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122-762: Hisham was born in Damascus , the administrative capital of the Umayyad Caliphate , in AH 72 (691–692 CE). His father was the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik ( r.  685–705 ). His mother, A'isha, was a daughter of Hisham ibn Isma'il of the Banu Makhzum , a prominent family of the Quraysh , and Abd al-Malik's longtime governor of the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina . According to

244-636: 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

366-509: 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 AD the Roman emperor Hadrian promoted the city of Damascus to "Metropolis of Coele-Syria ". Little remains of the architecture of the Romans, but the town planning of the old city did have

488-599: A Byzantine commander prisoner. Mu'awiya raided Byzantium from 734–737. In 737, al Walid ibn al Qa'qa al-Absi led the raid against the Byzantines. The next year Sulayman ibn Hisham captured Sindira ( Sideroun ). In 738–739, Maslama captured some of Cappadocia and also raided the Avars . Theophanes the Confessor (p. 103) states that while some Arabs raided successfully in 739 and returned home safely, others were soundly defeated at

610-459: 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

732-546: A distance in one day that equalled three days of normal travel. On the second day, after the Arabs crossed the river Wadi al-Subuh, the Türgesh army caught up with them, and attacked a secondary camp pitched by Abdallah ibn Abi Abdallah separately from the main Arab force. The Arabs and their Sogdian allies suffered heavy casualties—the brother of the ruler of Samarkand , Ghurak , being among

854-500: A large Berber force surrounded a loyal army at Wadi Sherif, where the loyalists fought to the death. Hisham dispatched a force of 27,000 Syrians, which was destroyed in 741. In 742 Handhala ibn Safwan began successfully, but soon was besieged in Qairawan . He led a desperate sortie from the city that scattered the Berbers, killing thousands and re-establishing Umayyad rule. Hisham also faced

976-463: 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 feet) below

1098-514: A letter to the caliph complaining of his and his brothers' treatment under the caliph's rule. Hisham also held no posts under his brother, Caliph Yazid II ( r.  720–724 ). Upon the counsel of their brother, the prominent general Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik , Yazid nominated Hisham as his successor over his own son al-Walid II , whom he had originally intended to designate as first-in-line. Hisham acceded after Yazid died in January 724. He received

1220-573: 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

1342-555: A revolt by the armies of Zayd ibn Ali , grandson of Husayn bin Ali , which was put down because of the betrayal of the Kufans. The Kufans encouraged Zayd to revolt. Zayd was ordered to leave Kufa and though he appeared to set out for Mecca, he returned and dwelt secretly in Kufa moving from house to house and receiving the allegiance of many people. Yusuf ibn Umar al-Thaqafi , Iraq's governor, learned of

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1464-953: A series of setbacks, especially in the Caucasus against the Khazars (the Battle of Marj Ardabil ) and in Transoxiana against the Turgesh (the " Day of Thirst " and the Battle of the Pass ). Hisham sent armies to end the Hindu rebellion in Sind , and was successful when the Hindu ruler Jai Singh was killed. This allowed the Umayyads to reassert their rule over some portions of their provinces in India . Some invasions of Indian kingdoms were led by

1586-573: A shrine on the site of Mu'awiya's grave in the city. Tulunid rule 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

1708-481: A stricter interpretation of the Sharia as Umar had, and enforced it, even upon his own family. His ability to stand up to the Umayyad clan may have been an important factor in his success, and may point to why his brother Yazid was ineffective. According to tradition, Hisham ordered the hadith scholar Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri (d.742) to commit the hadith he had memorized to writing. On the military front his empire suffered

1830-450: A strong uprising in Damascus that was eventually put down. On 24 November 847, a multiple earthquake struck and destroyed Damascus , causing the lives of 70,000 people in estimated deaths. Ahmad ibn Tulun , a dissenting Turkish wali 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

1952-705: A truce with the Crusaders in 1110. In 1126, the Crusader army led by Baldwin II fought Burid forces led by Toghtekin at Marj al-Saffar near Damascus; however, despite their tactical victory, the Crusaders failed in their objective to capture Damascus. Following Toghtekin's death in 1128, his son, Taj al-Muluk Buri , became the nominal ruler of Damascus. Coincidentally, the Seljuq prince of Mosul , Imad al-Din Zengi , took power in Aleppo and gained

2074-542: Is called Bilād aš-Šām ( بلاد الشام , lit.   ' land of the Levant ' ). The latter term etymologically means "land of the left-hand side" or "the north", as someone in the Hijaz facing east, oriented to the sunrise, will find the north to the left. This is contrasted with the name of Yemen ( اَلْيَمَن al-Yaman ), correspondingly meaning "the right-hand side" or "the south". The variation ش ء م ( š-ʾ-m '), of

2196-517: Is credited by al-Tabari for leading an expedition against the Byzantines across the Caliphate's frontier in 706 and capturing a number of their fortified positions. Hisham began to demonstrate aspirations for the caliphate at the death of his brother, Caliph Sulayman ( r.  715–717 ) in 717. On his deathbed, Sulayman had nominated as his successor their paternal first cousin, Umar II , but kept

2318-414: 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. In fact, all these theories stem not from any actual evidence outside

2440-617: Is the capital and largest city of Syria , the oldest current capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth holiest city in Islam . Known colloquially in Syria as aš-Šām ( الشَّام ) and dubbed, poetically, the "City of Jasmine " ( مَدِيْنَةُ الْيَاسْمِينِ Madīnat al-Yāsmīn ), Damascus is a major cultural center of the Levant and the Arab world . Situated in southwestern Syria, Damascus

2562-546: Is the center of a large metropolitan area. Nestled among 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 an arid climate because of the rain shadow effect . The Barada River flows through Damascus. Damascus is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in

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2684-623: Is the name traditionally given in Arabic historiography to a battle fought in 724 between the Turkic Türgesh Khaganate and the Umayyad Caliphate on the banks of the Syr Darya river, in Transoxiana (in modern Tajikistan , Central Asia ). The Umayyad army, under Muslim ibn Sa'id al-Kilabi , was campaigning in the Ferghana Valley when it learned of the Türgesh advance. Immediately,

2806-522: Is urban, while Jabal Qasioun occupies the rest. 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 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

2928-473: Is viewed by modern historians and the early Islamic tradition to have overseen a successful reign, on par with the similarly long reigns of the Umayyad Caliphate's founder Mu'awiya I ( r.  661–680 ) and Abd al-Malik. In the summation of the historian Francesco Gabrieli , Hisham's rule "on the whole was glorious for the Arabs and fruitful in the development of Islamic faith and culture " and "marks

3050-510: The Amarna letters , from the 14th century BC: Dimašqa ( 𒁲𒈦𒋡 ), Dimašqì ( 𒁲𒈦𒀸𒄀 ), and Dimašqa ( 𒁲𒈦𒀸𒋡 ). 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 and originated from

3172-676: The Arab Muslim general Khalid ibn al-Walid in August–September 634 CE. His army had previously attempted to capture the city in April 634 but without success. 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

3294-412: The Battle of Akroinon . He records that internal Byzantine strife (the struggle between Constantine V and the usurper Artabasdos ) facilitated Arab raids by Sulayman ibn Hisham in 741–742 (p. 106) that made many Byzantines Arab captives. Al-Tabari refers to the same raid. In North Africa, Kharijite teachings combined with natural local restlessness to produce a significant Berber revolt . In 740,

3416-545: The Battle of Marj al-Saffar , to put an end to Mongol invasions of the Levant . Later on, the Black Death of 1348–1349 killed as much as half of the city's population. 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 on 17 March 1401. The Umayyad Mosque

3538-583: 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

3660-539: The Qumranic Darmeśeq ( דרמשק ), and Darmsûq ( ܕܪܡܣܘܩ ) in Syriac , meaning "a well-watered land". In Arabic , the city is called Dimashq ( دمشق Dimašq ). The city is also known as aš-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 historical region of Syria ,

3782-708: The Silk Road , gave the English language "damask". Ayyubid rule (and independence) came to an end with the Mongol invasion of Syria in 1260, in which the Mongols led by Kitbuqa 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. However, following

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3904-574: The Syrian civil war , Damascus was named the least livable city out of 140 global cities in the Global Liveability Ranking . As of June 2023 , it was the least livable out of 173 global cities in the same Global Liveability Ranking. In 2017, two new development projects have been launched in Damascus to build new residential districts, Marota City and Basillia City to symbolize post-war reconstruction. The name of Damascus first appeared in

4026-465: 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. 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

4148-546: The moral authority of the Baghdad-based Abbasids. 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's rule as a buffer between his dominion and the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. Toghtekin, however, saw

4270-555: The 10th century. Hisham died on 6 February 743 (6 Rabiʽ al-Thani 125 AH). His son, Maslama , led the funeral prayers. Hisham had attempted to secure Maslama as his successor in place of Yazid II's son, al-Walid II. Hisham's initial attempts, after the Hajj of 735, to persuade al-Walid II to step down in favor of Maslama or, alternatively, to make Maslama al-Walid II's successor were rejected. Afterward, Hisham undermine al-Walid II by secretly gathering support for Maslama. The latter's nomination

4392-539: The 20th century, newer suburbs developed north of the Barada, and to some extent to the south, invading the Ghouta oasis. In 1956–1957, the new neighborhood of Yarmouk became a second home to many Palestinian refugees. 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

4514-511: The Anti-Lebanon Mountains 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 at Tell Ramad , on

4636-612: The Arab Hamdanid dynasty of Aleppo 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. 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

4758-559: The Arab governors of Sind but they were unsuccessful. Under Hisham's rule, regular raids against the Byzantine Empire continued. One regular commander of Arab forces was the redoubtable Maslama, Hisham's half-brother. He fought the Byzantines in 725–726 CE (A.H. 107) and the next year captured Caesarea Mazaca . He also fought the Khazars in the Caucasus. In 728, he fought for a month against

4880-405: The Arabs began a hasty retreat to the Jaxartes, pursued and harassed by the Türgesh cavalry. Finally, after 11 days, the Umayyad army reached the Jaxartes, where it was caught between the Türgesh and the forces of the native Transoxianian principalities. Nevertheless, the Arabs managed to break through and cross the river to Khujand . The Umayyad defeat led to the collapse of Muslim rule over much of

5002-561: The Barada River mitigated this, 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. The modern city has an area of 105 km (41 sq mi), out of which 77 km (30 sq mi)

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5124-432: The Barada valley in Dummar in the northwest and on the slopes of the mountains at Barzeh 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 ( Arabic : الغوطة , romanized :  al-ġūṭä ), watered by the Barada river. The Fijeh spring , west along the Barada valley, used to provide

5246-400: The Caliphate they suffered the brunt of these wars. The Syrians were mostly Yamani and their dispersal and heavy losses disrupted the factional balance upon which the Umayyad state depended in favor of the Qays/Mudar of the Jazira. The Qays/Mudar became the main component of the army under Marwan II ( r.  744–750 ) and their rout by the Khurasani troops of the Abbasids marked the end of

5368-446: The Caliphate, while also failing to remedy state finances. Meanwhile, the harshness and diminishing material returns from campaigning along the frontiers sapped the enthusiasm of the provincial garrisons and further increased Hisham's dependence on the Syrian army, the bedrock of the dynasty, to the chagrin of the locally-established troops. As Syrian troops were dispatched both to fight on the frontiers and quell major rebellions throughout

5490-470: The Fatimids five years later, and through diplomacy, prevented the Byzantines during the Syrian campaigns of John Tzimiskes 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 were "magnificent", but living conditions were awful. Under al-Aziz,

5612-416: The Islamic tradition portrays Hisham as "a conscientious and efficient, if severe and tightfisted, administrator", according to Blankinship. In the view of the historian Hugh N. Kennedy , the Umayyad state "had never been as strong as it had been under Hisham only a decade before the final collapse " in 750. Blankinship, on the other hand, concludes that the military disasters of Hisham's reign brought about

5734-475: The Khaqan there and defeated him. Hisham's son Mu'awiya was another Arab commander in the almost-annual raids against the Byzantine Empire. In 728, he took the fort of Samalu in Cilicia . The next year Mu'awiya thrust left and Sa'id ibn Hisham right, in addition to a sea raid. In 731, Mu'awiya captured Kharsianon in Cappadocia. Mu'awiya raided the Byzantine Empire in 731–732 (A.H. 113). The next year he captured Aqrun (Akroinos), while Abdallah al-Battal took

5856-497: The Mongol defeat at Ain Jalut on 3 September 1260, Damascus was captured five days later and became the provincial capital of the Mamluk Sultanate , ruled from Egypt, following the Mongol withdrawal. Following their victory at the Battle of Wadi al-Khaznadar , the Mongols led by Ghazan besieged the city for ten days, which surrendered between December 30, 1299, and January 6, 1300, though its Citadel resisted. Ghazan then retreated with most of his forces in February, probably because

5978-451: The Mongol horses needed fodder, and left behind about 10,000 horsemen under the Mongol general Mulay . Around March 1300, Mulay returned with his horsemen to Damascus, then followed Ghazan back across the Euphrates . In May 1300, the Egyptian Mamluks returned from Egypt and reclaimed the entire area without a battle. In April 1303, the Mamluks managed to defeat the Mongol army led by Kutlushah and Mulay along with their Armenian allies at

6100-450: The Muslims maintained the building's dedication to John the Baptist . 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

6222-450: The Nabatean architect and engineer, Apollodorus of Damascus , who joined him in Rome when he was a consul in 91 AD, and later built several monuments during the 2nd century AD. 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

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6344-404: 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 subjugated by their rule. A positive effect of this was stability for the city and benefits from the spice and incense trade with Arabia . In 694 BC,

6466-491: 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." Roman emperor Trajan who annexed the Nabataean Kingdom, creating the province of Arabia Petraea , had previously been in Damascus, as his father Marcus Ulpius Traianus served as governor of Syria from 73 to 74 AD, where he met

6588-404: 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. In August, the two sides met along the Yarmouk River where they fought a major battle which ended in a decisive Muslim victory, solidifying Muslim rule in Syria and Palestine. While the Muslims administered

6710-424: The Transoxianian princes sent a petition to the Chinese and their Türgesh vassals for military aid against the Caliphate's governors. The Türgesh responded by launching a series of attacks against the Muslims in Transoxiana, beginning in 720. These incursions were coupled with uprisings against the Caliphate among the local Sogdians . The Umayyad governor of Khurasan, Sa'id ibn Amr al-Harashi , harshly suppressed

6832-407: The Umayyad dynasty's demise. According to him, the state struggled to absorb the significant losses incurred by these defeats. Its treasury was dependent on war booty and it lacked efficient means to collect tax revenue from its subjects. An unprecedented economic crisis ensued, precipitating stringent taxation efforts and a substantial reduction in spending. This caused widespread discontent throughout

6954-490: The Umayyad dynasty. Hisham's favored wife was Umm Hakim , the daughter of Yahya ibn al-Hakam , brother of Hisham's grandfather caliph Marwan I ( r.  684–685 ). Her mother was Zaynab bint Abd al-Rahman, the granddaughter of the Syrian conquest commander al-Harith ibn Hisham of the Banu Makhzum. Umm Hakim, like her mother, was well-known for her beauty and love for wine. She gave Hisham five sons, including Sulayman, Maslama, Yazid al-Afqam , and Mu'awiya . Hisham

7076-469: The Umayyad empire to continue as an entity. His long rule was an effective one, and it saw a rebirth of reforms that were originated by Umar bin Abd al-Aziz . Like a-Walid I, Hisham was a great patron of the arts, and he again encouraged arts in the empire. He also encouraged the growth of education by building more schools, and perhaps most importantly, by overseeing the translation of numerous literary and scientific masterpieces into Arabic . He returned to

7198-408: The Umayyads later improved the same network, and still forms the basis of the water system of the old part of the city today. The Aramaeans initially turned Damascus into an outpost of a loose federation of Aramaean tribes, known as Aram-Zobah , based in the Beqaa Valley . The city would gain pre-eminence in southern Syria when Ezron , the claimant to Aram-Zobah's throne who was denied kingship of

7320-437: 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

7442-433: The advent of Saint Paul's proselytization. During the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 , the city was besieged and captured by Shahrbaraz in 613, along with a large number of Byzantine troops as prisoners, and was in Sasanian hands until near the end of the war. Muhammad's first indirect interaction with the people of Damascus was when he sent a letter, through his companion Shiya ibn Wahab, to Harith ibn Abi Shamir ,

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7564-400: The army. Al-Kilabi led his army along the Jaxartes valley to Ferghana, and laid siege to it while devastating the surrounding countryside. At this point, the Umayyad army became aware that the Türgesh khagan Suluk was advancing against them with an army stronger than their own. Abandoning the siege, the Muslim army retreated so hastily towards the south that it was claimed they covered

7686-445: The central arch was for chariots while the side arches were for pedestrians. In 23 BC, Herod the Great was given lands controlled by Zenodorus by Caesar Augustus and some scholars believe that Herod was also granted control of Damascus as well. 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

7808-427: 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, a rebellion was initiated 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

7930-412: 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

8052-420: 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 a cool arid climate ( BWk ) in the Köppen-Geiger system , due to the rain shadow effect of

8174-410: 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 Europe regions of

8296-434: 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 . The governor assigned to the city which had been chosen as the capital of Islamic Syria was Mu'awiya I . Following the fourth Rashidun caliph Ali 's death in 661, Mu'awiya was chosen as the caliph of the expanding Islamic empire. Because of

8418-549: 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 fulfill their vows, after which they all returned home. Local crusader barons set about rebuilding their kingdom from Acre and the other coastal cities. Saladin died in 1193, and there were frequent conflicts between different Ayyubid sultans ruling in Damascus and Cairo. Damascus

8540-409: The country of Damascus; and there is a village named after him, The Habitation of Abraham. Damascus is first documented as an important city during the arrival of the Aramaeans , a Semitic people , 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

8662-435: 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 is mentioned in Genesis 14:15 as existing at

8784-550: 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. Under Ezron's grandson, Ben-Hadad I (880–841 BC), and his successor Hazael , Damascus annexed Bashan (modern-day Hauran region), and went on

8906-472: The final period of prosperity and splendour of the Umayyad caliphate". By dint of his sobriety, austerity and work ethic, Hisham is held by most modern historians to have kept the Caliphate in good-standing. They largely assign blame to his successor al-Walid II and longer-standing internal factors, which Hisham could not resolve, for the Umayyad dynasty's unraveling in the few years after Hisham's death. Similarly,

9028-619: The geographical list of Thutmose III as ṯmśq ( 𓍘𓄟𓊃𓈎𓅱 ) in the 15th century BC. The etymology of the ancient name ṯmśq is uncertain. It is attested as Imerišú ( 𒀲𒋙 ) in Akkadian , ṯmśq ( 𓍘𓄟𓊃𓈎𓅱 ) in Egyptian , Damašq ( 𐡃𐡌𐡔𐡒 ‎ ) in Old Aramaic and Dammeśeq ( דַּמֶּשֶׂק ) in Biblical Hebrew . A number of Akkadian spellings are found in

9150-464: 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 were ostracised, and army generals from

9272-511: The history of al-Tabari (d. 923), Hisham was given the kunya (patronymic) of Abu al-Walid. There is little information about Hisham's early life. He was too young to play any political or military role during his father's reign. He supposedly led the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca once during his brother al-Walid I 's reign ( r.  705–715 ) and while there, met a respected descendant of Caliph Ali ( r.  656–661 ), Zayn al-Abidin . Hisham

9394-630: The internal conflicts of the years past were ended, and Hisham's governor, Abd al-Rahman ibn Abdallah , assembled a large army that went into France . He besieged Bordeaux and pushed to the Loire . This marked the limit of Arabic conquest in Western Europe. The wave was halted at the Battle of Tours by Charles Martel who ruled the kingdom of the Franks, with exception of the Fraxinetum enclave which lasted until

9516-518: 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." After most of the Syrian countryside was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate during the reign of Caliph Umar ( r.  634–644 ), Damascus itself was conquered by

9638-454: 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 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

9760-484: 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

9882-476: The late 730s was a major setback to Hisham's succession plans, as it represented the loss of the plan's key supporter in the Umayyad dynasty. Al-Walid II acceded and immediately ordered his cousin, the veteran commander al-Abbas ibn al-Walid , to arrest Hisham's sons at Rusafa , near Palmyra , but expressly forbade that Maslama or his household be disturbed in deference to their old companionship and Maslama's defense of al-Walid II from Hisham. In general, Hisham

10004-469: 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. 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. With the arrival of the Seljuq Turks in

10126-620: 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 . Accordingly, there was a community of Jewish Christians who converted to Christianity with

10248-610: The more typical ش م ل ( š-m-l ), is also attested in Old South Arabian , 𐩦𐩱𐩣 ( šʾm ), with the same semantic development. 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 the Anti-Lebanon Mountains , supplied with water by the Barada River , and at a crossroads between trade routes:

10370-577: 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 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

10492-645: 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. 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

10614-432: 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. In

10736-566: The new regime. Only after Nasr ibn Sayyar led a force of Mudaris (northern Arabs) against them and defeated them at Baruqan did the Yemenis join al-Kilabi's army. The campaign eventually went ahead as Khalid al-Qasri wrote to al-Kilabi, urging him to proceed with it until his replacement, Khalid's brother Asad , arrived in Khurasan. Nevertheless, 4,000 troops from the Yemeni Azd tribe withdrew from

10858-502: The news arrived of the accession of a new caliph, Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik , and the appointment of a new governor of Iraq , Khalid al-Qasri . This brought the long-simmering tribal rivalries of the Arabs of Khurasan to the fore: the Yemeni (southern Arab) troops in Balkh initially refused to join the campaign, as they expected the imminent recall of al-Kilabi (who was of northern Arab stock) by

10980-476: The news while at his Syrian desert estate, al-Zaytuna, which is identified as Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi , near Hisham's favored residence, al-Rusafa, which is identified as Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi . He was given the caliphal ring and staff by a postal messenger, after which he rode to Damascus, where he was publicly acclaimed as caliph. Hisham inherited an empire with many different problems. He would, however, be effective in attending to these problems, and in allowing

11102-485: The next few years, but without achieving any major result. Asad also tried to secure the cooperation of the local elites by abolishing for a time the payment of taxes by the native converts ( mawali ), but this policy was opposed by the Khurasani Arabs themselves, and was reversed by Asad's successor Ashras ibn Abdallah al-Sulami . This led to a general uprising of Transoxiana in 728, and with Türgesh military aid

11224-556: The night and burned all their baggage, allegedly worth one million dirham s, in preparation for battle. On the next day, despite suffering from thirst and being hemmed in between the Türgesh on their rear and the Transoxianian forces in front, the desperate Arabs managed to break through the enemy lines and cross the Jaxartes. As al-Tabari writes, when they reached the relative safety of Khujand , "suffering from hunger and exhaustion,

11346-534: The north. Later, Demetrius III Philopator rebuilt the city according to the Greek hippodamian system and renamed it "Demetrias". 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 which themselves were incorporated into the province of Syria and granted autonomy. The city of Damascus

11468-529: 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 (3,000 m) and blocks precipitation from the Mediterranean Sea, so the region of Damascus is sometimes subject to droughts. However, in ancient times,

11590-517: 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. 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

11712-493: The order secret, entrusting the revelation to his chief adviser Raja ibn Haywa . When Raja informed the Umayyad family of the decision, Hisham protested that the caliphal office was the preserve of Abd al-Malik's direct descendants and only relented from his opposition when threatened by force. He played no political or military role under Umar ( r.  717–720 ) but is mentioned in a 10th-century biography of Umar as having issued

11834-451: 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. 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. Some of the earliest Egyptian records are from 1350 BC Amarna letters when Damascus (called Dimasqu )

11956-417: The plot, commanded the people to gather at the great mosque, locked them inside and began a search for Zayd. Zayd with some troops fought his way to the mosque and called on people to come out. He then pushed back Yusuf's troops, but was felled by an arrow. Although his body was initially buried, the spot was pointed out and it was extracted, beheaded and the head sent to Hisham and later to Medina. In Spain ,

12078-624: The region, which until c.  740 remained disputed territory, with both the Arabs and the Türgesh fighting for control over it. The region of Transoxiana had been conquered by the Muslim Arabs of the Umayyad Caliphate under Qutayba ibn Muslim in the reign of al-Walid I ( r.  705–715 ), following the Muslim conquests of Persia and Khurasan in the mid-7th century. The loyalties of Transoxiana's native Iranian and Turkic populations and those of autonomous local rulers remained questionable, however, as demonstrated in 719, when

12200-484: The slain—but managed to repel the attack. The Arabs continued their retreat for eight more days, during which they were constantly harassed by the Türgesh cavalry. On the ninth day, the Arabs reached the Jaxartes only to find their path blocked by their enemies, troops of the native principalities of Shash and Farghana , and the remnants of the Sogdian rebellion that Sa'id al-Harashi had suppressed. The Arabs made camp for

12322-565: The time of the War of the Kings . 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 . In Antiquities i. 7, 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

12444-461: The town was called Šaʾimerišu (Akkadian: 𒐼𒄿𒈨𒊑𒋙𒌋) and its governor was named Ilu-issīya . 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 Nebuchadnezzar II of the Neo-Babylonians , but the status of Damascus under Babylon is relatively unknown. Damascus

12566-648: 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. Abd al-Malik 's successor, al-Walid initiated the 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

12688-517: The troops spread out in disorder". There, the leadership of the army was formally transferred to Abd al-Rahman ibn Na'im al-Ghamidi , who led the remnants of the army back to Samarkand. The defeat of the Arab army, and the casualties suffered, was a catalyst for the almost complete collapse of Muslim rule in Transoxiana over the next few years. In the words of the British scholar H. A. R. Gibb , "it

12810-399: The unrest and restored the Muslim position almost to what it had been during the time of Qutayba, except for the Ferghana Valley , control over which was lost. In 723, al-Harashi was replaced as governor by Muslim ibn Sa'id al-Kilabi , who resolved late the next year to launch an expedition with the goal of seizing Ferghana. The campaign faced difficulties already in its early stages, when

12932-661: The unstable situation and launch an assault 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. 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

13054-548: 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 . 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

13176-403: 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. In 1164, King Amalric of Jerusalem invaded Fatimid Egypt , 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

13298-616: The world . First settled in the 3rd 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 of Syria . As of September 2019 , eight years into

13420-406: Was Aram-Damascus , centered on its capital Damascus. 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, they established the water distribution system of Damascus by constructing canals and tunnels which maximized the efficiency of the river Barada. The Romans and

13542-651: Was also married to Umm Uthman, a daughter of Sa'id ibn Khalid. The latter was a grandson of the third caliph Uthman ( r.  644–656 ) and one of the wealthiest people of his day, who used to divide his time between Syria and Medina. Umm Uthman gave birth to Hisham's son Sa'id . His other sons were Muhammad, Abd Allah, Marwan, Abd al-Rahman and Quraysh. He had a daughter, A'isha, to whom he granted an estate at Ras Kayfa. Damascus Damascus ( / d ə ˈ m æ s k ə s / də- MAS -kəs , UK also / d ə ˈ m ɑː s k ə s / də- MAH -skəs ; Arabic : دِمَشق , romanized :  Dimašq )

13664-553: Was burnt and men and women were 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 (between modern-day Al-Qassaa and Bab Tuma ), originally "the tower of heads". Day of Thirst Principality of Khuttal The " Day of Thirst " ( Arabic : ﻳﻮﻢ ﺍلعطش , romanized :  Yawm al-aṭash )

13786-546: 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 Syrian Laodicea in

13908-511: Was defeated by the crusaders at the Battle of Montgisard , despite his numerical superiority. 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 captured in October. These events shocked Europe, resulting in

14030-717: 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:

14152-466: 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. 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

14274-573: 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. In 1144, Zengi conquered Edessa ,

14396-448: Was practically the last aggressive expedition of the Arabs into Transoxania for fifteen years, but of much greater importance was the blow which it struck at Arab prestige. The roles were reversed; from now onwards the Arabs found themselves on the defensive and were gradually ousted from almost every district across the Oxus ." The new Umayyad governor, Asad al-Qasri, campaigned incessantly over

14518-560: 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 III 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

14640-502: Was succeeded by his nephew Yusuf, better known as Saladin , who defeated a joint crusader-Byzantine siege of Damietta . 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. In 1177 Saladin

14762-503: Was supported by Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik and Hisham's maternal grandfather, Hisham ibn Isma'il, the latter's sons Ibrahim and Muhammad , as well as the sons of the tribal chief al-Qa'qa' ibn Khulayd , who were an influential family in northern Syria . Maslama's mother, Umm Hakim, also lobbied for him. Opposed to Maslama's proposed succession was Khalid al-Qasri , the governor of Iraq, to which Maslama responded by insulting him and his dead brother Asad . Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik's death in

14884-506: 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. During the internecine wars fought by the Ayyubid rulers, Damascus was besieged repeatedly, as, e.g., in 1229 . The patterned Byzantine and Chinese silks available through Damascus, one of the Western termini of

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