PART II: Syria - The Fountainhead of Western Civilization

posted on: Jan 25, 2017

Note: This is the first chapter to a book that I am in the process of writing about Syria and was written before destruction descended on the country from all over the world. When terrorism is curtailed, hopefully the whole piece will be valid. The real Syria will return.

BY: Habeeb Salloum/Contributing Writer

Today, the Syrian cities of Damascus, Aleppo and Hama pride themselves as being the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Such confidence gives the country stability and enables the people to withstand storms, no matter how violent. Long a home of Arab nationalism, Syria, when it thinks of itself, thinks, consequently, of the whole Arab world.

Foreign visitors are usually struck by the wholly Arab context of Syrian life. The friendliness, hospitality and kindness of the people are a reflection of their Arab roots. Even though historically, linguistically and politically Syria is a country of natural diversity, it is today a vibrant nation and master of its own destiny. Its rich and long history, archaeological sites, delightful art and folklore, the diversity of its people and its varied and attractive landscape make the country an ideal land for visitors.

Syria, with her strategic position on the eastern coasts of the Mediterranean, has, since ancient times, been the centre of trade between the east and the west. The modern country covers an area of 185,180 sq km (71,500 sq mi) with a borderline of 2,413 km (1,500 mi). It edges Turkey on the north, the Mediterranean and Lebanon on the west, Palestine and Jordan on the south, and Iraq on the east

Geographically, Syria, at the crossroads of three continents, Asia, Africa and Europe, has always been vital land between the Caspian Sea, the Indian Ocean, the Black Sea and the Nile River. For thousands of years, in the world arena, it has been of immense strategic importance, both politically and economically.

Through Syria ran the caravans along the silk route, which led from China to Doura Europos on the Euphrates River, then on to Palmyra, Homs and the Syrian coastal ports. From these ports Syrian seafarers had for thousands of years filled the Mediterranean and the seas beyond with the sails of their ships. This trade and the location of the country have for millennia made Syria a melting pot of diverse beliefs, cultures, ideas and talents.

With a population of some 24,000,000, this often-misunderstood land is not only a historic museum but a modern country with a government constantly expanding its nation’s building activities. Throughout the country, the authorities are spreading the blanket of greenery and teaching the people to protect their environment. Syria is the first Arab country to found a Ministry of Environmental Issues.

It is one of the few Arab countries which, without destroying its glorious past and without much oil wealth, is moving into the 21st century at a quick pace, ready to meet the challenge of the new technological age of cyberspace and satellites.

A highly developed network of railways and highways now span the country. Industrialization is expanding year after year. Much of the consumer goods, which cram the stores throughout Syria are made in the country. Factories produce a wide range of products from fine textiles, processed foods and medicines to television sets and tractors. Virtually everything needed by the household is domestically produced.

In all parts of the country, the atmosphere is relaxed and safe. Travelling in every major urban centre, even late at night, visitors feel secure. Although many Western journalists attribute this to the iron hand of dictatorship, the stern hand of government alone does not tell the story. Personal experiences of travellers indicate that the people of Syria themselves are the secret.

Everywhere in the country people are kind, helpful and friendly without being intrusive. In the towns or countryside, travellers constantly encounter warmth and politeness. They are often, after asking directions, invited to a home and offered coffee followed by the phrase ‘baytna baytak’ (our home is your home). Many village homes proudly display a plaque on which is inscribed: “Oh guest! Should you visit our home, we will be the guests and you, the lord of this house.” In the opinion of the majority of travellers who have visited Syria, the people’s courtesy, dignity, kindness and hospitality are genuine.

With this inviting background and the tremendous revival throughout the country, the stage is set for a bright future. Construction activity is to be seen everywhere. In the capital, Damascus, restoration of monuments, such as the famous Umayyad Mosque, and grand old homes and palaces, is in full swing. There is a growing awareness that the country must protect its national heritage and expose this to the outside world.

A largely friendly and civilized land where one can take a journey through time and feel the pulse of history, Syria is attractive to diplomats, businessmen, journalists and tourists alike. Its forests, meadows, mountains and valleys, springs, rich orchards, rolling grain fields and miles of desert are without match in their appeal to travellers. Additionally, the country’s over 100 miles of seashore with fine beaches, deep blue sea and virtually eternal sunshine attract an appreciable number of these visitors.

This idyllic landscape with the historic sites, healthy climate, easily accessible transportation and availability of tourist services make interesting and simplify the life of a rushing globetrotter. If one adds to this, the hospitality, generosity and courtesy of the people, Syria becomes a true mecca for an excursionist seeking the historic, leisurely, beautiful and exotic.

In the last decade, the world has discovered this country of venerable cultures and a stunning variety of exotic sites. Nowhere else in the world can visitors leap with hardly any effort from ancient buried cities, Roman ruins, Islamic architecture and Crusader castles to splendid Muslim mosques and time-weathered Christian churches. Tourists looking for new worlds to explore will not be able to find a more rewarding and thrilling stopover than this land of Biblical fame. An enchanting and fascinating country, it is a true meeting place between East and West. It is said that travelling through Syria, is like taking a journey through time, where every place one treads, history comes alive.

The many traces of Syria’s past oriental splendour still glow through the modern façades of its towns and cities. To stand on the summit of the newly forested Mount Qassioun towering above Damascus to view the city below with its massive apartment buildings spreading in all directions, is to see the galloping approach of modernity. on the other hand, to wander the streets of all the Syrian cities is not only to feel the pulse of modernity but to also partake in the actual aura of the east. In Syria, one comes to realize that history is at the same time alive and tangible – something a traveller can see and touch.

The sounds and smells of countless centuries fill the air and create an encounter of a mingling of the ages, thereby producing an unparalleled kaleidoscope of past and present. The world-renowned artisans of Damascus, Aleppo and other Syrian cities fashion, as did their ancestors in Ebla 4,000 years earlier, their centuries old handmade gems while working side by side with those turning out the products of our modern era. The silk weavers working on wooden handlooms and the glassblowers at their brick furnaces recall their forefathers who performed the same work thousands of years ago. All through the country, folk artists still draw pictures of epic folk heroes identical to those carved on stone by the Doura Europos artists hundreds of years before the birth of Christ.

And this is not all. Herbalists whose remedies are as old as time ply their trade near offices of doctors who have graduated from the best universities in the world; fathers and mothers dressed in the robes of the village and desert walk hand in hand with their offspring decked in the most modern clothing the West has to offer; the few donkeys remaining in the cities make way for horn-shrieking autos and crowded buses; and the crooked, narrow streets of the older sections of the towns and cities lead to some of the finest tree-lined avenues in the world. These and other historical contrasts give the country an intriguing and overwhelming picturesque atmosphere.

With an almost perfect climate, Syria is inviting in all seasons. However, the long mild spring and autumn seasons are the ideal periods to make a visit. Nevertheless, there is no need to fear the summer or winter. Even though the temperature may, at times, reach (38º C) in summer, there is no need to fear. All the better hotels are air-conditioned. In winter, it is not excessively cold – sunny during the day and cool at night. Snow does fall on occasions and only intensifies the beauty of the landscape as an extraordinary happening. However, there is no discomfort for a traveller since all hotels, except those offering rock-bottom prices, are heated during the winter months. Yet, it remains to be said that the best time to travel in comfort is during the spring and autumn months.

Excellent very reasonably priced accommodations from deluxe to working man’s level; restaurants featuring the cuisines of the east and the west; and nightspots for all tastes are to be found in every large city. Summer villas line the beaches along Syria’s Mediterranean orchard-filled coast, inviting the sun loving tourists; and, of course, the cities of antiquity await the footsteps of the contemporary wayfarer.

Added to these endowments are the country’s scenic plains, mountains, desert, edging sea and green oasis. Syria’s kaleidoscope of inviting attributes was best described by Matheus Post, a Dutch traveller who, in 1999, took ten months to walk the 4,200 km (2,600 mi) trek from Holland to Syria. When asked why he had come by foot this distance, he answered. “I love Syria so much that I wanted to make it a trip that I will never forget. I’m captivated by its breath-taking sceneries.”

Like its appeal to Matheus Post, Syria’s many attractions have always had a magnetic pull on a person with a little curiosity. Any inquisitive traveller cannot but agree with another European globetrotter in Palmyra who, when being interviewed by Syrian television pontificated: “Syria is a country which excites, then spellbinds a tourist as no other place on earth.”

Syria today draws in Arab artists and intellectuals from all the Arab countries who consider it as their second homeland. As Arabs, they regard it as a symbol of dignity and honour, and the beating heart of the Arab nation. At the turn of the century, the Sudanese writer Abd al-Aziz al-Sayyid Ahmad stated that after numerous visits, he was impressed by the Syrians’ good manners and the love for their Arab brethren. He concluded by saying that he always felt bitter sadness when he had to leave Syria. Rarely do travellers to that ancient land have anything but praise for Syria and the great hospitality of its people.

A journey into Syria today is like a journey into the worlds of arts, history, culture and human relationships. A traveller cannot but fall in love with this historic country as she divulges her secrets to those who have a passion for history and human civilization. Her deserts, mountains, valleys, plains, citadels, churches and mosques are human jewels creating a historic bridge between the East and the West – a meeting place of different peoples and different cultures.

The fantastic ruins of Zenobia’s Palmyra are today the mecca for visitors, tourists and archaeological expeditions. The well-preserved Roman amphitheatre in Bosra in south Syria, as in Roman times, continues to lure artists and artistic ensembles from the four corners of the world. The water wheels of Hama still sing of their past glories – the time they turned the countryside green. The forgotten cities in the Idlib region, which cannot be forgotten, are invitingly waiting for the coming of travellers.

Apamea, Ebla, Mari, Ugarit and the ancient citadels in almost every Syrian town and city, along with the burial chambers of the humans who created the first world cultures join together to say: ‘Welcome to Syria! Land of Civilization!”

As the country was in the past, so it remains today. Chroniclers have recorded that the Prophet Muhammad held Syria in the highest regard saying, “Joy be to the people of Syria, for the angels of the kind God spread their wings over them.” Travelling many times through almost every part of the country, it was apparent to me that these words remain relevant in our times.

Habeeb Salloum