| Page Views: 1,810 Last Visit to Aleppo: August, 2006 I Used To Live Here | Aleppo - the Oldest City in the World by iwys - last update: Feb 3, 2008 |
Aleppo is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a wonderful old place and its magnificent citadel is one of the must-see sights of the Middle East. Aleppo, or Halab, was my home from June to September, 2006. The people here some of the friendliest and most polite I've met anywhere in the world. |
| Columns from a Hittite temple in a mosque doorway |
|  | With a population of more than 3 million, Aleppo is Syria's second city. Its Arabic name, Halab, comes from the word for milk, as it believed that Abraham milked his cow on the hill where the citadel now stands. It has seen great civilisations come and go as it has been ruled successively by, amongst others, the Amorites, Hittites, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Mongols, Mamelukes, Ottomans and the French.
It has survived thousands of years and many invasions and disasters. In 1138, one of the four biggest earthquakes in the history of the world killed more than a quarter of a million people here. In 1260 and again in 1400 the city was sacked by the Mongol hordes. As if that was not enough, in 1348 about a third of the population was wiped out by the Black Death. |
Highlights for the visitor include ascending the steps to see the biggest Citadel in the world, visiting the Great Mosque, strolling around the souks and khans and eating in the elegant, restored merchants' houses of the Christian quarter of Jdeide.
Aleppo is also a great base for exploring the Byzantine Dead Cities and churches of the surrounding area. | | |
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 Comments for iwys about Aleppo | | | | |
hunterV Sun Apr 26, 2009 19:50 UTC
Hello, Ian! Thanks for bringing this fabulous piece of the splendid world closer to us! | Tijavi Fri Nov 9, 2007 21:13 UTC
Thanks for sharing Aleppo with us. Can't wait to be there - although it's going to be a short trip. Greetings from the desert. | sandmoon Sat May 12, 2007 15:16 UTC
thanks ian, what a funny coincidence... well we're all interconnected in mysterious ways i guess :-) love the street scenes... my dad was born in aleppo... never went there myself... i have mixed feelings about the place... | triplehelix Sun Apr 15, 2007 06:13 UTC
i loved aleppo while i was there. certainly an open city and diverse compared to the rest of syria. |
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