-500 000 to 10 000 BC: Paleolithic; Lithic industry Appearance of Homo-Sapiens;warming of the climate.
-10 000 to 6 000 BC: Neolithic; Sedentarisation, funeral worship and construction of towns; (Mureybet, Ras-Shamra, Tell Halaf....); Metallurgy of copper and commercial exchanges.
-End IVth Millenium: Installation of the Sumerian population in Syria, first administrative
States.
-2 200 to 2 00 0 BC: Installation of the Canaanites and the Amorrites.
-Towards 3 200 BC: Birth of cuneiform writing, then creation of trading colonies on the length of the Euphrates by the cult administrative organizers.
-Towards 2 900 BC: The Sumerians founded Mari, a City-State.
-2 500 to 1 750 BC: Creation of Ebla, another City-State.The Amorrites, Nomadic Semites from the west preponderants of the Near East, found with the Hourrites, installed in the north of Syria, the Canaanian civilization. The Amorrites re-build the destroyed city-states (Ebla by Naram-Sin and Mari by Hammurabi) and build the kingdom of Yamkhad of which Aleppo was the Capital. Hammurabi of Babylon re-unites the whole country into one kingdom and spreads his influence over Syria
-1 600 to 1 180 BC: Domination of Syria by Egypt. The Hittites under King Suppilulluma, and the Mitannians push their conquests to the inside of Syria but come up against the power of the Egyptians Archives of Ugarit. Abecedarian in cuneiform writing, As Syria (North Mesopotamia) establishes its authority over the Djezireh (territories to the west of the Euphrates) Battle of Kadesh opposes Hittites and Egyptians in 1 280. Syria is invaded by the Philistines or "the people of the sea", who were settled in the south of the Syrian coast.
-XIth - IXth Century BC: Other Semites, the Aramaeans, penetrate Mesopotamia and Syria.Constitution of independent Aramaic Kingdoms, and of Phoenician City-States.
-743 BC: Syria falls under Assyrian domination.
-650 BC: The Scythes invade Syria.
-612 BC: The Assyrian empire breaks down under the coalition formed by the Babylonians: the Medes (nomades) and the Scythes.
-612 to 539 BC: The Babylonians become the masters of the Near East until the fall of Ninive. The Aramaic language imposes itself as the regional idiom.
-539 to 332 BC: The Persians, led by Cyrus the Great, dominate the Near East as far as Egypt.
-333 BC: Alexander the Great conquers Syria. When he dies in 323, his generals split up his empire between them.
-IVth century BC: The Seleucids (the kingdom formed by Seleucos, son of Antiochos, general of Alexander) govern Syria and create towns.
-II & I century BC: Criminal struggles rip apart the Seleucid dynasty, throwing the kingdom into anarchy and forcing the middle-classes of Damascus to call for outside help. Rome intervenes and Pompei installs itself in Damascus and Augustus turns Syria into a Roman Province in the year 27.
-106 AD: Trajan annexes the kingdom of Nabatean, therefore Bosra, to the Roman Empire.
-272 AD: Roman military intervention against the ambitious Queen of Palmyra, Zenobia. The following year sees the destruction of Palmyra.
-313 AD: Edit of Milan accords the freedom of worship to the Christians.
-325 AD: Council of Nicee and conversion of the emperor Constantine to Christianity.
-Vth & VIth century: Monophysism is condemned during the council of Chalcedoine. Christianity develops in the Arab world. The prophet Mohammed is born around 570.
-614 AD: Syria is invaded by Sassanides Persians
-633 to 743 AD: Islam, coming from the Arabic peninsula develops. Syria is one of the first lands conquered.
-661 to 743 AD: Moawiya founders the Omayyad dynasty and becomes the Caliph of Damascus.
-750 AD: The Abbassids overthrow the Omayyads and settle in Baghdad.
-868 to 905 AD: The Touloumid dynasty, founded in Egypt, stretches its influence to Syria.
-960 to 1070 AD: The Fatimid dynasty, from Tunisia, occupies Egypt and Syria, from 1070:they are progressively replaced by the Turkish emirs, the Seljuqs.
-1098 AD: The Crusaders seize Antioch.
-1146 to 1171 AD: The Atabeg Turks, Zenghi and his son Nur-ed-Din, reconquer part of Syria and develop the idea of a holy war against the Crusaders, the Jihad.
-1171 to 1260 AD: The Ayyubid dynasty is founded by Saladin, ex-general of Nur-ed-Din. In 1183 he reigns from Damascus to Cairo.
-1260 to 1515 AD: The Mamelukes replace the Ayyubids. In 1271, Crac des Chevaliers is captured by Baybars.
-1401 AD: Damascus and Aleppo are plundered by the Mongols of Tamerlan.
-1516 AD: Selim I, Ottoman sultan, invades Syria, chases out the Mamelukes then becomes the religious chief of Islam. Mohammed Ali, governor of Egypt, succeeds him in 1832.
-End of XIXth Century: Reorganization of the administration and the creation of a railway line Damascus - Medina.
-1916 AD: The English attack Syria - Palestine.The campaigns of Lawrence of Arabia.
-1920 AD: The Emir Faysal who tried to constitute an independent kingdom in Damascus, is crushed by the French at Maisaloun; Syria and Lebanon become under French mandate.
-1941 AD: End of French mandate
-1946 AD: Syria assents to independence and becomes the S. A. R: Syrian Arab Republic