Timur sacks Damascus (1401)

Timeline

1. 1400–1401Damascus · SyriaAfter capturing Aleppo Timur continued south to besiege Damascus. The Mamluk sultan Nasir al-Din Faraj led reinforcements to defeat outside the city; due to plots within the army and instability at home, he withdrew to Egypt on the night of January 7, 1401, leaving the garrison and citizens to face Timur's army alone.
2. 1401Damascus · SyriaDamascus's judges and scholars chose the historian Ibn Khaldun and others to negotiate in Timur's camp, requesting guarantees for the safety of citizens and property. Timur ostensibly agreed, and the citadel garrison also surrendered after paying a huge ransom; the city temporarily fell under Timur's control.
3. 1401Damascus · SyriaAfter the negotiating envoys departed, Timur ordered the city sacked: the Umayyad Mosque was burned, large numbers of residents were massacred or enslaved, heads were piled into pyramids, and skilled artisans were forcibly relocated to Samarkand. After the sack Timur withdrew north, and Syria's agriculture and handicrafts failed to recover for a long time.