Syria

Facts in brief about Syria

Capital: Damascus.

Official language: Arabic.

Official name: Al-Jumhuria Al-Arabia Al-Suria (The Syrian Arab Republic).

Area: 185,180 km^z. Greatest distances— east-west, 829 km; north- south, 748 km. Coastline- -151 km.

Elevation: Highest— Mount Hermon, 2,814 m above sea level.

Lowest— sea levef along the coast.

Population: Estimated 1996population -15,283,000; density, 82 people per km²; distribution, 53 per cent urban, 47 per cent rural. 1981 census—9,046,144. Estimated2001 population— 18,125,000.

Chief products: Agriculture— cotton, wheat, barley, milk, grapes, sugar beet. Manufacturing— textiles, fertilizer, petro­leum products, cement, glass, processed foods. Mining— pe­troleum, phosphates.

National anthem: "Homat El Diyar" ("Guardians of the Home­land").

Money: Currency unit— Syrian pound. One pound = 100 pias­tres

Important dates in Syria

2300's B.C. The Akkadians conquered northern and eastern Syria.

c. 1500 B.C. The Arameans arrived in Syria.

732 B.C. The Assyrians conquered most of Syria.

539 B.C. Syria became part of the Persian Empire.

331 B.C. Alexander the Great gained control of Syria.

64 B.C. Syria fell to the Romans.

A.D. 637 Muslim Arabs invaded and took control of Syria.

1516 The Ottoman Turks added Syria to their empire.

1914-1918 Syrians and other Arabs revolted against Turkish rule during World War I.

1914-1919 France received Syria as a League of Nations mandate.

1946 Syria gained complete independence from France.

1947 Syrian and other Arab troops invaded Israel. The United Nations (UNI eventually arranged a cease-fire.

1967 Israel defeated Syria, Egypt, and Jordan in a six-day war, and Israel occupied Syria's Golan Heights.

1973 Syria joined several other Arab nations in another war against Israel. Cease-fires ended the fighting.

1976 Syria sent troops into Lebanon in an effort to stop a civil war there.

1981 Israel claimed legal and political authority in the Golan Heights. Syria denounced this action.

1991 Syrian troops joined the allied forces and helped end the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait.

The Syrian countryside consists of rolling plains, fertile valleys, and barren deserts. About half of all the Syrian people live in rural villages. On the plains of northwestern Syria, rural villagers build beehive-shaped houses of stone or sun-dried mud bricks.

Damascus is Syria's capital and largest city. Much of Damascus is modern, like the section shown above. But the city is thou­sands of years old, and some ancient sections still exist.

Syria's flag, which was adopted in 1980, bears traditional Arab colours. Two green stars appear on the flag.

The coat of arms shows a hawk. This bird was the emblem of the tribe of Muhammad, the founder of Islam.

Syria is a country in southwestern Asia. It lies at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea and borders on five other countries.

A Syrian villager wearing traditional clothing sits at her door­step and prepares vegetables for her family's dinner.

Tabka Dam is the largest in Syria. Completed in 1973, it created a large lake, Lake Assad, which provides irriga­tion water for crops such as cotton, cereals, and fruit. The associated hydroelectric power station was completed in 1977 and is Syria's main source of electricity.

The Orontes River Valley is one of Syria's main farming re­gions. It has a dry climate, and farmers rely on irrigation. The water wheel is part of an ancient irrigation system.

Ruins of Palmyra stand in central Syria. This ancient city thrived more than 2,000 years ago as a major stop for caravans.

Syria is an Arab country at the eastern end of the Med­iterranean Sea. It is a land of rolling plains, fertile river valleys, and barren deserts. Damascus is Syria's capital and largest city.

Syria is an extremely ancient land with a rich cultural heritage. Some of the oldest known civilizations grew up there. The first alphabet was developed in Syria, and Syrian artists and scholars greatly influenced the cul­tures of ancient Greece and Rome.

Syria lies along major trade routes linking Africa, Asia, and Europe. Camel caravans followed these routes more than 4,000 years ago carrying goods between Asia and Mediterranean ports. Such Syrian cities as Damas­cus and Aleppo grew up along the caravan routes and became centres of world trade as early as 2000 B.C.

Syrians have also profited from agriculture. The coun­try is located at the western end of a rich farmland that is called the Fertile Crescent (see Fertile Crescent). Farmers grow chiefly cotton and wheat on the rich Syr­ian plains.

Most Syrians are Muslim Arabs, but the population also includes several ethnic and religious minorities. About a fourth of all workers are farmers. Syrian indus­tries are expanding, and many rural people have moved to the cities to seek industrial jobs.

Government

Syria is a republic. Its Constitution, adopted in 1973, calls the nation a socialist popular democracy. Syrians 18 years or older may vote.

National government. A president is Syria's head of state and most powerful government official. The peo­ple elect the president to a seven-year term. A 250- member People's Council makes the laws in Syria. Vot­ers elect members of the People's Council to four-year terms.

The president heads the Baath Party, which controls

Syrian politics. The party's power rests on its control of the nation's armed forces. The Baath Party is committed to socialism and to the political union of all the Arab countries. Syria has four other legal political parties. They and the Baath Party form a socialist organization known as the National Progressive Front.

Local government. Syria is divided into 13 prov­inces and the city of Damascus, which is considered a separate unit. The national government appoints all pro­vincial governors and other chief local officials. Each province also has a people's council made up of elected and appointed members.

Courts. The Court of Cassation is Syria's highest court of appeals for civil, commercial, and criminal cases. Each of Syria's religious communities has its own courts for such matters as marriage, divorce, and inheri­tance.

Armed forces. About 400,000 people serve in Syria's armed forces. All eligible males may be conscripted for 30 months of military service. Women may volunteer for service.

People

Population and ancestry. For Syria's total popula­tion, see the Facts in brief table with this article. Most of the people live in the western part of the country. More than 1 million people live in Damascus. Syria has four other cities with more than 150,000 people. They are, in order of size, Aleppo, Horns, Latakia, and Hama.

About 90 per cent of all Syrians speak Arabic, Syria's official language, and consider themselves to be Arabs. Most of them are descended from people called Sem­ites who settled in ancient Syria. Non-Arab Syrians in­clude Armenians and Kurds. Their ancestors came from the north. Most of these Syrians still speak Armenian or Kurdish in everyday life.

Way of life. About half of all Syrians live in rural areas, mostly in small villages. A few rural people, called Bedouins, are nomads. The rest of the population lives in cities or towns.

Some of Syria's cities are among the oldest in the world. They have narrow, winding streets and ancient market places. But the cities also have newer sections where life resembles that in most Western cities. The people live in modern houses or apartments and work in such fields as government and industry.

Many villagers live much as their ancestors did hun­dreds of years ago. They farm small plots and build houses of stone or of sun-dried mud bricks. Bedouins live in tents and move about the countryside grazing their livestock.

Some Syrians, especially in rural areas, wear tradi­tional clothing, such as billowy trousers and a large cloth head covering. In the cities and towns, most peo­ple wear Western-style clothing. Syrians eat bread as their main food. Most also eat cheese and fresh fruit and vegetables. Lamb dishes are commonly served, and they are always prepared for special occasions. Syrians, like other Arabs, enjoy strong black coffee. They also drink milk, tea, beer, and arak (a strong spirit made from dates).

Family ties are close among most Syrians. Many par­ents share their home with their sons and the sons' fami­lies. As in most Islamic cultures, women in Syria tradi­tionally have had little freedom. However, increasing educational opportunities and exposure to Western ideas are gradually improving their position.

Religion. Muslims make up about 90 per cent of Syria's population. Most of them belong to the Sunni branch of Islam. Syria also has smaller groups of Mus­lims, including Alawites and Shiites. Christians account for most of the rest of the people. The Armenian Ortho­dox, Creek Catholic, Creek Orthodox, and Syrian Ortho­dox churches have the most members. Some Syrians are Druses. They practise a secret religion related to Islam. Syria also has a small number of Jews.

Religion, especially Islam, is a powerful political and social force in Syria. Many Syrians feel strong ties to their religious group, and these ties have often hindered national unity.

Education. Syrian law requires all children from 6 to 11 years old to go to school. However, many children do not attend school because of a shortage of classrooms and teachers. About half of all adult Syrians cannot read or write. Universities operate in Aleppo, Damascus, Horns, and Latakia.

Arts. Syria's cultural heritage goes back thousands of years. Since ancient times, Syrian craftworkers have been famous for their beautiful glassware, metalwork, and textiles. Semites who lived in Syria and Palestine de­veloped the first alphabet about 1500 B.C Basic ideas in architecture, shipbuilding, and ironwork also originated in Syria.

Syria's greatest contribution to the arts has been in lit­erature, the Arabs' supreme art. Two of Syria's finest poets were al-Mutanabbi, who lived in the 900's, and al- Maarri, who lived in the 1000's. During the 90ffs, the Syr­

ian al-Farabi became one of Islam's leading philoso­phers. Important Syrian writers of the 1900's include Omar Abu-Rishe, Ahmad Arnaut, Shafiq Jabri, Nizar Kab- bani, and Ali Ahmad Said.

Land and climate

Syria can be divided into three main land regions. They are, from west to east: (1) the coast, (2) the moun­tains, and (3) the valleys and plains.

The coast is a narrow strip of land that extends along the Mediterranean Sea from Turkey to Lebanon. Moist sea winds give the region a mild, humid climate. Tem­peratures average about 9° C in January and about 27° C in July. About 100 centimetres of rain falls yearly. The coast is one of the few areas where crops do not have to be irrigated, and most of the land is cultivated.

The mountains run mostly from north to south. The region includes the Jabal an Nusayriyah range east of the coast; the Anti-Lebanon Mountains along the border with Lebanon; and the Jabal ad Duruz, a mountain south­east of the Anti-Lebanon range. The western slopes of the Jabal an Nusayriyah and Jabal ad Duruz are well pop­ulated, and most of the land is cultivated. The Anti-Lebanon Mountains have a dry, stony surface and are thinly populated.

The mountains catch sea winds blowing inland and force them to drop their moisture on the western side of the mountains. Thus, the western slopes have up to 100 centimetres of rain yearly, but the land to the east remains dry. Temperatures average about 5° C in Janu­ary and about 22° C in July.

The valleys and plains include fertile river valleys, grassy plains, and sandy deserts. The Orontes River and mountain streams water the plains along the eastern edge of the mountains. These plains have rich, produc­tive farmlands and are the home of most of Syria's peo­ple. The Euphrates River and its tributaries provide water for a developing agricultural area in the northeast. Most of the rest of Syria is covered by deserts and by dry grasslands where Bedouins graze their livestock.

Little rain falls in the valleys and plains region. Tem­peratures average about 5° C in January and about 31 ° C in July.

Economy

Syria is a developing country with good potential for economic growth. The government controls most of the economy, but the majority of farms, small businesses, and small industries are privately owned.

Natural resources. Syria's most valuable natural re­sources are agricultural land and petroleum. The Eu­phrates and Orontes rivers provide irrigation water for farmlands. In addition, hydroelectric power is produced at Syria's huge Tabka Dam on the Euphrates River.

Service industries account for 60 per cent of the total value of Syria's economic production. They employ about 40 per cent of the country's workers. The leading service industries in Syria are wholesale and retail trade, and government services. Aleppo, Damascus, and Lata­kia are the leading centres of trade. Much of the money spent on government services in Syria goes to military activities. Other service industries include education, fi­nance, health care, and utilities.

Agriculture. Cotton and wheat are Syria's main crops. Farmers also grow barley, sugar beet, tobacco, and such fruit and vegetables as grapes, olives, and to­matoes. Bedouins raise cattle, goats, and sheep.

Most Syrian farmers work small plots of land. Some use old-fashioned wooden ploughs and do many tasks by hand. However, government funds for agricultural development have helped provide modern machinery for many small farms. Syria also has a few large, state- owned farms. On about 90 per cent of Syria's land, the rainfall is too light and irregular for growing many kinds of crops. Irrigation thus plays a vital role in Syrian agri­culture.

Mining makes up 7 per cent of Syria's production value. Petroleum is Syria's chief mineral product. Most of the petroleum comes from fields in the northeastern part of the country. Phosphate rock is another important source of mining income. Phosphate, which is used to make fertilizer, is mined in the Palmyra area of central Syria. The country's other mineral products include gyp­sum, limestone, and natural gas.

Manufacturing accounts for 6 per cent of the value of Syria's production. The manufacture of cotton fabrics and other textiles is one of Syria's most important indus­tries. Other chief products include beverages, cement, fertilizer, glass, processed foods, and sugar. Syria also has a growing oil-refining industry. The main industrial centres are Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, and Latakia.

Foreign trade. Syria's chief exports are petroleum, raw cotton, and woollens and other textiles. Other ex­ports include food products, phosphates, and tobacco. Major imports include fuels, grain, machinery, metals and metal products, and motor vehicles. Syria's main trading partners include France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the United States, Lebanon and other nearby coun­tries, and countries in Eastern Europe.

Transportation and communication. Few Syrians own a car, and most people travel by bus. Damascus has an international airport. The port of Latakia on the Medi­terranean Sea handles most of Syria's foreign trade. About 20 per cent of all Syrians own a radio, and about 6 per cent own a television set The country has 10 major daily newspapers.

History

Until 1918, Syria included much of what are now Is­rael, Jordan, and Lebanon and parts of Turkey. This re­gion, often called Greater Syria, has a long, colourful past. Throughout history, Syria's rich soil and location

on major trade routes have made the country a valuable prize. As a result, Syria was a constant battleground and became part of many empires.

Semitic settlement Unidentified peoples lived in northern Syria before 4500 B.C. The first known settlers in Syria were Semites who probably arrived about 3500 B.C They established independent city-states through­out the region. One city-state, Ebla, flourished in north­ern Syria sometime between 2700 and 2200 B.C Ebla was a powerful kingdom with a highly advanced civiliza­tion. See Ebla.

Various Semitic groups ruled parts of Syria until 539 B.C For example, the Akkadians conquered much of northern and eastern Syria during the 2300's B.C About 2000 B.C, the Canaanites moved into the southwest, and the Phoenicians settled along the Mediterranean coast. Phoenician sailors carried Syrian culture throughout the Mediterranean world.

By 1700 B.C, the Amorites ruled much of eastern Syria. The Arameans arrived in Syria about 1500 B.C Their culture gradually spread through most of Syria. By 1200 B.C, Damascus was a prosperous Aramean city.

The Hebrews entered southern Syria during the late 1200's B.C and introduced the belief in one God into Syrian culture. In 732 B.C, the Assyrians conquered most of Syria. They ruled until 612 B.C, when the Baby­lonians took control.

The age of non-Semitic rule. Persian forces de­feated the Babylonians in 539 B.C and made Syria part of the Persian Empire. Greek and Macedonian armies under Alexander the Great conquered the Persians in 333 B.C Alexander and his successors, the Seleucids, spread Greek culture throughout the Middle East. The Seleucid emperors ruled from 312 to 64 B.C. During their reign, trade flourished, and many agricultural ad­vances were made.

Syria fell to the Romans in 64 B.C Syrians then lived under the Roman system of law for nearly 700 years, first as part of the Roman Empire, then of the East Roman Empire, and finally of the Byzantine Empire. During this period, Christianity was born and developed in a part of Greater Syria called Palestine. It became the state reli­gion of Syria in the A.D. 300’s.

The Muslim Arabs. Muslims from the Arabian Pen­insula invaded Syria and drove out the Byzantine forces in 636. Islam gradually replaced Christianity, and Arabic became the common language. Beginning in 661, a vast Muslim empire was governed from Damascus by the Umayyad dynasty. In 750, the Umayyads were over­thrown. The Abbasid dynasty gained control of the em­pire and ruled it from Baghdad.

Christian crusaders from Europe invaded Syria dur­ing the late 1000's. They hoped to regain the Holy Land (Palestine) from the Muslims. Saladin, ruler of Egypt, swept into Syria to fight the crusaders. By the late 1100's, Saladin had become the ruler of most of Syria.

The Mamelukes and Ottomans. From 1260 to 1516, Syria was governed by the Mameluke dynasty of Egypt. In 1516, Ottoman Turks conquered Syria and made it part of their huge empire. Ottoman rule lasted about 400 years. During the late ISOffs, European explorers discov­ered sea routes to India. Syria's position as a trade cen­tre then declined. By the 1700's, the power of the Otto­man Empire was growing weak. Western ideas began to influence many areas of Syrian life. By 1900, many Syri­ans were demanding independence.

World War 1 to independence. During World War I (1914-1918), Syrians and other Arabs revolted against the Turks and helped the United Kingdom (UK) fight the Ot­toman Empire. The Arabs had agreed to aid the UK in re­turn for its support of Arab independence. But after the war, the League of Nations divided Greater Syria into four states: Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Transjordan. It also gave France a mandate to manage Syrian affairs (see Mandated territory). Most Syrians resented French control, the presence of French troops, and the division of their land. The French encouraged economic growth and brought many improvements to Syria, but the Syri­ans demanded independence.

Independence. France withdrew all its troops from Syria in 1946, and Syria gained independence. Many Syrians then wanted to reunite Greater Syria. In 1947,

however, the United Nations (UN) divided Palestine into a Jewish state (Israel) and an Arab state. Israel became independent in 1948. Syrian and other Arab forces then invaded Israel, but the UN finally arranged a cease-fire. About 700,000 Palestinian Arabs fled the new Jewish state and became refugees in Arab countries.

Many Syrians blamed their government for failing to prevent the division of Palestine. In 1949, army officers overthrew the government. During the next 20 years, control of the government changed hands many times through military revolts.

In an effort toward establishing Arab unity, Syria joined Egypt in 1958 in a political union called the United Arab Republic (U.A.R.). But Egypt threatened to take complete control, and Syria left the U.A.R. in 1961.

During the early 1960's, Syria's Baath Party rose to power. The government took over most industry and all international trade in Syria. In 1971, Hafez al-Assad, a Baathist leader and airforce general, became president of Syria. Assad is a member of the Alawite sect of Islam.

The continuing Arab-lsraeli conflict. During the early 1960's, border clashes between Syrian and Israeli troops occurred frequently. On June 5,1967, war broke out between Israel and the Arab states of Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. After six days of fighting, Israel had won the war and occupied much Arab land. This included an area called the Golan Heights, in the southwestern cor­ner of Syria. Thousands of Arabs then fled from territory occupied by Israel to neighbouring Arab countries.

Fighting between Syria and Israel continued to erupt from time to time in the Golan Heights. Tension was in­creased by the presence in Syria of Arab refugees from Palestine and the Golan Heights.

In October 1973, Syria joined other Arab states in an­other war with Israel. Cease-fires ended most of the fighting by November 1973. But Syrian and Israeli forces continued fighting each other until May 1974. In 1981, Is­rael claimed legal and political authority in the Golan Heights. Syria and many other nations denounced this action. Arab-lsraeli peace talks began in 1991.

Recent developments. Today, Syria plays a key role in the Middle East. In 1976, Syria sent troops into Leba­non with the approval of the Lebanese government in an effort to stop a civil war there. The Syrian forces have periodically engaged in fighting against participants in the Lebanese conflict. Most of the fighting in Lebanon ended in 1991. But the Syrian forces remained.

In August 1990, Iraq invaded and occupied Kuwait. Syria was part of the alliance formed to oppose the oc­cupation. War broke out in January 1991, and the allies defeated Iraq in February. About 20,000 Syrian troops took part in the war effort. See Persian Gulf War.

In September 1993, a peace agreement was signed by the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel. It al­lowed limited Palestinian self-rule in some Israeli- occupied territories. The agreement jeopardized the Syrian-lsraeli peace talks but, in 1994, talks continued about sovereignty of the Golan Heights.

Related articles in World Book include:

Aleppo

Arabs

Hafez al-Assad,

Bedouins Clothing

Damascus

Druses

Euphrates River

Golan Heights

Latakia

Middle East

Palestine

Palmyra

Phoenicia

Treaty of Sevres

Outline

Government

National government

Local government

Courts

Armed forces

People

Population and ancestry

Way of life

Land and climate

The coast

The mountains

The valleys and plains

Economy

Natural resources

Service industries

Agriculture

Mining

History

Questions

What are Syria's main agricultural products?

When did Syria gain full independence from France?

What is the chief religion in Syria?

Who were the first known settlers in Syria?

For what products have Syrian craftworkers been famous since ancient times?

Who is Syria's most powerful government official?

Why was ancient Syria a major trade centre?

What is Syria's largest industry?

What are the goals of Syria's Baath Party?

How do Syria's mountains affect the distribution of rainfall in the country?

Syrian Desert is a triangular desert plateau that ex­tends northward from the An Nafud Desert of northern Arabia. For location, see Saudi Arabia (terrain map). It lies roughly between 30 and 36 degrees north latitude. The plateau is from 610 to 910 metres above sea level on the west. It slopes downward to the Euphrates River, its eastern boundary. The southern two-thirds of the pla­teau is rocky. A volcanic zone on the west is dotted with huge boulders of black basalt. The Jabal Unayzah, a mountainous area about 910 metres high, stands above the central part of the plateau. Deeply cut wadis (dry wa­tercourses) wind down from it to the Euphrates.

The northern third of this triangular plateau is a flat sandy plain that forms the natural bridge between Syria and Iraq. A chain of limestone hills rises along the west­ern edge of the plain. The desert contains historic ruins and several towns that have grown up around oases.

The famous caravan city of Palmyra is the best known of these towns. Two roads have been built across the de­sert.

Renaissance

The ruling families of the Italian city-states strongly supported the Renaissance. Like the Gonzaga family of Mantua, they employed many leading artists and scholars at their courts.

The Renaissance outside Italy - During the late 1400's, the Renaissance spread from Italy to such countries as France, Germany, England, and Spain. It was introduced into those countries by visitors to Italy, who included merchants, bankers, diplomats, and especially young scholars. The scholars acquired from the Italians the basic tools of humanistic study— history and philology.

Renaissance Italy consisted of about 250 states, most of which were ruled by a city. The Renaissance began during the 1300s in the city-states of northern Italy. Early centres of the Renaissance included the cities of Florence, Milan, and Venice.

Medieval and Renaissance art differed in the portrayal of the human figure. The medieval paint­ing at the left has unlifelike figures that represent religious ideas, not flesh-and-blood people. The Renaissance painting at the right shows realistic figures in a natural setting.

The Pazz Chapel - Florence, Italy was one of the first buildings designed in the Renaissance Style. The chapel was begun in 1429 and completed in 1461. The architect, Filippo Brunelleschi, incorporated arches, columns and other elements of classical architecture into his design. Both the exterior and interior have been praised for the beauty and harmony of their proportions.

Donatello's David was the first large free-standing nude since classical antiquity. The sculptor's emphasis on the subject's physical beauty greatly influenced other Renaissance artists.

The drawings of Leonardo da Vinci reveal the inquiring mind of perhaps the greatest intellect of the Renaissance. Leo­nardo was fascinated by the possibility of human flight. He de­signed a flying machine that used revolving paddles, above.

Raphael's School of Athens portrays an imaginary gathering of ancient Greek philosophers and scientists, including the mathematician Euclid, bending forward, foreground. The paint­ing shows the Renaissance respect for classical culture.

Mythological subjects were popular with Italian artists. Anto­nio del Pollaiuolo painted the Creek hero Hercules killing a monster called the Hydra, above. His portrayal of the human body in vigorous action inspired other Renaissance artists.

A northern Renaissance painting by the Flemish artist Jan van Eyck emphasizes lighting, perspective, and details. Van Eyck was one of the first major Renaissance artists outside Italy.

Desiderius Erasmus, a Dutch priest and scholar, became a leading Christian humanist during the Renaissance. He often attacked religious superstition and abuses he saw in the church.

Renaissance was a great cultural movement that began in Italy during the early 1300's. It spread to Eng­land, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and other countries in the late 1400's and eventually came to an end about 1600.

The word Renaissance comes from the Latin word renascere and refers to the act of being reborn. During the Renaissance, many European scholars and artists, especially in Italy, studied the learning and art of ancient Greece and Rome. They wanted to recapture the spirit of the Greek and Roman cultures in their own artistic, lit­erary, and philosophic works. The cultures of ancient Greece and Rome are often called classical antiquity. Arabs had taken an interest in Greek and Roman ant­iquity, especially science, but in Europe such knowl­edge became lost The Renaissance thus represented a rebirth of these cultures and is therefore also known as the revival of antiquity or the revival of learning.

The Renaissance overlapped the end of a period in European history called the Middle Ages, which began in the 400's. The leaders of the Renaissance rejected many of the attitudes and ideas of the Middle Ages. For example, European thinkers in medieval times believed that people's chief responsibility was to pray to God and concentrate on saving their souls. They thought that so­ciety was filled with evil temptations. Renaissance think­ers, on the other hand, emphasized people's responsibilities and duties to the society in which they lived. They believed that society could civilize people rather than make them wicked.

During the Middle Ages, the most important branch of learning was theology (the study of God). However, many Renaissance thinkers paid greater attention to the study humanity. They examined the great accomplish­ments of different cultures, particularly those of ancient Greece and Rome.

Medieval artists painted human figures that looked stiff and unrealistic and which often served symbolic re­ligious purposes. But Renaissance artists stressed the beauty of the human body. They tried to capture the dig­nity and majesty of human beings in lifelike paintings and sculptures.

The changes brought about by the Renaissance hap­pened gradually and did not immediately affect most Eu­ropeans. Even at the height of the movement, which oc­curred during the late 1400 s and early 1500's, the new ideas were accepted by relatively few people. But the in­fluence of the Renaissance on future generations was to prove immense in many fields—from art and literature to education, political science, and history. Because of this fact, most scholars have for hundreds of years agreed that the modern era of human history began with the Renaissance.

The Italian Renaissance

Political background. Italy was not a unified country until the 1860's. At the beginning of the Renaissance, it consisted of about 250 separate states, most of which were ruled by a city. Some cities had only 5,000 to 10,000 people. Others were among the largest cities in Europe. For example, Florence, Milan, and Venice had at least 100,000 people each in the early 1300's.

At the dawn of the Renaissance, much of Italy was supposedly controlled by the Holy Roman Empire. How­ever, the emperors lived in Germany and had little power over their Italian lands. The popes ruled central Italy, including the city of Rome, but were unable to ex­tend political control to the rest of Italy. No central au­thority was therefore established in Italy to unify all the states.

During the mid-1300's and early 140ffs, a number of major Italian cities came under the control of one family. For example, the Visconti family governed Milan from the early 1300's until 1447, when the last male member died. Soon after, the Sforza family took control of Milan and governed the city until the late 1400's. Other ruling families in Italy included the Este family in Ferrara, the Gonzaga family in Mantua, and the Montefeltro family in Urbino.

The form of government established by the ruling families of the Italian cities was called the signoria, and the chief official was known as the signore. All power was concentrated in the signore and his friends and rel­atives. An elaborate court slowly grew up around each signorial government At the court, the area's leading artists, intellectuals, and politicians gathered under the sponsorship of the signore.

Other Italian cities had a form of government known as republicanism. In republican cities, a ruling class con­trolled the government Members of the ruling class considered themselves superior to the other residents of the city. The most important examples of republican government were in Florence and Venice.

In the republican government of Florence, about 800 of the city's wealthiest families made up the ruling class. The members of these Florentine families intermarried and lived in large, beautiful palaces built by Renaissance architects. They paid for the construction of great reli­gious and civic buildings and impressive monuments throughout Florence. They also supported artists and in­tellectuals. In addition, the ruling class encouraged the study of ancient Greek and Roman authors in the desire to have their society resemble the cultures of classical antiquity.

By the 1430's, the Medici family dominated the ruling class of Florence. The family controlled the largest bank in Europe and was headed by a series of talented and ambitious men. Under Medici domination, the govern­ment of Florence resembled a signorial government

About 180 families controlled the republican govern­ment of Venice. All government leaders came from these families. A law passed in 1297 restricted member­ship in the Great Council, the principal governing body, to descendants of families that had already sat in the council. Like Florence, Venice became a leading centre of Renaissance art under the support of the ruling class.

Humanism was the most significant intellectual movement of the Renaissance. It blended concern for the history and actions of human beings with religious concerns. The humanists were scholars and artists who studied subjects that they believed would help them better understand the problems of humanity. These sub­jects included literature and philosophy. The humanists shared the view that the civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome had excelled in such subjects and thus could serve as models. They believed that people should understand and appreciate classical antiquity to learn how to conduct their lives.

To understand the customs, laws, and ideas of an­cient Greece and Rome, the humanists had first to mas­ter the languages of classical antiquity. The Greeks had used a language foreign to Italians, and the Romans had used a form of Latin far different from that used in the 1300's and 1400's. To learn ancient Greek and Latin, the humanists studied philology (the science of the meaning and history of words). Philology became one of the two principal concerns of the humanists. The other was his­tory, which the humanists saw as the study of great ac­tions taken by courageous, noble, or wise men of classi­cal antiquity.

The interest of the humanists in ancient Greece and Rome led them to search for manuscripts, statues, coins, and other surviving examples of classical civilization. For example, they combed monastery libraries throughout Europe, locating on dusty shelves long neglected manu­scripts by classical authors. The humanists carefully studied these manuscripts, prepared critical editions of them, and often translated them.

Petrarch and Giovanni Boccaccio were the first Ren­aissance humanists. During the mid-1300’s, the two friends recovered many important but long ignored an­cient manuscripts. Petrarch discovered the most influen­tial of these works. It was Letters to Atticus, a collection of letters on Roman political life by the statesman and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero.

As Petrarch and Boccaccio studied the rediscovered classical writings, they tried to imitate the styles of the ancient authors. They urged that people express them­selves accurately and elegantly, characteristics they saw in classical literary style. Petrarch said, "The style is the man." He meant that careless expression reflected care­less thought.

Petrarch became known for his poetry, and Boccaccio for his collection of stories called the Decameron (about 1349-1353). In their works, they tried to describe human feelings and situations that people could easily under­stand. Petrarch and Boccaccio insisted that the duty of intellectuals was to concentrate on human problems, which they believed were more important than an un­derstanding of the mysteries of nature or of God's will. They thought that people could learn how to deal with their problems by studying the lives of individuals of the past.

The ideal courtier. Some Italian humanists spent most of their time in signorial courts. During the late 140ffs, these humanists began to develop ideas about the proper conduct of courtiers— the noblemen and no­blewomen who lived in a royal court. About 1518, an au­thor and diplomat named Baldassare Castiglione com­pleted The Book of the Courtier. Castiglione based the work on his experiences at the court of Urbino. It was translated into several European languages and influ­enced the conduct of courtiers throughout Europe. The Courtier also strongly influenced educational theory in England during the Renaissance.

Castiglione wrote that the ideal male courtier is refined in writing and speaking and skilled in the arts, sports, and the use of weapons. He willingly devotes himself to his signore, always seeking to please him. The courtier is polite and attentive to women. Whatever he does is achieved with an easy, natural style, which reflects his command of every situation. An ideal court woman knows literature and art and how to entertain the court. She exhibits the highest moral character and acts in a feminine manner.

The fine arts. During the Middle Ages, painters and sculptors tried to give their works a spiritual quality. They wanted viewers to concentrate on the deep reli­gious meaning of their paintings and sculptures. They were not concerned with making their subjects appear natural or lifelike. But Renaissance painters and sculptors like Renaissance writers, wanted to portray people and nature realistically. Architects of the Middle Ages designed huge cathedrals to emphasize the majesty and grandeur of Cod. Renaissance architects designed buildings on a smaller scale to help make people aware of their own powers and dignity.

Arts of the 1300's and early 1400's. During the early 1300's, the Florentine painter Giotto became the first art­ist to portray nature realistically. He produced magnifi­cent frescoes (paintings on damp plaster) for churches in Florence, Padua, and Assisi. Giotto attempted to create lifelike figures showing real emotions. He por­trayed many of his figures in realistic settings.

A remarkable group of Florentine architects, painters, and sculptors worked during the early 1400s. They in­cluded the architect Filippo Brunelleschi, the painter Masaccio, and the sculptor Donatello.

Brunelleschi was the first Renaissance architect to re­vive the ancient Roman style of architecture. He incorpo­rated arches, columns, and other elements of classical architecture into his designs. One of his best-known buildings is the beautifully and harmoniously propor­tioned Pazzi Chapel in Florence. The chapel, begun in 1429, was one of the first buildings designed in the new Renaissance style. Brunelleschi also was the first Renais­sance artist to use linear perspective, a mathematical system in which painters could show space and depth on a flat surface.

Masaccio's finest work was a series of frescoes he painted about 1427 in the Brancacci Chapel of the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence. The frescoes realistically show Biblical scenes of emotional intensity. Masaccio created the illusion of space and depth in these paintings by using Brunclleschi's mathe­matical calculations.

In his sculptures, Donatello tried to portray the dig­nity of the human body in realistic and often dramatic detail. His masterpieces include three statues of the Bib­lical hero David. In a version completed in the 1430's, Donatello portrayed David as a graceful, nude youth, moments after he slew the giant Goliath. The work, about 1.5 metres tall, was the first large free-standing nude created in Western art since classical antiquity.

Arts of the late 1400's and early 1500's were domi­nated by three men. They were Michelangelo, Raphael, and Leonardo da Vinci.

Michelangelo excelled as a painter, architect, and poet. In addition, he has been called the greatest sculp­tor in history. Michelangelo was a master of portraying the human figure. For example, his famous statue of the Israelite leader Moses (1516) gives an overwhelming im­pression of physical strength and spiritual power. These qualities also appear in the frescoes of Biblical and clas­sical subjects that Michelangelo painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. The frescoes were painted from 1508 to 1512 and rank among the greatest achievements of Renaissance art.

Raphael's paintings are softer in outline and more po­etic than those of Michelangelo. Raphael was skilled in creating perspective and in the delicate use of colour. He painted a number of beautiful pictures of the Ma­donna (Virgin Mary) and many outstanding portraits. One of his greatest works is the fresco School of Athens (1511). The painting was influenced by classical Greek and Roman models. It portrays the great philosophers and scientists of ancient Greece in a setting of classical arches. Raphael was thus making a connection between the culture of classical antiquity and the Italian culture of his time.

Leonardo da Vinci painted two of the most famous works of Renaissance art, the fresco The Last Supper (about 1497) and the portrait Mona Lisa (about 1503). Leonardo had one of the most searching minds in all history. He wanted to know the workings of everything he saw in nature. In more than 4,000 pages of note­books, he drew detailed diagrams and wrote down ob­servations. Leonardo made careful drawings of human skeletons and muscles, trying to discover how the body worked. Because of his inquiring mind, Leonardo has become a symbol of the Renaissance spirit of learning and intellectual curiosity.

A series of invasions of Italy also played a major role in the spread of the Renaissance to other parts of Eu­rope. From 1494 to the early 1500's, Italy was repeatedly invaded by armies from France, Germany, and Spain. The invaders were dazzled by the beauty of Italian art and architecture and returned home deeply influenced by Italian culture.

In Italy, evidence of classical antiquity, especially Roman antiquity, could be seen almost everywhere.

Ruins of Roman monuments and buildings stood in every Italian city. This link between the present and the dassical past was much weaker elsewhere in Europe. In ancient times, Roman culture had been forced upon northern and western Europeans by conquering Roman armies. But that culture quickly disappeared after the Roman Empire in the West fell in the A.D. 400's.

The relative scarcity of classical art affected the devel­opment of European art outside Italy during the 140ffs. Painters had few examples of classical antiquity to imi­tate, and so they tended to be more influenced by the northern Gothic style of the late Middle Ages. The first great achievements in Renaissance painting outside Italy appeared in the works of artists living in Flanders. Most of the Flanders region lies in what are now Belgium and France. Flemish painting was known for its precise de­tails. The human figures were realistic but lacked the sculptural quality that was characteristic of Italian paint­ing.

Political background. During the Renaissance, the political structure of northern and western Europe dif­fered greatly from that of Italy. By the late 1400^rs, Eng­land, France, and Spain were being united into nations

under monarchies. These monarchies provided political and cultural leadership for their countries. Germany, like Italy, was divided into many largely independent states. But Germany was the heart of the Holy Roman Empire, which tended to unify the various German states to some extent.

The great royal courts supported the Renaissance in northern and western Europe much as the cities did in Italy. For example, the French king Francis I, who ruled from 1515 to 1547, tried to surround himself with the fin­est representatives of the Italian Renaissance. The king brought Leonardo da Vinci and many other Italian artists and scholars to France. In England, the House of Tudor became the most important patron of the Renaissance. The Tudors ruled from 1485 to 1603. Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch, invited numerous Italian humanists to England. These men encouraged English scholars to study the literature and philosophy of ancient Greece and Rome.

Christian humanism. Renaissance scholars in north­ern and western Europe were not as interested as the Italians in studying classical literature. Instead, they sought to apply humanistic methods to the study of Christianity. These scholars were especially concerned with identifying and carefully editing the texts on which Christianity was based. These texts included the Bible, the letters of Saint Paul, and the works of such great early church leaders as Saint Ambrose, Saint Jerome, and Augustine. The scholars became known as Christian humanists to distinguish them from those hu­manists who were chiefly involved with the study of classical antiquity.

Desiderius Erasmus and Saint Thomas More were the leading Christian humanists. They were close friends who courageously refused to abandon their ideals.

Erasmus was born in the Netherlands. He was edu­cated in Paris and travelled throughout Germany, Eng­land, and Italy. Fie was an excellent scholar, with a thor­ough knowledge of Latin and Greek.

Erasmus refused to take sides in any political or reli­gious controversy. In particular, he would not support either side during the Reformation, the religious move­ment of the 1500's that gave birth to Protestantism. Both Roman Catholics and Protestants sought Erasmus' sup­port He stubbornly kept his independence and was called a coward by both sides. However, Erasmus did at­tack abuses he saw in the church in a famous witty work called The Praise of Folly (1511). In this book, Erasmus criticized the moral quality of church leaders. Erasmus also accused them of overemphasizing procedures and ceremonies while neglecting the spiritual values of Christianity.

Saint Thomas More was born in England and devoted his life to serving his country. He gained the confidence of King Henry VIII and carried out a number of impor­tant missions for him. In 1529, the king appointed More lord chancellor, making him England's highest judicial official.

Throughout his career, More dedicated himself to the principles that had inspired Erasmus. Like Erasmus, he believed it was important to eliminate the abuses, in­equalities, and evils that were accepted as normal in his day. More's best-known work is Utopia (1516). In this book, More described a society in which the divisions

between the rich and the poor and the powerful and the J weak were replaced by a common concern for the health and happiness of everyone.

More s strong principles finally cost him his life. He objected to Henry VIII's decision to divorce the queen Catherine of Aragon, and remarry. More then refused to take an oath acknowledging the king's authority over that of the pope. In 1535, More was beheaded for trea­son.

The heritage of the Renaissance

The Renaissance left an intellectual and artistic heri­tage that still remains important. Since the Renaissance, scholars have used Renaissance methods of humanistic inquiry, even when they did not share the ideas and spirit of the Renaissance humanists. In literature, writers have tried for centuries to imitate and improve upon the works of such Renaissance authors as Petrarch and Boccaccio.

The influence of Renaissance painters, sculptors, and architects has been particularly strong. The artists of Florence and Rome set enduring standards for painting in the Western world. For hundreds of years, painters have travelled to Florence to admire the frescoes of Giotto and Masaccio. They have visited Rome to study the paintings of Raphael and Michelangelo. The works of Donatello and Michelangelo have inspired sculptors for generations. The beautifully scaled buildings of Brunelleschi and other Renaissance architects still serve as models for architects.

Since the Renaissance, people have also been in­spired by the intellectual daring of such men as Petrarch and Erasmus. Leaders of the Renaissance seemed to be breaking out of intellectual boundaries and entering un­sown territories. It is perhaps no coincidence that some of the greatest explorers of the late 140ffs and early '^{500s were} Italians exposed to the influence of the Renaissance. Christopher Columbus was a Genoese nav­igator who, for his New World voyages, consulted the same scientist who taught mathematics to the architect Brunlleschi. Columbus and fellow Italians John Cabot, Giovanni da Verrazano, and Amerigo Vespucci in many _ways epitomized the spirit of the Renaissance as they ventured to discover new horizons.

Outline

The Italian Renaissance

Political background

The fine arts

Humanism

The Renaissance outside Italy

Political background

Christian humanism

Desiderius Erasmus and Saint Thomas More

The heritage of the Renaissance

Questions

What was the most significant intellectual movement of the Ren­aissance?

What is meant by classical antiquity?

How did the Renaissance spread from Italy?

What are some lasting achievements of the Renaissance?

How did many attitudes and ideas of the Renaissance differ from those of the Middle Ages?

What three men dominated Italian arts during the late 1400's and early 1500’s?

How did the signorial and republican governments of the Italian cities promote the Renaissance?

Why was philology studied during the Renaissance?

What was The Book of the Courtier and why was it important? 
Who were the Christian humanists?