The Tomahawk., 1919-09-11
View Of Aleppe and Ito citadel.

u by General Allenby on Octo-
4 y ber 28, 1918, was the culmina'
ton Of the conquest of Syria,
ID, like Damascus and Konieh, one OF
the ancient cities Of the world. 1t
may, indeed, be older than either; GER
tainly It appears in history as early
as Damascus and before Konieh. 1t
was one Of the Syrian towns captured
by the Egyptian conqueror. Thothmes
III, about 1880 B. O.. ahd thereafter Is
Of frequent occurrence in the agttated
annals. of those early times. says a
writer In the Sphere. Under Roman
rule it enjoyed long period Of pros
perity. Its ancient Syrian name OF
Halban, or Khalban, was corrupted
by the Greeks into Chalybon, but 1t was
also known as Berea. When, after
seven centuries Of Roman rule, it fell
into the hands Of the Arabs, 1t was
called by them Haleb, a nearer approx
imation to it's ancient name than the
Greek Chaiybon. The Venetian and
other italian visitors, Of whom there
were many in the middle ages, blum
dered Haleb into Aeppo-that Is, they
dxopped the aspirate. as Latins 30
often do. sounded the final ''b'' as a
3D." and added In the arbitrary fashion
Of Romans, Greeks and Italians their
termination Co." (
The secret Of Aleppo's long prosper.
ity, which endured even under Turkish
rule, is its splendid commercial posi-
tion at the junction Of at least four
great trade routes. This was perhaps
largely due to the destruction Of Pal.
myra (Tadmor) BY Aurelian, after
which the bulk of the trade which had
passed through the city Of Solomon and
Zenobia now diverted itself BY q
more northerly route through Al.
eppo. BY caravan 1t traded with
Persia and India through Mesopota-
mia. with Egypt by way Of Damascus.
with Asia Minor and Constantinople by
tho ancient route through Taurus
In Romano Persian times the caravans
passed by Ctesiphon, but after the Sara
cen conquest was the halfway station
on the way to Persia.
Byzantine Versus Hamadanlte.
During the middle ages Aleppo's e1-
istenee was Q life of stormy magnifl-
cence. During the earlier wars Of the
Saracens with the eastern Roman en-
pire It was more thai once taken and
retaken. In the tenth century It be-
came the seat of q brilliant local dy-
nasty from Hanadan In Persia. The
most noted ruler Of this family was
Seyf.ed-Din,. whom the Byzantine his-
torians call ."Khabdanos," !. e., the
Hamadn0ite. Seyf-ed-Din kept great
state at Aeppo. and probably the chief
portions Of tho present fortihcations Of
the citadel ware built BY him, though
It 10 unite possible that they are older.
He was 4 patron Of art and literature
and also Q mighty warrior. who led
many expeditions against the eastern
Rsman empire with alternate success
and defeat. ....~-.. -.
After much success he sustained q
terrible defeat In o61 In the Taurus
passes, and himself escaped only By 2
breakneck scramble up prscplce.
Next year his fate Was upon him. for
the great Byzantine. marshal. Nice
phoros Phokas, soon to be emperur-re
gent, marched against Aleppo with all
the available forces Of the East. Seyf-
ed-Din made desperate efforts; he lev.
led all the citizens Of Aleppo and in
trenched himself to guard the ap-
proaches to his capital, while IN Mes
opotamia q holy war was proclaimed,
and the troops Of Nosu1, Edessa, Mar
din and many other. places marched to
the relief Of Aeppo. Could all these
forces unite the Byzantine. general
must have been defeated. but he was
% prompt that he reached his goal be-
fore the Nesopotamians could axrive.
By one oe those masteriy turning move
ments which In those days only By
santine generals and Byzantine troops
could achieve, Phokas hanked Seyf-ed-
Din out of his intrenchments and
forced him to fight IN the open before
the city gates. He was utterly defeat
ed, and 90 his beaten troops poured
back into Aleppo sedltion broke cut
The citizen soldiers laid the blame Of
the f6ut upon the Arab and Turkis1
me9csnaries: they turned their swords
aeainst one another, and amid this In
tefnecine strife he Byzantine euiras-
nefs stofmed the walls and came pour.
ing into the streets, sweeping the last
army Of "Khabdanoa" before them In
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