Syria has a very long history. It was a land of Phoenicians. Later it became part of the Achaemenid Empire, Roman Empire, and then the Eastern Roman Empire. In those days people spoke the Syriac language. The city Antioch was great and one of the important cities in Christendom. The Umayyad Caliphate control of Syria in the 7th century. In this Arab Empire people began to speak the Arabic language. Today most Syrian people believe in Islam but there are still Christians too.