DAMASCUS (DIMASHQ)

The oldest continuously inhabited city in the world "The Turkes say, that their Prophet Mahomet was once at Damascus, and that when he saw the pleasant situation of it, and beheld the stately prospect of it, excelling all others that hee saw before ; refused to enter into the Citie, lest the pleasantnesse thereof should ravish him, and move him there to settle an Easthly Paradise, and hinder his desire of the heavenly Paradise." William Biddulph, 1600, in Purchas his Pilgrims, 1625 First mentioned in the ancient tablets of Ebla, Damascus is known to many archaeologists as the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world (although Aleppo and Jericho also contest this claim). It has always been a great trading city and the city was famous for its crafts and wealth. The best testimony to this is the term "Damascene" which was used to described the best silk, sword and indeed, anything that is the symbol of quality and fashion, like Paris today. Ancient travellers heap praises of this ancient city. Roman Emperor Julian called it "Pearl of the East". The Quran described it as one "whose like has never been built before". Mark Twain recalled the ancient tradition of Damascus as the Garden of Eden. Damascus’ greatest moments of glory was during the Omayyad Caliphate, when Damascus became the capital of an empire stretching from Spanish plains in the west to the steppes of Central Asia in the east. This period (661 to 750) came to an end with the bloody downfall of the Omayyads and the rise of the Abbasids, who set up their capital in Baghdad. A period of decline set in until the arrival of Salah-al-Din, the legendary Saladin as known to the West. Salah-al-Din made Damascus the capital of united Syria and Egypt, and the base of his struggle with the Crusaders. This was followed by a long period of decline, destruction (by the Mongols), reconstruction, and stagnation until the twentieth century, when it became the capital of an independent Syria.