THE NATIONS OF THE NORTH-EAST Canaan is but the southern continuation of Syria, which shades off, as it were, into the waterless wilderness.

The name of Syria is usually supposed to be an abbreviation of Assyria, but it is more probable that it comes from Suri, the name by which the Babylonians denoted Mesopotamia and Syria of the north, and in which Assyria itself was sometimes included.

As we have seen, the Syria of our own maps, and more especially the southern half of it, was commonly known to the Babylonians as the land of the Amorites; in the later inscriptions of Assyria the place of the Amorites is taken by the Hittites.

When Assyria appeared upon the scene of history the Hittites had become the dominant people in the west.
The main part of the population of Syria and Mesopotamia was Aramaean--that is to say, it consisted of Semites from Arabia who spoke Aramaic dialects.

But it was exposed to constant attacks from the north, and from time to time passed under the yoke of a northern conqueror.