Black Death Strikes Syria

Timeline

1. 1348Aleppo · SyriaThe plague entered the northern Syrian stronghold of Aleppo by land from Anatolia; as a trade node linking Asia Minor and the Levant, the epidemic spread rapidly there and moved south along trade routes.
2. 1348–1349Damascus · SyriaDamascus also became a center of the Levantine epidemic in summer 1348, markets shut down, and the plague spread along pilgrimage and trade routes. Ibn al-Wardi's account describes the Aleppo epidemic and should not be recorded as an eyewitness account from Damascus.