American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1919-01-10

f ISM troops entered Aieppo,
another change was added
to the long list of changes
that have come to the ancient Hittite
city whose existence first was noted In
Assyrian, Rabylonian and Egyptian
records under the name of Khalep.
Aleppo, or Khalep, was banded back
and forth with the swaying fortunes Of
those times, until it fell before the
world-conquerlng Alexander and his
Macedonian hosts. Then is when we
began to hear of 1t In authentic his
tory, says a writer in the Kansas City
Star. Seleucus Nicator, was n of
the generals who aided Philip, the ia
Their of Alexander, in establishing the
Macedonian kingdom. He went with
Alexander into Asia In 1893 Il. Q. In
1921, when he vas twenty-five years old,
he was given the government of the
Babylonian satrapy, which included
Khalep. He gave the city the name of
Beroea, and as Beroea or Khalep-Be-
.sea, 1t figures historically most of the
lime for the next 900 years.
In 648 A. d. 1t disappeared from
European records under the Saracen
flood that swept up from the south
East. When the wild tribes began to
assume a sort of settled state under
Moslem influence, 1t reappeared as
dalep, the gathering place of the great
passing from Asia Minor and
Syria to M~esopotamia, Bagdad and the
nor.;oD and Indian o.
Earthquake and Plague.
In common with most Of the towns
of northern Syria, Aleppo suffered fire.
Quently from earthquakes. After a ter
| rible shock late in the twelfth century
1t had to be almost entirely rebuilt.
But neither earthquake nor the plague
to which 1t was also peculiarly subject
could divert from IL trade and pros
perity, and 1t became n of the com
mercial capitals of the eastern world.
The city passed under various Mos
lem dynasties, being at n time the
northern capital of the famous Saladin
Tie Tartars held it awhile in the thir
teenth century. Then the Mameluke'
came up from Egypt and took 1t, hold
ing 1t under their terrible sway unit
It's final conquest by the Ottomans Ii
1917.
Under the strong hand of it's new
rulers, the trade Of AIeppo was re
vived. The English had recognized 1T
Importance as a commercial station
and 1t became the eastern outpost o
the British Turkey company as earl.
as the time of Elizabeth. 1t was con
nected with the western outpost o
the East India company at Bagdad b,
a private caravan service. It's nam
was familiar In the England of tina
period. Shakespeare refers to II sey
eral times In his plays and 1t appear
frequently in the writings Of his COZ
te~mporaries~
Through Aleppo passed the silks O
Bambyce (~bombazines1, the light tea
tiles of Mosul (mosulines-muslins) an
many other commodities for tn
wealthy and luxurious. The discover
of the route around the Cape of Goo
Hope to India was the FIRST blow [
this trade. The second was the opeI
ing Of a land route through Egypt [
the Red sea and the third and fini
one was the construction Of the Sue
canal.
Long before the Suez canal becam
I q reality, however, Aleppo had bee
. declining from internal causes. In ii
t, latter part of the eighteenth centuI
and the first years of the nineteenth
, was constantly the scene of bloody oil
sensions between rival religious an
! secular parties, In which the Ottoma
government took part, first on n sic
I then the other, plundering both. Tv
. earthquakes and three v~isitatlons
{ cholera between 1922 and 1882 lie
the place a wreck with only half !
former population. Tumults and ms
sacres Of Christians occurred in IS
and in 1892, accompanied by great d
~structIon Of property. Its trade b
revived greatly In recent years, b
has been largely of a local nature.
Modern City on Ancient Site.
q The modern city stands on virtual
r the ancient site. The older sectio
D are partly within a wall built by {
saracens. A medieval castle on t
e site of the ancient citadel is desert
D and in ruins. 1t stands on a moui
, partly artificial and faced with stoI
The population of the city, about IL
, coo, IS three-quarters MosIem. i
70 European residents, the Armenia