Communities & civilizations

Syria's communities and civilizations – history, sites and heritage

Religious sites of every community, the museums of all 14 governorates and the battles that changed Syria – each with status, date and source.

Communities and civilizations 55

Peoples, languages, faiths and civilizations that shaped Syria, with the places connected to them.

These categories describe history, language and faith – not exclusive identities. Many Syrians belong to several, and some names refer to civilizations of the past.

Arabs

عرب ʿArab

Ethnic and linguistic communities

Arabic speakers form the large majority of Syria's population. Arab identity is defined primarily by the Arabic language and spans several religious communities.

1 documented sites

Kurds

Kurd (کورد); language Kurmancî

Ethnic and linguistic communities

Kurds are Syria's largest ethnic minority, concentrated in the Kurd Dagh/Afrin area, Kobani and the Jazira, with old communities in Aleppo and Damascus. Most are Sunni Muslims and speak Kurmanji Kurdish.

3 documented sites

Turkmen (Syrian Turkmen)

Türkmen

Ethnic and linguistic communities

Syrian Turkmen descend from Turkic (Oghuz) groups who settled from the Seljuk period onward. They live mainly in the north along the Turkish border, the Latakia mountains, around Homs and in the Golan area; many are Arabic-speaking today.

3 documented sites

Armenians

Հայեր Hayer

Ethnic and linguistic communities

Syria's Armenian community, centred in Aleppo, largely descends from survivors of the 1915 genocide who reached Syria as refugees. It kept its own churches, schools and press, but has shrunk sharply since 2011.

15 documented sites

Assyrians

ܐܬܘܪܝܐ Āthorāyē / ܣܘܪܝܝܐ Sūrāyē

Ethnic and linguistic communities

In Syria 'Assyrians' refers above all to the Neo-Aramaic-speaking Christians of the Khabur valley, refugees from Iraq settled in the 1930s, and to Church of the East communities in the Jazira. The name is part of a wider naming debate among Syriac-heritage Christians.

14 documented sites

Syriacs (Suryoye; also Arameans)

ܣܘܪܝܝܐ Suryoye; some also ܐܪܡܝܐ Oromoye (Arameans)

Ethnic and linguistic communities

Syriacs (Suryoye) are Christians of the Syriac Orthodox and Syriac Catholic churches whose heritage language is Aramaic/Syriac. Many in the Jazira descend from refugees from Tur Abdin; some identify as Arameans, others as Assyrians.

13 documented sites

Chaldeans

ܟܠܕܝܐ Kaldāyē

Ethnic and linguistic communities

Chaldeans are first of all members of the Chaldean Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic church of the Church of the East tradition; some also use the name as an ethnic designation. Syria has small Chaldean communities in Aleppo and the Jazira.

2 documented sites

Circassians

Адыгэ Adyghe

Ethnic and linguistic communities

Circassians are descendants of Muslim refugees from the north-west Caucasus resettled by the Ottomans in the late 19th century, notably in the Golan/Quneitra area, near Damascus and north of Homs. Most were displaced from the Golan in 1967.

4 documented sites

Chechens

Нохчий Noxçiy

Ethnic and linguistic communities

A small Chechen community descends from 19th-century migrants from the North Caucasus, historically associated with Ras al-Ayn and the Jazira. It should not be confused with foreign Chechen fighters who came to Syria after 2011.

1 documented sites

Palestinians in Syria

فلسطينيون Filasṭīniyyūn

Ethnic and linguistic communities

Palestine refugees came to Syria mainly in 1948 from northern Palestine and are served by UNRWA in a dozen camps and gatherings, the largest being Yarmouk in Damascus. The community was badly hit by the war after 2011.

0 documented sites

Western Neo-Aramaic speakers (Maaloula, Jubb'adin, Bakhʿa)

Ethnic and linguistic communities

Three villages in the Qalamoun mountains north of Damascus are the last places where a Western Aramaic language is spoken. The speakers are Christians and Muslims; the language is classed as definitely endangered.

3 documented sites

Bedouin

بدو badw (sing. badawī)

Cultural and social communities

Bedouin are Arabic-speaking, traditionally pastoral tribes of the Syrian steppe and desert. Most are now settled, but tribal kinship and leadership remain socially and politically important.

1 documented sites

Dom

Dom, Dummi, Deman (language: Domari)

Cultural and social communitiesEthnic and linguistic communities

The Dom are a marginalised, historically mobile people related to the Roma, who speak Domari in addition to Arabic, Kurdish or Turkish. Outsiders usually call them Nawar, Qurbat, Zatt or Ghajar, terms considered derogatory.

0 documented sites

Sunni Muslims

أهل السنة والجماعة (Ahl al-Sunna wa-l-Jamāʿa)

Religious communities

Sunni Muslims form the large majority of Syria's population and include Arabs, Kurds, Circassians, Chechens and some Turkmen. Their heritage includes the Umayyad Mosque of Damascus, the great mosques of Aleppo, Hama and Raqqa, and Sufi shrines and lodges.

16 documented sites

Twelver Shia Muslims

الشيعة الإمامية (al-Shīʿa al-Imāmiyya)

Religious communities

Twelver Shia Muslims are a small minority living around Damascus, Aleppo and Homs and in several Shia-majority towns in Idlib and Aleppo governorates. Damascus holds major Shia pilgrimage shrines, above all Sayyida Zaynab and Sayyida Ruqayya.

10 documented sites

Alawites

العلويون (al-ʿAlawiyyūn); the older exonym Nusayri (نصيري) is now often used as a slur

Religious communities

The Alawites are a religious community that traces its doctrine to Ibn Nusayr (9th century) and al-Khasibi (d. Aleppo c. 969). They are the dominant group in Syria's coastal mountains and also live in Latakia, Tartus, Homs, Hama and Damascus.

2 documented sites

Ismailis

الإسماعيلية (al-Ismāʿīliyya)

Religious communities

Ismaili Shia Muslims are concentrated in Salamiyah (Hama), the early centre of the Ismaili mission from which the Fatimid caliphate arose, and live in smaller numbers in the coastal mountain range south of the main Alawite areas. The Ismailis of Salamiyah follow the Nizari Qasim-Shahi imams (the Aga Khans); Salamiyah is also a pilgrimage place for Dawoodi Bohras (Musta'li).

11 documented sites

Druze

الموحدون (al-Muwaḥḥidūn, 'monotheists')

Religious communities

The Druze are a closed religious community that emerged from Ismaili teaching in Fatimid Cairo around 1017. In Syria they form the majority in As-Suwayda governorate (Jabal al-Druze) and also live near Damascus (Jaramana, Sahnaya), in Jabal al-Summaq in Idlib and on the eastern side of Mount Hermon.

4 documented sites

Murshidis (Murshidiyya)

المرشديون (al-Murshidiyyūn)

Religious communities

The Murshidiyya is a Syrian religious community that emerged in the 1920s around Salman al-Murshid and began as an offshoot of the Alawites before becoming an independent community. Members live mainly in Latakia and Homs governorates, the Ghab plain of Hama, and Damascus and its countryside.

0 documented sites

Christians of Syria

Religious communities

Christianity in Syria goes back to the apostolic age: Paul's conversion story is set in Damascus, and Dura-Europos has the earliest identified house church. Today Christians belong to Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern and Latin Catholic, Assyrian and Protestant churches; their numbers have fallen sharply since 2011.

9 documented sites

Greek Orthodox Christians (Patriarchate of Antioch)

روم (Rūm)

Religious communities

The Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch is the largest Christian denomination in Syria; its patriarch has resided in Damascus since 1342. Its faithful live in Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Wadi al-Nasara, Safita, Maaloula, Saidnaya, Tartus, Latakia and As-Suwayda.

12 documented sites

Syriac Orthodox Christians

ܣܘܪܝܝܐ (Suryoye) – standard rendering, not verified in a fetched source

Religious communities

The Syriac Orthodox Church is the largest Oriental Orthodox church in Syria, with its liturgy in Syriac. Its patriarchate has been seated at St George's Cathedral in Bab Tuma, Damascus, since 1959; its faithful live mainly in Al-Hasakah and Qamishli, Homs, Aleppo and Damascus.

6 documented sites

Armenian Apostolic Christians

Հայ Առաքելական Եկեղեցի (Hay Arakʿelakan Ekeghetsʿi)

Religious communities

The Armenian Apostolic Church is the second-largest Oriental Orthodox church in Syria; most of its faithful live in Aleppo, with others in Damascus and the Jazira. Deir ez-Zor had an Armenian Genocide memorial church, destroyed by the Islamic State in 2014.

6 documented sites

Melkite Greek Catholics

Religious communities

The Melkite Greek Catholic Church separated from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch when it entered communion with Rome in 1724. Its patriarchate is in Damascus at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Dormition, with eparchies in Aleppo, Homs, Latakia and Bosra-Hauran.

6 documented sites

Syriac Catholics

Religious communities

The Syriac Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic church of the West Syriac rite, present in Aleppo, Al-Hasakah and Damascus. Its heritage includes the desert monastery of Deir Mar Musa and the Monastery of Mar Elian at al-Qaryatayn.

5 documented sites

Maronites

Religious communities

The Maronite Church, in communion with Rome at least since the 12th century and with a Syriac liturgy, has historically had a small community around Aleppo. Its Syrian cathedral is St Elias in al-Jdayde.

2 documented sites

Armenian Catholics

Religious communities

Armenian Catholics are an Eastern Catholic church present in Aleppo, Raqqa and the Jazira. The Church of the Martyrs in Raqqa, torched by the Islamic State, was rebuilt in 2021.

4 documented sites

Chaldean Catholics

Religious communities

The Chaldean Catholic Church, an East Syriac Eastern Catholic church, has been present in Syria since Assyrians from Diyarbakir moved to Aleppo in the 16th century. The Chaldean Eparchy of Aleppo was established in 1957.

2 documented sites

Assyrian Church of the East

Religious communities

Members of the Assyrian Church of the East in Syria are almost all Sureth-speaking Assyrians, concentrated in the Khabur valley villages near Tell Tamr. They descend largely from refugees who settled there after the 1933 Simele massacre in Iraq.

13 documented sites

Latin Catholics

Religious communities

Latin-rite Catholics in Syria form a small community under the Apostolic Vicariate of Aleppo, erected in 1762 and long led by Franciscans. Its earlier seat was the Cathedral of St Francis of Assisi in Aleppo.

2 documented sites

Protestant and Evangelical Christians

Religious communities

Protestants form a small minority that arose from 19th-century evangelical missions. The main bodies are the Reformed National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon and the Armenian Evangelical churches of Aleppo.

4 documented sites

Yazidis

Êzidî

Religious communities

The Yazidis are a Kurmanji-speaking religious community whose chief divine being is Malak Ta'us, the Peacock Angel, and whose central saint is Sheikh Adi. In Syria they lived mainly in villages of the Afrin district (STJ lists 23); most now live in the northeast.

25 documented sites

Syrian Jews

Musta'arabim (native Mizrahi Jews) and Sephardim

Religious communities

Jews lived in Syria from antiquity: the Dura-Europos synagogue of 244 CE is one of the earliest known, and large communities lived in Damascus and Aleppo with a smaller one in Qamishli. Nearly all emigrated after 1948 and especially after 1992; only a few remain.

12 documented sites

Samaritans (historical community in Syria)

Religious communitieshistorical

Small Samaritan communities lived in Syria, notably in Damascus and Aleppo, from early Islamic times. The Damascus community collapsed in the early 17th century and its survivors moved back to Nablus; no Samaritans live in Syria today.

0 documented sites

Mandaeans

Religious communities

Mandaeans are a religious community historically centred in Iraq. After 2003 many Iraqi Mandaeans took refuge in Syria and Jordan; about 1,000 were reported to remain in Syria in 2015.

0 documented sites