Damascus[a] is the capital andlargest city ofSyria.[5][6] It is the oldest capital city in the world. Known colloquially in Syria asaš-Šām[b] and dubbed, poetically, the "City ofJasmine" (مَدِيْنَةُ الْيَاسْمِينِMadīnat al-Yāsmīn),[7] Damascus is a major cultural center of theLevant and theArab world.
Situated in southwestern Syria, Damascus is the center of a large metropolitan area. Nestled among the eastern foothills of theAnti-Lebanon mountain range 80 kilometres (50 mi) inland from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean on a plateau 680 metres (2,230 ft)above sea level, Damascus experiences an arid climate because of therain shadow effect. TheBarada River flows through Damascus.
Today, it is the seat of the centralgovernment of Syria. Damascus was named the least livable city out of 140 global cities in theGlobal Liveability Ranking.[12] As of June 2023[update], it was the least livable out of 173 global cities in the same Global Liveability Ranking. In 2017, two new development projects were launched in Damascus to build new residential districts,Marota City and Basillia City to symbolize post-war reconstruction.[13]
The name of Damascus first appeared in the geographical list ofThutmose III asṯmśq (𓍘𓄟𓊃𓈎𓅱) in the 15th century BC.[15]Theetymology of the ancient nameṯmśq is uncertain. It is attested asImerišú (𒀲𒋙) inAkkadian,Damašq (𐡃𐡌𐡔𐡒) inOld Aramaic andDammeśeq (דַּמֶּשֶׂק) inBiblical Hebrew. A number of Akkadian spellings are found in theAmarna letters, from the 14th century BC:Dimašqa (𒁲𒈦𒋡),Dimašqì (𒁲𒈦𒀸𒄀), andDimašqa (𒁲𒈦𒀸𒋡).
LaterAramaic spellings of the name often include an intrusiveresh (letterr), perhaps influenced by the rootdr, meaning "dwelling". Thus, the English andLatin name of the city isDamascus, which was imported fromGreekΔαμασκός and originated from theQumranicDarmeśeq (דרמשק), andDarmsûq (ܕܪܡܣܘܩ) inSyriac,[16][17] meaning "a well-watered land".[18]
According to ancient Greek tradition, there were three myths about the origin of the city's name (Δαμασκός). One claims it was named after the giantAscus (Ἄσκος). Another says it was named after Damaskos, the son ofHermes and the nymph Alimede, who traveled fromArcadia to Syria and founded a city bearing his name. A third version holds that Damaskos was a man who, afterDionysus made Syria fertile with vineyards, cut them down with an axe. Enraged, Dionysus pursued and flayed him. His original name was Darmaskos, which later evolved into Damaskos.[19][20]
InArabic, the city is called Dimashq (دمشقDimašq).[21] The city is also known asaš-Šām by the citizens of Damascus, of Syria and other Arab neighbors and Turkey (Şam).Aš-Šām is an Arabic term for "Levant" and for "Syria"; the latter, and particularly the historicalregion of Syria, is calledBilād aš-Šām (بلاد الشام,lit.'land of the Levant').[note 1] The latter term etymologically means "land of the left-hand side" or "the north", as someone in theHijaz facing east, oriented to the sunrise, will find the north to the left. This is contrasted with the name ofYemen (اَلْيَمَنal-Yaman), correspondingly meaning "the right-hand side" or "the south". The variationش ء م (š-ʾ-m'), of the more typicalش م ل (š-m-l), is also attested inOld South Arabian,𐩦𐩱𐩣 (šʾm), with the same semantic development.[26][27]
Damascus was built in a strategic site on a plateau 680 m (2,230 ft)above sea level and about 80 km (50 mi) inland from the Mediterranean, sheltered by theAnti-Lebanon Mountains, supplied with water by theBarada River, and at a crossroads between trade routes: the north–south route connecting Egypt withAsia Minor, and the east–west cross-desert route connectingLebanon with theEuphrates river valley. The Anti-Lebanon Mountains mark the border between Syria and Lebanon. The range has peaks of over 10,000 ft (3,000 m) and blocks precipitation from the Mediterranean Sea, so the region of Damascus is sometimes subject to droughts. However, in ancient times, the Barada River mitigated this, which originates from mountain streams fed by melting snow. Damascus is surrounded by theGhouta, 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.[28]
The modern city has an area of 105 km2 (41 sq mi), out of which 77 km2 (30 sq mi) is urban, whileJabal Qasioun occupies the rest.[29]
One of the rare periods theBarada river is high, seen here next to theFour Seasons hotel in downtown Damascus
The old city of Damascus, enclosed by the city walls, lies on the south bank of the riverBarada which is almost dry (3 cm (1 in) left). To the southeast, north, and northeast it is surrounded by suburban areas whose history stretches back to the Middle Ages:Midan in the southwest,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 ofJabal Qasioun, overlooking the city, already the site of the al-Salihiyah neighborhood centered on the important shrine of medievalAndalusian Sheikh and philosopherIbn Arabi. These new neighborhoods were initially settled by Kurdish soldiery and Muslim refugees from theEurope regions of theOttoman Empire which had fallen under Christian rule. Thus they were known asal-Akrad(the Kurds) andal-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 asal-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 andal-Salihiyah. The commercial and administrative center of the new city gradually shifted northwards slightly towards this area.
In the 20th century, newer suburbs developed north of the Barada, and to some extent to the south, invading theGhouta oasis.[citation needed] In 1956–1957, the new neighborhood ofYarmouk became a second home to manyPalestinian refugees.[30] 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 westernMezzeh neighborhood and most recently along the Barada valley inDummar in the northwest and on the slopes of the mountains atBarzeh 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 anoasis, the Ghouta region (Arabic:الغوطة,romanized: al-ġūṭä), watered by the Barada river. TheFijeh 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 dropped with the rapid expansion of housing and industry in the city and it is almost dry. The lower aquifers are polluted by the city's runoff from heavily used roads, industry, and sewage.
Damascus has acool arid climate (BWk) in theKöppen-Geiger system,[31] due to therain shadow effect of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains[32] and the prevailing ocean currents. Summers are prolonged, dry, and hot with less humidity. Winters are cool and somewhat rainy; snowfall is infrequent. Autumn is brief and mild, but has the most drastic temperature change, unlike spring where the transition to summer is more gradual and steady. Annual rainfall is around 130 mm (5 in), occurring from October to May.
Carbon-14 dating atTell Ramad, on Damascus's outskirts, suggests that the site may have been occupied since the second half of the seventh millennium BC, possibly around 6300 BC.[35] But evidence of settlement in the wider Barada basin dating to 9000 BC exists, although no large-scale settlement was present within Damascus's walls until the second millennium BC.[36]
Some of the earliestEgyptian records are theAmarna letters, from 1350 BC, when Damascus (calledDimasqu) was ruled by kingBiryawaza. Circa 1260 BC, the Damascus region and the rest of Syria became a battleground between theHittites from the north and theEgyptians from the south,[37] ending with a signed treaty betweenHattusili III andRamesses II. The former handed over control of the Damascus area to the latter in 1259 BC.[37] The arrival of theSea Peoples around 1200 BC marked the end of theBronze Age in the region and brought about new development of warfare.[38] Damascus was only a peripheral part of this picture, which mostly affected the larger population centers of ancient Syria. But these events contributed to Damascus's emergence as an influential center during the transition from the Bronze Age to theIron Age.[38]
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 aboveBabylon, 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 ofCanaan, but now the land of Judea, and this when his posterity became 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 a village named after him, The Habitation of Abraham.
Annotated view of Damascus and surroundings from space.[42]
Damascus is first documented as an important city during the arrival of theAramaeans, aSemitic people, in the 11th century BC. By the start of the first millennium BC, several Aramaic kingdoms formed, as Aramaeans abandoned their nomadic lifestyle and formed federated tribal states. One of these wasAram-Damascus, centered on its capital, Damascus.[43] 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,[44] they established a water distribution system by constructing canals and tunnels that maximized the efficiency of the river Barada. The Romans and the Umayyads later improved the network, which still forms the basis of the water system of the old part of the city.[45] The Aramaeans initially turned Damascus into an outpost of a loose federation of Aramaean tribes, known asAram-Zobah, based in theBeqaa Valley.[44]
The city gained preeminence in southern Syria whenEzron, the claimant to Aram-Zobah's throne who was denied kingship of the federation, fled Beqaa and captured Damascus by force in 965 BC. He overthrew the city's tribal governor and founded the independent entity of Aram-Damascus. As this state expanded south, it prevented theKingdom of Israel from spreading north and the two kingdoms soon clashed as they both sought to dominate trading hegemony in the east.[44] Under Ezron's grandson,Ben-Hadad I (880–841 BC), and his successorHazael, Damascus annexedBashan (modern-dayHauran region), and went on the offensive with Israel. This conflict continued until the early 8th century BC, whenBen-Hadad II was captured by Israel after unsuccessfully besiegingSamaria. As a result, he granted Israel trading rights in Damascus.[46]
Another possible reason for the treaty between Aram-Damascus and Israel was the common threat of theNeo-Assyrian Empire, which was trying to expand into the Mediterranean coast. In 853 BC, KingHadadezer of Damascus led aLevantine coalition that included forces from the northern Aram-Hamath kingdom and troops supplied byKing Ahab of Israel in theBattle of Qarqar against the Neo-Assyrian army. Aram-Damascus was victorious, temporarily preventing the Assyrians from encroaching into Syria. But after Hadadzezer was killed by his successor, Hazael, the Levantine alliance collapsed. Aram-Damascus tried 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.[46]
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 byTiglath-Pileser III went on a wide-scale campaign of quelling revolts throughout Syria, Damascus became subjugated by their rule. One effect of this was stability for the city and benefits from the spice and incense trade withArabia. In 694 BC, the town was calledŠaʾimerišu (Akkadian: 𒐼𒄿𒈨𒊑𒋙𒌋) and its governor was namedIlu-issīya.[47] Assyrian authority dwindled by 609–605 BC, and Syria-Palestine fell into the orbit of PharaohNecho II's Egypt. By 572 BC,Nebuchadnezzar II of theNeo-Babylonians had conquered all of Syria, but Damascus's status underBabylon is relatively unknown.[48]
Damascus was conquered byAlexander the Great. After his death in 323 BC, it became the site of a struggle between theSeleucid andPtolemaic empires. Control of the city passed frequently from one empire to the other.Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander's generals, madeAntioch the capital of his empire, which led to the decline of Damascus's importance compared with new Seleucid cities such asSyrian Laodicea in the north. Later,Demetrius III Philopator rebuilt the city according to the Greekhippodamian system and renamed it "Demetrias".[49]
In 64 BC, theRoman generalPompey annexed the western part of Syria. The Romans occupied Damascus and incorporated it into the league of ten cities known as theDecapolis[50] which itself was incorporated into the province of Syria and granted autonomy.[51]
Damascus was entirely redesigned by the Romans afterPompey conquered the region. 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 theVia Recta) and the Cardo (north-south), the Decumanus being about twice as long. The Romans built a monumental gate at the eastern end of Decumanus Maximus. The gate originally had three arches, with the central arch for chariots and others for pedestrians.[28]
Remnants of ancient Damascus
In 23 BC,Caesar Augustus gaveHerod the Great lands controlled byZenodorus,[52] and some scholars believe Herod was also granted control of Damascus.[53] Either control of Damascus reverted to Syria upon Herod the Great's death or it was part of the lands given to Herod Philip that were given to Syria with his death in 33/34 AD.
It is speculated that control of Damascus was gained byAretas IV Philopatris ofNabatea between the death ofHerod Philip in 33/34 AD and the death of Aretas in 40 AD, but there is substantial evidence that Aretas did not control the city before 37 AD and there are many reasons it could not have been a gift fromCaligula between 37 and 40 AD.[54][55] 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."[56] Roman emperorTrajan, who annexed the Nabataean Kingdom, creating the province ofArabia Petraea, had previously been in Damascus, as his fatherMarcus Ulpius Traianus was governor of Syria from 73 to 74 AD, where he met the ethnically Greek architect and engineerApollodorus of Damascus, who joined him inRome when he was aconsul in 91 AD and built several monuments during the 2nd century.[57]
Damascus became a metropolis by the beginning of the 2nd century and in 222 it was upgraded to acolonia by EmperorSeptimius Severus. During thePax Romana, Damascus and the entire Roman province of Syria began to prosper. Damascus's importance as acaravan city was evident, with the trade routes from southernArabia,Palmyra,Petra, andthe Silk Road all converging on it. The city satisfied the Roman demands for eastern luxuries. Circa 125 AD the Roman emperorHadrian promoted the city of Damascus to "Metropolis ofCoele-Syria".[58][59]
Little remains of the architecture of the Romans, but the town planning of the old city had a lasting effect. Roman architects brought together the city's Greek and Aramaean foundations and fused them into a new layout measuring about 1,500 by 750 m (4,920 by 2,460 ft), surrounded by a wall. The wall had seven gates, but only the eastern gate,Bab Sharqi, remains. Roman Damascus lies mostly at depths of up to five meters (16 feet) below the modern city.
The old borough ofBab Tuma was developed at the end of the Roman/Byzantine era by the localEastern Orthodox community. According to theActs of the Apostles, Saint Paul andSaint Thomas both lived in that neighborhood. Roman Catholic historians also consider Bab Tuma the birthplace of severalPopes, such asJohn V andGregory III. Accordingly, a community ofJewish Christians converted to Christianity with the advent of Saint Paul's proselytization.
During theByzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628, the city was besieged and captured byShahrbaraz in 613 along with a large number of Byzantine troops as prisoners.[60] It was in Sasanian hands until near the end of the war.[61]
TheProphet Muhammad's first indirect interaction with the people of Damascus was when he sent a letter, through his companion Shiya ibn Wahab, toHarith ibn Abi Shamir, the king of Damascus. The letter 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."[62][63]
After most of the Syrian countryside was conquered by theRashidun Caliphate during the reign of CaliphUmar (r. 634–644), Damascus itself wasconquered by theArab Muslim generalKhalid ibn al-Walid in August–September 634 CE. Hisarmy had previously attempted to capture the city in April 634 but without success.[64] 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 EmperorHeraclius, 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.[65] In August, the two sides met along theYarmouk River where they fought amajor battle which ended in a decisive Muslim victory, solidifying Muslim rule in Syria and Palestine.[66] While the Muslims administered the city, the population of Damascus remained mostly Christian—Eastern Orthodox andMonophysite—with a growing community ofMuslims fromMecca,Medina, and theSyrian Desert.[67] The governor assigned to the city which had been chosen as the capital ofIslamic Syria wasMu'awiya I.
View of Damascus with the Umayyad Mosque in center
Following the fourth Rashidun caliphAli's death in 661, Mu'awiya was chosen as the caliph of the expanding Islamic empire. Because of the vast amounts of assets his clan, theUmayyads, owned in the city and because of its traditional economic and social links with theHijaz as well as theChristian Arab tribes of the region, Mu'awiya established Damascus as the capital of the entireCaliphate.[68] With the ascension of CaliphAbd al-Malik in 685, an Islamic coinage system was introduced, and all the surplus revenue of the Caliphate's provinces was forwarded to the treasury of Damascus.Arabic was also established as the official language, giving the city's Muslim minority an advantage over the Aramaic-speaking Christians in administrative affairs.[69]
Abd al-Malik's successor al-Walid initiated the construction of theGrand 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 toJohn the Baptist.[70] By 715, the mosque was complete. Al-Walid died that same year and was succeeded at first bySuleiman ibn Abd al-Malik and then byUmar II, who each ruled for brief periods before the reign ofHisham in 724. With these successions, the status of Damascus was gradually weakening, as Suleiman choseRamla as his residence and Hisham choseResafa. 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 ofMarwan II in 744, the capital of the empire was relocated toHarran in theJazira region.[71]
On 25 August 750, theAbbasids, having already beaten the Umayyads in theBattle of the Zab in Iraq, conquered Damascus after facing little resistance. With the heralding of the Abbasid Caliphate, Damascus became eclipsed and subordinated byBaghdad, 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 were 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 mostly 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.[72]
Ahmad ibn Tulun, a dissenting Turkish wali appointed by the Abbasids, conquered Syria, including Damascus, from his overlords in 878–79. Out of respect for the Umayyad rulers, he erected a shrine on the site of Mu'awiya's grave.Tulunid rule of Damascus was brief, lasting only until 906 before being replaced by theQarmatians, who adhered toShia Islam. Due to their inability to control the vast land they occupied, the Qarmatians withdrew from Damascus and a new dynasty, theIkhshidids, took control of it. They maintained the independence of Damascus from the ArabHamdanid dynasty ofAleppo 967. A period of instability in the city followed, with a Qarmatian raid in 968, a Byzantine raid in 970, and increasing pressures from theFatimids in the south and the Hamdanids in the north.[73]
Damascus was the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate, which extended from Western Europe to Southern Asia
The Shia Fatimids gained control in 970, inflaming hostilities between them and the city's Sunni Arabs, who frequently revolted. The TurkAlptakin drove out the Fatimids five years later, and through diplomacy, prevented the Byzantines during theSyrian campaigns of John Tzimiskes from attempting to annex the city. But by 977, the Fatimids under Caliphal-Aziz wrested control of the city back and tamed Sunni dissidents. The Arab geographeral-Muqaddasi visited Damascus in 985, remarking that the architecture and infrastructure of the city were "magnificent" but living conditions were awful. Under al-Aziz, the city saw a brief period of stability that ended with the reign ofal-Hakim (996–1021). In 998, he executed hundreds of Damascus citizens for incitement. Three years after his mysterious disappearance, a rebellion began in southern Syria against the Fatimids but was stifled by the Fatimid Turkish governor of Syria and Palestine,Anushtakin al-Duzbari, in 1029. This victory gave him mastery over Syria, displeasing his Fatimid overlords but gaining the admiration of Damascus's citizens. He was exiled by Fatimid authorities toAleppo, where he died in 1041.[74] From that date to 1063, there are no known records of the city's history. By then, Damascus lacked a city administration and had an enfeebled economy and a greatly reduced population.[75]
With the arrival of theSeljuq Turks in the late 11th century, Damascus again became the capital of independent states. It was ruled byAbu Sa'id Taj ad-Dawla Tutush I starting in 1079 and he was succeeded by his sonAbu 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 died in 1104, his mentor (atabeg),Toghtekin, took control of Damascus and theBurid 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 themoral authority of the Baghdad-based Abbasids.[76]
While the rulers of Damascus were preoccupied in conflict with their fellow Seljuqs in Aleppo andDiyarbakir, the Crusaders, who arrived in theLevant in 1097, conqueredJerusalem,Mount Lebanon and Palestine. Duqaq seemed to have been content with Crusader's 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 includedHoms, the Beqaa Valley, Hauran, and the Golan Heights as part of its territories. With military support from Sharaf al-DinMawdud ofMosul, 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.[77] In 1126, the Crusader army led byBaldwin II fought Burid forces led by Toghtekin atMarj al-Saffar near Damascus; however, despite their tactical victory, the Crusaders failed in their objective to capture Damascus.
The twin domes of the funerary-Medresa ofNur ad-Din also Known as the Madrasah Nuriyya al-Kubra[78][79]
Following Toghtekin's death in 1128, his son,Taj al-Muluk Buri, became the nominal ruler of Damascus. Coincidentally, the Seljuq prince ofMosul,Imad al-Din Zengi, took power in Aleppo and gained a mandate from the Abbasids to extend his authority to Damascus. In 1129, around 6,000Isma'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 atBanias, to aid the Crusaders in capturing Damascus in return for control ofTyre. Soon after the massacre, the Crusaders aimed to take advantage of the unstable situation and launch anassault against Damascus with nearly 2,000 knights and 10,000 infantry. However, Buri allied with Zengi and managed to prevent their army from reaching the city.[80] 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 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, hismamluk ("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 CrusaderKingdom of Jerusalem to resist Zengi's forces. Consequently, Zengi withdrew his army and focused on campaigns against northern Syria.[81]
In 1144, Zengiconquered Edessa, a crusader stronghold, which led toa 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 was driven back. By 1154, Damascus was firmly under Nur ad-Din's control.[82]
In 1164, KingAmalric of Jerusaleminvaded Fatimid Egypt, requested help from Nur ad-Din. The Nur ad-Din sent his generalShirkuh, and in 1166 Amalric was defeated at theBattle of al-Babein. When Shirkuh died in 1169, he was succeeded by his nephew Yusuf, better known asSaladin, who defeated a joint crusader-Byzantine siege ofDamietta.[83] 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.[84] In 1177 Saladin was defeated by the crusaders at theBattle of Montgisard, despite his numerical superiority.[85] Saladin alsobesieged Kerak in 1183, but was forced to withdraw. He finally launched a full invasion of Jerusalem in 1187 and annihilated the crusader army at theBattle of Hattin in July.Acre fell to Saladin soon after, and Jerusalem itselfwas captured in October. These events shocked Europe, resulting in theThird Crusade in 1189, led byRichard I of England,Philip II of France andFrederick I, Holy Roman Emperor, though the last drowned en route.[86]
The surviving crusaders, joined by new arrivals from Europe, put Acre to alengthy siege which lasted until 1191. After re-capturing Acre, Richard defeated Saladin at theBattle of Arsuf in 1191 and theBattle 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 theTreaty of Jaffa in 1192. Saladin allowed pilgrimages to be made to Jerusalem, allowing the Crusaders to fulfill their vows, after which they all returned home. Local crusader barons set about rebuilding their kingdom from Acre and the other coastal cities.[87]
Saladin died in 1193, and there were frequent conflicts between differentAyyubid 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.[88] During the internecine wars fought by the Ayyubid rulers, Damascus was besieged repeatedly, as, e.g.,in 1229.[89]
The patterned Byzantine and Chinese silks available through Damascus, one of the Western termini of theSilk Road, gave the English language "damask".[90]
Woodcut of 1497Venetian delegation in Damascus, painting of 1511.Louvre-Lens.
Ayyubid rule (and independence) came to an end with the Mongol invasion of Syria in 1260, in which the Mongols led byKitbuqa entered the city on 1 March 1260, along with the King of Armenia,Hethum I, and the Prince of Antioch,Bohemond VI; hence, the citizens of Damascus saw for the first time for six centuries three Christian potentates ride in triumph through their streets.[91] However, following the Mongol defeat atAin Jalut on 3 September 1260, Damascus was captured five days later and became the provincial capital of theMamluk Sultanate, ruled from Egypt, following the Mongol withdrawal. Following their victory at theBattle of Wadi al-Khaznadar, the Mongols led byGhazan besieged the city for ten days, which surrendered between 30 December 1299, and 6 January 1300, though its Citadel resisted.[92] Ghazan then retreated with most of his forces in February, probably because the Mongol horses needed fodder, and left behind about 10,000 horsemen under the Mongol generalMulay.[93] Around March 1300, Mulay returned with his horsemen to Damascus,[94] then followed Ghazan back across theEuphrates. In May 1300, the Egyptian Mamluks returned from Egypt and reclaimed the entire area[95] without a battle.[96] In April 1303, the Mamluks managed to defeat the Mongol army led byKutlushah and Mulay along with their Armenian allies at theBattle of Marj al-Saffar, to put an end toMongol invasions of the Levant.[97] Later on, theBlack Death of 1348–1349 killed as much as half of the city's population.[98]
In 1400,Timur, theTurco-Mongol conqueror,besieged Damascus. The Mamluk sultan dispatched a deputation from Cairo, includingIbn Khaldun, who negotiated with him, but after their withdrawal, Timur sacked the city on 17 March 1401.[99] TheUmayyad Mosque was burnt and men and women were taken into slavery. A huge number of the city's artisans were taken to Timur's capital atSamarkand. 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 nameBurj al-Ru'us (between modern-dayAl-Qassaa andBab Tuma), originally "the tower of heads".
Rebuilt, Damascus continued to serve as a Mamluk provincial capital until 1516.
In early 1516, theOttoman Empire, wary of the danger of an alliance between the Mamluks and the PersianSafavids, started a campaign of conquest against the Mamluk sultanate. On 21 September, the Mamluk governor of Damascus fled the city, and on 2 October thekhutba in the Umayyad mosque was pronounced in the name ofSelim 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 ShaikhMuhi al-Din ibn Arabi inal-Salihiyah. This was to be the first of Damascus's great Ottoman monuments.During this time, according to an Ottoman census, Damascus had 10,423 households.[100]The Ottomans remained for the next 400 years, except for a brief occupation byIbrahim Pasha of Egypt from 1832 to 1840. Because of its importance as the point of departure for one of the two greatHajj caravans toMecca, Damascus was treated with more attention by thePorte than its size might have warranted—for most of this period,Aleppo was more populous and commercially more important. In 1559 the western building ofSulaymaniyya Takiyya, comprising a mosque andkhan for pilgrims on the road to Mecca, was completed to a design by the famous Ottoman architectMimar Sinan, and soon afterward theSalimiyya Madrasa was built adjoining it.[101]
Early in the nineteenth century, Damascus was noted for its shady cafes along the banks of the Barada. A depiction of these byWilliam Henry Bartlett was published in 1836, along with a poetical illustration byLetitia Elizabeth Landon, seeCafes in Damascus. UnderOttoman rule, Christians andJews were considereddhimmis and were allowed to practice their religious precepts. During theDamascus affair of 1840 the false accusation ofritual murder was brought against members of the Jewish community of Damascus. Themassacre of Christians in 1860 was also one of the most notorious incidents of these centuries when fighting betweenDruze andMaronites inMount 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 exileAbd al-Qadir and his soldiers (three days after the massacre started), who brought them to safety in Abd al-Qadir's residence and theCitadel of Damascus. The Christian quarter of the old city (mostly inhabited by Catholics), including several churches, was burnt down. The Christian inhabitants of the notoriously poor and refractoryMidan 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.[102] In the meantime, American writerMark Twain visited Damascus, then wrote about his travel inThe Innocents Abroad, in which he mentioned: "Though old as history itself, thou art fresh as the breath of spring, blooming as thine own rose-bud, and fragrant as thine own orange flower, O Damascus, pearl of the East!".[103] In November 1898, German emperorWilhelm II toured Damascus, during his trip to the Ottoman Empire.[104]
The Turkish Hospital in Damascus on 1 October 1918, shortly after the entry of the Australian4th 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 theturkicisation program of theCommittee of Union and Progress government established in Istanbul in 1908. The hanging of a number of patriotic intellectuals byJamal Pasha, governor of Damascus, in Beirut and Damascus in 1915 and 1916 further stoked nationalist feeling, and in 1918, as the forces of theArab Revolt and the British Imperial forces approached, residents fired on the retreating Turkish troops.
When in 1925 theGreat Syrian Revolt in theHauran spread to Damascus, the French suppressed it with heavy weaponry, bombing and shelling the city on 9 May 1926.[108] As a result, the area of the old city betweenAl-Hamidiyah Souq andMedhat Pasha Souq was burned to the ground, with many deaths, and has since then been known asal-Hariqa ("the fire"). The old city was surrounded with barbed wire to prevent rebels from infiltrating theGhouta, and a new road was built outside the northern ramparts to facilitate the movement of armored cars. ReporterGeorge Seldes viewed 308 bodies, and suggested there might be more dead under the rubble—and that a maximum might be one thousand. "When the Muslims, who had rebelled, threatened to kill all Christians, General Maurice Sarrail gave the civilian population time to evacuate, then ordered Fort Gouraud to fire some warning shots, then shell the rebel sector."[109]
On 21 June 1941, 3 weeks into the AlliedSyria-Lebanon campaign,Damascus was captured from theVichy French forces by a mixed British Indian and Free French force. The French agreed to withdraw in 1946, following the British intervention during theLevant Crisis, thus leading to the full independence of Syria. Damascus remained the capital and has been unchanged even following the start ofBa'athist rule in 1963.
TheDamascus Opera House, opened in 2004Damascus in 2006, taken from the International Space Station
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.[110]
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.[111]
The Damascus suburb ofGhouta suffered heavy bombing in December 2017 and a further wave of bombing started in February 2018, also known asRif Dimashq Offensive.
On 20 May 2018, Damascus and the entire Rif Dimashq Governorate came fully under government control for the first time in 7 years after the evacuation ofIS fromYarmouk Camp.[112] In September 2019, Damascus entered theGuinness World Records as the least liveable city, scoring 30.7 points on theEconomist'sGlobal Liveability Index in 2019, based on factors such as: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure.[113] However, the trend of being the least liveable city on Earth started in 2017,[114] and continued as of 2024.[115]
On 23 February 2025, Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu demanded the complete demilitarization of southern Syria in the provinces ofQuneitra,Daraa andSuweyda,[117] and the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Syrian territory south of Damascus.[118] Syria's new government under PresidentAhmed al-Sharaa rejected Netanyahu's demands.[119][120] Hours later, Israel conducted a wave of airstrikes in Damascus and southern Syria.[121]
Bank Al-Sharq and theBlue Tower Hotel, a 4-star hotel in Hamra Street.
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.[122] Most goods produced in Damascus, as well as in Syria, are distributed to countries of the Arabian peninsula.[122] Damascus has also held an annualinternational trade exposition every fall, since 1954.[123]
The tourism industry in Damascus has a lot of potential, however, the 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.[122] Since the early 2000s, numerous boutique hotels and bustling cafes opened in the old city which attracts plenty of European tourists and Damascenes alike.[124]
In 2009 new office space was built and became available on the real estate market.[125]Marota City and Basilia City are two new development projects in Damascus.[126] These two projects are viewed as post-war reconstruction efforts. TheDamascus stock exchange formally opened for trade in March 2009, and the exchange is the only stock exchange in Syria.[127] It is located in the Barzeh district, within Syria's financial markets and securities commission. Its final home is to be located in the upmarket business district ofYaafur.[128]
Damascus is home to a wide range of industrial activities, such as textile,food processing, cement, and various chemical industries.[122] The majority of factories are run by the state, however limitedprivatization in addition to economic activities led by theprivate sector, were permitted starting in the early 2000s with the liberalization of trade that took place.[122]Traditional handcrafts and artisan copper engravings are still produced in the old city.[122]
In the 2004 Census of Population conducted byCentral Bureau of Statistics (Syria), Damascus had a population of 1,552,161 living in 309,317 of its 345,097 total dwellings.[129]
Damascus is the center of a crowded metropolitan area with an estimated population of 5 million. The metropolitan area of Damascus includes the cities ofDouma,Harasta,Darayya,Al-Tall andJaramana.
The city's growth rate is higher than in Syria as a whole, primarily due torural-urban migration and the influx of young Syrian migrants drawn by employment and educational opportunities.[130] The migration of Syrian youths to Damascus has resulted in an average age within the city that is below the national average.[130] Nonetheless, the population of Damascus is thought to have decreased in recent years as a result of the ongoingSyrian civil war.
Islam is the largest religion. The majority of Muslims areSunni whileAlawites andTwelver Shi'a comprise sizeable minorities. Alawites live primarily in the neighbourhoods of Mezzeh 86 and Sumariyah part of theMezzeh district, in addition to the neighbourhood of Eish al-Warwar in the district ofBarzeh. Twelvers primarily live near the Shia holy sites ofSayyidah Ruqayya andSayyidah Zaynab. It is believed that there are more than 200 mosques in Damascus, the most well-known being theUmayyad Mosque.[134]
There was a smallJewish community namely in what is calledHarat al-Yahud ("the Jewish quarter"). They are the remnants of an ancient and much largerJewish presence in Syria, dating back at least to Roman times, if not before to the time of King David.[139] There was once a significant Jewish community in Damascus, but as of 2023, no Jews remain.[140]
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 byMunira 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 ofmosques, and clergy such asAbd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi,Sa'id Hawwa,Abd al-Rahman al-Shaghouri andMuhammad al-Yaqoubi.[141]
The Ancient City of Damascus was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1979. Beginning with the Aramaic kingdom (11th-7th centuries BC), Damascus grew into the political and urban hub for the region. Today, the ancient city encompasses over 125 cultural heritage sites that represent Damascus's long history, including archaeological and architectural remains from the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Islamic, and Ottoman periods.[142] Tragically, ongoing conflict and war continues to threaten the archaeological heritage and prevent archaeological discovery of Damascus.[143]
TheCitadel of Damascus is in the northwest corner of the Old City. TheDamascus Straight Street (referred to in the account of theconversion ofSt. Paul inActs 9:11), also known as theVia Recta, was thedecumanus (east–west main street) of Roman Damascus, and extended for over 1,500 m (4,900 ft). Today, it consists of the street of Bab Sharqi and the Souk Medhat Pasha, a covered market. TheBab Sharqi street is filled with small shops and leads to the old Christian quarter ofBab Tuma (St. Thomas's Gate), whereSt George's Cathedral, the seat of theSyriac Orthodox Church, is notably located.Medhat Pasha Souq is also a main market in Damascus and was named afterMidhat Pasha, the Ottoman governor of Syria who renovated the Souk. At the end of Bab Sharqi Street, one reaches theHouse of Ananias, an underground chapel that was the cellar ofAnanias's house. TheUmayyad Mosque, also known as the Grand Mosque of Damascus, is one of the largest mosques in the world and also one of the oldest sites of continuous prayer since the rise of Islam. A shrine in the mosque is said to contain the body ofSt. John the Baptist. Themausoleum whereSaladin was buried is located in the gardens just outside the mosque.Sayyidah Ruqayya Mosque, the shrine of the youngest daughter ofHusayn ibn Ali, can also be found near the Umayyad Mosque. The ancient district ofAmara is also within walking distance from these sites. Another heavily visited site isSayyidah Zaynab Mosque, where the tomb ofZaynab bint Ali is located.
Shias, Fatemids, and Dawoodi Bohras believe that after the battle of Karbala (680 AD), in Iraq, the Umayyad Caliph Yezid brought Imam Husain's head to Damascus, where it was first kept in the courtyard of Yezid Mahal, now part of Umayyad Mosque complex. All other remaining members of Imam Husain's family (left alive after Karbala) along with the heads of all other companions, who were killed at Karbala, were also brought to Damascus. These members were kept as prisoners on the outskirts of the city (nearBab al-Saghir), where the other heads were kept at the same location, now called Ru'ûs ash-Shuhadâ-e-Karbala or ganj-e-sarha-e-shuhada-e-Karbala.[144] There is a qibla (place of worship) marked at the place, where devotees sayImam Ali-Zain-ul-Abedin used to pray while in captivity.[citation needed]
TheHarat Al Yehud[145] or Jewish Quarter is a recently restored historical tourist destination popular among Europeans before the outbreak of civil war.[146] Vacationers can enjoy the neighborhood and scenic ancient homes abandoned by the completely departed Syrian Jewish community.[147]
The Old City of Damascus with an approximate area of 86.12 hectares[148] is surrounded by ramparts on the northern and eastern sides and part of the southern side. There are seven extant city gates, the oldest of which dates back to the Roman period. These are, clockwise from the north of the citadel:
Bab al-Faradis ("the gate of the orchards", or "of the paradise")
Bab al-Salam ("the gate of peace"), all on the north boundary of the Old City
Bab Tuma ("Touma" or "Thomas's Gate") in the north-east corner, leading into the Christian quarter of the same name,
Bab Sharqi ("eastern gate") in the east wall, the only one to retain its Roman plan
Bab Kisan in the south-east, from which tradition holds that Saint Paul made his escape from Damascus, lowered from the ramparts in a basket; this gate has been closed and turned intoChapel of Saint Paul marking this event,
Azm Palace, originally built in 1750 as the residence for theOttoman governor of DamascusAs'ad Pasha al-Azm, housing the Museum of Arts and Popular Traditions.
Bayt Farhi, a large late-18th-century courtyard Jewish mansion built for the prominent Farhi family.
Maktab Anbar, a mid-19th-century Jewish private mansion, restored by theMinistry of Culture in 1976 to serve as a library, exhibition center, museum and craft workshops.[149]
Due to the rapid decline of the population of Old Damascus (between 1995 and 2009 about 30,000 people moved out of the old city for more modern accommodation),[150] a growing number of buildings are being abandoned or are falling into disrepair. In March 2007, the local government announced that it would be demolishing Old City buildings along a 1,400 m (4,600 ft) stretch of rampart walls as part of a redevelopment scheme. These factors resulted in the Old City being placed by theWorld Monuments Fund on its 2008 Watch List of the 100 Most Endangered Sites in the world.[151][152] It is hoped that its inclusion on the list will draw more public awareness to these significant threats to the future of the historic Old City of Damascus.
In spite of the recommendations of theUNESCO World Heritage Center:[153]
Souq al-Atiq, a protected buffer zone, was destroyed in three days in November 2006;
King Faysal Street, a traditional hand-craft region in a protected buffer zone near the walls of Old Damascus between the Citadel andBab Touma, is threatened by a proposed motorway.
In 2007, theOld City of Damascus and notably the district ofBab Tuma have been recognized by The World Monument Fund as one of the most endangered sites in the world.[154]
Damascus is the main center of education in Syria. It is home toDamascus University, which is the oldest and largest university in Syria. After the enactment of legislation allowing private higher institutions, several new universities were established in the city and the surrounding area, including:
The main airport isDamascus International Airport, approximately 20 km (12 mi) away from the city, with connections to a few Middle Eastern cities. Before the beginning of theSyrian civil war, the airport had connectivity to many Asian, European, African, and, South American cities.
Streets in Damascus are often narrow, especially in the older parts of the city, and speed bumps are widely used to limit the speed of vehicles. Many taxi companies operate in Damascus. Fares are regulated by law and taxi drivers are obliged to use ataximeter.
King Long KLQ 6118GQ bus used for public transport in Damascus
Public transport in Damascus depends extensively onbuses andminibuses. There are about one hundred lines that operate inside the city and some of them extend from the city center to nearby suburbs. There is no schedule for the lines, and due to the limited number of official bus stops, buses will usually stop wherever a passenger needs to get on or off. The number of buses serving the same line is relatively high, which minimizes the waiting time. Lines are not numbered, rather they are given captions mostly indicating the two endpoints and possibly an important station along the line. Between 2019 and 2022, more than 100 modern buses were delivered fromChina as part of the international agreement. These deliveries strengthened and modernized the public transport of Damascus.[159][160]
Served byChemins de Fer Syriens, the former main railway station of Damascus wasal-Hejaz railway station, about 1 km (5⁄8 mi) west of the old city. The station is now defunct and the tracks have been removed, but there still is a ticket counter and a shuttle to DamascusQadam station in the south of the city, which now functions as the main railway station.
In 2008, the government announced a plan to construct a Damascus Metro.[161] The green line will be an essential west–east axis for the future public transportation network, serving Moadamiyeh, Sumariyeh, Mezzeh, Damascus University, Hijaz, the Old City, Abbassiyeen and Qaboun Pullman bus station. A four-line metro network is expected to be in operation by 2050.
The now modernized Al-Fayhaa Sports City features a basketball court and a hall that can accommodate up to 8,000 people. In late November 2021,Syria's national basketball team played there againstKazakhstan, making Damascus host of Syria's first international basketball tournament in almost two decades.[164]
The city also has a modern golf course located near the Ebla Cham Palace Hotel on the southeastern outskirts of Damascus.
Tishreen Park is one of the largest parks in Damascus. It is home to the annual Damascus Flower Show. Other parks include al-Jahiz, al-Sibbki, al-Tijara, al-Wahda, etc... The city's famousGhouta oasis is also a weekend destination for recreation. Many recreation centers operate in the city including sports clubs, swimming pools, and golf courses. The Syrian Arab Horse Association in Damascus offers a wide range of activities and services for horse breeders and riders.[167]
Zabadani resort near DamascusBooza being sold in theBakdash ice cream shop in the Damascus market
Madaya: a small mountainous town and well-known holiday resort.
Bloudan: a town located 51 km (32 mi) north-west of Damascus, its moderate temperature and low humidity in summer attracts many visitors from Damascus and throughout Syria, Lebanon and thePersian Gulf.
Zabadani: a city close to the border with Lebanon. Its mild weather along with the scenic views, made the town a popular resort both for tourists and for visitors from other Syrian cities.
^Dumper, Michael R. T.; Stanley, Bruce E. (2007)."Damascus". In Janet L. Abu-Lughod (ed.).Cities of the Middle East and North Africa: A Historical Encyclopedia.ABC-CLIO. pp. 119–126.ISBN978-1-5760-7919-5.Archived from the original on 2 April 2023. Retrieved12 May 2021.
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^Frank Moore Cross (February 1972). "The Stele Dedicated to Melcarth by Ben-Hadad of Damascus".Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (205): 40.doi:10.2307/1356214.JSTOR1356214.S2CID163497507.
^Miller, Catherine; Al-Wer, Enam; Caubet, Dominique; Watson, Janet C.E. (2007).Arabic in the City: Issues in Dialect Contact and Language Variation. Routledge. p. 189.ISBN978-1135978761.
^Younger, K. Lawson Jr. (7 October 2016).A Political History of the Arameans: From Their Origins to the End of Their Polities (Archaeology and Biblical Studies). Atlanta, GA: SBL Press. p. 551.ISBN978-1589831285.
^"DMA-UPD Discussion Paper Series No.2"(PDF). Damascus Metropolitan Area Urban Planning and Development. October 2009. p. 2. Archived from the original on 28 October 2012.
^The Palestinian refugees in Syria. Their past, present, and future. Dr. Hamad Said al-Mawed, 1999
^Cohen raises doubts about this claim inCohen, Getzel M; EBSCOhost (2006),The Hellenistic settlements in Syria, the Red Sea Basin, and North Africa, University of California Press,archived from the original on 27 May 2014, retrieved26 May 2014 page 137 note 4 – suggesting thereceived tradition of the renaming rests on a few writers following Mionnets writings in 1811
^Barclay Vincent Head (1887)."VII. Coele-Syria".Historia Numorum: A Manual of Greek Numismatics. p. 662.Archived from the original on 24 November 2016. Retrieved10 July 2016.
^Akbar Shāh Ḵẖān Najībābādī,History of Islam, Volume 1Archived 5 September 2015 at theWayback Machine, p. 194. Quote: "Again, the Holy Prophet sent Dihyah bin Khalifa Kalbi to the Byzantine king Heraclius, Hatib bin Abi Baltaeh to the king of Egypt and Alexandria; Allabn Al-Hazermi to Munzer bin Sawa the king of Bahrain; Amer bin Aas to the king of Oman. Salit bin Amri to Hozah bin Ali— the king of Yamama; Shiya bin Wahab to Haris bin Ghasanni to the king of Damascus"
^Phillips, Jonathan (2007).The Second Crusade: Extending the Frontiers of Christendom.Yale University Press. pp. 216–227.
^Hans E. Mayer,The Crusades (Oxford University Press, 1965, trans. John Gillingham, 1972), pp. 118–120.
^Tyerman, Christopher (2006).God's War: A New History of the Crusades. Penguin. p. 350.
^Hamilton, Bernard (2000).The Leper King and his Heirs: Baldwin IV and the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. Cambridge University Press. pp. 132–136.
^"The Third Crusade: Richard the Lionhearted and Philip Augustus", inA History of the Crusades, vol. II: The Later Crusades, 1189–1311, ed. R. L. Wolff and H. W. Hazard (Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 1969), pp. 45–49.
^R. Stephen Humphreys,From Saladin to the Mongols: The Ayyubids of Damascus, 1193–1260 (State University of New York Press, 1977),passim.
^Kenneth M. Setton, Robert Lee Wolff, Harry W. Hazard (editors),A History of the Crusades, Volume II: The Later Crusades, 1189–1311, p.695Archived 2 January 2023 at theWayback Machine, University of Wisconsin Press, series "History of the Crusades", 2006
^"Population and Revenue in the Towns of Palestine in the Sixteenth Century"
^Abd al-Qadir al-Rihawi; Émilie E. Ouéchek (1975). "Les deuxtakiyya de Damas".Bulletin d'études orientales. Vol. 28. Institut Francais du Proche-Orient. pp. 217–225.JSTOR41604595.Archived from the original on 17 June 2022. Retrieved24 June 2022.{{cite book}}:|journal= ignored (help)
^Ellen Clare Miller, 'Eastern Sketches – notes of scenery, schools and tent life in Syria and Palestine'. Edinburgh: William Oliphant and Company. 1871. page 90. quoting Eli Jones, aQuaker fromNew England.
^"Syria".United States Department of State. Retrieved18 June 2025.
^Sbalchiero in: Laurentin/ Sbalchiero (2007), p. 1093–1097.
^"Syria's Alawites Under Siege".Al-Monitor: Independent, Trusted Coverage of the Middle East. 4 January 2013.Archived from the original on 24 June 2016. Retrieved24 May 2016.
^Katz, Ketsi'ah (1981), Masoret ha-lashon ha-'Ibrit shel Yehude Aram-Tsoba (Ḥalab) bi-qri'at ha-Miqra ve-ha-Mishnah (The Hebrew Language Tradition of the Jews of Aleppo in the Reading of the Bible and Mishnah)
^"Convenios Internacionales".buenosaires.gob.ar (in Spanish). Buenos Aires.Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved16 September 2020.
^"Las 12 hermanas de Córdoba".diariocordoba.com (in Spanish). Diario Córdoba. 10 February 2020.Archived from the original on 21 October 2020. Retrieved16 September 2020.
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Cammelli, Stefano (2006).Il Minareto di Gesù. Il Mulino.
Crawford, Peter (2013).The War of the Three Gods: Romans, Persians and the Rise of Islam. Pen and Sword.ISBN9781473828650.
Demurger, Alain (2007).Jacques de Molay (in French). Editions Payot&Rivages.ISBN978-2-228-90235-9.
Hamilton, Jill, Duchess of (2002).First to Damascus: The story of the Australian Light Horse and Lawrence of Arabia. Kangaroo Press.ISBN978-0-7318-1071-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Ibn Khaldun (1952).Ibn Khaldūn and Tamerlane: Their Historic Meeting in Damascus, 1401 A.d. (803 A. H.) A Study Based on Arabic Manuscripts of Ibn Khaldūn's "Autobiography,". Translated by Walter Joseph Fischel. University of California Press.
Runciman, Steven (1987).A History of the Crusades: Volume 3, The Kingdom of Acre and the Later Crusades. Cambridge University Press.ISBN9780521347723.
Schein, Sylvia (October 1979). "Gesta Dei per Mongolos 1300. The Genesis of a Non-Event".The English Historical Review.94 (373):805–819.doi:10.1093/ehr/XCIV.CCCLXXIII.805.JSTOR565554.
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