Catholic Church. The
Druze are a mountainous people who reside in
Jabal al-Druze who helped spark the
Great Syrian Revolt. The Ismailis are an even smaller sect that originated in Asia. Many Armenian and Assyrian Christians fled
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
during the
Armenian genocide
The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily through t ...
and the
Assyrian genocide
The Sayfo or the Seyfo (; see below), also known as the Assyrian genocide, was the mass slaughter and deportation of Assyrian / Syriac Christians in southeastern Anatolia and Persia's Azerbaijan province by Ottoman forces and some Kurdish ...
and settled in Syria. There are also roughly 500,000
Palestinians, who are mostly descendants of refugees from the 1948 Israeli-Arab War. The community of
Syrian Jews inside Syria once numbered 30,000 in 1947, but has only 200 today.
The Syrian people's beliefs and outlooks, similar to those of most Arabs and people of the wider Middle-East, are a mosaic of West and East. Conservative and liberally minded people will live right next to each other. Like the other countries in the region, religion permeates life; the government registers every Syrian's religious affiliation. However, the number of non-believers in Syria is increasing but there is no credible source or statistics to support this information.
Cuisine
Syrian cuisine is dominated by ingredients native to the region.
Olive oil,
garlic,
olives,
spearmint
Spearmint, also known as garden mint, common mint, lamb mint and mackerel mint, is a species of mint, ''Mentha spicata'' (, native to Europe and southern temperate Asia, extending from Ireland in the west to southern China in the east. It is nat ...
, and
sesame oil
Sesame oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from sesame seeds. The oil is one of the earliest-known crop-based oils. Worldwide mass modern production is limited due to the inefficient manual harvesting process required to extract the oil. ...
are some of the ingredients that are used in many traditional meals. Traditional Syrian dishes enjoyed by Syrians include,
tabbouleh
Tabbouleh ( ar, تبولة, translit=tabbūla; also tabouleh, tabbouli, tabouli, or taboulah) is a Levantine salad made mostly of finely chopped parsley, with tomatoes, mint, onion, bulgur (soaked, not cooked), and seasoned with olive oil, lemon ...
,
labaneh
Strained yogurt, Greek yogurt, yogurt cheese, sack yogurt, or kerned yogurt is yogurt that has been strained to remove most of its whey, resulting in a thicker consistency than normal unstrained yogurt, while still preserving the distinctive so ...
,
shanklish
Shanklish ( ''shanklīsh'' or شنغليش ''shanghlīsh''), also known as chancliche, shinklish, shankleesh, sorke, or sürke, is a type of cow's milk or sheep milk cheese in Levantine cuisine.
Shanklish is made by curdling yoghurt, straining it ...
,
wara' 'enab,
makdous
Makdous ( ar, المكدوس or sometimes ) is a dish of oil-cured aubergines. Part of Iraqi and Levantine cuisine (Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Syria), they are tiny, tangy eggplants stuffed with walnuts, red pepper, garlic, olive ...
,
kebab,
Kibbeh
Kibbeh (, also kubba and other spellings; ar, كبة, kibba; tr, içli köfte) is a family of dishes based on spiced ground meat, onions, and grain, popular in Middle Eastern cuisine.
In Levantine cuisine, kibbeh is usually made by pounding ...
,
sfiha
Sfiha or sfeeha ( ar, صفيحة, ṣafīḥa) is a dish consisting of flatbread cooked with a minced meat topping, often lamb flavored with onion, tomato, pine nuts, and spices. It is traditionally found in the countries of the Levant, and is cl ...
,
moutabal,
hummus,
mana'eesh,
bameh, and
fattoush
Fattoush ( ar, فتوش; also fattush, fatush, fattoosh, and fattouche) is a Levantine salad made from toasted or fried pieces of khubz (Arabic flat bread) combined with mixed greens and other vegetables, such as radishes and tomatoes.Wright, ...
.
A typical Syrian breakfast is a
meze
Meze or mezza (, ) is a selection of small dishes served as appetizers in the Levantine cuisine, Levant, Turkish cuisine, Turkey, Greek cuisine, Greece, the Balkan cuisine, Balkans, the Caucasian cuisine, Caucasus and Iranian cuisine, Iran. It i ...
. It is an assortment platter of foods with cheeses, meats, pickles, olives, and spreads. Meze is usually served with Arab-style tea - highly concentrated black tea, which is often highly sweetened and served in small glass cups. Another popular drink, especially with Christians and non-practicing Muslims, is the
arak, a liquor produced from grapes or dates and flavored with
anise that can have an alcohol content of over 90% ABV (however, most commercial Syrian arak brands are about 40-60% ABV).
Notable people
Scholars
*
Iamblichus, a philosopher, mystic and mathematician
*
Porphyry, a philosopher and polemicist
*
Damascius
Damascius (; grc-gre, Δαμάσκιος, 458 – after 538), known as "the last of the Athenian Neoplatonists," was the last scholarch of the neoplatonic Athenian school. He was one of the neoplatonic philosophers who left Athens after laws ...
, head of Plato's Academy: dubbed the "last of the Athenian Neoplatonists"
*
Syrianus
Syrianus ( grc, Συριανός, ''Syrianos''; died c. 437 A.D.) was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, and head of Plato's Academy in Athens, succeeding his teacher Plutarch of Athens in 431/432 A.D. He is important as the teacher of Proclus, and, ...
, head of Plato's Academy and teacher of
Proclus
*
Lucian, a satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer
*
Posidonius
Posidonius (; grc-gre, Ποσειδώνιος , "of Poseidon") "of Apameia" (ὁ Ἀπαμεύς) or "of Rhodes" (ὁ Ῥόδιος) (), was a Greek politician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, historian, mathematician, and teacher nativ ...
, a polymath
*
Libanius
Libanius ( grc-gre, Λιβάνιος, Libanios; ) was a teacher of rhetoric of the Sophist school in the Eastern Roman Empire. His prolific writings make him one of the best documented teachers of higher education in the ancient world and a criti ...
, a teacher of rhetoric and sophist author
*
John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom (; gr, Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος; 14 September 407) was an important Early Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of ...
, Syrian-Greek Church Father and archbishop of Constantinople
*Thābit ibn Qurra, Thebit, a polymath who has a significant contributions in maths, astronomy and physics. He also worked in translation with
Syriac Syriac may refer to:
*Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic
*Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region
* Syriac alphabet
** Syriac (Unicode block)
** Syriac Supplement
* Neo-Aramaic languages a ...
, Greek language, Greek and
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
*Severus Sebokht, scholar and astronomer; the first Syrian to employ the Indian number system.
*Al-Battani, who introduced a number of trigonometric relations; his Kitāb az-Zīj was frequently quoted by many other medieval astronomers, including Copernicus.
*Ibn al-Nafis, polymath whose areas of work included medicine, surgery, physiology, anatomy, biology, Islamic studies, jurisprudence, and philosophy: mostly famous for being the first to describe the pulmonary circulation of the blood.
*Ibn al-Shatir, an astronomer, mathematician and engineer. He worked as muwaqqit (موقت, religious timekeeper) in the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus and constructed a sundial for its minaret in 1371/72.
*John of Damascus, a polymath and theologian
*Meleager of Gadara, Syrian-Greek poet
*Raphael of Brooklyn, of Damascene Syrian parents. The first Orthodox bishop to be consecrated in North America.
*Hunein Maassab, professor of Epidemiology known for developing the Live attenuated influenza vaccine.
*Shadia Habbal, an astronomer and physicist, played a key role in establishing the NASA Parker Solar Probe
*Riad Barmada, orthopaedic surgeon and the former president of the Illinois Orthopedic Society
*Fawwaz T. Ulaby, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan, received the IEEE Edison Medal in 2006.
*Juan José Saer, Argentine writer. Lecturer at the University of Rennes 2 – Upper Brittany, University of Rennes and winner of the Nadal Prize.
*Kefah Mokbel, Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons, FRCS. The lead breast surgeon at the London Breast Institute of The Princess Grace Hospital, professor of Breast Cancer Surgery (The Brunel Institute of Cancer Genetics and Pharmacogenomics) Brunel University London.
*Oussama Khatib, a roboticist and a professor of Computer Science at Stanford University. Received the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, IEEE RAS for Distinguished Service Award (2013).
*Dina Katabi, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Wireless Center.
*Malatius Jaghnoon, Epigrapher and founder of the archaeological society in Homs.
*Jorge Sahade, founder of the University of Buenos Aires Institute of Astronomy and Physics of Space (IAFE) and the first Latin American to achieve the presidency of the International Astronomical Union (IAU).
Public figures and politicians
*Septimius Severus, Roman emperor
*Caracalla, Roman emperor
*Avidius Cassius, usurper of the Roman Empire
*Julia Domna, Roman empress
*Julia Maesa, Roman empress
*Elagabalus, Roman emperor
*Alexander Severus, Roman emperor
*Philip the Arab, Roman emperor
*Gordian III, Roman emperor
*Papinian, Roman jurist
*Tiye, Great Royal Wife of the Ancient Egypt, Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III (Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, XVIII Dynasty of Egypt)
*Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus, Consul of the Roman Empire
*Leo III the Isaurian, Leo III the Syrian, Byzantine emperor and founder of the Byzantine Empire under the Isaurian dynasty, Isaurian dynasty
*Odaenathus, Emperor of the Palmyrene Empire
*Vaballathus, Emperor of Syria, Egypt and Cappadocia
*Eutropia, wife of the Roman emperor Maximian
*Cassiodorus, Consul of the Roman Empire
*Carlos Menem (born July 2, 1930), former President of Argentina (1989-1999).
*Carlos Fayt (1918-2016), former minister of the Supreme Court of Argentina (1983-2015).
*Tareck El Aissami, former Vice President of Venezuela (2017-2018), serving as Minister of Industries and National Production since 14 June 2018.
*Oscar Aguad, former Ministry of Defense (Argentina), Minister of Defense of Argentina.
*Juliana Awada (born April 3, 1974), former First Ladies and Gentlemen of Argentina, First Lady of Argentina (2015-2019).
*Rosemary Barkett (born 1939), was the first woman to serve on the Florida Supreme Court, and the first woman Chief Justice of that court. She currently serves as a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
*Rushdi al-Kikhya, Syrian political leader.
*Mustafa Bey Barmada, former General Governor of the state of Aleppo.
*Haqqi al-Azm, former General Governor of the state of Damascus.
*Shukri al-Quwatli, former president of Syria.
*Nazim al-Kudsi, former president of Syria.
*Hashim al-Atassi, former president of Syria.
*Khalid al-Azm, former prime minister of Syria.
*Saadallah al-Jabiri, former prime minister of Syria.
*Fares al-Khoury, former prime minister of Syria.
*Said al-Ghazzi, former prime minister of Syria.
*Nureddin al-Atassi, former president of Syria.
*Nizar Kabbani, Syrian poet and prominent feminist figure in Western Asia and North Africa.
*Mitch Daniels, American politician, Governor of Indiana from 2005 to 2013 and President of Purdue University.
*Queen Noor of Jordan, widow of King Hussein of Jordan, is of paternal Syrian ancestry.
*Justin Amash, former U.S. Representative.
*Omar Alghabra, Canadian politician, member of the House of Commons of Canada, and federal Minister of Transport (Canada), Minister of Transport.
*Romeu Tuma (1931-2010), Brazilian politician.
Religious Figures
*Ephrem the Syrian, saint and polymath
*Pope Anicetus c. 168, Bishop of Rome (Pope)
* Pope John V, Roman Catholic pope, 685-686
*Pope Sergius I, Roman Catholic pope, 687-701
* Pope Sisinnius, Roman Catholic pope, 708
* Pope Constantine, Roman Catholic pope, 708-715
* Pope Gregory III, Roman Catholic pope, 731-741
*Philip the Apostle, Christian saint and apostle
*James the Great, One of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus
*Simeon Stylites, saint
*Andrew Stratelates, saint
*Ananias of Damascus, Disciple of Jesus Christ
*Cosmas and Damian, saints and physicians
*Thaddeus of Edessa، was one of the seventy disciples of Jesus.
*Luke the Evangelist, is one of the Four Evangelists
*Sergius and Bacchus, martyrs and military saints
*Lucian of Antioch, Christian martyr, presbyter and theologian
Business
*Steve Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011), was the co-founder and former Chief executive officer, CEO of Apple Inc., Apple, the largest The Walt Disney Company, Disney shareholder, and a member of Disney's Board of Directors. Jobs was considered a leading figure in both the computer industry, computer and entertainment industry, entertainment industries.
*Jacques Saadé, was a billionaire with a net worth of $7 billion.
*Rodolphe Saadé, billionaire with a net worth of $10.9 billion.
*Jose Mugrabi billionaire with a net worth $5 billion
*Ayman Asfari, Chief Executive of Petrofac.
*Najeeb Halaby, American politician and businessman, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, former CEO and chairman of Pan American World Airways, Pan Am and father of Queen Noor of Jordan.
*Wafic Saïd, established the Saïd Foundation in 1982 and the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford in 1996.
*Mohed Altrad, French-Syrian businessman.
*Arturo Elías Ayub, Mexican businessman, Director of Telmex.
*Joseph Safra, Chairman of Banco Safra.
*Ronaldo Mouchawar, CEO and co-founder of Souq.com
*Sam Yagan, Internet entrepreneur best known as the co-founder of OkCupid, SparkNotes and Match.com.
*Omar Hamoui, the founder of AdMob, has a net worth of $300 million.
*Mohammed Rahif Hakmi, founder and Chairman of Armada Group
Entertainment
*Leonardo Favio, Argentine actor, screenwriter and film director.
*Flamma, considered one of the greatest Gladiators of his time.
*Bob Marley, pop Singer
*Mohamad Fityan (born August 1, 1984), musician and composer.
*Hala Gorani (born March 1, 1970), news anchor and CNN correspondent.
*René Angélil, Canadian singer and manager, the husband and former manager of singer Celine Dion.
*Shannon Elizabeth, American actress and former fashion model. Of paternal Syrian ancestry.
*Wentworth Miller, American actor, model, screenwriter and producer. Of partial maternal Syrian ancestry.
[Paumgarten, Nic]
Central Casting: The Race Card
''The New Yorker'', November 10, 2003. Retrieved June 16, 2008.
* Teri Hatcher, American actress.
* Jerry Seinfeld, American comedian.
* Bassam Kousa, Syrian actor.
*Paula Abdul, American singer, songwriter, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality.
Sport
*Ghada Shouaa, heptathlete, olympic gold medalist.
*Philipp Stamma was a chess master and a pioneer of modern chess.
*Yasser Seirawan, chess grandmaster and four-time United States champion.
*Carolina Duer, Argentine boxer and former world champion.
*Brandon Saad, American ice hockey player, of paternal Syrian descent.
*Rocco Baldelli, American former MLB player.
*Sami Zayn, professional wrestler.
*Mojo Rawley, professional wrestler
See also
*History of Syria
*Ottoman Syria
*
Arameans
*Armenians
*Arabs
*Al-Shaitat
*
Assyrians
*Greeks
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
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External links
Syrian people, Every CulturePhotos and images of Syrian people, Syrian History - OnlineCollections of images of Eastern Mediterranean people, including Syrian people, Mideast ImageSyrian people, Encyclopædia Britannica
{{Authority control
Syrian people,
Syrian diaspora
Semitic-speaking peoples
Articles containing video clips
Ethnic groups in the Middle East