Aleppo

A city in northern Syria which stands on the site of an ancient, as yet unexcavated, city. On the route between the Euphrates and Orontes, the ancient site is mentioned in texts from the 2nd millennium onwards as the capital of the Amorite kingdom of Yamkhad in the 18th century BC. It subsequently came under Hittite, Egyptian, Mitannian, and again Hittite rule during the 17th-14th centuries. It was known to the Hittites as Halpa. The city was conquered by the Assyrians in the 8th century BC and then controlled by the Achaemenian Persians from the 6th-4th centuries BC before the Seleucids took it over, rebuilt it, and renamed it Beroea. Aleppo was very important during the Hellenistic period for its position along trade routes. The city became part of the Roman province of Syria in the 1st century BC. Conquered by the Arabs in 637, it reverted to its old name of Halab.

City in north Syria, covering an ancient city which remains unexcavated. Aleppo is located on the route between the Orontes and the Euphrates Valley, and was important for trade from at least the 2nd millennium BC. Because of its importance it was fought over by Hittites, Egyptians and Assyrians. Subsequently, as texts from Ugarit, Alalakh and Mari show, it became part of the Persian trading empire, which stretched from Dilmun via the Persian Gulf and the Euphrates to the Mediterranean.