Deir ez-Zor
Syria · Asia
About Deir ez-Zor
Deir ez-Zor (Arabic: دَيْرُ ٱلزَّوْرِ / دَيْرُ ٱلزُّور, romanized: Dayru z-Zawr / Dayru z-Zūr) is the largest city in eastern Syria and the seventh largest in the country. Located on the banks of the Euphrates 450 km (280 mi) to the northeast of the capital Damascus, Deir ez-Zor is the capital of the Deir ez-Zor Governorate.
Ed-Deir is a common shorthand for Deir ez-Zor. In the Syriac language of the Assyrian Christian population, Zeʿūrta (ܙܥܘܪܬܐ) means "little"; hence, Dīrā Zeʿūrta means "small habitation". The current name, which has been extended to the surrounding region, indicates an ancient site for one of the Early Christian secluded Syriac monasteries established during the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire and Apostolic Age throughout Mesopotamia. Although Deir (ܕܝܪܐ), which is Arabic (borrowed from Syriac) for "monastery", is believed to have been kept throughout the various Medieval and modern age renamings, Zor, which indicates the riverbank bush, appeared only in some late Ottoman records of the Deir ez-Zor Vilayet.
Many different romanizations are used, including Deir Ezzor, Deir Al-Zor, Deir-al-Zour, Dayr Al-Zawr, Der Ezzor, Deir Azzor, Der...
Overview adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA. Photography via Wikimedia Commons.