The region of Syria (Arabic: ٱلشَّام, Ash-Shām; Hieroglyphic Luwian: Sura/i; Greek: Συρία), known in modern literature as "Greater Syria" (سُوْرِيَّة ٱلْكُبْرَىٰ, Sūrīyah al-Kubrā), "Syria-Palestine", or the Levant, is an area east of the Mediterranean Sea. Throughout history, the region has been controlled by numerous different peoples, including ancient Egyptians, Canaanites, Israelites, Assyria, Babylonia, the Achaemenid Empire, the ancient Macedonians, the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Rashidun Caliphate, the Umayyad Caliphate, the Abbasid Caliphate, the Fatimid Caliphate, the Crusaders, the Ayyubid dynasty, the Mamluk Sultanate, the Ottoman Empire, the United Kingdom and the French Third Republic.