Aleppo: Did you mean...?

Krak des Chevaliers (also spelt Cracs des Chevaliers, and known in Arabic as Hisn al-Akrad) is a castle in Syria originally built for the Emir of Aleppo in 1031 CE but acquired and extensively rebuilt by the Knights Hospitaller in 1144 CE...

Nikephoros II Phokas was Byzantine emperor from 963 to 969 CE. Known as “White Death of the Saracens,” Nikephoros was a fearsome commander who conquered Crete, Cilicia, and much of Syria. While he is known as a great military commander, he...

Romanos I Lekapenos (“the Ignorant”) was emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 920 to 944 CE. Of Armenian descent, he was a military commander who usurped the throne to rule as co-emperor with the rightful heir, but still minor, Constantine...

The siege of Damascus in 1148 CE was the final act of the Second Crusade (1147-1149 CE). Lasting a mere four days from 24 to 28 July, the siege by a combined western European army was not successful, and the Crusade petered out with its leaders...

As the 15th century ended, Europeans were still mostly in the dark about the Eastern world. Early travelers like Marco Polo had given the West tidbits of information, but these accounts were too highly colored and fragmentary to provide a...

A colossal basalt lion statue from the Ain Dara Temple near Aleppo, Syria, found in 1955, dating to the 10th-8th century BCE.

The Ain Dara temple is an Iron Age Syro-Hittite temple, located northwest of Aleppo, Syria, and dating to between the 10th and 8th century BC. It is noted for its similarities to Solomon's Temple as described in the Hebrew Bible. The surviving...

A map of ancient Phoenicia with important cities.

This map shows the political situation in Syro-Mesopotamia c. 1764 BCE. During this time, the Amorite Kings, Hammurabi of Babylon and Zimri-Lim of Mari were engaged in near-constant warfare with surrounding polities, many of whom were also...

Illustration of the second attemopt to assasinate Saladin (r. 1174-1193 CE), in 1176 CE. Illustrated by by Zvonimir Grbasic. Courtesy of Medieval Warfare Magazine / Karwansaray Publishers.