The name of Damascus first appeared in the geographical list of Thutmose III as

𓍘𓍘𓍘𓍘𓍘/𓍘𓍘𓍘𓍘𓍘 T-m-ś-q in the 15th century BC.[8] The etymology of the ancient name "T-m-ś-q"
is uncertain. It is attested as 𓍘𓍘 Imerišú in Akkadian, 𓍘𓍘𓍘𓍘 T-m-ś-q in Egyptian, Dammaśq (
‫ )דמשק‬in Old Aramaic and Dammeśeq (‫ )דמשק‬in Biblical Hebrew. A number of Akkadian spellings
are found in the Amarna letters, from the 14th century BC: 𓍘𓍘𓍘 Dimasqa, 𓍘𓍘𓍘𓍘 Dimàsqì, and
𓍘𓍘𓍘𓍘 Dimàsqa. Later Aramaic spellings of the name often include an intrusive resh (letter r),
perhaps influenced by the root dr, meaning "dwelling". Thus, the English and Latin name of the
city is "Damascus" which was imported from (Greek: Δαμασκός) originated from
"the Qumranic Darmeśeq (‫)דרמשק‬, and Darmsûq (‫ )ܕܪܡܣܘܩ‬in Syriac[9][10]", meaning "a well-watered
land".[11] In Arabic, the city is called Dimašqu š-Šāmi (‫)دمشق الشام‬, although this is often shortened to
either Dimašq or aš-Šām by the citizens of Damascus, of Syria and other Arab neighbors and
Turkey (as Şam). Aš-Šām is an Arabic term for "Levant" and for "Syria"; the latter, and particularly
the historical region of Syria, is called Bilādu š-Šāmi (‫ بلد الشام‬/ "land of the Levant").
Historically, Baalshamin or Ba'al Šamem (Aramaic: ‫ܒܥܠ ܫܡܝܢ‬, romanized: Lord of Heaven(s)),[12]
[13]
was a Semitic sky-god in Canaan/Phoenicia and ancient Palmyra.[14][15] Hence, Sham refers to
(heaven or sky).

Geography[edit]

Damascus in spring seen from Spot satellite

Mount Qasioun overlooking the city

Damascus was built in a strategic site on a plateau 680 m (2,230 ft) above sea leveland about
80 km (50 mi) inland from the Mediterranean, sheltered by the Anti-Lebanon mountains, supplied
with water by the Barada River, and at a crossroads between trade routes: the north-south route
connecting Egypt with Asia Minor, and the east-west cross-desert route connecting Lebanon with
the Euphrates river valley. The Anti-Lebanon mountains mark the border between Syria and
Lebanon. The range has peaks of over 10,000 ft. and blocks precipitation from the Mediterranean
sea, so that the region of Damascus is sometimes subject to droughts. However, in ancient times
this was mitigated by the Barada River, which originates from mountain streams fed by melting
snow. Damascus is surrounded by the Ghouta, irrigated farmland where many vegetables,
cereals and fruits have been farmed since ancient times. Maps of Roman Syria indicate that the
Barada river emptied into a lake of some size east of Damascus. Today it is called Bahira Atayba,
the hesitant lake, because in years of severe drought it does not even exist. [16]
The modern city has an area of 105 km2 (41 sq mi), out of which 77 km2 (30 sq mi) is urban,
while Jabal Qasioun occupies the rest.[17]

One of the rare periods the Barada river is high, seen here next to the Four Seasons hotel in downtown
Damascus

The old city of Damascus, enclosed by the city walls, lies on the south bank of the
river Barada which is almost dry (3 cm (1 in) left). To the south-east, north and north-east it is
surrounded by suburban areas whose history stretches back to the Middle Ages: Midan in the
south-west, Sarouja and Imara in the north and north-west. These neighborhoods originally arose
on roads leading out of the city, near the tombs of religious figures. In the 19th century outlying
villages developed on the slopes of Jabal Qasioun, overlooking the city, already the site of the al-
Salihiyah neighborhood centered on the important shrine of medieval Andalusian Sheikh and
philosopher Ibn Arabi. These new neighborhoods were initially settled by Kurdish soldiery and
Muslim refugees from the European regions of the Ottoman Empire which had fallen under
Christian rule. Thus they were known as al-Akrad (the Kurds)and al-Muhajirin (the migrants).
They lay 2–3 km (1–2 mi) north of the old city.
From the late 19th century on, a modern administrative and commercial center began to spring
up to the west of the old city, around the Barada, centered on the area known as al-Marjeh or the
meadow. Al-Marjeh soon became the name of what was initially the central square of modern
Damascus, with the city hall in it. The courts of justice, post office and railway station stood on
higher ground slightly to the south. A Europeanized residential quarter soon began to be built on
the road leading between al-Marjeh and al-Salihiyah. The commercial and administrative center
of the new city gradually shifted northwards slightly towards this area.

Municipalities of Damascus

In the 20th century, newer suburbs developed north of the Barada, and to some extent to the
south, invading the Ghouta oasis.[citation needed] In 1956–1957 the new neighborhood
of Yarmouk became a second home to thousands of Palestinian refugees. [18] City planners
preferred to preserve the Ghouta as far as possible, and in the later 20th century some of the
main areas of development were to the north, in the western Mezzeh neighborhood and most
recently along the Barada valley in Dummar in the north west and on the slopes of the mountains
at Berze in the north-east. Poorer areas, often built without official approval, have mostly
developed south of the main city.
Damascus used to be surrounded by an oasis, the Ghouta region (‫ الغوطة‬al-ġūṭä), watered by the
Barada river. The Fijeh spring, west along the Barada valley, used to provide the city with drinking
water and various sources to the west are tapped by water contractors. The flow of the Barada
has reduced with the rapid expansion of housing and industry in the city and it is almost dry. The
lower aquifers are polluted by city's runoff from heavily used roads, industry and sewage.

Climate[edit]
Damascus has a cold desert climate (BWk) in the Köppen-Geiger system,[19] due to the rain
shadow effect of the Anti-Lebanon mountains[20] and the prevailing ocean currents. Summers are
dry and hot with less humidity. Winters are cool and somewhat rainy; snowfall is infrequent.
Annual rainfall is around 130 mm (5 in), occurring from October to May.

hideClimate data for Damascus (Damascus International Airport) 1981–2010

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
24.0 29.0 34.4 38.4 41.0 44.8 46.0 44.6 42.0 37.8 31.0 25.1 46.0
Record high °C
(75.2 (84.2 (93.9 (101.1 (105.8 (112.6 (114.8 (112.3 (107.6 (100.0 (87.8 (77.2 (114.8
(°F)
) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )
12.6 14.5 19.0 20.1 14.3
Average high °C 24.7 30.1 34.6 37.0 36.8 33.9 28.1 25.5
(54.7 (58.1 (66.2 (68.2 (57.7
(°F) (76.5) (86.2) (94.3) (98.6) (98.2) (93.0) (82.6) (77.9)
) ) ) ) )
6.1 7.7 11.4 12.1 7.5
Daily mean °C 16.2 20.8 25.0 27.3 27.0 24.0 19.0 17.0
(43.0 (45.9 (52.5 (53.8 (45.5
(°F) (61.2) (69.4) (77.0) (81.1) (80.6) (75.2) (66.2) (62.6)
) ) ) ) )
0.7 1.9 4.3 4.8 1.7
Average low °C 7.9 11.4 15.0 17.9 17.7 14.4 10.3 9.0
(33.3 (35.4 (39.7 (40.6 (35.1
(°F) (46.2) (52.5) (59.0) (64.2) (63.9) (57.9) (50.5) (48.2)
) ) ) ) )
−12.2 −10.2
Record low °C −12 −8 −7.5 0.6 4.5 9.0 8.6 2.1 −3.0 −8 −12.2
(10.0 (13.6
(°F) (10) (18) (18.5) (33.1) (40.1) (48.2) (47.5) (35.8) (26.6) (18) (10.0)
) )
Average precipit
25 26 20 7 4 1 0 0 0 6 21 21 131
ation mm
(1.0) (1.0) (0.8) (0.3) (0.2) (0.0) (0) (0) (0) (0.2) (0.8) (0.8) (5.1)
(inches)
Average
precipitation 8 8 6 3 2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.2 3 5 7 42.5
days
Average snowy
1 1 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.2 2.3
days
Average relative
76 69 59 50 43 41 44 48 47 52 63 75 56
humidity (%)
Mean
3,164.
monthly sunshin 164.3 182.0 226.3 249.0 322.4 357.0 365.8 353.4 306.0 266.6 207.0 164.3
1
e hours
 Mean
daily sunshine 5.3 6.5 7.3 8.3 10.4 11.9 11.8 11.4 10.2 8.6 6.9 5.3 8.5
hours
Source #1: Pogoda.ru.net[21]
Source #2: NOAA (sunshine hours, 1961–1990)[22]

History[edit]
See also: Timeline of Damascus

Early settlement[edit]
Carbon-14 dating at Tell Ramad, on the outskirts of Damascus, suggests that the site may have
been occupied since the second half of the seventh millennium BC, possibly around 6300 BC.
[23]
However, evidence of settlement in the wider Barada basin dating back to 9000 BC exists,
although no large-scale settlement was present within Damascus walls until the second
millennium BC.[24]
Some of the earliest Egyptian records are from the 1350 BC Amarna letters, when Damascus
(called Dimasqu) was ruled by king Biryawaza. The Damascus region, as well as the rest of
Syria, became a battleground circa 1260 BC, between the Hittites from the north and
the Egyptians from the south,[25] ending with a signed treaty between Hattusiliand Ramesses
II where the former handed over control of the Damascus area to Ramesses II in 1259 BC. [25] The
arrival of the Sea Peoples, around 1200 BC, marked the end of the Bronze Age in the region and
brought about new development of warfare. [26] Damascus was only a peripheral part of this
picture, which mostly affected the larger population centers of ancient Syria. However, these
events contributed to the development of Damascus as a new influential center that emerged with
the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age.[26]
Damascus is mentioned in Genesis 14:15 as existing at the time of the War of the Kings.
[27]
According to the 1st-century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus in his twenty-one
volume Antiquities of the Jews, Damascus (along with Trachonitis), was founded by Uz, the son
of Aram.[28] In Antiquities i. 7,[29] Josephus reports:
Nicolaus of Damascus, in the fourth book of his History, says thus: "Abraham reigned at
Damascus, being a foreigner, who came with an army out of the land above Babylon, called the
land of the Chaldeans: but, after a long time, he got him up, and removed from that country also,
with his people, and went into the land then called the land of Canaan, but now the land of Judea,
and this when his posterity were become a multitude; as to which posterity of his, we relate their
history in another work. Now the name of Abraham is even still famous in the country of
Damascus; and there is shown a village named from him, The Habitation of Abraham.

Aram-Damascus[edit]
Main article: Aram-Damascus
Annotated view of Damascus and surroundings from space. [30]

Damascus is first documented as an important city during the arrival of the Aramaeans, a Semitic
people from Mesopotamia, in the 11th century BC. By the start of the first millennium BC, several
Aramaic kingdoms were formed, as Aramaeans abandoned their nomadic lifestyle and formed
federated tribal states. One of these kingdoms was Aram-Damascus, centered on its capital
Damascus.[31] The Aramaeans who entered the city without battle, adopted the name "Dimashqu"
for their new home. Noticing the agricultural potential of the still-undeveloped and sparsely
populated area,[32]they established the water distribution system of Damascus by constructing
canals and tunnels which maximized the efficiency of the river Barada. The same network was
later improved by the Romans and the Umayyads, and still forms the basis of the water system of
the old part of the city today.[33] The Aramaeans initially turned Damascus into an outpost of a
loose federation of Aramaean tribes, known as Aram-Zobah, based in the Beqaa Valley.[32]
The city would gain pre-eminence in southern Syria when Ezron, the claimant to Aram-Zobah's
throne who was denied kingship of the federation, fled Beqaa and captured Damascus by force in
965 BC. Ezron overthrew the city's tribal governor and founded the independent entity of Aram-
Damascus. As this new state expanded south, it prevented the Kingdom of Israel from spreading
north and the two kingdoms soon clashed as they both sought to dominate trading hegemony in
the east.[32] Under Ezron's grandson, Ben-Hadad I (880–841 BC), and his successor Hazael,
Damascus annexed Bashan (modern-day Hauran region), and went on the offensive with Israel.
This conflict continued until the early 8th century BC when Ben-Hadad II was captured by Israel
after unsuccessfully besieging Samaria. As a result, he granted Israel trading rights in Damascus.
[34]

Another possible reason for the treaty between Aram-Damascus and Israel was the common
threat of the Neo-Assyrian Empire which was attempting to expand into the Mediterranean coast.
In 853 BC, King Hadadezer of Damascus led a Levantine coalition, that included forces from the
northern Aram-Hamath kingdom and troops supplied by King Ahab of Israel, in the Battle of
Qarqar against the Neo-Assyrian army. Aram-Damascus came out victorious, temporarily
preventing the Assyrians from encroaching into Syria. However, after Hadadzezer was killed by
his successor, Hazael, the Levantine alliance collapsed. Aram-Damascus attempted to invade
Israel, but was interrupted by the renewed Assyrian invasion. Hazael ordered a retreat to the
walled part of Damascus while the Assyrians plundered the remainder of the kingdom. Unable to
enter the city, they declared their supremacy in the Hauran and Beqa'a valleys. [34]
By the 8th century BC, Damascus was practically engulfed by the Assyrians and entered a dark
age. Nonetheless, it remained the economic and cultural center of the Near East as well as the
Arameaen resistance. In 727, a revolt took place in the city, but was put down by Assyrian forces.
After Assyria led by Tiglath-Pileser III went on a wide-scale campaign of quelling revolts
throughout Syria, Damascus became totally subjugated by their rule. A positive effect of this was
stability for the city and benefits from the spice and incense trade with Arabia. However, Assyrian
authority was dwindling by 609–605 BC, and Syria-Palestine was falling into the orbit of
Pharaoh Necho II's Egypt. In 572 BC, all of Syria had been conquered by the Neo-Babylonians,
but the status of Damascus under Babylon is relatively unknown.[35]

Greco-Roman period[edit]

Ruins of the Jupiter Temple at the entrance of Al-Hamidiyah Souq

Damascus was conquered by Alexander the Great. After the death of Alexander in 323 BC,
Damascus became the site of a struggle between the Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires. The
control of the city passed frequently from one empire to the other. Seleucus I Nicator, one of
Alexander's generals, made Antioch the capital of his vast empire, which led to the decline of
Damascus' importance compared with new Seleucid cities such as Latakia in the north. Later,
Demetrius III Philopator rebuilt the city according to the Greek hippodamian system and renamed
it "Demetrias".[36]

The Biblical Street called Straight of Damascus

In 64 BC, the Roman general Pompey annexed the western part of Syria. The Romans occupied
Damascus and subsequently incorporated it into the league of ten cities known as
the Decapolis[37] which themselves were incorporated into the province of Syria and granted
autonomy.[38]
The city of Damascus was entirely redesigned by the Romans after Pompey conquered the
region. Still today the Old Town of Damascus retains the rectangular shape of the Roman city,
with its two main axes: the Decumanus Maximus (east-west; known today as the Via Recta) and
the Cardo (north-south), the Decumanus being about twice as long. The Romans built a
monumental gate which still survives at the eastern end of Decumanus Maximus. The gate
originally had three arches: the central arch was for chariots while the side arches were for
pedestrians.[16]

Remnants of ancient Damascus

In 23 BC Herod the Great was gifted lands controlled by Zenodorus by Caesar Augustus[39]and
some scholars believe that Herod was also granted control of Damascus as well. [40] The control of
Damascus reverted to Syria either upon the death of Herod the Great or was part of the lands
given to Herod Philip which were given to Syria with his death in 33/34 AD.
It is speculated that control of Damascus was gained by Aretas IV
Philopatris of Nabatea between the death of Herod Philip in 33/34 AD and the death of Aretas in
40 AD but there is substantial evidence against Aretas controlling the city before 37 AD and many
reasons why it could not have been a gift from Caligula between 37 and 40 AD. [41][42] In fact, all
these theories stem not from any actual evidence outside the New Testament but rather "a certain
understanding of 2 Corinthians 11:32" and in reality "neither from archaeological evidence,
secular-historical sources, nor New Testament texts can Nabatean sovereignty over Damascus in
the first century AD be proven." [43]
Damascus became a metropolis by the beginning of the 2nd century and in 222 it was upgraded
to a colonia by the Emperor Septimius Severus. During the Pax Romana, Damascus and the
Roman province of Syria in general began to prosper. Damascus's importance as a caravan
city was evident with the trade routes from southern Arabia, Palmyra, Petra, and the silk routes
from China all converging on it. The city satisfied the Roman demands for eastern luxuries. Circa
125 CE the Roman emperor Hadrian promoted the city of Damascus to "Metropolis of Coele-
Syria".[44][45]
Little remains of the architecture of the Romans, but the town planning of the old city did have a
lasting effect. The Roman architects brought together the Greek and Aramaean foundations of
the city and fused them into a new layout measuring approximately 1,500 by 750 m (4,920 by
2,460 ft), surrounded by a city wall. The city wall contained seven gates, but only the eastern gate
(Bab Sharqi) remains from the Roman period. Roman Damascus lies mostly at depths of up to
five meters (16.4 ft) below the modern city.
The old borough of Bab Tuma was developed at the end of the Roman/Byzantine era by the
local Eastern Orthodox community. According to the Acts of the Apostles, Saint Paul and Saint
Thomas both lived in that neighborhood. Roman Catholic historians also consider Bab Tuma to
be the birthplace of several Popes such as John V and Gregory III.

Early Islamic Arab period[edit]

Muhammad's first indirect interaction with the people of Damascus was when he sent Shiya bin
Wahab to Haris bin Ghasanni, the king of Damascus. In his letter, Muhammad stated: "Peace be
upon him who follows true guidance. Be informed that my religion shall prevail everywhere. You
should accept Islam, and whatever under your command shall remain yours."[46][47]

Courtyard of the Umayyad Mosque

After most of the Syrian countryside was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate during the reign
of Caliph Umar, Damascus itself was conquered by the Muslim-Arab general Khalid ibn al-
Walid in August - September 634 AD. His army had previously attempted to capture the city in
April 634, but without success.[48] With Damascus now in Muslim-Arab hands, the Byzantines,
alarmed at the loss of their most prestigious city in the Near East, had decided to wrest back
control of it. Under Emperor Heraclius, the Byzantines fielded an army superior to that of the
Rashidun in manpower. They advanced into southern Syria during the spring of 636 and
consequently Khalid ibn al-Walid's forces withdrew from Damascus to prepare for renewed
confrontation.[49] In August, the two sides met along the Yarmouk River where they a fought
a major battle which ended in a decisive Muslim victory, solidifying Muslim rule in Syria and
Palestine.[50]
View of Damascus with the Umayyad Mosque in center

While the Muslims administered the city, the population of Damascus remained mostly Christian
—Eastern Orthodox and Monophysite—with a growing community
of Muslims from Mecca, Medina, and the Syrian Desert.[51] The governor assigned to the city
which had been chosen as the capital of Islamic Syriawas Mu'awiya I. After the death of
Caliph Ali in 661, Mu'awiya was chosen as the caliph of the expanding Islamic empire. Because
of the vast amounts of assets his clan, the Umayyads, owned in the city and because of its
traditional economic and social links with the Hijaz as well as the Christian Arab tribes of the
region, Mu'awiya established Damascus as the capital of the entire Caliphate.[52] With the
ascension of Caliph Abd al-Malik in 685, an Islamic coinage system was introduced and all of the
surplus revenue of the Caliphate's provinces were forwarded to the treasury of
Damascus. Arabic was also established as the official language, giving the Muslim minority of the
city an advantage over the Aramaic-speaking Christians in administrative affairs. [53] It is critical to
note that, at the time Damascus was conquered by the Muslims, the majority of Arabs were either
pagans or Christians. Damascus itself was predominantly Aramaic with Arab speaking people.
[clarification needed]

Abd al-Malik's successor, al-Walid initiated construction of the Grand Mosque of

Damascus (known as the Umayyad Mosque) in 706. The site originally had been the Christian
Cathedral of St. John and the Muslims maintained the building's dedication to John the Baptist.
[54]
By 715, the mosque was complete. Al-Walid died that same year and he was succeeded at first
by Suleiman ibn Abd al-Malik and then by Umar II, who each ruled for brief periods before the
reign of Hisham in 724. With these successions, the status of Damascus was gradually
weakening as Suleiman had chosen Ramla as his residence and later Hisham chose Resafa.
Following the murder of the latter in 743, the Caliphate of the Umayyads—which by then
stretched from Spain to India— was crumbling as a result of widespread revolts. During the reign
of Marwan II in 744, the capital of the empire was relocated to Harran in the
northern Jazira region.[55]

The dome of Damascus' treasury in the Umayyad Mosque

On 25 August 750, the Abbasids, having already beaten the Umayyads in the Battle of the Zab in
Iraq, conquered Damascus after facing little resistance. With the heralding of the Abbasid
Caliphate, Damascus became eclipsed and subordinated by Baghdad, the new Islamic capital.
Within the first six months of Abbasid rule, revolts began erupting in the city, albeit too isolated
and unfocused to present a viable threat. Nonetheless, the last of the prominent Umayyads were
executed, the traditional officials of Damascus ostracised, and army generals from the city were
dismissed. Afterwards, the Umayyad family cemetery was desecrated and the city walls were torn
down, reducing Damascus into a provincial town of little importance. It roughly disappeared from
written records for the next century and the only significant improvement of the city was the
Abbasid-built treasury dome in the Umayyad Mosque in 789. In 811, distant remnants of the
Umayyad dynasty staged a strong uprising in Damascus that was eventually put down. [56]
Ahmad ibn Tulun, a dissenting Turkish governor appointed by the Abbasids, conquered Syria,
including Damascus, from his overlords in 878-79. In an act of respect for the previous Umayyad
rulers, he erected a shrine on the site of Mu'awiya's grave in the city. Tulunidrule of Damascus
was brief, lasting only until 906 before being replaced by the Qarmatians who were adherents
of Shia Islam. Due to their inability to control the vast amount of land they occupied, the
Qarmatians withdrew from Damascus and a new dynasty, the Ikhshidids, took control of the city.
They maintained the independence of Damascus from the Arab Hamdanid dynasty of Aleppo and
the Baghdad-based Abbasids until 967. A period of instability in the city followed, with a
Qarmatian raid in 968, a Byzantine raid in 970, and increasing pressures from the Fatimids in the
south and the Hamdanids in the north. [57]

Damascus was the capital of the Umayyad caliphate, which extended from Portugal to India

The Shia Fatimids gained control in 970, inflaming hostilities between them and the Sunni Arabs
of the city who frequently revolted. A Turk, Alptakin drove out the Fatimids five years later, and
through diplomacy, prevented the Byzantines from attempting to annex the city. However, by 977,
the Fatimids under Caliph al-Aziz, wrested back control of the city and tamed Sunni dissidents.
The Arab geographer, al-Muqaddasi, visited Damascus in 985, remarking that the architecture
and infrastructure of the city was "magnificent", but living conditions were awful. Under al-Aziz,
the city saw a brief period of stability that ended with the reign of al-Hakim (996–1021). In 998,
hundreds of Damascus' citizens were rounded up and executed by him for incitement. Three
years after al-Hakim's mysterious disappearance, the Arab tribes of southern Syria formed an
alliance to stage a massive rebellion against the Fatimids, but they were crushed by the Fatimid
Turkish governor of Syria and Palestine, Anushtakin al-Duzbari, in 1029. This victory gave the
latter mastery over Syria, displeasing his Fatimid overlords, but gaining the admiration of
Damascus' citizens. He was exiled by Fatimid authorities to Aleppo where he died in 1041.
[58]
From that date to 1063, there are no known records of the city's history. By then, Damascus
lacked a city administration, had an enfeebled economy, and a greatly reduced population. [59]

Seljuq and Ayyubid periods[edit]

With the arrival of the Seljuq Turks in the late 11th century, Damascus again became the capital
of independent states. It was ruled by Abu Sa'id Taj ad-Dawla Tutush I starting in 1079 and he
was succeeded by his son Abu Nasr Duqaq in 1095. The Seljuqs established a court in
Damascus and a systematic reversal of Shia inroads in the city. The city also saw an expansion
of religious life through private endowments financing religious institutions (madrasas) and
hospitals (maristans). Damascus soon became one of the most important centers of propagating
Islamic thought in the Muslim world. After Duqaq's death in 1104, his mentor (atabeg), Toghtekin,
took control of Damascus and the Burid line of the Seljuq dynasty. Under Duqaq and Toghtekin,
Damascus experienced stability, elevated status and a revived role in commerce. In addition, the
city's Sunni majority enjoyed being a part of the larger Sunni framework effectively governed by
various Turkic dynasties who in turn were under the moral authority of the Baghdad-based
Abbasids.[60]
While the rulers of Damascus were preoccupied in conflict with their fellow Seljuqs in Aleppo
and Diyarbakir, the Crusaders, who arrived in the Levant in 1097, conquered Jerusalem, Mount
Lebanon and Palestine. Duqaq seemed to have been content with Crusader rule as a buffer
between his dominion and the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. Toghtekin, however, saw the Western
invaders as a viable threat to Damascus which, at the time, nominally included Homs, the Beqaa
Valley, Hauran, and the Golan Heights as part of its territories. With military support from Sharaf
al-Din Mawdud of Mosul, Toghtekin managed to halt Crusader raids in the Golan and Hauran.
Mawdud was assassinated in the Umayyad Mosque in 1109, depriving Damascus of northern
Muslim backing and forcing Toghtekin to agree to a truce with the Crusaders in 1110. [61]

The dome of the mausoleum of Nur ad-Din

Following Tughtakin's death in 1128, his son, Taj al-Din Buri, became the nominal ruler of
Damascus. Coincidentally, the Seljuq prince of Mosul, Imad al-Din Zengi, took power in Aleppo
and gained a mandate from the Abbasids to extend his authority to Damascus. In 1129, around
6,000 Isma'ili Muslims were killed in the city along with their leaders. The Sunnis were provoked
by rumors alleging there was a plot by the Isma'ilis, who controlled the strategic fort at Banias, to
aid the Crusaders in capturing Damascus in return for control of Tyre. Soon after the massacre,
the Crusaders aimed to take advantage of the unstable situation and launch an assault against
Damascus with nearly 60,000 troops. However, Buri allied with Zengi and managed to prevent
their army from reaching the city.[62] Buri was assassinated by Isma'ili agents in 1132; he was
succeeded by his son, Shams al-Mulk Isma'il who ruled tyrannically until he himself was
murdered in 1135 on secret orders from his mother, Safwat al-Mulk Zumurrud; Isma'il's brother,
Shihab al-Din Mahmud, replaced him. Meanwhile, Zengi, intent on putting Damascus under his
control, married Safwat al-Mulk in 1138. Mahmud's reign then ended in 1139 after he was killed
for relatively unknown reasons by members of his family. Mu'in al-Din Unur, his mamluk ("slave
soldier") took effective power of the city, prompting Zengi—with Safwat al-Mulk's backing—to lay
siege against Damascus the same year. In response, Damascus allied with the
Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem to resist Zengi's forces. Consequently, Zengi withdrew his army
and focused on campaigns against northern Syria. [63]
In 1144 Zengi conquered Edessa, a crusader stronghold, which led to a new crusade from
Europe in 1148. In the meantime Zengi was assassinated and his territory was divided among his
sons, one of whom, Nur ad-Din, emir of Aleppo, made an alliance with Damascus. When the
European crusaders arrived, they and the nobles of Jerusalem agreed to attack Damascus. Their
siege, however, was a complete failure. When the city seemed to be on the verge of collapse, the
crusader army suddenly moved against another section of the walls, and were driven back. By
1154, Damascus was firmly under Nur ad-Din's control. [64]
In 1164, King Amalric of Jerusalem invaded Fatimid Egypt, which requested help from Nur ad-
Din. The Nur ad-Din sent his general Shirkuh, and in 1166 Amalric was defeated at the Battle of
al-Babein. When Shirkuh died in 1169, he was succeeded by his nephew Yusuf, better known
as Saladin, who defeated a joint crusader-Byzantine siege of Damietta.[65] Saladin eventually
overthrew the Fatimid caliphs and established himself as Sultan of Egypt. He also began to
assert his independence from Nur ad-Din, and with the death of both Amalric and Nur ad-Din in
1174, he was well-placed to begin exerting control over Damascus and Nur ad-Din's other Syrian
possessions.[66] In 1177 Saladin was defeated by the crusaders at the Battle of Montgisard,
despite his numerical superiority.[67] Saladin also besieged Kerak in 1183, but was forced to
withdraw. He finally launched a full invasion of Jerusalem in 1187, and annihilated the crusader
army at the Battle of Hattin in July. Acre fell to Saladin soon after, and Jerusalem itself was
capturedin October. These events shocked Europe, resulting in the Third Crusade in 1189, led
by Richard I of England, Philip II of France and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor, though the last
drowned en route.[68]
The surviving crusaders, joined by new arrivals from Europe, put Acre to a lengthy siege which
lasted until 1191. After re-capturing Acre, Richard defeated Saladin at the Battle of Arsuf in 1191
and the Battle of Jaffa in 1192, recovering most of the coast for the Christians, but could not
recover Jerusalem or any of the inland territory of the kingdom. The crusade came to an end
peacefully, with the Treaty of Jaffa in 1192. Saladin allowed pilgrimages to be made to Jerusalem,
allowing the crusaders to fulfil their vows, after which they all returned home. Local crusader
barons set about rebuilding their kingdom from Acre and the other coastal cities. [69]
Saladin died in 1193, and there were frequent conflicts between different Ayyubid sultans ruling in
Damascus and Cairo. Damascus was the capital of independent Ayyubid rulers between 1193
and 1201, from 1218 to 1238, from 1239 to 1245, and from 1250 to 1260. At other times it was
ruled by the Ayyubid rulers of Egypt.[citation needed] During the internecine wars fought by the Ayyubid
rulers, Damascus was besieged repeatedly.[70]
The patterned Byzantine and Chinese silks available through Damascus, one of the Western
termini of the Silk Road, gave the English language "damask".[citation needed]

Mamluk period[edit]
Ayyubid rule (and independence) came to an end with the Mongol invasion of Syria in 1260, and
following the Mongol defeat at Ain Jalut in the same year, Damascus became a provincial capital
of the Mamluk Empire, ruled from Egypt, following the Mongol withdrawal. The Black Death of
1348–1349 killed as much as half of the city's population. [71]
In 1400 Timur, the Turco-Mongol conqueror, besieged Damascus. The Mamluk sultan dispatched
a deputation from Cairo, including Ibn Khaldun, who negotiated with him, but after their
withdrawal Timur sacked the city. The Umayyad Mosque was burnt and men and women taken
into slavery. A huge number of the city's artisans were taken to Timur's capital at Samarkand.
These were the luckier citizens: many were slaughtered and their heads piled up in a field outside
the north-east corner of the walls, where a city square still bears the name burj al-ru'us, originally
"the tower of heads".
Rebuilt, Damascus continued to serve as a Mamluk provincial capital until 1516.

Ottoman period[edit]
See also: Damascus Eyalet and Syria Vilayet

Tekkiye Mosque

In early 1516, the Ottoman Turks, wary of the danger of an alliance between the Mamluks and the
Persian Safavids, started a campaign of conquest against the Mamluk sultanate. On 21
September, the Mamluk governor of Damascus fled the city, and on 2 October the khutba in the
Umayyad mosque was pronounced in the name of Selim I. The day after, the victorious sultan
entered the city, staying for three months. On 15 December, he left Damascus by Bab al-Jabiya,
intent on the conquest of Egypt. Little appeared to have changed in the city: one army had simply
replaced another. However, on his return in October 1517, the sultan ordered the construction of
a mosque, tekkiye and mausoleum at the shrine of Shaikh Muhi al-Din ibn Arabi in al-Salihiyah.
This was to be the first of Damascus' great Ottoman monuments. During this time, according to
an Ottoman census, Damascus had 10,423 households. [72]

Photograph of the Christian quarter of Damascus after its destruction in 1860

The Ottomans remained for the next 400 years, except for a brief occupation by Ibrahim Pasha of
Egypt from 1832 to 1840. Because of its importance as the point of departure for one of the two
great Hajj caravans to Mecca, Damascus was treated with more attention by the Porte than its
size might have warranted—for most of this period, Aleppo was more populous and commercially
more important. In 1560 the Tekkiye al-Sulaimaniyah, a mosque and khan for pilgrims on the road
to Mecca, was completed to a design by the famous Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan, and soon
afterwards a madrasawas built adjoining it.
Under Ottoman rule, Christians and Jews were considered dhimmis and were allowed to practice
their religious precepts. During the Damascus affair of 1840 the false accusation of ritual
murder was brought against members of the Jewish community of Damascus. The massacre of
Christians in 1860 was also one of the most notorious incidents of these centuries, when fighting
between Druze and Maronites in Mount Lebanon spilled over into the city. Several thousand
Christians were killed in June 1860, with many more being saved through the intervention of the
Algerian exile Abd al-Qadir and his soldiers (three days after the massacre started), who brought
them to safety in Abd al-Qadir's residence and the citadel. The Christian quarter of the old city
(mostly inhabited by Catholics), including a number of churches, was burnt down. The Christian
inhabitants of the notoriously poor and refractory Midan district outside the walls (mostly
Orthodox) were, however, protected by their Muslim neighbors.
American Missionary E.C. Miller records that in 1867 the population of the city was 'about'
140,000, of whom 30,000 were Christians, 10,000 Jews and 100,000 'Mohammedans' with fewer
than 100 Protestant Christians.[73]

Modern period[edit]
See also: French Mandate of Syria and the Lebanon
The Turkish Hospital in Damascus on 1 October 1918, shortly after the entry of the Australian 4th Light
Horse Regiment

In the early years of the 20th century, nationalist sentiment in Damascus, initially cultural in its
interest, began to take a political coloring, largely in reaction to the turkicisation program of
the Committee of Union and Progress government established in Istanbul in 1908. The hanging
of a number of patriotic intellectuals by Jamal Pasha, governor of Damascus, in Beirut and
Damascus in 1915 and 1916 further stoked nationalist feeling, and in 1918, as the forces of
the Arab Revolt and the British Imperial forces approached, residents fired on the retreating
Turkish troops.

King Faisal of Syria and T.E. Lawrence in Damascus during World War I, 1918.

On 1 October 1918, T. E. Lawrence entered Damascus, the third arrival of the day, the first being
the Australian 3rd Light Horse Brigade, led by Major A.C.N. 'Harry' Olden.[74] Two days later, 3
October 1918, the forces of the Arab revolt led by Prince Faysal also entered Damascus.[75] A
military government under Shukri Pasha was named and Faisal ibn Husseinwas proclaimed king
of Syria. Political tension rose in November 1917, when the new Bolshevik government in Russia
revealed the Sykes-Picot Agreement whereby Britain and France had arranged to partition the
Arab east between them. A new Franco-British proclamation on 17 November promised the
"complete and definitive freeing of the peoples so long oppressed by the Turks." The Syrian
National Congress in March adopted a democratic constitution. However, the Versailles
Conference had granted France a mandate over Syria, and in 1920 a French army commanded
by the General Mariano Goybet crossed the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, defeated a small Syrian
defensive expedition at the Battle of Maysalun and entered Damascus. The French made
Damascus capital of their League of Nations Mandate for Syria.

The Damascus Opera House, opened in 2004

When in 1925 the Great Syrian Revolt in the Hauran spread to Damascus, the French
suppressed with heavy weaponry, bombing and shelling the city on 9 May 1926. As a result, the
area of the old city between Al-Hamidiyah Souq and Medhat Pasha Souq was burned to the
ground, with many deaths, and has since then been known as al-Hariqa("the fire"). The old city
was surrounded with barbed wire to prevent rebels infiltrating from the Ghouta, and a new road
was built outside the northern ramparts to facilitate the movement of armored cars.
On 21 June 1941, 3 weeks into the Allied Syria-Lebanon campaign, Damascus was
captured from the Vichy French forces by a mixed British Indian and Free French force. The
French agreed to withdraw in 1946, thus leading to the full independence of Syria. Damascus
remained the capital.
By January 2012, clashes between the regular army and rebels reached the outskirts of
Damascus, reportedly preventing people from leaving or reaching their houses, especially when
security operations there intensified from the end of January into February. [76]
By June 2012, bullets and shrapnel shells smashed into homes in Damascus overnight as troops
battled the Free Syrian Army in the streets. At least three tank shells slammed into residential
areas in the central Damascus neighborhood of Qaboun, according to activists. Intense
exchanges of assault-rifle fire marked the clash, according to residents and amateur video posted
online.[77]
The Damascus suburb of Ghouta suffered heavy bombing in December 2017 and a further wave
of bombing started in February 2018, also known as Rif Dimashq Offensive.
On 20 May 2018, Damascus and the entire Rif Dimashq Governorate became fully under
Government control for the first time in 7 years after the evacuation of IS from Yarmouk Camp.[78]

Economy[edit]

The Four Seasons Hotel

The historical role that Damascus played as an important trade center has changed in recent
years due to political development in the region as well as the development of modern trade.
[79]
Most goods produced in Damascus, as well as in Syria, are distributed to countries of the
Arabian peninsula.[79] Damascus has also held an annual international trade exposition every fall,
since 1954.[80]
The tourism industry in Damascus has a lot of potential, however the current civil war has
hampered these prospects. The abundance of cultural wealth in Damascus has been modestly
employed since the late 1980s with the development of many accommodation and transportation
establishments and other related investments.[79] Since the early 2000s, numerous boutique hotels
and bustling cafes opened in the old city which attract plenty of European tourists and
Damascenes alike.[81]
In 2009 new office space was built and became available on the real estate market. [82] The real-
estate sector is stopped due to the terrorism and exodus of the population.
Damascus is home to a wide range of industrial activity, such as textile, food processing, cement
and various chemical industries.[79] The majority of factories are run by the state, however
limited privatization in addition to economic activities led by the private sector, were permitted
starting in the early 2000s with the liberalization of trade that took place. [79] Traditional handcrafts
and artisan copper engravings are still produced in the old city.[79]
The Damascus stock exchange formally opened for trade in March 2009, and the exchange is the
only stock exchange in Syria.[83] It is currently located in the Barzeh district, within Syria's financial
markets and securities commission. Its final home is to be the upmarket business district of
Yaafur.[84]

Demographics[edit]

Three Damascene women, 1873: peasant (left), Druze in tantour headdress, and urban lady
wearing qabqab shoes

The estimated population of Damascus in 2011 was 1,711,000. Damascus is the center of an
over-crowded metropolitan area with an estimated population of 5 million. The metropolitan area
of Damascus includes the cities of Douma, Harasta, Darayya, Al-Tall and Jaramana.
The city's growth rate is higher than Syria as a whole, primarily due to rural-urban migration and
the influx of young Syrian migrants drawn by employment and educational opportunities. [85] The
migration of Syrian youths to Damascus has resulted in an average age within the city that is
below the national average.[85] Nonetheless, the population of Damascus is thought to have
decreased in recent years as a result of the ongoing Syrian Civil War.

Ethnicity[edit]
The vast majority of Damascenes are Syrian Arabs. The Kurds are the largest ethnic minority,
with a population of approximately 300,000. [86][better source needed] They reside primarily in the
neighborhoods of Wadi al-Mashari ("Zorava" or "Zore Afa" in Kurdish) and Rukn al-Din.[87][88] Other
minorities include Syrian Turkmen, Armenians, Arameans, Circassians and a small Greek
community.
Among the city's minorities is a small Palestinian community.[85]

Religion[edit]

Patriarch John the Tenth leading mass at the Mariamite Cathedral of Damascus

Islam is the dominant religion. The majority of Muslims are Sunni while Alawites and Twelver
Shi'a comprise sizeable minorities. Alawites live primarily in the Mezzeh districts of Mezzeh 86
and Sumariyah. Twelvers primarily live near the Shia holy sites of Sayyidah
Ruqayya and Sayyidah Zaynab. It is believed that there are more than 200 mosques in
Damascus, the most well-known being the Umayyad Mosque.[89] Christians represent about 15%–
20% of the population.[citation needed] Several Eastern Christian rites have their headquarters in
Damascus, including the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Syriac Catholic Church, and the Greek
Orthodox Church of Antioch. The Christian districts in the city are Bab Tuma, Qassaa and
Ghassani. Each have many churches, most notably the ancient Chapel of Saint Paul and St
Georges Church in Bab Tuma. At the suburb of Soufanieh a series of apparitions of the Virgin
Mary have reportedly been observed between 1982 and 2004. [90] A smaller Druze minority inhabits
the city, notably in the mixed Christian-Druze suburbs of Tadamon,[91] Jaramana,[92] and Sahnaya.
The Patriarchal See of the Syriac Orthodox is based in Damascus, Bab Toma. This church is
independent of the Middle Eastern-based Syriac Orthodox Church in Damascus and has its own
leadership and structure in India, although both practice the same or similar denomination of
Christianity. There are 700,000 members of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch in Syria, who
are the bulk of the Christian Population alongside 400,000 Assyrians/Syriacs and 30-
100,000 Armenians.
There was a small Jewish community namely in what is called Haret al-Yahud the Jewish quarter.
They are the remnants of an ancient and much larger Jewish presence in Syria, dating back at
least to Roman times, if not before to the time of King David. [93]


 

Sufism[edit]
Sufism throughout the second half of the 20th century has been an influential current in the Sunni
religious practises, particularly in Damascus. The largest women-only and girls-only Muslim
movement in the world happens to be Sufi-oriented and is based in Damascus, led by Munira al-
Qubaysi. Syrian Sufism has its stronghold in urban regions such as Damascus, where it also
established political movements such as Zayd, with the help of a series of mosques, and clergy
such as Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi, Sa'id Hawwa, Abd al-Rahman al-Shaghouri and Muhammad al-
Yaqoubi.[94]