"e;the best thing on the market and essential for anyone who takes their Syrian travelling seriously"e; Hugh Kennedy, Times Literary Supplement_x000D__x000D_Syria is home to some of the world's richest historical and archaeological remains dating from the Bronze Age through biblical and Byzantine times to the early Islamic and Ottoman periods. Yet even in an age of mass tourism these magnificent monuments are little known and rarely visited - in other words, ripe for discovery by independent-minded and adventurous travellers. _x000D__x000D_Only a handful of sites are familiar from travel literature: the Roman desert city of Palmyra, the Crusader castle of Krak des Chevaliers, the monumental Citadel of Aleppo and the great Umayyad Mosque of Damascus. This handbook reveals the wealth of other, equally magnificent sites, guiding visitors through the layers of history, linking them to such figures as Alexander and Saladin and decoding the various cultural influences which shaped the many monuments. Widely praised as the definitive historical guide to the country, this new and updated edition will be welcomed by everyone planning to visit Syria or with an interest in its history, art or architecture. _x000D__x000D_The Monuments of Syria is organised as a gazetteer of all Syria's historical sites, with complementary sections on history and architectural influences and comprehensive chronologies and glossaries. This fully revised edition includes the latest information about site visits and the lay out of museums, extensive and detailed itineraries for further travel and a new 24-page colour section._x000D_