Historic Background
Further information: Syria (name), Roman Syria, and Roman AssyriaTo some opinions, the origin of the Hellenistic term Syria is bound in the etymology of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. A "Greater Syria" in this wider sense could correspond to "Greater Assyria" and include all of the Levant and Mesopotamia.
In the most common historical sense, Syria refers to the entire northern Levant, including Alexandretta and the ancient city of Antioch, (the pre-Islamic capital of Syria), or in an extended sense the entire Levant as far south as Egypt, but not including Mesopotamia.
The uncertainty in the definition of the extent of "Syria" is aggravated with the etymological confusion of the similar-sounding names Syria and Assyria. The question of the ultimate etymological identity of the two names remains open today, but regardless of etymology, the two names have often been taken as exchangeable or synonym from the time of Herodotus. In the Roman Empire Syria and Assyria already referred to two separate entities, Roman Syria and Roman Assyria).
Read more about this topic: Greater Syria
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