Portal:Syria/Selected article

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Shaizar or Shayzar was a medieval town and fortress in Syria, ruled by the Banu Munqidh dynasty, which played an important part in the Christian and Muslim politics of the crusades. Located on the Orontes to the northwest of Hama, Shaizar was an ancient town, known as Senzar or Sezar in the Amarna letters. To the Greeks it was known as Sidzara, but the Seleucid dynasty renamed it Larissa, after the town of the same name in Thessaly from which many colonists came. It reverted to its earlier name under the Roman Empire and was known as Sezer under the Byzantine Empire. The crusaders rendered the name in Latin as Caesarea. It is no longer inhabited today, but the ruins are known as Saijar in modern Arabic.

see also : Azem Palace