Rockingham post-dispatch. [volume] (Rockingham, N.C.) 1917-1965, 1919-09-04

this day. When the Mesop0tamians
arrived they found that Phokas and his
army had quietly retired with their
prisoners and plumber, leaving ruin
and restitution behind.
AIeppo In the Middle Ages.
Aleppo's brief political greatness
thus fell beneath the hammer stroke OF
Nlcephoros Phokas, but Its commercial
eminence did not leave 1t. For two
centuries 1t led precarious politicai
extraordinarily in vassalage to the
dominant great power. 1t was part OF
the empire Of the mighty Saladin, and
probably the work of his masons Is to
be seen today in the citadel walls.
After, Saladin and his house had passed
away Aleppo fell to the Mameluke sui
tans of Egypt. Thither in 1902 came
the terrible Timur (Tamerlane) on his
way to overthrow the army of Egypt
at Damascus.
Timur left terrible traces of his pres
ence on Aleppo, but the city. thanks 10
Its splendid situation, recovered, ana
for the next century or more, indeed,
was at the height OF its prosperity.
It was injured by the discovery Of the
passage round the Cape Of Good Hope,
but remained great and wealthy until
1922, when 1t was smitten by an earth
quake and almost completely de-
stroyed, with loss Of life calculated
at the lowest at 10000 persons. Dur
ing the thirteenth, fourteenth and fif-
tenth centuries 1t was foremost among
the trading cities of the world, and its
renown spread far and wide.
It was from Aleppo that the first pio-
neers of England's Indian trade and
empire started on their long journey
to the courts Of the moghul emperors.
Doubtless 1t was from some of them,
or reports of their journeys which must
have been current in Elizabethan
london, that Shakespeare and Marlowe
learned Of the oriental city. At all
events, references to Aleppo are to be
found in the plays Of both--less In
Shakespeare than in Marlowe, whose
bent was clearly in the direction OF ori'
entail glamor.
Modern Aleppo still suffers from the
destruction wrought by the catastrophe
of 1922, but there is no doubt that the
researches Of skilled archeologi5ts
| would meet with rich reward in city
which has existed continuously fol
1000 years, which has seen the char
ioteers of Egypt and Of Khatti, the
phalanx Of Alexander and the legions
of Rome, no less than the mailed horse
I men of Byzantium and the savage
riders of Timur and Selim the Grim
, The citadel walls still stand intact ant
imposing; the walls of the inner cit.
: are mainly in ruins. In the western
/ rampant there survives--in the form
, of an Neutrality-suspicious. of the pres
ence Of the Hittite conquerors, WIN
, 4 wrested- North Syria from the veal
/ hands Of the hereto Pharaoh Akens
, ten. The fiat roofs of the houses ar
! often laid out rs gardens, and sout
and west Of the city extend wild
4 plantations and orchards. Water
! supplied by means of an ancier
4 aaueduct, a relic of the Roman ruiz
J. which, in Syria, as in Gaul and Bri
r ain, has left indestructible evidence
]. it's passion for works Of practical uti
) lily. There is much local industry, an
il as a principal station on the Tran
+ Syrian railway close to the Bagda
= lire, Aleppo still occupies a positio
/ of great Importance. Under civilize
) rule it has every opportunity Of reco
) ering its former prosperity.