58 Facts About Aleppo

1.

Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate.

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2.

Excavations at Tell as-Sawda and Tell al-Ansari, just south of the old city of Aleppo, show that the area was occupied by Amorites by the latter part of the third millennium BC.

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3.

That is the time at which Aleppo is first mentioned in cuneiform tablets unearthed in Ebla and Mesopotamia, which speak of it as part of the Amorite state of Yamhad, and note its commercial and military importance.

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4.

Centuries, Aleppo was the largest city in the Syrian region, and the Ottoman Empire's third-largest after Constantinople and Cairo.

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5.

At the fall of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, Aleppo lost its northern hinterland to modern Turkey, as well as the important Baghdad Railway connecting it to Mosul.

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6.

The Battle of Aleppo occurred in the city during the Syrian Civil War, and many parts of the city suffered massive destruction.

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7.

Aleppo has scarcely been touched by archaeologists, since the modern city occupies its ancient site.

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8.

Aleppo appears in historical records as an important city much earlier than Damascus.

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9.

The first record of Aleppo comes from the third millennium BC, in the Ebla tablets when Aleppo was referred to as Ha-lam.

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10.

Aleppo was the capital of the important Amorite dynasty of Yamhad.

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11.

However, Talmi-Sarruma, grandson of Suppiluliumas I, who was the king of Aleppo, had fought on the Hittite side, along with king Muwatalli II during the Battle of Kadesh against the Egyptian army led by Ramesses II.

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12.

Aleppo had cultic importance to the Hittites as the center of worship of the Storm-God.

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13.

Aleppo called it Beroea, after Beroea in Macedon; it is sometimes spelled as Beroia.

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14.

Aleppo was succeeded by Acacius of Beroea, who governed the see for over 50 years and was at the First Council of Constantinople in 381 and the Council of Ephesus in 431.

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15.

In 1128, Aleppo became capital of the expanding Zengid dynasty, which ultimately conquered Damascus in 1154.

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16.

In 1183, Aleppo came under the control of Saladin and then the Ayyubid dynasty.

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17.

Aleppo was recovered by the Muslims within a month, and a Mamluk governor placed to govern the city.

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18.

Aleppo massacred many of the inhabitants, ordering the building of a tower of 20, 000 skulls outside the city.

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19.

Aleppo became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1516 as part of the vast expansion of the Ottoman borders during the reign of Selim I The city then had around 50, 000 inhabitants, or 11, 224 households according to an Ottoman census.

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20.

Aleppo served as the company's headquarters until the late 18th century.

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21.

The Armenian community of Aleppo rose to prominence in this period as they moved into the city to take up trade and developed the new quarter of Judayda.

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22.

However, the prosperity Aleppo experienced in the 16th and 17th century started to fade as silk production in Iran went into decline with the fall of the Safavid dynasty in 1722.

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23.

Economy of Aleppo was badly hit by the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869.

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24.

In October 1918, Aleppo was captured by Prince Feisal's Sherifial Forces and the 5th Cavalry Division of the Allied forces from the Ottoman Empire during the World War I At the end of war, the Treaty of Sevres made most of the Province of Aleppo part of the newly established nation of Syria, while Cilicia was promised by France to become an Armenian state.

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25.

State of Aleppo was declared by French General Henri Gouraud in September 1920 as part of a French scheme to make Syria easier to control by dividing it into several smaller states.

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26.

The people in Aleppo were unhappy with the fact that Damascus was chosen as capital for the new nation of Syria.

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27.

The State of Aleppo as drawn by France contained most of the fertile area of Syria: the fertile countryside of Aleppo in addition to the entire fertile basin of river Euphrates.

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28.

Basically, Gouraud wanted to lure Aleppo by giving it control over most of the agricultural and mineral wealth of Syria so that it would never want to unite with Damascus again.

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29.

The result was a big embarrassment for France, which wanted the secession of Aleppo to be a punitive measure against Damascus, which had participated in the Syrian Revolt.

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30.

Aleppo resisted the separatist coup, but eventually it had no choice but to recognize the new government.

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31.

Since the late 1990s, Aleppo has become one of the fastest growing cities in the Levant and the Middle East.

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32.

In 2006, Aleppo was named by the Islamic Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization as the capital of Islamic culture.

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33.

On 15 April 2017, a convoy of buses carrying evacuees was attacked by a suicide bomber in Aleppo, killing more than 126 people, including at least 80 children.

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34.

Aleppo is characterized with mixed architectural styles, having been ruled by, among others, Romans, Byzantines, Seljuqs, Mamluks and Ottomans.

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35.

The huge medieval castle in the city – known as the Citadel of Aleppo — occupies the center of the ancient part, in the shape of an acropolis.

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36.

Second period of Armenian flow towards Aleppo marked with the withdrawal of the French troops from Cilicia in 1923.

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37.

Aleppo was the most populous city in Syria, with a population of 2, 132, 100 as indicated in the latest official census in 2004 by the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics.

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38.

Significant number of the Assyrians in Aleppo speak Aramaic, hailing from the city of Urfa in Turkey.

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39.

The Jews of Aleppo were known for their religious commitment, Rabbinic leadership, and their liturgy, consisting of Pizmonim and Baqashot.

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40.

Jews from Aleppo referred to their city as "Aram Tzova" after the ancient Aramean city of Aram-Zobah mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.

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41.

Arabic dialect of Aleppo is a type of Syrian Arabic, which is of the North Levantine Arabic variety.

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42.

Syrian Turkmen population of Aleppo speak the Kilis and Antep dialect of the Turkish language.

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43.

The members of the small Greco-Syrian community in Aleppo speak Arabic, but the Koine Greek dialect of the Greek language is used during church service by the Orthodox and Catholic Greek churches of Antioch.

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44.

Aleppo is considered one of the main centres of Arabic traditional and classic music with the Aleppine Muwashshahs, Qudud Halabiya and Maqams.

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45.

Aleppines in general are fond of Arab classical music, the Tarab, and it is not a surprise that many artists from Aleppo are considered pioneers among the Arabs in classic and traditional music.

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46.

Many iconic artists of the Arab music like Sayed Darwish and Mohammed Abdel Wahab were visiting Aleppo to recognize the legacy of Aleppine art and learn from its cultural heritage.

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47.

Aleppo is known for its knowledgeable and cultivated listeners, known as sammi'a or "connoisseur listeners".

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48.

Al-Adeyat Archaeological Society founded in 1924 in Aleppo, is a cultural and social organization to preserve the tangible and intangible heritage of Aleppo and Syria in general.

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49.

Aleppo is surrounded by olive, nut and fruit orchards, and its cuisine is the product of its fertile land and location along the Silk Road.

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50.

The za'atar of Aleppo is a kind of oregano which is popular in the regional cuisines.

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51.

Aleppo is the origin of different types of sweets and pastries.

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52.

Aleppo was home to 177 hammams during the medieval period until the Mongol invasion, when many of the prominent structures of the city were destroyed.

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53.

City of Aleppo is served by a public transport network of buses and minibuses.

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54.

Aleppo was one of the major stations of Syria that was connected to the Baghdad Railway in 1912, within the Ottoman Empire.

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55.

Alongside the platform at Aleppo stood the train grandly designated in railway guides as the Taurus Express.

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56.

Aleppo is home to several Christian schools, such as St Mariam's Christian School and Armenian private schools as well as two international schools: International School of Aleppo and Lycee Francais d'Alep.

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57.

City of Aleppo is considered an important centre of team sports with football being the most popular in the city.

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58.

City of Aleppo is the capital of Aleppo Governorate and the centre of Mount Simeon District.

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