Wani babban mutum na duniyar Hellenistic, shahararren mai zanen taswira kuma marubuci daga Alexandria, Ptolemy: Claudius Ptolemaeus (kimanin shekara ta 100 zuwa kimanin shekara ta 170 Miladiyya)

Another giant of the Hellenistic world, the highly influential Alexandrian cartographer and writer Ptolemy: Claudius Ptolemaeus (c. AD 100–c. 170)

ya samar da taswira ta farko da aka sani da ta bayyana Filastin; Ptolemy ya bambanta a fili tsakanin abin da ake kira Syria-Coele, Phoenicia da Filastin, yana tabbatar da cewa an dauki Filastin a matsayin wani yanki daban kuma mai cin gashin kansa, aka kuma yi mu'amala da ita haka. Sunan Syria-Coele ko Coele-Syria (Girkanci: Κοίλη Συρία, Koíle Syría; Latin: Cava Syria; Turanci: Hollow-Syria) sau da yawa wasu masana tarihi suna rikita shi ko su daidaita shi da kalmar zamani da aka kirkira ta ‘Kudancin Syria’ (misali Cohen 2006: 41). Wannan dabara an tsara ta a wani bangare domin boye wanzuwar Filastin ta tarihi a matsayin yanki na siyasa-kasa, ta haka ne ake musanta yadda aka yi amfani da kalmar Filastin ko'ina a zamanin Tsohuwar Duniya.

produced the first known map to describe Palestine; Ptolemy clearly distinguished between the so-called Syria-Coele, Phoenicia and Palestine, proving the latter was conceived and treated as a separate and autonomous entity. The toponym Syria-Coele or Coele-Syria (Greek: Κοίλη Συρία, Koíle Syría; Latin: Cava Syria; English: Hollow-Syria) is often confounded or equated by some historians with the modern invented term ‘Southern Syria’ (e.g. Cohen 2006: 41). This strategy is partly designed to camouflage the existence of historic Palestine as a geo-political unit, thereby denying the widespread use of the term Palestine throughout Classical Antiquity.

An rubuta shi a matsayin Coelosyria da Celesyria, Coele-Syria sunan yanki ne a Siriya a zamanin Gargajiya (Classical Antiquity). Ko da yake kalmar Coele da kanta watakila an rubuta ta ce daga kalmar Aramaic kul, ma'ana duka (kalmar Larabci kul).

Rendered as Coelosyria and Celesyria, Coele-Syria was a geographical designation of a region in Syria in Classical Antiquity. Although the term Coele itself was possibly a transcription of the Aramaic kul, all (Arabic kul)

na yankin Siriya, kalmar a zahiri ta sami wata ma'ana daban a cikin harshen Girka da na Latin: Cava Syria ko Hollow-Syria (Siriya Mai Ramuka). Abin da ya fi muhimmanci shi ne, sau da yawa ana amfani da ita a kunkuntar ma'ana ga kwarin Beqaa na Lebanon (cikin Naturalis Historia ta Pliny Dattijo, Littafi na V, (kimanin 78 AD; Sartre 1988) kuma daga baya ga lardin Roman na Syria-Coele a arewacin Siriya.

of the region of Syria, the term actually acquired a different meaning in both Greek and Latin: Cava Syria or Hollow-Syria. Crucially, it was often applied in a narrower sense to the Beqaa Valley of Lebanon (Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia, Book V (c. 78 AD; Sartre 1988) and later to the Roman province of Syria-Coele in northern Syria.

Bayan rushewar daular Makidoniya ta Iskandari Babba a shekara ta 323 kafin haihuwar Annabi Isa, sarakunan Helenawa na daular Seleucid da ta Ptolemy sun yi yaƙi a kan Falasdinu.

After the collapse of the Macedonian Empire of Alexander the Great in 323 BC the Hellenistic Seleucid and Ptolemaic kings fought over Palestine.

Duk da haka, amfani da sunan Coele-Syria a hukumance ya bayyana a wani lokaci a zamanin Daular Seleucid ta Hellenistic (Cohen 2006: 4I), wadda ta wanzu daga shekara ta 312 kafin haihuwar Annabi Isa zuwa shekara ta 63 kafin haihuwarsa. Daular Seleucid da ta Ptolemy sun fara ne bayan rugujewar daular Alexander Babba, kuma sun dushe yayin da Rome ta yi tashe a karni na 1 kafin haihuwar Annabi Isa. Daular Seleucid, wadda babban birninta shi ne Antioch, ta kasance cibiyar al'adun Hellenistic mai muhimmanci, wadda ta kiyaye matsayin al'adun Girka a inda shugabannin siyasa na Girka suke mulki, galibi a yankunan birane.

However, the official use of the name Coele-Syria emerged at some stage in the period of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire (Cohen 2006: 4I), which existed from 312 BC to 63 BC. The Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires began after the collapse of the empire of Alexander the Great and faded away with the rise of Rome in the 1st century BC. The Seleucid Empire, whose capital was Antioch, was a major centre of Hellenistic culture that maintained the pre-eminence of Greek customs where Greek political elites dominated, mostly in the urban areas.

Duk da haka, masana tarihi na Girka, suna bin Herodotus, gabaɗaya sun bambanta a fili tsakanin Coele-Syria da Palaestina, ko da yake ba su yarda ba game da ainihin iyakar da ke tsakanin raka'o'in yanki-siyasa biyu.3 Wasu masana tarihi a zamanin Gargajiya sun yi amfani da kalmar Coele-Syria a ma'ana mai faɗi don nuna ‘dukan Siriya’ ko ‘dukan Siriya ba tare da Phoenicia ba’ (Cohen 2006: 41), kuma masana ƙasa da tarihi na Girka sun yi amfani da ita don nuna ‘dukan Siriya sai dai Falasdinu’. Wannan ya haɗa da Ptolemy, wanda tsararraki na gaba na masana ƙasa da kimiyya Larabawa suka ambata da sunansa a harshen Larabci: Batlymus. Taswirar duniya ta Ptolemy taswira ce ta duniyar da al'ummar Hellenistic suka sani a karni na 2. An dogara ne akan bayanin da ke cikin Geography na Ptolemy, wanda aka rubuta kusan a shekara ta 150. Wannan aiki, wanda ya ɓace daga Yamma tsawon ƙarnuka, Larabawa da Byzantines sun san shi.

However Greek historians, following Herodotus, by and large made a clear distinction between Coele-Syria and Palaestina, although they were not in agreement as to the exact boundary between the two geo-political units.3 The term Coele-Syria was used by some historians in Classical Antiquity in a wider sense to indicate ‘all Syria’ or ‘all Syria without Phoenicia’ (Cohen 2006: 41) and by Greek geographers and historians to indicate ‘all Syria with the exception of Palestine’. This included Ptolemy, to whom later generations of Arab geographers and scientists referred using his name in Arabic: Batlymus. Ptolemy’s world map is a map of the world known to Hellenistic society in the 2nd century. It is based on the description contained in Ptolemy’s Geography, written c. 150. This work, which had been lost to the West for centuries, was known to the Arabs and Byzantines.

An aka kawo shi Italiya a ƙarshen karni na 14, aka kuma fassara shi zuwa Latin a Florence (Edson 2007). Taswirar duniya ta Ptolemy ta bambanta sarai tsakanin Palaestina da Syria-Coele, Phenecia (kusan Lebanon ta yau).

It was brought to Italy in the late 14th century and translated into Latin in Florence (Edson 2007). Ptolemy’s world map made a clear distinction between Palaestina and Syria-Coele, Phenecia (roughly modern Lebanon)

kamar ƙasashe uku daban-daban gaba ɗaya. Kamar yadda za mu gani a ƙasa, lardin Syria-Palaestina da Sarki Hadrian ya ƙirƙira daga baya a shekara ta 135 miladiyya ya bambanta da lardin Romawa na Syria-Coele, wanda aka ƙirƙira a shekara ta 193 miladiyya a arewacin Syria.

as three completely distinct countries. As we shall see below, the new province of Syria-Palaestina created later by Emperor Hadrian in 135 AD was distinct from the Roman province of Syria-Coele created in 193 AD in the north of Syria.

Wannan banbancin da Ptolemy ya yi tsakanin ƙasashe uku, Palaestina, Coele-Syria da Phoenicia, ya yi tasiri sosai, kuma ya shafi yadda masana tarihi, masana ƙasa, masu zana taswira, matafiya, mahajjata da masu neman labarun soyayya a nan gaba suka sake yin irin wannan banbanci. A ƙarni na biyu kafin haihuwar Annabi Isa, wannan ya bayyana a aikin Agatharchides, ko Agatharchus, na Knidos (a yankin Turkiyya ta yau). Agatharchides babban mai mukamin siyasa ne a zamaninsa, kuma ya zama mai kula da ɗaya daga cikin 'ya'yan Ptolemy. Wajen rubuta jawabansa, Agatharchides ya yi koyi da Thucydides, wanda ya daidaita da shi a daraja, kuma ya fi shi haske. Taswirar duniya ta Ptolemy – da banbancin ƙasashen Palaestina, Coele-Syria da Phenecia – Strabo, Pliny the Elder, Diodorus Siculus, da Josephus da Philo na Alexandria sun ambace su kai tsaye ko a kaikaice.

This crucial distinction made by Ptolemy between the three countries, Palaestina, Coele-Syria and Phoenicia, was hugely influential and impacted on the way future historians, geographers, cartographers, travellers, pilgrims and romance seekers would reproduce similar distinctions. In the 2nd century BC this was evident in the work of Agatharchides or Agatharchus of Knidos (in modern Turkey). Agatharchides was an important political figure of his time, and served as a guardian to one of Ptolemy’s sons. In composing his speeches Agatharchides was an imitator of Thucydides, whom he equalled in dignity and excelled in clarity. Ptolemy’s world map – and the distinction between the countries of Palaestina, Coele-Syria and Phenecia – was cited directly or indirectly by Strabo, Pliny the Elder, Diodorus Siculus, and Josephus and Philo of Alexandria.

Kamar yadda za mu gani a ƙasa, Filastin da Palaestina suma suna cikin taswirorin duniya na masana taswira Muhammad al-Idrisi, Pietro Vesconte, Marino Sanudo da Fra Mauro a ƙarni na 12, na 14 da na 15. Tabbas, "taswirorin duniya" ba wai kawai nuna sarari da hakika suke yi ba ne; an tsara su ne don amfanin aiki na zirga-zirga da kewaya hanya, da kuma don amfanin 'yan kasuwa da maniyyata zuwa wurare masu tsarki. Taswirorin duniya sau da yawa suna nuna da cika ikon mulki, kuma an yi su ne domin daulolin sarauta da masu gina jihohi. Taswirar duniya ta Ptolemy ba ta bambanta ba; an yi ta, an sake yin ta, kuma an gyara ta don inganta manufofin siyasa na ikoki daban-daban cikin ƙarni da yawa. Da farko an yi amfani da taswirar wajen faɗaɗa Daular Roma. A ƙarni na 9, aka fassara Geography da taswirar Ptolemy daga Helenanci zuwa Larabci, kuma sun taka rawa a cikin gyaran taswira na al-Khawarizmi (780–kimanin 850) a yankin Bahar Rum, Gabas ta Tsakiya, Afirka da Asiya; aikinsa na kimiyya da taswirar duniyarsa an yi amfani da su ne wajen hidimar cinikayyar Musulunci ta duniya da daular Abbasiyawa mai cibiya a Bagadaza. A ƙarshen ƙarni na 19, Claude Reignier Conder, na Asusun Binciken Filasɗinu na Birtaniya, ya sake yin taswirar Ptolemy, kuma aka yi amfani da ita wajen ciyar da burin daular Birtaniya a Gabas ta Kusa da Filastin.

As we shall see below, Filastin and Palaestina are also found on the world maps of cartographers Muhammad al-Idrisi, Pietro Vesconte, Marino Sanudo and Fra Mauro in the 12th, 14th and 15th centuries. Of course, ‘world maps’ were not just about representations of space and reality, they were designed for practical purposes of traffic and navigation and for the use of traders and pilgrims to the holy places; world maps often provided an expression and fulfilment of power and were produced for empires and state-builders. Ptolemy’s world map was no exception; it was produced, reproduced and revised to promote the political agendas of different powers across many centuries. The map was first used to expand the Roman Empire. In the 9th century Ptolemy’s Geography and map were translated from Greek into Arabic and played a role in the corrective cartography of al-Khawarizmi (780–c. 850) in the Mediterranean region, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, and his scientific work and geographic world map was used in the service of the Muslim global trade and the Baghdad-based Abbasid state. In the late 19th century Ptolemy’s map was reproduced by Claude Reignier Conder, of the British Palestine Exploration Fund, and used to advance British imperial ambitions in the Near East and Palestine.