Ancient Syria, or Greater Syria as it is sometimes known, included the present states of Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan and the part of Turkey known as Hatay.
In the west, Syrian geography is defined by parallel chains of mountain ranges extending north-south. The northernmost chain are the Amanus Mountains (=Nur Daglari) in what is now the Turkish province of Hatay. Next are two parallel mountain ranges, the Jebel Ansariyah to the west and Jebel Zawiyah to the east. Between these two ranges is the Ghab depression, a 64 km (≈40 mile) trench that contains the valley of the Orontes River (=Nahr al-Asi). The Homs (or Akkar) Gap separates these two ranges from those to the south, the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, primarily in present day Lebanon. Between these two ranges lies the Beqaa Valley.
The east-west gaps between the mountain ranges are significant zones allowing access between regions. Separating the Amanus from the Ansariyah/Zawiyah ranges is the Amuq (=Antioch) Plain, watered by the lower reaches of the Orontes. The Homs Gap provides the easiest passage between the Mediterranean and the Syrian interior. West of the Ansariyah, Syria’s Mediterranean coastal plain extends some 180 km (≈112 miles) between Lebanon and Turkey. Extending east from the mountains is a broad semiarid plateau – crossed by the Euphrates – that turns into the Syrian Desert.
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