Damascus is known to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. There is firm evidence that in the third millennium BC, Damascus was a population center of a civilization that was considerably prosperous and economically influential. The earliest reference to the city was found in the archaeological site of Ebla in 1975; where the word Damaski was found on one of the clay tablets. Some historians believe that the city actually dates back to the seventh millennium BC.
However, there is no knowledge about how Damascus was in the third millennium BC. The documented history of the city starts in the second millennium BC, in the Amorite period, when Damascus became the capital of a small Aramaean principality. Aramaeans spoke a northern Arabian dialect of Arabic, later called Syriac or Aramaic. They originated from the Arabian Peninsula and moved northwards to settle in the Fertile Crescent. The moderate climate and fertile soil of Syria made it an ideal place for the settlement of the Aramaeans. Being a natural oasis irrigated by the River Barada, Damascus became an increasingly important city in the Aramaean Kingdom, as mentioned in the Old Testament. It’s said that city used to be known as Dar Meshq, which stands for a well-watered place.
Threat to the Aramaean kingdoms came from the east, where the Assyrians of Mesopotamia were trying to expand their territory. After several battles, the Assyrian armies managed to reach the Syrian coast and in 841 BC, Damascus was besieged and taken by King Hadad Niari III.
It is most probable that the remains of the Aramaean town lie buried under the eastern part of the old walled city. However, excavation of the area is almost impossible because of the architectural value of the monuments and buildings standing there today. It is believed that the major buildings of the Aramaean era were the Temple of Hadad and the Royal Palace. The Temple was built on the site now occupied by the Great Omayyad Mosque, and was dedicated to Hadad, the god of storm. Ruins believed to have belonged to the Temple were found in 1949 during restorations in the Omayyad Mosque.
Sovereignty over Damascus passed from the Assyrians to the Chaldaeans (Neo-Babylonians) under King Nebuchadnezzar in 572 BC. Babylonian domination came to an end in 538 BC, when Cyrus, King of Persia, took the city and established it as the capital of the Persian province of Syria. The year 333 BC was a turning point in Syria’s history; in this year, the armies of Alexander the Great swept through the near east, marking the start of an age of classical civilization that lasted until 630 AD. It was the first time that Damascus came under western control.
After the break-up of the Macedonian Empire upon the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, Damascus had to face the instability caused by the struggle between the Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires.
Seleucus, Alexander’s successor, made Syria the heart of an empire that included all Asia Minor, up to Iran and Afghanistan. He made Antioch the capital, but Damascus remained to be the most prominent political and economic center in the Fertile Crescent. During the wars between the Seleucids and the Ptolemaic Egyptian Empire, the control over Damascus passed rapidly from one side to the other.
The Greek era lasted for 250 years, but left very few traces in Damascus. There was much interaction between the local inhabitants of Damascus and the new Greek community, which resulted in Damascenes adopting many aspects of the Greek culture, especially in social and economic fields. The decay of the Seleucid Kingdom allowed the Nabataeans to conquer Damascus in the beginning of the first century BC. In 72 BC, the armies of Armenia took over Damascus for a short while before the Roman coquest.
In 64 BC, the Roman General Pompey annexed Syria and declared it as a province of the Roman Empire. While some Syrian principalities, like Palmyra, were granted a certain degree of autonomy, Damascus was under full control of Roman and Byzantine authorities. The city flourished as a result of political stability and economic growth that accompanied the expansion of the Roman Empire. Damascus gained a significant economic importance as the crossroads on the east-west trade route. Damascene products such as swords, glassware and cloth became renowned throughout the Empire. This prosperity led to further expansion of the city.
In the second century AD, Emperor Hadrian gave Damascus the status of Metropolis, and the city began to play a greater role in the politics of the Empire. Under Alexander Severus, it was raised to the rank or Roman Colony, and under Emperor Diocletian, it became the headquarters of the Roman armies in the eastern Empire.
It was during this period that Christianity was introduced to Damascus, shortly after the death of Christ. It had already taken root there by the time St. Paul arrived in Damascus in 34 AD. It was on the road to Damascus that he had the vision not to carry out his mission of arresting all Christians in Damascus. He converted to Christianity and was cured of blindness by a native Damascene, Ananias. Damascus soon became an important center of Christianity and its bishop used to be considered the most important ecclesiastical figure after the Bishop of Antioch. A theological school was built in Damascus, attracting scholars such as Sophronius, Andrew of Crete and St. John of Damascus.
The Romans incorporated the Aramaean and Greek sectors of the city to form into a uniform city plan and built a broad wall encircling the whole area. Seven gates were built at intervals along the wall and were named after the stars in the constellation of the Seven Sisters, the Pleiades. Damascus was divided by the Street Called Straight, which was mentioned in the bible in connection with St. Paul’s conversion to Christianity. The Street connected and still connects the Eastern Gate (Bab Sharqi) to Bab al-Jabieh. Along the length of the Street was an aqueduct supported by columns. A covered colonnade stood along its both sides of the Street, sheltering warehouses and stores.
The major construction in Damascus during the Roman era was the Temple of Jupiter. Some of its remains are still standing near the entrance of the Omayyad Mosque and Souk al-Hamidieh. It was built on the same site were the Aramaean temple once was. Another major construction was the Forum, located at the eastern side of the Great Mosque. A colonnaded street connected the Forum to the Temple of Jupiter, and its columns can still be found in al-Qaymariyyeh quarter.
With the break-up of the Roman Empire in 395 AD, Syria became a part of the eastern province of the Byzantine Empire. Under the new rulers, Damascus maintained its economic and strategic significance. To defend their eastern border against Persian attacks, the Byzantines fortified Damascus and turned it into a military headquarters, but they were still not able to face the continuous assaults from the east, so they entrusted the defense of Syria to the Ghassanids.
The Ghassanids were an Arabian tribe that had converted to Christianity in the fourth century. They assisted the Byzantine governors of Damascus and defended the area against the Sassanid Persians. However, in 612, the Persian king Chosraes II invaded Damascus, and the Persians ruled the city until 627, when Byzantine rule was restored.
ons of other churches, but no remains of which were found.
ons of a palace for Ghassanid princes.
The year 635 was a turning point in the history of Damascus. In March 635, Muslim armies under Khaled Ibn al-Walid entered Damascus and annexed Syria to the quickly expanding Muslim empire. The Muslims had travelled from the Arabian Peninsula northwards, inspired by their new religion, facing little resistance on their way. But Damascus proved to be more than an obstacle to the invaders; the city held against attacks for six months before a committee of Damascene notables surrendered the city to the Muslim leaders.
Islam brought to Damascus a new set of cultural, economic and social rules. The way of life changed in accordance with the teachings of the Quran, the holy book of Islam. There was mass conversion to Islam, but Jews and Christians, who now became a minority, were treated with tolerance by the Muslims. Christians and Muslims prayed side by side in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, before Muslim rulers decided to build the Great Mosque on the same site.
In 661, a golden age started for Damascus when Muawiyah Bin Abi Sufian established himself as the fifth caliph or successor of the prophet, founding the Omayyad Dynasty that continued to rule the Muslim empire for about one century. Muawiyah made Damascus the capital of his empire, which was expanding to the east and the west. Soon, Damascus became the most important cultural, economic and political center in an empire that stretched from Spain and shores of the Atlantic Ocean to Iran and India.
Each of the 14 Omayyad caliphs that ruled Damascus, made their own contribution to the city, either by building mosques and palaces, patronizing arts and sciences, or developing the administrative system. The first palace they built was Qasr al Amara or Qasr al Khadra (the Green Palace), so named because of its splendid green dome. The palace was built very close to the Great Mosque and it was used by most Omayyad caliphs. It was destroyed after the Abbasids took over the city, so nothing remains of it today.
The Omayyads built tens of palaces, some of them outside the city walls as country residences. The most prolific builder amongst the Omayyad Caliphs is said to have been al-Walid (who was responsible for building the Great Mosque), Hisham and Yazid. The Omayyad rulers were also responsible for t