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Syria is a traditional society with a long cultural history.[1] Importance is placed on family, religion, education and self-discipline and respect.[citation needed] The Syrian's taste for the traditional arts is expressed in dances such as the al-Samah, the Dabkeh in all their variations and the sword dance. Marriage ceremonies are occasions for the lively demonstration of folk customs.[2]
The scribes of the city of Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra) created a cuneiform alphabet in the 14th century BC. The alphabet was written in the familiar order we use today like the English language, however with different characters.[3]
Archaeologists have discovered extensive writings and evidence of a culture rivaling those of Iraq, and Egypt in and around the ancient city of Ebla (modern Tell Mardikh).[4] Later Syrian scholars and artists contributed to Hellenistic and Roman thought and culture. Cicero was a pupil of Antiochus of Ascalon[5] at Athens; and the writings of Posidonius of Apamea[6] influenced Livy and Plutarch.
- ^ Hopwood, Derek (1988). Syria 1945–1986: Politics and Society. Routledge. ISBN 0-04-445039-7.
- ^ Salamandra, Christa (2004). A New Old Damascus: Authenticity and Distinction in Urban Syria. Indiana University Press. p. 103. ISBN 0-253-21722-9.
- ^ Gordon, Cyrus Herzl (1965). The Ancient Near East. W.W. Norton & Company Press. ISBN 0-393-00275-6.
- ^ An up-to-date account for the layman, written by the head of the archaeological team that uncovered Ebla is Paolo Matthiae, The Royal Archives of Ebla (Skira) 2007.
- ^ Plutarch, Cicero, c. 4; Lucullus, c. 4; Cicero, Academica, ii. 19.
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 172.