Hitti has written a brilliant history of a land into which more historical and cultural events were crowded than any area of equal size. Syria has invented and transmitted to mankind such benefits as monotheistic religion, philosophy, law, trade, agriculture, and our alphabet.

• The Pre-Literary Age (5 chapters)
• Ancient Semitic Times (11 chapters)
• The Greco-Roman Period (13 chapters)
• The Arab Era (18 chapters)
• Under the Ottoman Turks (3 chapters)