![]() It was on the road to Damascus that Paul (d. One of the cities of the Decapolis confederacy, it was generally under Roman influence until the breakup of the empire.ĭamascus became a thriving commercial city, noted for its woolen cloth and grain, and was early converted to Christianity. When Seleucid power waned, Tigranes of Armenia took Damascus but after his surrender to the Romans, Damascus passed (64 B.C.) into the Roman Empire under Pompey. it was a provincial capital of the Persian Empire until it passed (332 B.C.) without a struggle to the armies of Alexander the Great.Īfter Alexander's death the Seleucids (see Seleucia) gained control of the city, although the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt tried to wrest it from them. Tiglathpileser III made it (732 B.C.) a part of the Assyrian Empire. Damascus was probably held by the Egyptians before the Hittite period (2d millennium B.C.) and was later ruled by the Israelites and Aram. There was a city on its site even before the time (c.2000 B.C.) of Abraham. ![]() ![]() Located in a strategic gap commanding the Barada River and transdesert routes, Damascus has been inhabited since prehistoric times and is reputedly the oldest continuously occupied city in the world. The biblical “street which is called Straight” still runs in the old city from the east to the west gate, flanked by bazaars. Points of interest include the Great Mosque (one of the largest and most famous mosques in the Muslim world), the quadrangular citadel (originally Roman rebuilt 1219), a 16th-century Muslim monastery, and Azm palace (1749 now a museum and center for the study of Islamic art and architecture). The old city lies south of the Barada, and the new town (greatly extended since 1926) lies north of the river. ![]() (1923), Damascus Oriental Institute of Music (1950), a technological institute (1963), an industrial school (1964), and the national museum (1919) are in Damascus. ![]()
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