Shaizar or Shayzar (; in modern Arabic Saijar; Hellenistic name: Larissa in Syria, Λάρισα εν Συρία in Greek) is a town in northern Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, located northwest of Hama. Nearby localities include, Mahardah, Tremseh, Kafr Hud, Khunayzir and Halfaya. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Shaizar had a population of 5,953 in the 2004 census.
During the Crusades, the town was a fortress, ruled by the Banu Munqidh family. It played an important part in the Christian and Muslim politics of the crusades.
Location
Shaizar is located at a strategically vital crossing point on the Orontes River, 28 km to the northwest of Hama.
Name evolution
In the Amarna letters (14th century BC) it is mentioned as Senzar or Sezar.
To the Greeks it was known as Sidzara, but during the Seleucid empire it was renamed Larissa, after the town Larissa in Thessaly (Greece) 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 city's name in Latin as Caesarea. This name had not been used in any earlier period, and was derived from the Crusaders mistakenly identifying this city as being Caesarea Mazaca, a place renowned in Christian history as the home of Saint Basil of Caesarea.
Shaizar's ruins are known as Saijar in modern Arabic.
History
Bronze Age
Shaizar is mentioned as Senzar or Sezar in the Amarna letters (14th century BC).
Hellenistic period
Diodorus Siculus (first century BC) records local legends attributing the establishment of the town by one of Alexander's cavalry regiments originating from Thessaly. The town was renamed Larissa Sizara, Larissa being the town in Thessaly from which many Greek settlers came.
Roman period
The Roman armies led by Pompey conquered Syria in 64 BC.
Syria was briefly occupied by Republican-Parthian forces under the Parthian prince Pacorus I.
Byzantine and Early Arab periods
The city remained part of the Christianised empire, known as the Byzantine Empire, under the name of Sezer.
Shaizar fell to the Arabs in 638 and frequently passed from Arab to Byzantine control. It was sacked in 968 by Byzantine emperor Nicephorus II, and was captured by Basil II in 999, after which it became the southern border of the Byzantine Empire and was administered by the Bishop of Shaizar. A Fatimid castle was standing at Shaizar by the time the Byzantines recaptured the town.
It was lost to the Banu Munqidh in 1081 when Ali ibn Munqidh bought it from the bishop. The Byzantines besieged it numerous times after this but failed to recover it.
Crusaders
The Franks arrived in Syria in 1098 during the First Crusade. The interaction between the Crusader states and the Banu Munqidh rulers of Shaizar consisted of a series of wars and alliances.
Munqidhite Shaizar (1081–1157)
The Munqidhites controlled territory east of Shaizar, across the al-Ansariyah mountains to the Mediterranean coast, from the coastal cities of Latakia in the north to Tortosa in the south.
During the First Crusade, the emir assisted the Crusaders passing through his land, giving them horses and food and other provisions. After the crusade it was bordered by the crusader Principality of Antioch and was subject to raids from both Antioch and the County of Tripoli.
When the Crusaders briefly conquered Qalaat al-Madiq, a fortress to the northwest of Shaizar and overlooking ancient Apamea, in 1106, the Banu Munqidh clan harassed them from their base in Shaizar.
In 1106, the Munqidhite emirs Murshid and Sultan defeated William-Jordan of Tripoli, and in 1108 and 1110 they had to bribe Tancred to leave. Tancred, Baldwin I of Jerusalem, and Bertrand of Tripoli besieged the city during the battle of Shaizar of 1111 for two weeks, but returned home when the army of Mawdud of Mosul cut off their access to food and water. Tancred nevertheless built a castle nearby on Tell ibn Ma'shar, in order to keep Shaizar under close watch.