Aleppo (Arab. Haleb; anc. Chalylon, afterward Berœa), a city of N. Syria, capital of a Turkish vilayet of the same name, in lat. 36* 11' N., lon. 37° 10'E., on the borders of the Syro-Arabian desert, about 60 m. E. of Antioch and 70 m. from the Mediterranean. The population, formerly estimated at upward of 200,000, has been reduced by earthquakes, and now numbers about 100,000, including 1(5,000 Christians and -1,000 Jews; the rest being Greeks, Armenians, Arabs, and Turks. The city is encompassed by low and barren hills and irregular mounds, intersected by fertile valleys. The gloomy aspect of the projecting chalk rocks is relieved by gardens along the rivulet Nahr Kowaik, planted with the celebrated pistachio trees and abounding in exquisite fruits and flowers. Including the straggling suburb, the circumference of Aleppo is 5 to 6 m., but the city proper is not over 3 m. in circuit, and it is shut in by a ruinous Saracenic wall. Aleppo is a city of a thoroughly oriental type, with extensive bazaars, numerous mosques, and a population remarkable for its elegant bearing. The streets are better than those of most eastern cities, though many of them are arched over. The houses are of stone, substantially built, with terraces for evening promenades.

The commerce, though considerably less than formerly, is still active, the value of the imports in 1866, chiefly English, being $6,500,000, and of the exports, $2,700,000. The trade in Aleppo brocades and silks has declined since the introduction of European silks. The principal exports are wool, cotton, pistachio nuts, oil, cereals, etc. Aleppo, being on the only safe route between Syria and eastern Asia, is the great centre of the Damascus and Bagdad caravans. - The name of Haleb is traced by some Arab philologists of the 14th century to the days of Abraham, who, according to this tradition, stopped there on his way to Canaan, distributing milk to the poor and repeating the words Ibrahim aleb, "Abraham has milked." In 638 Aleppo was taken from the Byzantine empire by the Arabs and made the seat of a sultanate. It was reconquered by John Zimisces, and afterward became the capital of the Seljuk Turks. After being besieged by the crusaders, desolated by the followers of Timour, oppressed by the Mamelukes of Egypt, and destroyed several times by earthquakes, it became, after the Turkish conquest at the beginning of the 16th century, a prosperous city, and the seat of a branch of the Levant company.

In 1830 it was the scene of massacres of Christians, and of revolts, which were suppressed in November with the aid of Generals Bern and Guyon, then in Turkish service. Prelates of the Roman Catholic, Greek, Armenian, and Syriac churches, and consuls of the principal Christian nations, reside here. The place has been often visited by the plague and the cholera. - A disease of the skin called the Aleppo button (Arab, hebbet), or boil, attacks most of the residents, and is attributed to the unwholesome water. The natives generally have it in infancy, and chiefly in the face. The eruption makes its appearance in the form of a small, hard, red tubercle, increasing in size after several weeks, discharging pus, and eventually forming a scab, which on disappearing leaves an indelible mark. Dogs and cats are commonly attacked by it in the nose. Strangers are attacked sometimes soon after their arrival, sometimes not until years after their departure. The malady, which usually lasts a year, prevails all along the adjacent rivers, and along the valley of the Euphrates, as far as Bagdad.