LibGuides: Middle East Complexities: Culture and Conflict: Syria: Background, History & Culture

An Ancient Land

Syria's history dates back thousands of years. Ancient Syria covered a substantially larger area than the modern, troubled country. Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel were all part of this ancient area that is often distinguished by the label "Greater Syria." Located between the Mediterranean Sea and the desert, it was an important area mainly because it formed a land-bridge among three continents, Europe, Asia and Africa. While lately in the news for its civil war, this ancient land boasts a rich and fascinating culture well worth exploring. (Click on Ancient Map for larger view and source information.)

This page focuses on Syria's history, culture, and current civil conflict. Further information on Syria may also be found in the other sections of this library research guide. Scroll all the way down this page to see the full range of available resources.

"Did you know that the oldest piece of annotated music known to history comes from Syria and dates back to well over 3,200 years?" -- Source: Heritage for Peace website

Syria - Background, History and Culture

Syrian Oral History Project
This ambitious oral history project will determine how the war in Syria is remembered.The goal of the Syria Oral History Project, which was founded early 2018, is to gather as many testimonies as possible, for the sake of historical memory. They could also come to bear on prosecutions: In the Netherlands, as in Germany, Sweden, and France, universal jurisdiction gives national courts the authority to charge anyone with crimes against humanity.
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The project is the work of an academic historian, Ugur Umit Ungor, Utrecht University, seeking to collect a first draft of history. It will define how the Syrian war is understood by future generations and potentially influence efforts to achieve justice and accountability. There is no official process for coming to terms with the civil war, now grinding toward its ninth year. Ungor’s project offers a stand-in.
Timeline from BBC News
This timeline of Syrian history from the BBC begins in 1918, with the end of Ottoman rule, and continues to the present day.
Syria - CIA World Factbook
This website offers quick but useful information on Syria, including history, society, government, the economy, and international issues.
Country Study: Syria
This in-depth look at Syria from the Library of Congress covers the country's history, society, economy, government, and national security.

Syria - from Culturegrams
Fairly in-depth information on Syria from the Culturegrams database. Topics include Background, People, Customs, Lifestyle, and Society.

Syria Art on Facebook
"The Syria Art page is an online gallery for Syrian Artists. Deliberately neutral, this page stands beyond any ideological, ethnic, religious or political issues."
Pbase - Syria
Gorgeous images from Syria posted on PBase, an online photo sharing site.

Syria Photographs
Global Gatherings, STLCC-FV, 2015

Syria Photo Guide: A Comprehensive Guide to the Cultural and Historic Sites of Syria

STLCC Libraries - Books

Damascus by Gérard Degeorge
Call Number: 956.914 D317d (FP, FV, M)
Publication Date: 2004
One half of its 296 pages are filled with beautiful photographs of architecture, largely from the Fatimid (970-1260) and Ottoman (1516-1918) periods. Degeorge managed to photograph nearly all of the important mosques, baths (hammam), religious schools (madrasa), Sufi lodges (khanqah), hospitals (bimaristan), mausoleums (turba), and great figures of Damascene society. He separates his photographs with judiciously chosen and appropriate illustrations. The accompanying historical text is suited perfectly to the photographs. Architecture, art, and political history blend with images from the camera to transport readers to the "land of Damascus" (balad al-Sham).
Inside Syria: The Backstory of Their Civil War and What the World Can Expect by Reese Erlich; foreword by Noam Chomsky
Call Number: 956.91 E69i FV-Stacks
Publication Date: 2014
"Based on first-hand reporting from Syria and Washington, journalist Reese Erlich unravels the complex dynamics underlying the Syrian civil war. Through vivid, on-the-ground accounts and interviews with both rebel leaders and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Erlich gives the reader a better understanding of this momentous power struggle and why it matters.

Destruction of Cultural Sites and Cultural Preservation

3D technology rebuilds artifacts destroyed by ISIS
PBS Newshour Extra. Video: ISIS-destroyed artifacts get new life with 3D reconstruction.
AAAS Satellite Image Analysis: Five of Six Syrian World Heritage Sites "Exhibit Significant Damage"
In war-torn Syria, five of six World Heritage sites "exhibit significant damage" and some structures have been "reduced to rubble," according to high-resolution satellite image analysis in 2014 by the nonprofit, nonpartisan American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
ASOR Syrian Heritage Initiative
The site includes weekly and monthly preservation reports (with photos), relevant news and events, and bibliographies with information on cultural sites at risk.
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The mission of the Syrian Heritage Initiative, a cooperative venture of the American Schools of Oriental Research and the Department of State, is to "plan and implement cultural property protection and preservation projects in Syria."
Heritage for Peace
Heritage for Peace is an organization whose mission is to "support all Syrians in their efforts to protect and safeguard Syria’s cultural heritage during the armed conflict." Their website discusses Syria's history and culture, as well as damage to that culture and efforts to preserve it.
List of heritage sites damaged during the Syrian Civil War, Wikipedia
Syria Cultural Heritage Initiative
This website is produced by The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, whose mission is to "increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries by means of educational and cultural exchange..." The site focuses on damage to Syrian culture and preservation efforts.
UNESCO - Syria
UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. This organization selects significant cultural sites for inclusion on its World Heritage List. UNESCO's Syria page provides images and detailed descriptions of the country's World Heritage sites, as well as documents pertaining to the preservation of those sites.

Maps of Syria from Gulf 2000

These maps are from the Gulf 2000 Project, which focuses on major issues concerning the Persian Gulf region and surrounding areas. Together these maps help provide a multidimensional view of Syria.

Use the magnifying glass option appearing on most of these maps to enlarge images and text.

Syrian Artists and Writers

Stamps of Hope: a Traveling Exhibit by Syrian Refugee Artists
The travel exhibit is organized by STLCC-Florissant Valley’s Art Gallery Director, Deb Jenkins, working side by side with Professor Sawah. The exhibit carries the experiences, memories, and an array of feelings of Syrian artists who reside in the Zaa'tari Refugee Camp in Jordan. “These artists touch our own humanity in the gentlest of ways through powerful imagery that transforms the heart,” Rihab Sawah wrote in a review of the travel exhibit on its Facebook page.

This drawing is by Mohammad Amari, titled "Our Children"

Syrian Artists (Wikipedia)
Syrian Writers (Wikipedia)
Ali Ferzat's cartoons – in pictures Exiled Syrian cartoonist Ali Ferzat introduces a selection of his powerful work
The European Parliament Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought in 2011 was awarded to five representatives of the Arab people, in recognition and support of their drive for freedom and human rights. Among them, Ali Ferzat, former director of the satiric weekly newspaper Al-Domari (The Lighter of Streetlights) and famous editorial cartoonist, whose hands were broken by the Syrian security forces as a retaliation measure, on August 25, 2011.
Interview with Ali Ferzat, Syrian cartoonist in exile
My Syria, by 'greatest living' Arab poet, Feb. 09, 2012
The Syrian poet, critic and artist Adonis has been described as the greatest living Arab poet.
Nizar Qabbani (1923 - 1998 / Damascus / Syria)

Beautiful Syria

This video was designed for the SAMS (Syrian American Medical Society)