Syria - craddle of civilisations

Syria's history is incredibly rich. On one side, the Euphratis/Tiger rivers have led to the emergence of Mesopotamians. The town of Mari was built around 5000 years ago. Today there remains very little. In the Aleppo museum, we could see this greened bronze lion, a symbol of this early civilisation.

On the other side, there is the Mediterranean sea. Here a town called Ugarit became the first international port and was at its peak - around 4000 years ago - the most important town on this sea. It is quite unusual that a successful town would develop that much when it was not for religious or military reasons. Quite a few innovations originate from here. The first one is the paped water system and drainage. The French are still searching through the ruins to find further evidence of the wealth and efficient organisation of the city.

The second one is the Ugaritic alphabet. At that time, there existed only two writings: the hieroglyphics of the Egyptians and the cuneiforms from Mesopotamia. But these two were complex pictograms, whereas the Ugaritic alphabet greatly simplifies the system with 30 symbols, each representing one sound. It is very likely that this alphabet was the ancestor of the Greek and Roman alphabets. The tablet pictures represents a complete alphabet.

Finally, the town of Amrit was built 2600 years ago by the Phoenicians and later conquered by Alexander the Great. Today, there remains a necropolis. These monuments have four lions around the base and underground there are funeral chambers. There is also a temple and a stadium. The architecture boasts a mix of Persian, Egyptian and Greek influence.