|
Aleppo (; (アラビア語:ﺣﻠﺐ) / ALA-LC: ', ) is the largest city in Syria and serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,132,100 (2004 census), it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=UN Demographic Yearbook 2009 )〕〔Expatify.com (Navigating the Major Cities of Syria )〕 For centuries, Aleppo was the Syrian region's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third-largest, after Constantinople and Cairo.〔Russell, Alexander (1794), (The natural history of Aleppo ), 2nd Edition, Vol. I, pp. 1–2〕〔Gaskin, James J. (1846), (Geography and sacred history of Syria ), pp. 33–34〕 Aleppo is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world; it has been inhabited since perhaps as early as the 6th millennium BC.〔''Columbia Encyclopedia'', Sixth Edition (2010)〕 Excavations at Tell as-Sawda and Tell al-Ansari, just south of the old city of Aleppo, show that the area was occupied since at least the latter part of the 3rd millennium BC;〔The Oxford encyclopedia of archaeology in the Near East (1997)〕 and this is also when Aleppo is first mentioned in cuneiform tablets unearthed in Ebla and Mesopotamia, in which it is noted for its commercial and military proficiency.〔Britannica Concise Encyclopedia (2010)〕 Such a long history is probably due to its being a strategic trading point midway between the Mediterranean Sea and Mesopotamia (i.e. modern Iraq). The city's significance in history has been its location at the end of the Silk Road, which passed through central Asia and Mesopotamia. When the Suez Canal was inaugurated in 1869, trade was diverted to sea and Aleppo began its slow decline. At the fall of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, Aleppo ceded its northern hinterland to modern Turkey, as well as the important railway connecting it to Mosul. Then in the 1940s it lost its main access to the sea, Antioch and Alexandretta, also to Turkey. Finally, the isolation of Syria in the past few decades further exacerbated the situation, although perhaps it is this very decline that has helped to preserve the old city of Aleppo, its medieval architecture and traditional heritage. It won the title of the "Islamic Capital of Culture 2006", and has also witnessed a wave of successful restorations of its historic landmarks, until the start of the Syrian Civil War in 2011 and the Battle of Aleppo (2012–present) which resulted in grave destruction.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Collections - Aga Khan Collection - Aga Khan Historic Cities Programme - Aleppo Citadel Restoration - Archnet )〕 ==Etymology== Modern-day English-speakers commonly refer to the city as ''Aleppo''. It was known in antiquity as ''Khalpe'', ''Khalibon'', and to the Greeks and Romans as ''Beroea'' ().〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= Aleppo )〕 During the Crusades, and again during the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon of 1923-1946, the name ''Alep'' was used. ''Aleppo'' represents the Italianised version of this. The original ancient name, ''Halab'', has survived as the current Arabic name of the city. It is of obscure origin. Some have proposed that ''halab'' means "iron" or "copper" in Amorite languages, since the area served as a major source of these metals in antiquity. However, according to the 20th-century historian sheikh Kamel al-Ghazzi and to the contemporary linguist priest Barsoum Ayyoub, the name Halab (and consequently Aleppo) derives from the Aramaic word ''Halaba'' which means "white", referring to the colour of soil and marble abundant in the area.〔(The origin of the name ''Aleppo'' )〕 The modern-day Arabic nickname of the city, ash-Shahbaa (Arabic: الشهباء), which means "the white-coloured", also allegedly derives from the famous white marble of Aleppo. However, this story is only a myth, without any historical base.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=حلب الشهباء..معناهاوأهميتها عند النبي العربي إبراهيم الخليل )〕 One legend states that the name ''Halab'' means "gave out milk", coming from the ancient tradition that Abraham gave milk to travelers as they passed through the region. This is not to construe the idea that Abraham was born in that land. It is more accepted that he was born in Haran which is further north of Halab.〔 (Travels of Rabbi Pesachia of Regensburg ). teachittome.com (p. 53).〕 The colour of his cows was white (Arabic: شهباء ''shahbaa''), therefore the city was also called ''Halab ash-Shahbaa'' ("he milked the white-coloured"). From the 11th century it was common Rabbinic usage to apply the term "Aram-Zobah" to the area of Aleppo, and Syrian Jews continue to do so . 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Aleppo」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|