Syria
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(2 Sam. 8:12)—called Aram in the Hebrew text. In its broadest sense Syria extended from the Mediterranean and the river Cydnus to the Euphrates, and from the Taurus Mountains southward to Arabia and Egypt’s border. The source divides it into Palestinian Syria, including Canaan and Phoenicia; Coele-Syria, between the two ranges of Lebanon; and Upper Syria, which was called Syria in the narrower sense. Syrian kings frequently fought Israel, sometimes submitted to it, and sometimes entered alliances with it.
The land successively came under Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Macedonian, Roman, and Muslim powers. The source distinguishes the names Syria and Assyria and follows an older etymology connecting Syria with Tyre or Sur, while Assyria derives from Asshur.