Damascus, the capital of Syria, is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. It has occupied a position of importance in the fields of science, culture, politics, art commerce, and industry from the earliest times. It has been called Al-Fayha'a (the fragrant city), Al-Sham, Jollaq, and Pearl of Orient as Emperor Julian named it. It was mentioned in the Holy Qur'an as the many-columns city of Aram, "...whose like has never been built in the land...".
Early references to Damascus such as those in Ebla tablets, confirm that it was as a city of immense economic influence during 3rd millennium BC. Ancient Pharaonic scripts refers to it as Dameska. It enjoyed great prominence during 2nd millennium BC as center of an Aramaic kingdom under the name of Dar-Misiq (the irrigated house). The Aramites were the original inhabitants of Damascus, and their language was Syriac. Many villages around Damascus are still known by their Aramaic names.
Damascus fell under the domination of Greeks, Romans, and Byzantines. They all left their mark on Damascus as visitors can still readily observe today. In the Roman era, Damascus was first among ten most prominent cities (The Decapolis). It received many privileges, especially during the reign of Syrian dynasty of Roman emperors. It was from Damascus that most talented architect of Roman Empire came. This was Apolodor the Damascene, who designed the celebrated Trajan Column in Rome, and the great bridge on the River Danube. Part of heritage of this era is the remains of the city-plan which Apolodor designed in oblong shape according with Roman architectural style. There is also part of the Roman temple of Jupiter, which was erected on the site of an older Aramaic temple (Hadad) where the Umayyad Mosque stands today; a part distinguished by its huge Corinthian columns with its richly decorated capitals.
In Byzantine era, a great number of churches and monasteries were built, and most of them have survived to present.
Damascus became capital of the first Arab state at time of the Umayyads in 661 AD. This marked the beginning of its golden epoch, and for a whole century it was the center of the youthful Islamic Empire. This reached its peak of expansion during this period, and came to stretch from shores of Atlantic and Pyrennese in west, to river Indus and China in east. Umayyads took a genuine interest in building up Damascus, organizing its souqs (bazaars) and districts, improving its water supply, erecting palaces, and hospitals.Nowadays, Damascus is a living museum spanning thousands of years. A city measuring time not by hours, days, months, and years but by empires it has seen rise and crumble to ruin.
Of the most important landmarks at Damascus are: Umayyad Mosque, Azem Palace, St. Ananias Church, Damascus Citadel, Old Souqs like Al-Hamidieyeh and Midhat Pasha, Bimarstan Al-Nory, Saladin's Tomb, St. Paul Church, and Al-Takieh Al-Suleimaniyeh.

This is the second capital of Syria 350 km north of Damascus, and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in history. Abraham (pbuh) is said to have camped on the acropolis which, long before his time, served as the foundation of a fortress where the Aleppo citadel is standing now. He milked his grey cow there, hence Aleppo's name "Halab Al-Shahba". 

Ever since the 3rd millennium BC, Aleppo has been a flourishing city, with a unique strategic position. This position gave the city a distinctive role from the days of the Akkadian and Amorite kingdoms until modern times.

It was the meeting point of several important commercial roads in the north. This enabled Aleppo to be the link in trade between Mesopotamia, the Fertile Crescent and Egypt. The Amorites made it their capital in the 18th century BC. This position also made it subject to invasions from various races; from Hittites, Egyptians, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks and Romans.
Aleppo was prominent in the Christian era; it became a Bishopric and a huge cathedral was built in it, which is still standing.

The conflict between Byzantium and Persia, however, resulted in the latter's occupation of Aleppo in 440 AD. The Persians robbed the city, burned considerable parts of it and damaged many of its features. Though expelled by Justinian, the Persians still threatened Aleppo and frightened its inhabitants until the Arab Islamic conquest came in 636 AD.

The city then regained its status, both cultural and commercial. Apart from the Umayyad and Abbasid periods in which Aleppo flourished, the Hamadani state established by Sayf Addawla in 944 AD made Aleppo the northern capital of Syria. Sayf Addawla built Aleppo's famous citadel, and in his days the city enjoyed great prosperity and fame in science, literature and medicine, despite this leader's military ambitions. Mention should be made of the two most prominent poets, Al-Mutanabbi and Abu Al-Firas Al-Hamadani; of the philosopher and scientist, Al-Farabi; and of the linguist, Ibn Kahlaweh, all of whom lived in Sayf Addawla's court and were renowned for great knowledge and scholarship.

Aleppo was famous for its architecture; for its attractive churches, mosques, schools, tombs and baths. As an important center of trade between the eastern Mediterranean kingdoms and the merchants of Venice, Aleppo became prosperous and famous in the centuries preceding the Ottoman era. Many of its khans (caravanserai) are still in use even today; one of them is called Banadiqa Khan, Banadiqa in Arabic being the term for inhabitants of Venice.

In the Ottoman age, Aleppo remained an important center of trade with Turkey, France, England and Holland. This caused various types of European architecture to be adopted in Aleppo which can be seen in many buildings today.

Nowadays, Aleppo is famous for its ancient citadel with medieval fortress, the great Umayyad mosque, and the extraordinary souqs (bazaars) with every conceivable kind of article for sale. It was and still the far distant trade center when Shakespeare mentioned it in Macbeth and Othello.
The old city was surrounded by a wall incorporating defense towers and fortified gates built during the Islamic period. A large part of the wall still standing.

The Archaeological Museum of Aleppo contains exhibits from the stone age to modern times.
It has particularly interesting collection of antiquities from some of the most ancient sites in Syria including Mari, Ugarit, and Ebla, as well as objects found in the Euphrates Basin, Hama, Tell Halaf and Ayn Dara, in addition to remains from Greek, Roman, Arab and Islamic periods.

Palmyra (Tadmor in Arabic) is in the heart of Syrian Desert, and is often described as the bride of the desert. Its magnificent remains tell of a heroic history during the reign of Queen Zenobia.
The Oasis, as it is sometimes called, is located near a hot-water spring called Afqa, which make it an ideal halt for caravans moving between Iraq and Al-Sham (present day Syria, Lebanon, Holy Land and Jordan), trading in silk from China to the Mediterranean. This strategic location made Palmyra prosper in a well-established kingdom from the 2nd century BC.

After Romans conquered Syria, Palmyra flourished and became known as city of palm-trees. When Emperor Adrian visited Palmyra, he declared it a free city; in return, people of Palmyra gratefully called their city Adrianapalmyra.

The Severus emperors then, who were originally Syrian, came to rule Palmyra, they treated its people extremely well. Emperor Caracalla declared it a Roman colony, which made it a luxurious one: new constructions, streets, arches, temples and statues were built, making Palmyra one of the greatest cities of Roman empire.

When conflict between Persia and Rome reached its crisis, Rome resorted to ruler of Palmyra for help. This ruler, Auzaina, managed to withstand Persian armies, which led Romans to call him leader of East. But he was soon assassinated in mysterious circumstances, and his second wife, Queen Zenobia, a woman renowned for her exceptionally strong character, took power.

Zenobia ruled Palmyra in a way that astonished both West and East. She was exceptionally intelligent and attractive. She was a gifted linguist, an eloquent speaker of Palmyrian, Greek and Egyptian. Zenobia had a wide knowledge of politics, and in her court, she had many philosophers, scholars and theologians.

Queen Zenobia was soon fired by ambition of getting rid of Roman domination. In 268, during reign of Emperor Aurelian, she decided to conquer all of Rome's territories. He was then very much engaged in internal conflicts as well as external wars. This enabled her to take over whole Syria, conquer Egypt and send armies to Asia Minor, gaining control thereby of all land and sea ways to Far East. She took the title of August, which was only used by emperor of Rome, and she had money coined with her and her son's likeness upon it, without that of Rome emperor.
However, Emperor Aurelian took quick action in settling his internal disputes, and started to plan his revenge on Queen Zenobia. He formed a new army for this purpose, which proceeded through Turkey to conquer Zenobia's army in their first defensive position in Homs. It besieged Palmyra until it fell in 274. Queen Zenobia was defeated and taken captive to Rome, fettered in chains of gold where she poisoned herself.

The destiny of the great kingdom of Palmyra was no better than that of its queen; the city fell prey to looting and destruction. Archaeologists are still working on excavations there in order to uncover queen's palace, which was destroyed by Romans and replaced by a military camp.
Queen Zenobia's ambitious dream is still embodied in the magnificent remains of what she built. Palmyra ruins, which covers an area of 6 square kilometers, requires a full day in order to form an adequate idea of the beauty of the remaining architecture such as Baal-Shamin Temple, Bel Temple, Arch of Triumph, the Amphitheater, the Baths, the Straight Street, the Congress Council and the Cemeteries

Apamea is located on the right bank of the Orontes river about 55 km to the north west of Hama. It overlooks the Ghab valley and was built by Seleucus Nicator, the first king of the Seleucids in Syria in 300 BC. He named it after his parisian wife, Afamea.
The city flourished to an extent that its population numbered half a million. As an Eastern crossroads, it received many distinguished visitors: Cleopetra, Septimus Severus and the Emperor Caracalla. In the Christian era, Apamea became a center of philosophy and thought, especially of Monophostism.

Most of the uncovered ruins in it date back to the Roman and Byzantine ages. It is distinguished for its high walls and the main thoroughfare surrounded by columns with twisted fluting. The street is 1850 meters long and 87 meters wide. The ruins of the Roman theater which have been frequently disturbed, are now a great mass of stone.

Its colonnade (The Cardo Maximus) is 145 meters long. Erected in the 2nd century, it was destroyed in the 12th century by two violent earthquakes; some columns are still standing nevertheless.

To the west of the city, stands the Mudiq citadel, which once formed a defense line along the Orontes.

Fierce battles with Crusaders attempting to conquer it took place in the 12th century, and Nour Eddin finally surrendered it in 1149.
The citadel has huge towers, overlooking the Ghab valley. It also has a Khan (Inn) built by Ottomans in the 16th century which was transformed into an archaeological museum housing Apamea's wonderful mosaics, paintings, and 15,000 cuneiform clay tablets.