Dawn Chatty

Syria, ravaged and destroyed today, experienced a prolonged multicultural history long before the term was coined. Home to the two cities, Aleppo and Damascus, that claim to be the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, its history is that of origins, from the discovery of the first phonetic alphabet at Ugarit, to conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus, the home of the Umayyads, first Islamic dynasty, the Crusaders and the castles they left behind.

Syria has been on our radar for centuries. In a broad historical sweep this lecture tells the two-century story of Syria as a place of asylum for Muslims and Christians refugees.

It articulates the long forgotten forced migration of Muslims from Crete, and from the Balkans, Crimea, and the Caucasus, continuing with the Armenians, Kurds, Palestinians and Iraqis. And it closes with a narration of the tragedy of how Syrians have now become refugees from their own country.