Syria has long been one of the most trouble-prone and politically volatile regions of the Near and Middle Eastern world. This book looks back beyond the troubles of the present to tell the 3000-year story of what came before: the peoples, cities, and kingdoms that arose, flourished, declined, and disappeared in the lands that now constitute Syria, from the time of the region's earliest written records in the third millennium BC, right through the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian in the early 4th century AD.

The first kingdoms -- The international intruders -- The amorite warrior-chiefs -- The empires collide -- The end of an era -- The age of iron -- The wolf upon the fold : the neo-Assyrian invasions -- From Nebuchadnezzar to Alexander -- The rise of the Seleucid Empire -- The Seleucid Empire in its prime -- The Maccabean Rebellion -- The decline and fall of the Seleucids -- The coming of the Romans -- Nabataean excursus -- The Syrian emperors -- The crisis years -- From desert oasis to royal capital : the story of Palmyra -- Syria's 'King of Kings' : the life and death of Odenathus -- Zenobia, Queen of the East -- The last farewell.