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City of Damascus

Type Object Region Western Asia Time c. -2000

Damascus is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Asia, located in southwestern Syria at the intersection of an oasis and trade …

Timeline

  1. c. -2000–600Damascus · SyriaThe Damascus oasis has been settled since the Bronze Age, serving successively as an administrative and commercial node under Aramaean, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian rule; the city's layout expanded further during the Hellenistic and Roman periods.
  2. 661–1258Damascus · SyriaThe Umayyad dynasty made Damascus its capital; the Great Mosque and the city's wall system shaped its status as a religious and political center. Even after the capital moved to Baghdad, Damascus remained Syria's core city and a major center of scholarship and commerce.
  3. 1260–1516Damascus · SyriaUnder Mamluk rule, Damascus was the seat of the Syrian governor; around the 1320s it remained a vital hub connecting trade routes to Egypt, Anatolia, and the Persian Gulf, with its bazaars, caravanserais, and religious buildings continually expanded.
  4. 1516Damascus · SyriaDuring the Ottoman period it was the provincial capital of Damascus Eyalet; in the 20th century it became the capital of the modern Syrian state, with old and new cities coexisting, and its historic quarters and bazaar system forming an ever-evolving urban fabric.

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