ancient cities

Da m a s c u s, sy r i a
Capital of the Arab Republic of Syria, Damascus
claims to be the oldest continuously inhabited city
in the world (although recent excavations in
Aleppo, Syria’s other major city, might shift this
claim). In its long history it has been the center of
the Aramaean region, one of the 10 cities of the
Roman Decapolis and the capital of the first (and
vast) Islamic empire created by the Umayyads
(between 661 and 750) as well as the center of
Greater Syria (Bila - d ash-Sha - m بلاد الشام, made up
of present-day Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine,
and Jordan). The city still has an incredible architectural
heritage, including remains from antiquity,
one of the oldest mosques in the Islamic
world (the Umayyad mosque built 706–715), and
over 8,000 intact commercial buildings and private
houses dating from the Ottoman period
(1516–1918). In 1979 UNESCO made Damascus
a site of World Cultural Heritage, a heritage that
a 2001 UN report believes to be at risk.
As Mark Twain extolled in The Innocents
Abroad,
To Damascus, years are only moments, decades
are only flitting trifles of time. She measures
time, not by days and months and years, but by
the empires she has seen rise, and prosper and
crumble to ruin. She is a type of immortality. . . .
Damascus has seen all that has ever occurred on
earth, and still she lives. She has looked upon the
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dry bones of a thousand empires, and will see the
tombs of a thousand more before she dies.
Although another claims the name, old Damascus
is by right the Eternal City.
In Arabic الشام دمشق (Dimashq ash-Sha - m) is
usually shortened to either Dimashq دمشق or ash-
Sha - m الشام (also the colloquial term for the whole
of Syria and/or the “north”). The English name
Damascus is thought to come from the Greek
∆αμασκός, via Latin, which in turn originated from
the Aramaic דרמשק Darmes´eq, (a well-watered
place), although it is likely the name predates the
Aramaic era.
Damascus is located about 80 kilometers inland
from the eastern Mediterranean coast and 680
meters above sea level in the fertile Ghouta (الغوطة
al-g . u - ta) oasis sheltered by the Anti-Lebanon mountain
range. The temperate climate and abundant
supply of water from the nearby Barada River certainly
would have encouraged early settlement;
Aram Damascus was established there in 1100 BC
by the Aramaeans, Semitic nomads from Arabia,
who built a complex water distribution system of
canals and tunnels (later improved by the Romans
and the Umayyads). The settlement became a
sought-after prize among the region’s empire
builders until the Roman ruler Pompey incorporated
Damascus into the 10 cities of the Decapolis
in 64 BC, fusing the Greek and Aramaean foundations
into a new city layout measuring approximately
1500 by 750 meters, surrounded by a city
wall. Roman Damascus was an important city in