such empires as the Roman Empire prior to the conversion of Constantine; the Persian Empire's conquest in 611; the Islamic conquests lead by Mohamad prior to his death in 632, A.D.; the Shi'ites and the religious persecution of rural regions of Syria, home to previous Islamic conquest; the conflicts of the crusades and the Islamic forces of the Middle East. The main expulsion of Syrian Christians was during the Ottoman rule in the Levant and the massacres that took place in Damascus. These historical events provide sufficient context to why Christian Syrian chant may have remained an oral culture and is lacking in historical or archeological sources. There may have been a musical notation system invented for Syrian chant but is no longer known of as it lost through the many conquests Syria has faced. The most recent diaspora has led to Syrian refugee camps throughout the Middle East and the destruction of Syrian cities and villages, along with architecture and culture. Syrian Christian chant There are historically six schools of chant, which have branched out due to the chants being passed on through oral transmission. Syrian chant is esteemed above all other types of song in the Syrian church. It is the greatest form of prayer and the most representative feature of the Syrian Orthodox church. Chant is integral to the Syrian church and has been a practice that has created a distinction in the Syrian practice of worship to that of its neighboring Christian orders. Ethnomusicologist Tala Jarjour explains that there are only a few sources on early Syrian chant and one must analyze its current form and reflect upon it in historical contexts. In Jarjour's book, Sense and Sadness; Syriac Chant in Allepo, she mentions that the Arabic word for Syrian chant is Hasho. "Hasho is best thought of as a construct that exists at the intersection of emotionality, spirituality, musicality and knowledge" (Jajour, 2018, 52). Jajour also explains that the earliest known source of Syrian chant is from the Napoleonic conquest to Egypt. Villoteau was one of Napoleon's scholar's, who accompanied the conquest into Egypt and made notes of the Syriac chant he encountered. Villoteau wrote down details about the chant in which he mentions that the Syrian nation chose to sing songs that expressed the identity of its people. Sound of Christian chant Through modern renditions found on YouTube we can get a general understanding