Salamiyah (Arabic: سلمية, romanized: Salamiyya; also transliterated Salamiyya, Salamieh or Salamya) is a city in central Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate. It is located 33 kilometres (21 miles) southeast of Hama, 45 kilometres (28 miles) northeast of Homs. Its inhabitants are predominantly Ismaili.

The city is nicknamed the "mother of Cairo" because it was the birthplace of the second Fatimid caliph al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah, whose dynasty would eventually establish the city of Cairo, and the early headquarters of his father Abdullah al-Mahdi Billah who founded the Fatimid Caliphate. The city is an important center of the Shi'ite Nizari Isma'ili and Taiyabi Isma'ili Islamic schools of Ismailism and also the birthplace of influential poet Muhammad al-Maghut. The population of the city is 66,724 (2004 census).

Salamiyah lies in a fertile plain on the edge of the Syrian steppe, 40 kilometers (25 mi) southeast of Hama and 51 kilometers (32 mi) northeast of Homs. It is close to the al-A'la plateau to its north and has an average elevation of 1,500 feet (460 m) above sea level.

During the Byzantine period, the city was a flourishing town called Salaminias or Salamias. It was well-integrated with the road networks connecting the villages between Emesa (Homs), Chalcis (Qinnasrin) and Resafa. Several Byzantine-era ruins attest to its regional importance, though the historian Elizabeth Kay Fowden asserts "little evidence remains to help reknit the town's history". Its bishop Julian attended the consecration of Patriarch Severus of Antioch in 512, indicating the town was a bishopric by that time. One of the few dated inscriptions commemorates the construction of a church dedicated to Theotokos in 604. An undated inscription credits the locals' patronage of the town's fortifications and honors St. Sergius, a popular saint amongst the Christian inhabitants of the Syrian steppe.

Salamiyah was conquered by the Muslim Arabs in 636, during the Muslim conquest of Syria, and became part of Jund Hims (the military district of Homs) through the early Muslim period (7th–11th centuries). Not long after the rise of the Abbasid Caliphate in 750, Salamiya was settled by the Abbasid dynast Salih ibn Ali and his descendants. Salih was made governor of Syria and the Jazira in 758 and thereafter began the reconstruction of Salamiyah. His son Abdallah undertook significant reconstruction efforts there and built the irrigation networks of the town and the surrounding villages. Caliph al-Mahdi, Abdallah's cousin and brother-in-law, stayed in Salamiyah and admired his house there on his way to Jerusalem in 779–780 and appointed him governor of the Jazira. Abdallah's son Muhammad controlled the town in the early 9th century and made it a thriving commercial center. Two Abbasid inscriptions have been found in the town: a mosque foundation inscription likely dated to 767 and another mosque inscription likely dated to 893; otherwise no Abbasid remains in Salamiyah are extant.

Around the early 9th century, Salamiyah became home to the great-grandson of Ja'far al-Sadiq, Abdallah, who concealed his identity and pretended to be a regular member and merchant of the Banu Hashim (the clan to which both the Abbasids and Alids belonged). He was allowed to stay in the town by Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Salih, the Abbasid governor, and built a palace there, which continued to be used by his descendants and successors as the leaders of the Isma'ili Shia da'wa. The Isma'ili leader Abdallah al-Mahdi Billah was born in Salamiyah in 873 or 874 and instituted reforms to the da'wa, leading to a break with Hamdan Qarmat, who thereafter headed the breakaway Qarmatian Isma'ili faction in Iraq and Bahrayn. The Qarmatian leader Zakarawayh ibn Mihrawayh led the Qarmatian revolts in Iraq and Syria (902–907). The Qarmatians razed Salamiyah in 903, massacring its inhabitants, though Abdallah al-Mahdi had left the city the year before and went on to establish the Fatimid Caliphate. The Abbasids suppressed the Qarmatian revolt near Salamiyah in late 903.

Throughout the 10th century, Salamiyah was likely an abode for the nomadic Arab tribes of the Syrian Desert. It was captured by the Fatimid general Ali ibn Ja'far ibn Fallah in 1009. Ali ibn Ja'far was the original builder of the mausoleum in Salamiyah dedicated to Abdallah (the descendant of Ja'far al-Sadiq). In 1083 or 1084 the place was taken over by the Arab brigand Khalaf ibn Mula'ib, who had already been in possession of Homs and recognized Fatimid suzerainty. An inscription dating to 1088 on the door beam of the former mausoleum credits Khalaf for rebuilding it.

In 1092 Khalaf lost his territories, including Salamiyah, to Tutush, the brother of the Seljuk sultan Malikshah, and after Tutush's death in 1095, to his son Ridwan. The town, which during this period was unfortified, remained administratively attached to Homs and was on several occasions used as a marshaling point by Muslim armies campaigning against the Crusader states and Byzantine Empire. The Seljuk atabeg and founder of the Zengid dynasty, Imad al-Din Zengi, mobilized his troops in Salamiyah for his campaign against the Byzantines at Shaizar in 1137–1138.