Syrians

Syrians (سوريون), also known as the Syrian people (الشعب السوري ALA-LC: al-sha‘ab al-Sūrī; ) are the inhabitants of Syria, who share a common Levantine Semitic ancestry.

The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indigenous elements and the foreign cultures that have come to rule the land and its people over the course of thousands of years.

The Syrian republic has a population of nearly 17 million as of 2014, in addition to 4 million Syrian refugees. The dominant racial group is the Syrian descendants of the old indigenous peoples who mixed with Arabs and identify themselves as such in addition to ethnic Aramean.

The Syrian diaspora consists of 15 million people of Syrian ancestry, who immigrated to North America (United States and Canada), European Union member states (including Sweden, France and Germany), South America (mainly in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Venezuela and Colombia), Australia, and Africa.

Etymology
The name "Syrians" was employed by the Greeks and Romans to denote the inhabitants of Syria; however, they called themselves Arameans and Assyrians. The ethnic designation "Syrian" is derived from the word "Assyrian" and appeared in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Some argue that the discovery of the Çineköy inscription in 2000 seems to support the theory that the term Syria derives from Assyria.

The Greeks used the terms "Syrian" and "Assyrian" interchangeably to indicate the indigenous Arameans, Assyrians and other inhabitants of the Near East, Herodotus considered "Syria" west of the Euphrates. Starting from the 2nd century BC onwards, ancient writers referred to the Seleucid ruler as the King of Syria or King of the Syrians. The Seleucids designated the districts of Seleucis and Coele-Syria explicitly as Syria and ruled the Syrians as indigenous populations residing west of the Euphrates (Aramea) in contrast to Assyrians who had their native homeland in Mesopotamia east of the Euphrates. However, the interchangeability between Assyrians and Syrians persisted during the Hellenistic period.

In one instance, the Ptolemies of Egypt reserved the term "Syrian Village" as the name of a settlement in Fayoum. The term "Syrians" is under debate whether it referred to Jews or to Arameans, as the Ptolemies referred to all peoples originating from Modern Syria and Palestine as Syrian.

The term Syrian was imposed upon Arameans of modern Levant by the Romans. Pompey created the province of Syria, which included modern-day Lebanon and Syria west of the Euphrates, framing the province as a regional social category with civic implications. Plutarch described the indigenous people of this newly created Roman province as "Syrians", so did Strabo, who observed that Syrians resided west of the Euphrates in Roman Syria, and he explicitly mentions that those Syrians are the Arameans, whom he calls Aramaei, indicating an extant ethnicity.

In his book The Great Roman-Jewish War, Josephus, a Hebrew native to the Levant, mentioned the Syrians as the non-Hebrew, non-Greek indigenous inhabitants of Syria.

The Arabs called Syria and the Levant Al-Sham. The national and ethnic designation "Syrian" is one that has been reused, accepted and espoused by the Syrian people since the advent of modern nationalism, which emanated from Europe and began with the culmination of the Napoleonic Wars of the early 1800s.

Identity
Besides religious identities, the Syrian people are split among three identities, namely the Arab, Syriac, and Syrian identities. Many Muslims and some Arabic-speaking Christians describe themselves as Arabs, while many Aramaic-speaking Christians and a minority of Muslims prefer to describe themselves as Syriacs or Arameans. Also some people from Syria, mainly Syrian nationalists, describe themselves only as Syrians.

Ethnogenesis
The inhabitants of Syria descend from the ancient Semitic peoples of antiquity, mainly the Amorites, Arameans, Phoenicians, Palmyrians, Chaldeans and populations from Arabia. The majority of the Syrian people who refer to themselves as Arabs are the result of the linguistic Arabization of Syria following the Muslim conquest of the Levant.

Arabisation and Islamization of Syria began in the 7th century, while it took several centuries for Islam, the Arab identity, and language to spread. Syrians welcomed the Arabs as liberators which made Arabisation and conversion faster. The Arabs had a policy of segregating indigenous Syrians from Arab tribes; they built new settlements to accommodate the new tribes which limited the ethnic assimilation of the original "Arabised" Arameans. Caliph Uthman specifically ordered his governor, Muawiyah I, to settle the new tribes away from the original population. However, the ascendancy of Arabic as the formal language of the state prompted the cultural and linguistic assimilation of Syrian converts.

While the Umayyad Caliphate showed some religious tolerance, the Abbasid Caliphate had a different approach, and by the time of the Crusades (1100 AD) most Syrians adopted Islam and were culturally and linguistically fully Arabised. The new Muslim converts mixed with the Arabs and shifted to an Arab racial identity, but the mixing didn't change the genetic pool dramatically.

Many Christians lost their identity and adopted an Arab racial identity, becoming indistinguishable from the Arab Christians of pre-conquest era, while those who kept their racial characteristics maintained the Syrian identity and are mainly divided between two groups:


 * Followers of the Western-rite Syriac Orthodox Church and Syriac Catholic Church; these Syriac-speaking Christians kept the Syrian (Syriac) Identity throughout the ages,  though today most of them speak Arabic while retaining their racial identity. Syriac is still the liturgical language for most of the different Syriac churches in Syria. More recently, the Syriac Orthodox Church, which has been historically called "Syrian", officially changed its English name to "Syriac" in 2000.
 * The Western Aramaic-speaking group, that is, the inhabitants of Bakh'a, Jubb'adin and Ma'loula, who retained their racial and linguistic characteristics, whereas the residents of Bakh'a and Jubb'adin are Muslims. In Ma'loula the Christian majority is split in between the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch and the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, in addition to a Muslim minority. Two notable Syrian Christian families in Ma'loula include the Greek Orthodox Naddaf family and the Greek Catholic al-Ahmar family.

Genetics
Genetic tests on Syrians were included in many genetic studies,  the genetic marker which identifies descendants of the ancient Levantines is found among members of all Levantines from different religious groups. Syrian Muslims show a slightly more Arabian genetic influx than their Christian compatriots. The most common Haplogroup is J represented by its subclades (branches) J1 and J2.

The paternal Y-DNA haplogroups J1 (which reaches it highest frequencies in Yemen 72.6% and Qatar 58.3%) accounted for 33.6% of Syrians. J1 has its highest frequency in people belonging to the Ismailis of Damascus with 58.8%, while reaching its lowest frequency among the Arameans of Ma'loula with 6.8%. Other frequencies are 14.7% for Druze, 47.2% for Sunnis of Hama, 14.3% for Syriac Catholics of Saidnaya and 26.7% among the Alawite population.

The J2 group accounted for 20.8% of Syrians, other Y-DNA haplogroups includes the E1B1B 12.0%, I 5.0%, R1a 10.0% and R1b 15.0%.

The Syrian people cluster the closest with the Lebanese, then the Palestinians, Jews and then the Jordanians.

Language
Arabic is the mother tongue of a majority of Syrians as well as the official state language. The Syrian variety of Levantine Arabic varies little from Modern Standard Arabic. Western Neo-Aramaic, the only surviving Western Aramaic language, is still spoken in three villages (Ma'loula, Al-Sarkha (Bakhah) and Jubb'adin) in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains by both Muslim and Christian residents. Syriac-Assyrians in the northeast of the country are mainly Surayt/Turoyo speakers but there are also some speakers of Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, especially in the Khabour Valley. Classical Syriac is also used as a liturgical language by Syriac Christians. English, and to a lesser extent French, is widely understood and used in interactions with tourists and other foreigners.

Religion and minority groups
Religious differences in Syria have historically been tolerated, and religious minorities tend to retain distinct cultural, and religious identities. Sunni Islam is the religion of 74% of Syrians. The Alawites, a variety of Shia Islam, make up 12% of the population and mostly live in and around Tartus and Latakia. Christians make up 10% of the country. Most Syrian Christians adhere to the Byzantine Rite; the two largest are the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch and the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. The Druze are a mountainous people who reside in Jabal al-Druze who helped spark the Great Syrian Revolt. The Ismailis are an even smaller sect that originated in Asia. Many Armenian and Assyrian Christians fled Turkey during the Armenian Genocide and the Assyrian genocide and settled in Syria. There are also roughly 500,000 Palestinians, who are mostly descendants of refugees from the 1948 Israeli-Arab War. The community of Syrian Jews inside Syria once numbered 30,000 in 1947, but has only 200 today.

The Syrian people's beliefs and outlooks, similar to those of most Arabs and people of the wider Middle-East, are a mosaic of West and East. Conservative and liberally minded people will live right next to each other, and hold debates with each other. Like the other countries in the region, religion permeates life; the government registers every Syrian's religious affiliation.

Cuisine


Syrian cuisine is dominated by ingredients native to the region. Olive oil, garlic, olives, peppermint, and sesame oil are some of the ingredients that are used in many traditional meals. Traditional Syrian dishes enjoyed by Syrians include, tabbouleh, labaneh, shanklish, wara' 'enab, makdous, kebab, Kibbeh, sfiha, moutabal, hummus, mana'eesh, bameh, and fattoush.

Before the main courses, Syrians eat meze, which is basically an appetizer. Meze is usually served with Arab-style tea - highly concentrated black tea, which is highly sweetened and served in small glass cups. Another popular drink, especially with Christians and non-practicing Muslims, is the arak, a liquor produced from grapes or dates and flavored with anise that can have an alcohol content of over 90% ABV (however, most commercial Syrian arak brands are about 40-60% ABV).

Scholars

 * Raphael of Brooklyn, of Damascene Syrian parents. The first Orthodox bishop to be consecrated in North America.
 * Hunein Maassab, professor of Epidemiology known for developing the Live attenuated influenza vaccine.
 * Shadia Habbal, an astronomer and physicist, played a key role in establishing the NASA Parker Solar Probe
 * Fawwaz T. Ulaby, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan, received the IEEE Edison Medal in 2006.
 * Kefah Mokbel, FRCS. The lead breast surgeon at the London Breast Institute of The Princess Grace Hospital, professor of Breast Cancer Surgery (The Brunel Institute of Cancer Genetics and Pharmacogenomics) Brunel University London.
 * Oussama Khatib, a roboticist and a professor of Computer Science at Stanford University. Received the IEEE RAS for Distinguished Service Award (2013).
 * Dina Katabi, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Wireless Center.
 * Malatius Jaghnoon, Epigrapher and founder of the archaeological society in Homs.

Public figures and politicians

 * Carlos Menem (born July 2, 1930), former president of Argentina (1989-1999).
 * Tareck El Aissami, Vice President of Venezuela since 4 January 2017.
 * Juliana Awada (born April 3, 1974), former First Lady of Argentina (2015-act.).
 * Rosemary Barkett (born 1939), was the first woman to serve on the Florida Supreme Court, and the first woman Chief Justice of that court. She currently serves as a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
 * Mitch Daniels, American politician, Governor of Indiana from 2005 to 2013 and President of Purdue University.
 * Queen Noor of Jordan, widow of King Hussein of Jordan, is of paternal Syrian ancestry.
 * Omar Alghabra, Canadian politician, former member of the House of Commons of Canada.
 * Romeu Tuma (1931 - 2010), Brazilian Politician.

Business

 * Steve Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011), was the co-founder and former CEO of Apple, the largest Disney shareholder, and a member of Disney's Board of Directors. Jobs was considered a leading figure in both the computer and entertainment industries.
 * Najeeb Halaby, American politician and businessman, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, former CEO and chairman of Pan Am and father of Queen Noor of Jordan.
 * Mohammed Rahif Hakmi, founder and Chairman of Armada Group
 * Arturo Elías Ayub, Mexican businessman, Director of Telmex.

Entertainment

 * Paul Anka, Canadian singer and songwriter.
 * Malek Jandali, American pianist.
 * Paula Abdul, singer and TV personality
 * Mohamad Fityan (born August 1, 1984), musician and composer.
 * Hala Gorani (born March 1, 1970), news anchor and CNN correspondent.
 * René Angélil, Canadian singer and manager, the husband and former manager of singer Celine Dion.
 * Shannon Elizabeth, American actress and former fashion model. Of paternal Syrian ancestry.
 * Wentworth Miller, American actor, model, screenwriter and producer. Of partial maternal Syrian ancestry.
 * Teri Hatcher, American actress.

Sport

 * Ghada Shouaa, heptathlete, olympic gold medalist.
 * Yasser Seirawan, chess grandmaster and four-time United States champion.
 * Brandon Saad, American ice hockey player, of paternal Syrian descent.
 * Rocco Baldelli, American former MLB player.
 * Sami Zayn, Professional Wrestler.