◯ Geography & cities

Geography shaped Syria's character before history did. In the east, the Euphrates flows from Turkey southeast toward Iraq, the lifeline of the eastern plains; between it and the Tigris stretches the Jazira — the wheat, cotton, and oil plains of the northeast. In the west, the Orontes (al-Assi, 'the rebel') flows unusually northward, passing Homs and Hama with their famous waterwheels before reaching the Mediterranean near Antakya.

The snow-capped Anti-Lebanon range separates the country from its western neighbour, while the Coastal Mountains (Jabal Ansariya) block the sea's moisture from the interior — creating in their shadow the Ghouta oasis on which Damascus rose, among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.

Throughout history, Syria's cities have competed:

• Aleppo (Halpa in the Ebla texts): the northern commercial capital tied to Anatolia, long the country's largest city
• Damascus: the capital of politics and culture, heart of the Umayyad Caliphate and later of the republic
• Homs: the crossroads at the centre, linking coast to interior and north to south
• Hama: the city of the Orontes and its giant norias

Thus the alternation of two rivers, mountain, and plain produced a country of multiple competing centres — a diversity that still defines Syria's economy and politics today.