Western Asia · AsiaSyria
Discover Syria - one of the oldest continuously inhabited regions on Earth, home to Damascus, Aleppo's legendary souks, and thousands of years of human civilization.
Where Is Syria?
Syria is a country in Western Asia. Its capital is Damascus.
- Capital Damascus
- Population 25.6M
- Area 185,180 km²
Syria is where civilization learned to walk. This is the land of the oldest continuously inhabited city on Earth - Damascus - where people have lived, traded, worshipped, and argued for at least 11,000 years. Before Rome was a village, before Athens had a name, Damascus already had streets. The ancient city of Aleppo, with its massive citadel rising above a labyrinth of covered souks, rivaled it in age and grandeur. Palmyra's colonnaded ruins stood as a testament to a desert queen who dared to challenge Rome.
Syria sits at the crossroads of everything. Mesopotamia to the east, the Mediterranean to the west, Anatolia to the north, Arabia to the south. Every empire in history has marched through here - Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Crusaders, Mongols, Ottomans. Each left layers of temples, churches, mosques, and castles that made Syria one of the richest archaeological landscapes on the planet. The food reflects this too - Aleppo was considered the culinary capital of the Middle East, its cuisine a complex tapestry of spices, grains, and techniques refined over millennia.
The Syrian people carry the weight of an ancient heritage and the scars of recent conflict, but their warmth, hospitality, and determination remain legendary. Syrian refugees have carried their culture, cuisine, and resilience to every corner of the globe, opening restaurants and rebuilding lives with the same stubborn hope that has defined this land for thousands of years.
At a glance
Largest cities in Syria
Damascus
Aleppo
Homs
Latakia
Palmyra
Famous people from Syria
Queen Zenobia
Politics3rd-century queen of Palmyra who built an empire stretching from Egypt to Anatolia and dared to defy the Roman Empire
Nizar Qabbani
LiteratureSyria's most celebrated poet whose verses about love, women, and Arab identity are recited across the entire Arabic-speaking world
Philip the Arab
PoliticsRoman Emperor born in southern Syria who ruled from 244-249 AD and celebrated Rome's thousandth anniversary
Al-Farabi
PhilosophyMedieval philosopher from the Islamic Golden Age known as the Second Teacher after Aristotle, who deeply influenced Islamic and Western thought
Asmahan
MusicLegendary singer and actress of the 1940s whose powerful voice rivaled Umm Kulthum and whose mysterious death became the stuff of legend
Traditional cuisine of Syria
- Kibbeh
- Bulgur wheat and minced lamb shaped into torpedo-like croquettes and fried, with dozens of regional variations across Syria
- Fattoush
- Vibrant salad of crispy fried pita bread, fresh vegetables, herbs, and a tangy sumac and pomegranate molasses dressing
- Muhammara
- Rich dip of roasted red peppers, walnuts, pomegranate molasses, and Aleppo pepper, a jewel of Syrian cuisine
- Shawarma
- Marinated meat slow-roasted on a vertical spit and shaved into flatbread with garlic sauce, pickles, and vegetables
- Baklava
- Layers of paper-thin phyllo pastry filled with pistachios and soaked in rose-scented sugar syrup, Aleppo's version is legendary
Nature and landmarks in Syria
- Euphrates RiverRiver
- One of the two great rivers of Mesopotamia flowing through eastern Syria, cradle of the earliest human civilizations
- Syrian DesertDesert
- Vast steppe and desert covering much of eastern Syria, dotted with ancient caravan cities and Bedouin camps
- Mount HermonMountain
- Snow-capped peak rising to 2,814 meters on the Lebanese border, Syria's highest point and the country's only ski area
- Latakia CoastCoast
- Syria's Mediterranean coastline backed by green mountains, with sandy beaches and the forested slopes of the Alawite range
Sports in Syria
- Football
- Most popular sport in Syria, the national team came within one match of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in a remarkable underdog run
- Wrestling
- Traditional strength sport with deep roots in Syrian culture, producing multiple Asian championship medalists
- Weightlifting
- Syria's strongest Olympic sport historically, with athletes competing at multiple Olympic Games
Did you know?
Damascus is widely considered the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, with evidence of settlement dating back over 11,000 years
The Umayyad Mosque in Damascus is one of the oldest and largest mosques in the world, built on a site that was once a Roman temple and then a Christian church
Syria's ancient city of Ebla contained a library of over 20,000 clay tablets dating to 2400 BC, rewriting the history of the ancient Near East
Aleppo soap, made from olive oil and laurel oil, has been produced in the city for over a thousand years using the same basic recipe
The Krak des Chevaliers, a Crusader castle in Syria, is considered the finest example of medieval military architecture in the world
Syrian bread, khubz, is so central to the culture that the Arabic word for bread is sometimes used as a synonym for life itself
Can you find Syria on a map?
Drop a pin where you think it is and see how close you got. A few rounds and you will place Syria and its neighbours without a second thought.
