Aleppo, Syria, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, going back at least to the 2000s BCE, some say up to 3000 years older. It served as the capital of a 19th-century BCE kingdom called Yamhad and featured a temple (recently excavated) to the area’s chief deity, Hadad. Although not mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, Aleppo does appear in the Apocrypha under its Hellenistic name, Beroea (1 Macc. 9:4).
After the rise of Christianity, Aleppo under the name Beroea had a series of bishops as early as just prior to the First Council of Nicaea (325 CE). After the Arab conquest in the sixth century CE, Aleppo ceased to have a Christian bishop.
Want to dive deeper?
- “Aleppo” (Wikipedia article)
- “Yamhad” (Wikipedia article)
- Andrew Lawler, “Temple of the Storm God” (excavation of the Temple of Hadad)
- “Ancient City of Aleppo” (UNESCO World Heritage Centre page)
