Aleppo (redirected from Musalmiya)

Aleppo (əlĕp`ō) or Alep (əlĕp`), Arabic Haleb, city (1993 est. pop. 1,500,000), capital of Aleppo governorate, NW Syria. It is a commercial center located in a semidesert region where irrigation is used to grow grains, cotton, and fruit. The city is also a market for wool and hides. Manufactures include silk, printed cotton textiles, dried fruits and nuts (especially pistachios), and cement. Aleppo is a transportation hub; it has an international airport and is connected by rail with Damascus and the Mediterranean port of Latakia, as well as with Turkey and Iraq. The city was inhabited perhaps as early as the 6th millenium B.C. In the 14th–13th cent. B.C. it was controlled by the Hittites. Later, Aleppo was a key point on the major caravan route across Syria to Baghdad. From the 9th to the 7th cent. B.C. it was mostly ruled by Assyria and was known as Halman. It was later (6th cent. B.C.) held by the Persians and Seleucids. Seleucus I (d. 280 B.C.) rebuilt much of the city, renaming it Berea. The city's commercial importance was enhanced by the fall of Palmyra in A.D. 272, and by the 4th cent. Aleppo was a major center of Christianity. A flourishing city of the Byzantine Empire, it was taken without a struggle by the Arabs in 638; subsequently, in the late 11th cent., it was captured by the Seljuk Turks. Crusaders besieged Aleppo without success in 1118 and 1124, and Saladin captured it in 1183, making it his stronghold. The city was held briefly by the Mongols under Hulagu Khan (1260) and by Timur (1401); in 1517 the Ottoman Empire annexed Aleppo, which then became a great commercial city. From 1832 to 1840 it was held by Muhammad Ali of Egypt. In the late 19th cent., Aleppo's importance declined as Damascus grew and the Suez Canal and other trade routes were developed. The city revived under French control after World War I and continued to prosper after Syrian independence (1941). The Univ. of Aleppo (1960), Aleppo Institute of Music (1955), and Muslim theological schools are in the city. Points of interest include the Byzantine citadel (12th cent.) and the Great Mosque (715).

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Aleppo

 Arabic Halab

City (pop., 2004 est.: 1,975,200), northwestern Syria. Syria's largest city, it is about 30 mi (48 km) from the Turkish border. Lying at the crossroads of great commercial routes, it has long been inhabited and is first mentioned at the end of the 3rd millennium BC. It subsequently came under the control of many kingdoms, including the Hittites (17th–14th centuries BC). Controlled by the Persian Achaemenian dynasty in the 6th–4th centuries BC, it soon came under the control of the Hellenistic Seleucid dynasty, under which it was renamed Beroea. It was absorbed into the Roman Empire in the 1st century BC and it prospered for several centuries. In AD 637 it was conquered by the Arabs, under whom it reverted to its old name, Halab. The city successfully defended itself from the Crusaders (1124), fell to the Mongols (1260), and finally was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire (1516). Modern Aleppo is an industrial and intellectual centre rivaling the Syrian capital, Damascus. Its historic structures were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1986.

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Aleppo

an ancient city in NW Syria: industrial and commercial centre. Pop.: 2 505 000 (2005 est.)

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Aleppo 

(also Halab; ancient Beroea), a city in northwestern Syria and capital of the administrative district of Aleppo. Population, 639,000 (1970). After Damascus, Aleppo is Syria’s most important economic and cultural center. It is a railroad junction and the trade and transportation center of an agricultural region specializing in the raising of livestock and the cultivation of grain, cotton, olives, pistachios, and grapes. It has enterprises for silk winding, cotton ginning, and wool processing, as well as enterprises of the leather and footwear, metalworking, cement, and spice industries. The city has a university.

In ancient times, Aleppo was called Halap. The earliest information about the city dates from the 20th century B.C., when it was the capital of the Yamkhad state. In the late 17th century B.C., it was captured by the Hittites, and it later came under Mitannian control. In the 14th and 13th centuries B.C., it was again ruled by the Hittites. After the fall of the Hittite Empire circa 1200 B.C., Aleppo was the capital of the small Aleppo state. It became part of the Achaemenian Empire and the Seleucid state. It came under the control of Rome in 64 B.C. and was later under the rule of Byzantium. In A.D. 636 the city was conquered by the Arabs.

Aleppo flourished in the 12th and 13th centuries, becoming a center of trade, crafts, and culture. In 1260 it was conquered by the Mongols, and in the late 13th century it became part of the Mameluke Empire. It became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1516. In 1822, Aleppo was destroyed by an earthquake. Since the last quarter of the 19th century the economy of the city has been improving, and its cultural and social life has been revived. During the period of the French mandate of Syria, from the 1920’s to the 1940’s, the city was a center of the national liberation movement.

Aleppo’s architectural remains include fragments of medieval walls and five gates dating from 1390 to the early 16th century. Of special note is the strong citadel, which has an oval layout. The structure dates from the 12th and early 13th centuries; sections were completed in 1292 and the 15th and 16th centuries, and the lower part was built in Byzantine times. Other interesting buildings include the Great Mosque (c. 715, 12th—13th centuries), which has a minaret with a square layout (1090 or 1095, architect Hasan ibn Mukri al-Sarmani); the madrasa Hallawiyah (12th century), rebuilt from a Byzantine cathedral of the fifth century; and the madrasa al-Firdaus (1235). There are also 16th-century trade complexes; khans, including as-Sabun (early 16th century); and traditional homes with rich decor.

Modern Aleppo grew to the north and west of the old city and features regular residential blocks. Examples of modern architecture in the city include the university (1968–69, architect S. Mudarris and others) and the Aleppo National Museum (founded 1960), which houses works of ancient Syrian art.

REFERENCE

Saouaf, S. Alep: Guide du visiteur. Aleppo, 1951.