After the death of Alexander the Great, Aleppo was handed over to Seleucos Nicator, founder of the dynasty of the
Seleucids. Given the Greek name of «Beroia», it lived in the shadow of Antioch on the Orontes, then
the capital of the Empire.In fact, it only recovered some importance long after the arrival of the Moslems into
Syria: taken in 637, it remained in the background, the center of the area being then Qinnesreen.
Taking profit of the demise of the Abbasside Caliphate, a Moslem Chief, Saif-Uddawlat founded (944) the Hamadanite
dynasty with Aleppo as a capital. From that time, it played an eminent role in the fight against the Christians,
either Byzantine, Armenian or Prankish. In the 11th century, the city changed hands many times, but remained under
the power of Islam until the arrival (1070) of the Seldjoukide Turks. It had many successive masters of Turkish
origin, among whom Zengi (1128-1146) and in particular his son Noureddin (1146-1147), who were the most famous
in fighting the Crusaders. Saladin realized the unity of Egypt and Syria by conquering Aleppo in 1183. His son
had the moat surrounding the citadel excavated and built the stone coated glacis that still surrounds it. |
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