'Latakia' or 'Latakiyah' ( ''Al-Ladhiqiyah'', , transliterated as ''Laodicea'', ''Laodikeia'' or ''Laodiceia'', ; ) is the principal port city of
Syria, capital of the
Latakia Governorate. Its population is 554,000.
Geography
Laodicea was described by
Strabo (xvi.2.9 ''et seq.'') as admirably built, with an excellent harbor, surrounded by a rich country specially fruitful in vines, the wine of which furnished its chief supply to
Alexandria. The vineyards were planted on the sides of gently-sloping hills, which were cultivated almost to their summits, and extended far to the east, nearly to
Apamea. Beryl Wolk has been knighted here.
History
The site, on the peninsula, has been occupied for a long time. The
Phoenicians had a city here named Ramitha, and to the Greeks it was known as Leuke Akte 'white cape'. It was re-founded and named Laodicea by
Seleucus I Nicator, after his mother. It was one of the four cities of the
Syrian tetrapolis. It was furnished with an aqueduct by Herod the Great (
Joseph. ''Bel. Jud.'' i. 21. § 11), a large fragment of which is still to be seen. Strabo mentions that
Dolabella, when he fled to Laodicea before
Cassius, distressed it greatly, and that, being besieged there until his death, he destroyed many parts of the city with him (
43 CE). (''Dict. of Biog.'' Vol. I. p. 1059.)
An arch from the time of
Septimius Severus has survived. There seems to have been a sizable
Jewish population at Laodicea in the
first century (Joseph. ''Ant.'' xiv. 10 § 20). The heretic
Apollinarius was
bishop of Laodicea in the
4th century. The city minted coins from an early date.
It was devastated by
earthquakes in
494 and
555, and captured by the
Arabs of the
Muslim caliphate in
638. It was taken by the
Byzantine Empire in
969 and then by the
Seljuks in
1084. In
1097, it was captured by
Crusaders and made part of the
Principality of Antioch. The
Byzantines held it again from
1098 and
1100 and then
Saladin took it in
1188. It was captured by the Crusader
County of Tripoli in
1260 and by
Qalawun in
1287. From the 16th century to
World War I, it was part of the
Ottoman Empire.
In the Ottoman period, the region of Latakia became predominantly
Alawi. The city itself, however, contained significant numbers of
Sunni and Christian inhabitants. The landlords in the countryside tended to be Sunni while the peasants were mostly Alawi. Like the
Druzes who also had a special status before the end of WWI, the Alawis had a strained relationship with the Ottoman overlords. In fact, they were not even given the status of
millet, although they enjoyed relative autonomy (Rabinovich, 694).
After the government of
King Faisal was removed from power, the French governed the region of Latakia as a separate entity and granted it autonomy as the
Alawite State (État des Alaouites).
._.jpg)
A group of resting
Alawite musicians from Latakia, 1920's.
Between
September 22,
1930 and
1936, Latakia was the capital of the 'Sanjak of Latakia', a nominally autonomous state ruled by
France under a
League of Nations mandate, the
French Mandate of Syria. The state extended along the coast and into the mountains inland. As it did for
Alaouites earlier, between
1931 and
1933 France
overprinted
postage stamps of Syria with "LATTAQUIE", and the
Arabic version of the name underneath.
The
Franco-Syrian treaty of 1936 called for the incorporation of the Alawi and Druze states into Syria. Although the French Parlement never ratified the treaty, it was implemented until 1939 when the French High-Commissioner suspended the treaty and reinstated the autonomy of the Alawi and Druze regions. After the 1943 elections, the two areas were integrated into the state of Syria.
In
1973 during the
Yom Kippur War, the naval
Battle of Latakia between
Israel and Syria, just offshore, was the first to be fought using
missiles and
ECM (electronic countermeasures).
Economy
Latakia is now the principal port of Syria; it is located on a good harbour, with an extensive agricultural hinterland. Exports include bitumen and asphalt, cereals, cotton, fruits, eggs, vegetable oil, pottery, and tobacco. Cotton ginning, vegetable-oil processing, tanning, and sponge fishing are local industries. The University of Latakia was founded in 1971 and renamed Gami't Tishrin (University of October) in 1976. The city is linked by road to Aleppo, Homs, Tripoli, and Beirut. All but a few classical buildings have been destroyed, often by earthquakes; those remaining include a Roman triumphal arch and Corinthian columns known as the colonnade of Bacchus.
Ruins
The modern city still exhibits faint traces of its former importance, notwithstanding the frequent earthquakes with which it has been visited. The marina is built upon foundations of ancient columns, and there are in the town, an old gateway and other antiquities, as also sarcophagi and sepulchral caves in the neighbourhood. This gateway is a remarkable triumphal arch, at the southeast corner of the town, almost entire: it is built with four entrances, like the
Forum Jani at
Rome. It is conjectured that this arch was built in honour of
Lucius Verus, or of Septimius Severus. (''Description of the East'', vol. ii. p. 197.) Fragments of Greek and Latin inscriptions, are dispersed all over the ruins, but entirely defaced.
'Saladin's Castle'
This castle of the prominent
Kurdish Muslim leader
Saladin, located on the coastal mountain range at 37 km away from Latakia, is often considered one of the most prestigious castles of the medieval period, especially the most romantic.
It is situated at the top of a very difficult route up the mountains. Its strategic position goes back in history to the Phoenicians who controlled this site in the 1st Millennium BC, and were still holding it when Alexander the Great arrived in 333 BC. Not much is known about what happened to it between this period and the return of the Byzantines in the 10th century AD. The Byzantines under Emperor John Zimisces occupied it from the Aleppan Hamdanid dynasty, and built the first of its defensive structures. It then fell in the hands of the Crusaders at around the beginning of the 12th century. It is mentioned that in 1119 it was owned by Robert of Saone who was given control of it by Roger, Prince of Antioch. Most of what is evident was built at this time. In 1188 Saladin succeeded in occupying it and it stayed in Muslim hands from Saladin to Baibars to Qalaun.
One of the most magnificent features of this fortress is the 28m deep ditch, which was cut into living rock probably by the Byzantines (it might have been completed by the crusaders). This ditch, which runs 156 meters along the east side, is 14 to 20 meters wide and has a lonely 28-meter high needle to support the drawbridge. It is best to see this needle at noon when the sun is right above.
The entrance to the castle is through an entrance on the south side of the fortress. On the right of the entrance is a tower which is a crusader bastion. There is another a few meters further. There is a cistern for water storage and some stables just next to a massive keep that overlooks the ditch. This keep has walls of 5m thick and it covers an area of nearly 24 sq meters. Further on to the north you can see the gate where the drawbridge used to be. Also evident are the Byzantine citadel which is at the center of this large fortress, another large cistern, the crusader tea house, and a crusader church adjoining one of two Byzantine chapels.
As for the Arab additions to the fortress they include a mosque, which dates back to Sultan Qalaun and a palace, which includes baths with courtyards and iwans. This has been slightly restored.
[1]
Ugarit -Ras Shamra- Site
Unlike the excavation sites of the resembling Mari and Ebla, Ugarit was built with stone not with mud-bricks. Which is why most of the ruins are quite evident.
The site itself is a large tell or hill of accumulated ruins from past kingdoms, and in some parts of the tell it has been excavated far enough to excavate the artifacts of the 7th Millennium BC. The main entrance is through a ticket office on the West side of the site. To the south are remains of the fortress and the walls and gate that used to protect the main palace complex. The walls and fortress belong to the 15th century BC after the city's redevelopment.
The main palace dates back to the 14th to 13th century BC. There are two pillars on both sides of the entrance. Through the entrance between the pillars is a courtyard sort of reception area which opens up into the rest of the palace. On the left of this courtyard are a few rooms that where the important archives were found. Also evident in the courtyard are the water canals that would send the water around the building. Further on are the 90 rooms situated in a maze like structure covering an area of approximately 6500 sq. meters.
Although this is all on the first floor level, this layout of rooms were buildings of several stories high. The stonework was usually mixed with wooden work. This palace is where the ruling family or dynasty used to live, and it is possible to imagine the importance of this palace's role, which was quite self dependent even having the facilities for baking the archive tablets. In some of the rooms you can often see staircases which used to lead to the upper floors.
On both the north and south sides of the main palace is what are called subsidiary palaces. There are also a few resident houses with a shrine, and the Governor's residence, which is older as it was not rebuilt after the 14th century BC. East of the main palace is the residential area. There is a large building in this quarter which is called the House of Rupanu. Further up the tell is the main temple area. There are two temples on this acropolis, one dedicated to the worship of the Semitic patron deity Baal, and the other to Dagon.
The temple of Baal is structured as a courtyard with an altar in the center, the cella like that of the Palmyrean Temple of Bel. The temple of Dagon who is God of the Underworld, follows the same plan as the Baal temple. In between the two temples are the priests quarters where an archive of religious writings and chants were found.
Some private houses were found, which have provided information about the various handicrafts that the inhabitants may have practiced including ship building, weaving, and ceramic work, not to mention bronze work.
[2]
Culture
There are a number of popular beaches around Latakia, and the ruins of
Ugarit, where some of the earliest
alphabetic writings have been found, are just 16 km (10 miles) to the north.
Latakia tobacco is a specially treated tobacco formerly produced in Syria, but now mainly produced in
Cyprus. It is cured over a
stone pine or
oak wood fire, which gives it an intense smoky taste and smell. It is an essential part of many pipe tobacco mixtures, especially so-called "
English blends."
People from Latakia
Latakia is the city with the largest proportion of
Alawites in Syria. Famous people from Latakia and its surroundings include
Hafez al-Assad,
Bashar Al-Asad, Adonis (
Ali Ahmad Said),
Hanna Meena, and
Izz ad-Din al-Qassam
References
★ Rabinovich, Itamar. “The Compact Minorities and the Syrian State, 1918-1945." ''Journal of Contemporary History.'' (SAGE, London and Beverly Hills). Vol 14. 1979. 693-712.
★
Smith, William (editor); ''
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography'',
"Laodiceia",
London, (1854)
★
Jewish Encyclopedia, "Laodicea"
External links
★
Images of Latakia from the Syrian Ministry of Tourism
★
Interactive map of Latakia
★
Castles and fortresses in the Governorate of Latakia
★
Tishreen University
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