مدينة حماة City of Hama
The Orontes River and 3 norias
General Information
Country:	Syria
Governorates of Syria:	Hama
Area code:
Website:	eHama
Hama in Syria
Hama Hama (Syria)
Governor:	Abdul Razzaq al-Qutainy
Population
Population:
Geography
Location:	35° 8' N, 36° 45'E
Elevation:

Hama (ancient Hamath; Arabic: حماة, meaning fortress) is a city on the banks of the Orontes river in central Syria. A water wheel is a means of extracting power from the flow (or fall of water otherwise known as Hydropower. In Political geography and International politics, a country is a Political division of a geographical entity Syria ( سوريّة or) officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic ar الجمهورية العربية السورية Syria has fourteen Governorates or muhafazat (singular Muhafazah) Hama Governorate ( Arabic: مُحافظة حماه is one of the fourteen governorates (provinces of Syria. A telephone numbering plan is a plan for allocating Telephone number ranges to countries regions areas and exchanges and to non-fixed telephone networks A governor is a governing official usually the executive (at least nominally to different degrees also politically and administratively of a non-sovereign level of government In Biology a population is the collection of inter-breeding organisms of a particular Species; in Sociology A geographic coordinate system enables every location on the Earth to be specified in three coordinates using mainly a spherical coordinate system. Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language See Orontid dynasty for the Armenian kings and satraps called Orontes Syria ( سوريّة or) officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic ar الجمهورية العربية السورية It is the provincial capital of the Hama Governorate. Hama Governorate ( Arabic: مُحافظة حماه is one of the fourteen governorates (provinces of Syria. It is the location of the historical city Hamat.

Description

Its population numbers 410,000 inhabitants, making it the fifth-largest city in Syria, after Damascus, Aleppo, Homs and Latakia. Damascus ( دمشق,, also commonly known as الشام ash-Shām) is the capital and largest city of Syria. For other meanings see Aleppo (disambiguation. Halab redirects here for other meanings see Halab (disambiguation. For military actions near the city see Battle of Homs. Homs ( حمص,, anciently called Emesa (ἡ Ἔμεσα or "La Chamelle" Latakia or Latakiyah (اللاذقية Al-Ladhiqiyah, Λαοδικεία transliterated as Laodicea, Laodikeia or Laodiceia,

Hama is an important agricultural and industrial center in Syria, with 3,680 square kilometres (over a third of the governorate's area) under cultivation. The governorate produces over half of the national crop of potatoes and pistachio nuts, as well as growing a variety of other vegetables and supporting a healthy livestock ranching industry besides.

The city proper is renowned for its 16 norias used for watering the gardens, which—it is claimed—date back to 1100 BC. A noria (ناعورة nā‘ūra, from ܢܥܘܪܐ nā‘urā) is a machine for lifting water into an Aqueduct using energy derived from the water's Though historically used for purpose of irrigation, nowadays the norias are almost entirely aesthetic and traditional.

Ancient history

The ancient settlement of Hama was occupied from the early Neolithic to the Iron Age. The Neolithic (from Greek νεολιθικός — neolithikos from νέος neos, "new" + λίθος lithos This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age for the mythological Iron Age see Ages of Man. It was excavated between 1931-1938 by a Danish team under the direction of H. Ingholt. The stratigraphy is very generalised, which makes detailed comparison to other sites difficult. Level M (6 m thick) contained both white ware, vessels made from lime-plaster and true pottery. It may be contemporary with Ras Shamra VA and B (6000-5000 BC). Ugarit ( Ugaritic: ʼugrt; Hebrew:; Arabic:) (modern Ras Shamra رأس شمرة ("top/head/cape of the wild Fennel The overlying level L dates to the Chalcolithic Halaf-period. The Chalcolithic (Greek khalkos + lithos ' Copper stone' period or Copper Age period known as the '''Eneolithic''' ('''Æneolithic''' is a Tell Halaf ( Akkadian: Guzana; تل حلف, Syria)

The Hittite levels are overlain by Aramaic remains which date to the end of the 11th century. The Hittites were an ancient Anatolian people who spoke a language of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family and established Aramaic is a Semitic language with At this time, Aramaic tribes seem to have taken over the whole Orontes and Litani-valley. See Orontid dynasty for the Armenian kings and satraps called Orontes The Litani River (نهر الليطاني transliterated: Nahr al-Līţānī classical name Leontes is an important waterway in southern Lebanon

Iron age "Hamath" seems to have been a centre of ivory-working. This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age for the mythological Iron Age see Ages of Man. Ivory is formed from Dentine and constitutes the bulk of the Teeth and Tusks of animals such as the Elephant, Hippopotamus, It shows strong Egyptian influence. This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. Together with Aram (Damascus), Hama formed an important Aramaic state in the Syrian interior. Damascus ( دمشق,, also commonly known as الشام ash-Shām) is the capital and largest city of Syria. As the Aramaic script was written on paper, very few records have been recovered in Hama itself. The Aramaic alphabet is an Abjad, a Consonantal Alphabet, used for writing Aramaic.

Location of the governorate of Hama

Biblical reports are scarce, but state that Hamath was the capital of a Canaanite kingdom (2 Kings 23:33; 24:21) whose king, congratulated king David on his victory over the king of Soba (2 Samuel 8:9-11; 1 Chronicles 13:9-11). Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin Canaanites redirects here For the 1940s social and political movement in Israel, see Canaanites (movement. Solomon, it would seem, took possession of Hamath and its territory (1 Kings 4:21-24; 2 Chronicles 8:4). King Solomon ( Ge'ez: ስለሞን Arabic: ar سليمان, Sulayman, all from the Triliteral root S-L-M, "peace" The prophet Amos (vi, 2) calls the town "Hamath the Great". … Amos ( is one of the twelve Minor prophets in the Hebrew Bible, and putative author of the speeches reported in the Book of Amos. Indeed, the name appears to stem from Phoenician khamat "fort" ^[1]. The Assyrians took possession of it towards the end of the eighth century B. C.

When the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III (858-824 BC) conquered the North of Syria he reached Hamath in 835 BC; this marks the beginning of Assyrian sources on the kingdom. Shalmaneser III ( Šulmānu-ašarēdu, "the god Shulmanu is pre-eminent" was king of Assyria (859 BC-824 BC and son of the previous ruler Irhuleni of Hamath and Im-idri of Aram (biblical Bar-Hadad) led a coalition of Syrian cities against the encroaching Assyrian armies. Hadadezer (" Hadad is my help" also known as Adad-Idri ( Assyr Hadadezer (" Hadad is my help" also known as Adad-Idri ( Assyr Early history The most Neolithic site in Assyria is at Tell Hassuna, the center of the Hassuna culture According to Assyrian sources, they were confronted by 4,000 chariots, 2,000 horsemen, 62,000 foot-soldiers and 1,000 Arab camel-riders in the Battle of Qarqar. The Battle of Karkar (or Qarqar) was fought in 853 BC when the army of Assyria, led by king Shalmaneser III, encountered an allied army The Assyrian victory seems to have been more of a draw, although Shalmaneser III continued to the ocean and even took a ship to open sea. In the following years, Shalmaneser III failed to conquer Hamath and Aram as well. After the death of Shalmaneser III the former allies Hamath and Aram fell out, and Aram seems to have taken over some of Hamath's territory.

An Aramaic inscription by Zakir, king of Hamath and La'ash, tells of an attack by a coalition including Sam'al under Ben-Hadad III, son of Hasael, king of Aram. Bar-Hadad III ( Aram) or Ben-Hadad III ( Heb) was the son of Hazael, and succeeded him after his death as king of Aram Damascus. Hazael ( Hebrew Hazael meaning " God has seen" was a court official and later an Aramean king who appeared in the Bible Zakir was besieged in his fortress of Hazrak, but saved by intervention of the God Be'elschamen. Later on, Ja'udi-Sam'al came to rule both Hamath and Aram.

In 743 BC Tiglath-Pileser III took a number of towns in the territory of Hamath, but not the city itself. Tiglath-Pileser III (from the Hebraic form of Akkadian: Tukultī-apil-Ešarra, "my trust is in the son of Esharra" was a prominent king In 738 BC Hamath is listed among the cities conquered by Assyrian troops. Over 30,000 Syrians from the environs of Hamath were deported to the Zagros-mountains. The Zagros Mountains (جبال زاجروس (رشته كوههاى زاگرس ( Sorani Kurdish: Zagros - زاگرۆس make up Iran 's and Iraq 's

In 605 BC, the remains of the Egyptian garrison of Carchemish was annihilated at Hamath by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. Carchemish (called Europus by the Greco-Romans) was an important ancient city of the Mitanni and Hittite empires now on the frontier between Babylon was a City-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which can be found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq Nebuchadrezzar II, more often called Nebuchadnezzar (c 630-562 BC was a ruler of Babylon in the Chaldean Dynasty, who reigned c In 554/553 Hamath was the target of a campaign by Nabonidus of Babylon. Nabonidus ( Akkadian Nabû-nāʾid) was the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, reigning from 556-539 BCE Babylon was a City-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which can be found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq

At the time of the Alexander the Great's conquest it was given the name Epiphania, no doubt in honour of and probably by king Antiochus Epiphanes. Alexander the Great ( or, Mégas Aléxandros; July 20 356 BC June 10 or June 11 323 BC also known as Alexander III of Macedon (el Ἀλέξανδρος Γ' Another Antiochus IV Epiphanes was king in Commagene under Caligula and Claudius. The inhabitants took no notice and continued to use the old name. Aquila and Theodoretus call it Emath-Epiphania.

The city later came under the control of Rome and of the Byzantine Empire, as part of the province of Syria Secunda. The Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial History of Bahrein, AND COMPARE THE TRUE IMPORTANCE OF THE TWO STATES

Muslim and crusader feudal era

The Ainouri Mosque minaret

Conquered by the Arabs in A. D. 638 or 639, the town regained its ancient name, and has since retained it, under the form Hama(h), meaning a fortress.

Tancred took it in 1108, but in 1115 the Franks lost it definitively. Tancred ( 1072 - December 5 or December 12, 1112) was a Norman leader of the First Crusade who later became Prince The Arab geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi (1179-1229), was born there. Yaqut ibn-'Abdullah al-Rumi al-Hamawi) (1179-1229 (ياقوت الحموي الرومي was a Syrian Biographer and Geographer. Christian Crusaders held Hama briefly (1108), but in 1188 it was re-taken by Saladin, under whose Ayyubid family it remained until it passed to Egyptian Mamluk control in 1299. Salahadin Ayyubi ( Arabic:صلاح الدين يوسف بن أيوب Kurdish: سه‌لاحه‌دین ئه‌یوبی Selah'edînê Eyubî; c The Ayyubid or Ayyoubid Dynasty was a Muslim dynasty of Kurdish origins which ruled Egypt, Syria, Yemen (except for An early Mamluk governor of Hama was Abu al-Fida (reigned 1310–30), the historian and geographer. Abu al-Fida (أبو الفداء or Abul Fida Ismail Hamvi (fully Abu Al-fida' Isma'il Ibn 'ali ibn Mahmud Al-malik Al-mu'ayyad 'imad Ad-din, (also Transliterated

In the early 16th century the city came under the control of the Ottoman Empire, during which period a variety of Khans, and a beautiful Palace (the Al-Azem Palace - still existent), were built. The Ottoman Empire (1299–1923 ( Old Ottoman Turkish: دولتْ علیّه عثمانیّه Devlet-i Âliye-yi Osmâniyye, Late Ottoman and Modern Turkish Hamah (in Turkish) was a town of 45,000 inhabitants, prettily situated on the Orontes, and the residence of a Mutessarif (governor), depending on Damascus. The main portion of the population was Muslim, besides about 10,000 Christians of various rites.

Modern history

After World War I Hama was made part of the French Levant States League of Nations mandate, and in 1941 it became part of independent Syria. See also Names of the Levant The Levant (lə'vænt is a geographical term that denotes a large area in Western Asia, roughly bounded on the north by the

Main article: Hama Massacre

Political insurgency by Islamic groups, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood beginning in the early 1980s culminated in an uprising in February, 1982. The Hama massacre ( مجزرة حماة) occurred on February 2, 1982 when the Syrian army bombarded the town of Hama in order The Muslim Brothers ( Arabic: الإخوان المسلمون al-ikhwān al-muslimūn, full title The Society of the Muslim Brothers, often simply الإخوان The Hama massacre ( مجزرة حماة) occurred on February 2, 1982 when the Syrian army bombarded the town of Hama in order Government forces led by the president's brutal brother, Rifaat al-Assad, quelled the revolt, but killed thousands of civilians and destroyed much of the old part of the city in the process. Rifaat al-Assad (رفعت الأسد is the younger brother of the former President of Syria, Hafiz al-Assad, and the uncle of the current President Bashar The town was shelled by the Syrian military, and the estimated deaths numbered more than 20,000 and may have been as high as 30,000 or 40,000, a big portion of them were women and children. The story is suppressed in Syria.

Ecclesiastical history

Greek Orthodox church

Hamatha or Amatha is still a Roman Catholic titular see, suffragan of Apamea. A titular see in the Roman Catholic Church is a Diocese or Archdiocese that now exists in title only A suffragan bishop is a Bishop subordinate to a Metropolitan bishop or Diocesan bishop. It is as Epiphania that it is best known in ecclesiastical documents. Lequien (Oriens Christianus, II, 915-918) mentions nine Greek bishops of Epiphania. Michel Le Quien ( Boulogne-sur-Mer 8 October 1661 – Paris 12 March 1733) was a French historian and theologian The first of them, whom he calls Mauritius, is the Manikeios whose signature appears in the First Council of Nicaea (Gelzer, "Patrum Nicaenorum Nomina", p. The First Council of Nicaea, held in Nicaea in Bithynia (present-day İznik in Turkey) convoked by the Roman Emperor Constantine lxi).

It has two Catholic archbishops, a Greek Melkite and a Syrian, the one residing at Labroud, the other at Homs, reuniting the titles of Homs (Emesus) and Hamah (Missiones Catholicae, 781-804). Meaning of church name Melkite comes from the Syriac word malko for "imperial" which was originally a Pejorative term for Middle-Eastern For military actions near the city see Battle of Homs. Homs ( حمص,, anciently called Emesa (ἡ Ἔμεσα or "La Chamelle" For military actions near the city see Battle of Homs. Homs ( حمص,, anciently called Emesa (ἡ Ἔμεσα or "La Chamelle" The Orthodox Greeks have a bishop of their own for either see.

See also

Sound of a noria

Sound of a noria

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External links

• site of Hama governorate

• Pictures of Hama and Homs

Sources

(incomplete)

• This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913. The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone The Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to today as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language Encyclopedia published by The Encyclopedia [1]

References

Further reading

• P. J. Riis/V. Poulsen, Hama: fouilles et recherches 1931-1938 (Copenhagen 1957).