Journey through the people, cities and ideas that shaped Syria, from early communities to the contemporary state.
Follow ancient cities and empires, Hellenistic and Roman Syria, the caliphates, Mamluk and Ottoman rule, the mandate and independence.
Explore 12 historical periods, the rulers and heads of government, and 88 chapters of territorial change.
Kings and emperors, regional authorities, governors and viceroys, heads of state and prime ministers of the lands of Syria.
A Journey Through the Ages
Syria connects ancient cities and regional empires with the caliphates, Mamluk and Ottoman rule, the mandate and independence. Explore 734 events across twelve periods.
1,800,000 BCE – 1,201 BCE
Early humans left Paleolithic traces in Syria, and farming villages followed before Ebla, Mari and Yamhad built Bronze Age kingdoms with tablet archives. Hittites, Mitanni and Egypt then fought over Syria until Kadesh around 1274 BCE and the collapse of about 1200 BCE.
1,200 BCE – 334 BCE
Arameans founded Damascus, Hamath and other kingdoms that fought Assyria at Qarqar in 853 BCE until Tiglath-Pileser III annexed Damascus in 732 BCE. Babylon followed, and Persia organised the satrapy of Eber-Nari in 535 BCE before Alexander's victory at Issus.
333 BCE – 634
Seleucid Antioch became a great capital, Pompey made Syria a Roman province in 64 BCE, and Palmyra briefly ruled an empire under Zenobia. Byzantine rule then faced Sasanian invasions in 540 and again in 609-628, before the Muslim victory at Yarmouk in 636 ended Roman Syria.
635 – 750
Arab armies took Damascus in 634 and Antioch in 637, and from 661 the Umayyad caliphs ruled a caliphate of about 15 million square kilometres from Damascus. The Abbasid revolution of 750 ended Syria's days as the imperial centre.
751 – 1260
Syria fragmented under Abbasid governors and Hamdanid, Fatimid and Seljuk rulers while Byzantium retook Antioch in 969. Crusaders founded the Principality of Antioch in 1098, Nur ad-Din and Saladin then reunited Syria, and the Mongols sacked Aleppo in January 1260.
1261 – 1516
Baibars took Antioch in 1268 and Khalil took Acre in 1291, leaving Syria a Mamluk province of an Egypt-based sultanate. The Black Death of 1348-49 and Timur's sack of Aleppo and Damascus around 1400 devastated its cities before Marj Dabiq in 1516.
1517 – 1917
Selim I's conquest began four centuries of Ottoman rule through the eyalets of Damascus and Aleppo and later vilayets. Ibrahim Pasha's Egyptian occupation from 1832, the 1860 violence in Damascus, the new vilayets of 1864 and the First World War famine marked the final century of Ottoman Syria.
1918 – 1945
Faisal's Arab Kingdom fell at Maysalun in 1920 and France divided its mandate into Damascus, Aleppo, Alawite and Druze states. The 1925 revolt, unification in 1936 and the transfer of Alexandretta to Turkey in 1939 shaped the borders.
1946 – 1969
French troops left in April 1946, and a run of coups followed the 1948 war. Syria joined Egypt in the United Arab Republic from 1958 to 1961, the Baath took power in 1963, and Israel captured the Golan in 1967.
1970 – 2010
Hafez al-Assad took power in 1970, fought Israel in 1973, intervened in Lebanon in 1976 and crushed the Hama uprising of 1982. Bashar al-Assad succeeded him in 2000, and the bulk of Syrian troops left Lebanon in April 2005 after nearly three decades there.
2011 – 2024
Protests in 2011 became a civil war involving government forces, rebel groups, ISIS, Kurdish-led forces, Turkey, Russia and others, with death counts from at least 350,000 (UN) to about 656,000 (SOHR). More than six million people left, and an HTS-led offensive ended Assad's rule on 8 December 2024.
2025 – present
Ahmed al-Sharaa led the transitional government under a Constitutional Declaration of 13 March 2025, while coastal and Suwayda violence, Israeli positions in the south-west and SDF talks tested its authority. A January 2026 ceasefire returned Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor to the government; items need refresh.
From Ebla and the first cities to the Syrian Republic, 1.8 million years ago – 2026
From the villages of the Euphrates and the kingdoms of Ebla, Mari and Yamhad to the Arameans, Assyria, Persia, Alexander, Rome, the caliphates, the Crusaders and Mamluks, Ottoman rule, the French Mandate, independence, the Assad era, the civil war and the transition after 2024. Watch the lands of Syria change year by year, with the empires around them; dashed shapes mark approximate zones, and the Golan Heights, the UNDOF zone and Hatay are shown as flagged overlays.
81st ruler · Seleucid king
Reigned 164-162 BCE (overthrown 161 BCE per the Seleucid Empire article).
No recorded events during this reign.
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Damascus, Aleppo, Ebla and Palmyra connect Syria to histories of urban life, trade and cultural exchange.
Successive empires and communities shaped political authority, architecture, learning and religious life.
The mandate, independence, political change, war and displacement shaped contemporary Syria.
Events and ruler profiles retain the references supplied with the dataset. Structural and display checks do not establish historical accuracy. The research report records unverified ruler links, single-source events, gaps and conflicting dates; recent events remain subject to revision.
The supplied map retains its credits, references and territorial caveats. Historical states, context layers and approximate zones distinguish regional authority from modern borders. Kashmir is shown through administered and proxy outlines, with disputes identified in the map; East Syria is included in its historical context.
Population estimates describe differing territories and periods. Ranges for an ancient city or a whole civilisation are not treated as counts for modern Syria. Images are pending; this microsite uses a gradient and a generic ruler placeholder.
History is connected. Explore the bigger picture.
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