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shur-Dan III. marched against Hadrach, on Lebanon (Zech. ix. 1). These diversions were doubtless the factors that enabled Joash of Israel to defeat Ben-hadad III. thrice and probably to wrest from him the conquests of his father t1azael west of the Jordan (II Kings xiii. 14-19, 24-25); although the real liberator of Israel from the Arameans was Jeroboam II., who regained all the territory from Hamath to the Dead Sea. The fall of the Aramean states was the work of Tiglath-Pileser III. (745727). Arpad was the first to yield (740), followed by other Syrian principalities in alliance with Armenia. Unki (the modern al-Amli) and Kullani (the Calno of Isa. x. 9) were taken in 738; and nineteen districts of Hamath were formed into the Assyrian province of Simirra. During TiglathPileser's Median campaigns (737-735) Rezon of Damascus, aided by Pekah of Israel, revolted, captured Elath, and besieged Jerusalem until forced by Tiglath-Pileser to withdraw. The Assyrian king now subdued the northern parts of Israel, and in 732 Damascus was reduced and Rezon slain, while Ahaz of Judah did homage to Tiglath-Pileser in Damascus (II Kings xv. 29, xvi. 5-10). The subjugation of the remaining provinces quickly followed. In 720 Ilu-bi'di, or Yau-bi'di, of Hamath, in alliance with Arpad, Simirra, Damascus, and Samaria, revolted, but in the same year Sargon crushed them, probably simultaneously with the subjugation of Sam'al. Finally Gurgum was incorporated with Assyria in 711, and the first period of Syria's history came to an end.

2. To the Year 332 B.C.: In 625 Syria was invaded by Scythian hordes, and from the battle of Megiddo (609) to that of Carchemish (605) the land was under the sway of Pharaoh Necho, after which it came under the dominion of the Neo-Babylonian empire. With the fall of Babylon in 539 Syria was made part of the Persian province " beyond the river " (Neh. ii. 7, 9), over which a satrap ruled, apparently residing in Aleppo, though Damascus was the most important of the inland cities. Aramaic became the official language for the conquests of the Persian empire, and south of Carchemish Mabog (the Greek Bambyce and the modern Mambij) became a religious center for the worship of Atargatis, while Nebo was worshiped in such cities as Edessa and Palmyra. The general fortunes of Syria during the Persian period were evil, since the land constituted the route of the expeditions against Egypt, Pbenicia, and Palestine. See MEDO-PERSIA.

3. To the Year 84 B.C.: In 332 Syria passed under Macedonian dominion, and with peculiar facility adopted Hellenic culture. The death of Alexander in 323 was followed by the dismemberment of his empire, and in 321 Seleucus I., Nicator, became ruler of Babylonia, although it was not until the death of his great rival, Antigonus, satrap of Phrygia, in the battle of Ipsus in 301 that he became uncontested lord of the greater part of Syria. He made his capital the city of Antioch on the Orontes, which he himself had founded, his eastern capital being another of his many new cities, Seleucia on the Tigris, south of Bagdad. Seleucus was succeeded by Antiochus I. (280-261), but in the reign of the latter's son, Antiochus II.

(261-246), the decay of the kingdom began. Bactria and Parthia became independent; the Attalids harried Asia Minor; Palestine and Phenicia had been ceded to Egypt in the previous reign; and for a time Ptolemy III. Euergetes, ruled the Seleucid dominions. In 198, after several reverses, Antiocbus III., the Great (223-187) definitely recovered Palestine from Egypt, but his crushing defeat by the Romans at Magnesia (190) brought with it th8 loss of Asia Minor to the Taurus. Cappadocia and Armenia revolted, while the pro-Hellenic and antiJewish sympathies of Seleucus IV: (187-175) and Antiochus IV. (175-164) provoked the revolt of the Hasmoneans (q.v.), which finally detached Palestine from Syrian sway. Between 150 and 140 the Parthians won from Syria the Iranian provinces and Babylonia, and with the death of Antiochus VII. in battle against the Parthian Phraates (129) Seleucid power was restricted to Syria. Internecine strife broke out after the death of Antiochus VIII. in 112, and in 83 Tigranes II., the Great, of Armenia, made himself master of Syria. In 69 Tigranes was crushed by Lucullus, who placed the Seleucid Antiochus XIII. on the throne, but this petty king fled before Pompey, and in 64 Syria became a Roman province (for more detailed account of this period see PTOLEMIEs; and SEIM, UCIDE).

4. To the Year 885 A.D.: Under the Seleucids Syria proper had apparently been divided into the four districts of Antiochia, Seleucia, Apamea, and Laodicea. The Romans, bounding the country by the Taurus, the middle Euphrates, the Gulf of Issus, Parthia, and the isthmus of Suez, divided it into the ten districts of Commagene, Cyrrhestica, Chalybonitis, Pieria, Cassiotis, Chalcidice, Apamene,

Laodicea, Palmyrene, and Coele-Syria.

1. Under There were also a number of princethe Roman

Herodians of Palestine, a Seleucid dynasty in Commagene (until 72 A.D.), the dynasties in Chalcis (until 92 A.D.), Abila (until 41 A.D.), Arethusa and Emesa (until 72 A.D.), and Damascus and Petra (until 106 A.D.). On the death of Antiochus XII. in battle in 85 B.c., Damascus passed under Arab. control, only to submit to Roman dominion. When Paul fled from the city, it was controlled by a governor appointed by Aretas (see NABATMAN$), but in the reign of Trajan it became a Roman provincial city. From 65 to 48 Syria was under the sway of Pompey, but in 56 Crassus received it, and after sharing the vicissitudes of the period, it was controlled by Mark Antony from 41 to 30, despite attempted Parthian invasions. It was one of the provinces assigned to Augustus in 27 B.c., and after the Jewish war of 66-70 was separated from Palestine. Septimius Severus (193-211) divided the district into Syria Magna and Syria Phenice, the latter including, besides Phenicia, Heliopolis, Emesa, Damascus, Palmyra, Auranitis, Batanea, and Trachonitis. As the heir of the Seleucids, Trajan (98-117), and Caracalla (211-217) took possession of the Mesopotamian regions, so that a distinction was now drawn between Osrhoene in the west, Mygdonia in the east, Zabdicene, and the district the ofArabes Scenita?. Constantine the Great detached Commagene and Cyrrhestica from