Ancient City Of Damascus Series

Ancient City of Damascus

Founded in the 3rd millennium B.C., Damascus is one of the oldest cities in the Middle East. It was the center of a flourishing craft industry, specializing in swords and lace. The city has some 125 monuments from different periods of its history – one of the most spectacular is the 8th-century Great Mosque of the Umayyads, built on an Assyrian sanctuary. Damascus was an important cultural and commercial center by virtue of its geographical position at the crossroads of the orient and the occident, between Africa and Asia. The old city of Damascus is considered to be among the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world

Timeline of Damascus to 2000

• 150CE - Damascus became a Roman provincial city under Trajan.

• 4th century – Temple of Jupiter built by the Romans.

• 613 – Sasanian captured Damascus during the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628

• 634 – Arab conquest of Damascus under Khalid ibn al-Walid.

• 715 – Great Mosque built by Al-Walid I by converting the church of St John the Baptist constructed by Arcadius.

• 789 – Qubbat al-Khazna built.

• 1078 – Citadel of Damascus built.

• 1126 - Crusaders attacked Damascus.

• 1142 – Al-Mujahidiyah Madrasa established.

• 1154 – Nur al-Din Bimaristan built.

• 1196 – Mausoleum of Saladin built.

• 1215 – Al-Adiliyah Madrasa founded.

• 1216 – Citadel of Damascus rebuilt.

• 1224 – Al-Rukniyah Madrasa built.

• 1234 – Aqsab Mosque built.

• 1254 – Al-Qilijiyah Madrasa established.

• 1260 – Kitbuga, a confidant of the Mongol Ilkhan Hulagu, captured Damascus. Then, it was captured five days after the Battle of Ain Jalut by the Mamluk Sultanate.

• 1277 – Al-Zahiriyah Library established.

• 1400 – Timur, the Turco-Mongol conqueror, besieges Damascus.

• 1515 – Al-Sibaiyah Madrasa built.

• 1516 – Ottomans under Selim I conquered Damascus from the Mamluks.

• 1558 – Tekkiye Mosque built.

• 1566 – Al-Salimiyah Madrasa established.

• 1574 – Khan al-Harir built.

• 1605 – Printing press established.

• 1736 – Khan Sulayman Pasha built.

• 1750 – Azmlace built.

• 1752 – Khan As'ad Pasha built.

• 1832 - Captured by Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt.

• 1840 - Return of the city to Turkish domination, when the Egyptians were driven out of Syria.

• 1860 - Massacre; the Moslem population rose against the Christians.

• 1885 – Bakdash (ice cream parlor) established.

• 1900 - Population: 154,000. (approx date)

20th century

• 1918 – October: Arab troops led by Emir Feisal, and supported by British Armed Forces, captured Damascus, ending 400 years of Ottoman rule.

• 1920 – July: French Armed Forces occupy Damascus, forcing Feisal to flee abroad.

• 1923 – University founded.

• 1925/6 – French forces bombard Damascus.

• 1928 – Al-Wahda Club of Damascus founded.

• 1935 – Population: 193,912.

• 1939 – Chapel of Saint Paul inaugurated.

• 1946 – Population: 303,952.

• 1947 – Al-Jaish Sports Club founded.

• 1960 – Syrian Television begins broadcasting.

• 1961 – September: Discontent with Egyptian domination of the United Arab Republic prompts a group of Syrian Army officers to seize power in Damascus and dissolve the union.

• 1964 – Population: 562,907 (estimate).

• 1970 – Population: 836,668 city; 923,253 urban agglomeration.

• 1977 – Higher Institute for Dramatic Arts founded.

• 1981 - Bomb explodes near Syrian Air Force headquarters. Azbakiyah bombing

• 1983 – Higher Institute for Applied Science and Technology founded.

• 1984 – Al-Assad National Library established.

• 1985 – Population: 1,196,710 (estimate).

• 1986 – Bombings

• 1994 – Population: 1,549,000 (estimate).

• 2000 – Spring

History of Syria

Prehistory

• Levantine corridor

• Natufian culture

• Halaf culture

• Uruk period

• Abu Hureyra

• Aswad

• Yarmukian culture

Bronze Age

• Amorites

• Akkadian Empire

• Arameans

• Canaanites

• Old Assyrian Empire

• Middle Assyrian Empire

• Ebla

• Yamhad

• Qatna

• Mari

• Ugarit

• Late Bronze Age collapse

Antiquity

Middle Ages

• Muslim conquest (636)

• Caliphal Syria (Bilad al-Sham)

• Tulunid dynasty

• Ikhshidid dynasty

• Zangid dynasty

• Hamdanid dynasty

• Mirdasid dynasty

• Fatimid Syria

• Saljuqid Syria

• Crusader states

• County of Edessa

• Principality of Antioch

• County of Tripoli

• Ayyubid Syria (1174–1260)

• Mamluk Syria (1260–1516)

Early modern

• Ottoman Syria (1516–1918)

Modern

• Arab Kingdom of Syria (1920)

• French Mandate

• Syrian Federation (1922–25)

• State of Syria (1925–30)

• Mandatory Republic (1930–46)

• Independent First Syrian Republic (1946–50)

• Second Syrian Republic (1950–58, 1961–63)

• United Arab Republic (1958–61)

• Ba'thist Syria (1963–present)

Excavations at Tell Ramad on the city's outskirts have demonstrated that Damascus was inhabited as early as 8,000 to 10,000 BC. However, it is not documented as an important city until the arrival of the Aramaeans.