Syria. The lost archaeological heritage

Paul Matthiae described Syria as “a land of passage”, suspended, as it is, between the Mediterranean and the Mesopotamian world, between Anatolia and the desert. Syria (in a broad sense and not just the Arab Republic of Syria) is recognised as one of the cradles of civilisation, a role further emphasised by recent archaeological discoveries in the area of ancient Edessa, at Ebla and Mari. Syria was also a land where three cultures (the Syriac, the Greek and the Mesopotamian) interfaced for centuries and mingled with each other, in a unicum in the entire Mediterranean basin. A jewel contended for 700 years between Rome and Persia. Using the last act of the terrible war between Rome and Persia (603-627) as an ideal thread, we will discover the end of Antiquity and the birth of the first Caliphate, as well as the very beginning of the Middle Ages.