History Of Damascus

Damascus , romanized: dimašq, syrian arabic: syriac is the capital of syria; it became the country’s largest city in the early 2010s, following the decline in population of aleppo during the battle for the city. It is colloquially known in syria as and titled the “city of jasmine”. Damascus is a major cultural center of the levant and the arab world. The city had an estimated population of 2,079,000 as of 2019.

In south-western syria, damascus is the center of a large metropolitan area of 2.7 Million people (2004).[5] Embedded on the eastern foothills of the anti-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 a dry climate because of the rain shadow effect. The barada river flows through damascus.

Damascus is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. First settled in the second millennium bc, it was chosen as the capital of the umayyad caliphate from 661 to 750. After the victory of the abbasid dynasty, the seat of islamic power was moved to baghdad. Damascus saw its importance decline throughout the abbasid era, only to regain significant importance in the ayyubid and mamluk periods. Today, it is the seat of the central government and all of the government ministries. As of september 2019, eight years into the ongoing syrian civil war, damascus was named the least livable city in the global liveability ranking.[6]

History

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.[25] However, evidence of settlement in the wider barada basin dating back to 9000 bc exists, although

History Of Damascus

no large-scale settlement was present within Damascus walls until the second millennium bc. 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, ending with a signed treaty between hattusili and ramesses ii where the former handed over control of the damascus area to ramesses ii in 1259 bc. 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.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.

Damascus