Syria

Syria
Type:	Nation
Location:	Earth
First mentioned in:	The Crusade [+]Loading...["The Crusade (TV story)"]
First appearance:	The Stone House [+]Loading...["The Stone House (novel)"]
Appearances:	TV: Can You Hear Me? [+]Loading...["Can You Hear Me? (TV story)"]

Syria was a country on Earth which shared a border with Turkey. (PROSE: The Stone House ^[+]Loading...["The Stone House (novel)"])

Geography

Damascus (PROSE: The Stone House ^[+]Loading...["The Stone House (novel)"]) and Aleppo were located in Syria. (TV: Can You Hear Me? ^[+]Loading...["Can You Hear Me? (TV story)"])

History

Early history

In the year 6 AD, Caesar Augustus decreed that the governors of Syria and Judaea should conduct a tax census, the Census of Quirinius, requiring all citizens to travel to their ancestral homes. (PROSE: The Time Traveller's Almanac ^[+]Loading...["The Time Traveller's Almanac (reference book)"])

Syria was a part of the Roman Empire during the 1st century. During this time the Roman army put down revolutions in Syria, amongst other places. According to Gemellus, a "positive slew" of men claiming to be the Jewish messiah were cropping up in Judaea and Syria during the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. (PROSE: Byzantium! ^[+]Loading...["Byzantium! (novel)"])

In 1190, Saladin was the Sultan of Syria and Egypt. (TV: The Crusade ^[+]Loading...["The Crusade (TV story)"])

In 1380, the Thirteenth Doctor briefly visited the Syrian city of Aleppo. (TV: Can You Hear Me? ^[+]Loading...["Can You Hear Me? (TV story)"])

20th century

In 1911, the Fifth Doctor and Vislor Turlough were guided through the Syrian desert by Ibrahim. There they found Gostak's TARDIS and a clue to Botoya, a lost moon of Gallifrey. (AUDIO: The End of the Beginning ^[+]Loading...["The End of the Beginning (audio story)"])

In the 20th century, archaeologist Edgar Nelson-Stanley discovered the Gorgon talisman in Syria. (TV: Eye of the Gorgon ^[+]Loading...["Eye of the Gorgon (TV story)"])

21st century

The United Kingdom and United States of America invaded Syria and overthrew the dictator, before handing power to the United Nations. (AUDIO: The Longest Night ^[+]Loading...["The Longest Night (audio story)"]) British forces were still occupying it in 2005, when veteran Colonel Robert Dalton was pulled out on short notice to act as head of UNIT in Colonel Ross Brimmicombe-Wood's absence. (AUDIO: Time Heals ^[+]Loading...["Time Heals (audio story)"]) Dalton would later defend the action, retorting the dictator was a threat "to democracy and the entire West[ern world]". During the ICIS coup, one pundit pointed to Anglo-American action in Syria and Iraq as the cause of a suicide bombing. (AUDIO: The Longest Night ^[+]Loading...["The Longest Night (audio story)"])

Syria was considered to have an unstable political situation around this period. (PROSE: The Terror of the Darkness ^[+]Loading...["The Terror of the Darkness (short story)"]) At least three factions were vying for control of the country after the invasion. (AUDIO: The Longest Night ^[+]Loading...["The Longest Night (audio story)"])

In the 2010s, another war started in Syria that caused many to flee the country. (PROSE: The Stone House ^[+]Loading...["The Stone House (novel)"], AUDIO: Aliens Next Door ^[+]Loading...["Aliens Next Door (audio story)"])

Some time before 2040, Xin Chun built dirty bombs for an al-Qa'ida cell in Syria. (PROSE: The Nuclear Option ^[+]Loading...["The Nuclear Option (short story)"])