Damascus, Syria

Damascus, the capital of the Syrian Arab Republic, is among the longest continually inhabited sites in the world. Pagan, Jewish, Christian, and Islamic history have all left their mark on the city, making twenty-first century Damascus a mixture of the ancient and modern and one of the foremost centers for Arabic culture. However, the Syrian Civil War, which wracked the country starting in 2011, made Damascus along with much of the rest of the country a dangerous place to live.

Landscape

Damascus lies on a plateau in southwestern Syria, below the eastern flank of the Anti-Lebanon mountains, at an elevation of 680 meters (2,231 feet). The border with Lebanon traverses the mountain range, and Damascus is located only eighty-five kilometers (fifty-three miles) from Beirut and the Mediterranean Sea.

Damascus's viability as a settlement is due to the Barada River, which courses through the city. The river transforms the desert into the lush al-Ghutah oasis surrounding Damascus, and provides it rich agricultural land in an otherwise barren landscape.

The main part of the city, including its historic center, is located on the southern bank of the Barada. On the northern bank are newer residential districts that have appeared with the growing population. Government-related buildings are concentrated to the west of the historic center. Modern additions to the city have encroached on the oasis.

The Anti-Lebanon mountains prevent Damascus from having a typical Mediterranean climate. Occupying a semiarid steppe zone that extends across the country, the city has cold winters and hot summers. Average temperatures range from 6 degrees Celsius (42 degrees Fahrenheit) in January to 26 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit) in July. Rain, which falls mostly in the winter, measures between 150 and 200 millimeters annually (between 5.9 and 7.9 inches).

People

Because of the enormous displacement of Syrians caused by the civil war, population figures are difficult to estimate, but in 2023 the population of Damascus was estimated at around 2.585 million. Damascus had been the second-largest city in Syria after Aleppo, but the latter was devastated in the war, making the capital the most populous city. As in the rest of the country, Arabs are the ethnic majority in Damascus. Within this majority is a small minority of Palestinian refugees who fled conflicts in Israel and the Occupied Territories. Non-Arab minorities include Kurds, Circassians, and Armenians.

Islam is the main religion of the population, with Sunni Muslims forming the largest sect. Alawites, who practice a form of Shia Islam mixed with pre-Islamic rites, are an indigenous religious minority whose largest numbers are found in Syria. Though traditionally persecuted, they have dominated Syrian politics since the 1970s. Jews and Christians, mainly Arabs of Orthodox sects, both have long standing in the city, though discrimination has caused most of the Jewish population to flee to Israel.

In addition to markets and caravansaries, the old city contains the Muslim, Christian, and Jewish quarters and their respective religious buildings. It is surrounded in places by the remains of a Roman wall. Newer suburban districts with a particular demographic character include Yarmouk, where Palestinian refugees have commonly settled.

Damascus is renowned for its café culture. Predominantly male patrons drink tea and coffee, socialize, and smoke water pipes in the cafés. Another tradition, though one that is dying out, is the performance of the hakawati, a storyteller and actor who recounts the epics and fables of Arabic culture for the café patrons.

Economy

Syria has a weak, mixed economy. Since 2000, the government has made efforts to promote limited open market principles that would better integrate the country into the world economy. As the economic leader of Syria and the center for the majority of decisions affecting the economy, Damascus reaps more benefits than other Syrian cities and attracts laborers from throughout the country. Population growth has outstripped job availability, leading to high unemployment.

Damascus's economy is based on government administration, industry, agriculture, and transportation. Industries produce textiles, jewelry, glass, construction materials, furniture, and handicrafts. Food and leather processing are also important. Famous products such as damask, a fine cloth, and Damascus steel were once widely exported but no longer have the same economic draw.

The agricultural sector, dependent on the al-Ghutah oasis, produces fruit, vegetables, and grains that grow well in temperate and subtropical climates, including olives and grapes. Livestock is also raised, mainly sheep, cows, and goats.

Now that Latakia, in northern Syria, is the country's main port, Damascus has lost some of its importance as a transportation hub. Nonetheless, it is still well connected by road to other cities within Syria and throughout the Middle East.

The outbreak of violence in 2011 further disrupted the nation's economy and infrastructure. As the Syrian Civil War intensified, numerous residents of Damascus and elsewhere faced unemployment and shortages of necessary supplies such as food and medicine.

Climate change has had a significant impact on the agricultural sector. Spring weather has been colder and summers have been hotter. Climate change has led to desertification. Warfare has further affected production. Since about 2010, agricultural production has been cut approximately in half.

Landmarks

Damascus's old city boasts numerous attractions, from bustling covered markets to the architecture of the Muslim, Christian, and Jewish quarters. Its streets are narrow and irregular, and vestiges of the city's long history are evident everywhere. The old city can be accessed by eight different gates, the oldest being Bab Sharqi, built in the Roman period.

The Islamic architecture of Damascus is among the richest in the world. The most important mosque, the Umayyad or Great Mosque, was begun around 705 and boasts lavish interiors as well as a highly ornamented courtyard. It was the first mosque built on a monumental scale and has served as a model for numerous others.

The mosque occupies the site of a fourth-century Christian church that was itself built on the site of two pagan temples, one Aramaean and one Roman. In its Christian manifestation, it was known as the Cathedral of St. John and was thought to hold the head of St. John the Baptist. Other notable mosquese in Damascus are the Tekkeyah and the Sinani-yah, both dating from the sixteenth century.

Syria's ancient history and culture is showcased in several museums, most notably the National Museum, which contains some of the world's most important archaeological discoveries. Among its many highlights is the Dura-Europos Synagogue, thought to be the oldest preserved synagogue. Dating to the second century, it has been reconstructed in the museum and bears remarkable frescoes on its walls.

Other notable landmarks in Damascus include the National Library, the University of Damascus, the Arab Academy, the tomb of Saladin, and the Citadel. Many of these sites have been damaged or destroyed by the civil war.

History

Archaeological evidence suggests that the al-Ghutah oasis has been settled since 2,500 BCE, though some scholars argue for an even earlier human presence.

Ancient Damascus knew many influences and many rulers, and its fortunes waxed and waned. A fifteenth-century BCE Egyptian inscription refers to it as the capital of a city-state, and during the subsequent centuries it was repeatedly conquered, by Israel, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, and the Macedonians under Alexander the Great. It then became part of the Seleucid Kingdom. Classical influences permeated the city until Muslims took control in 635 CE.

In 64 BCE, the Romans conquered Damascus and held sway until 395 CE. The city prospered economically as a trading center as it became more important within the eastern Roman Empire. Christianity was eventually introduced and quickly attracted followers. Damascus's role in Christian history was further expanded with a theological school that attracted scholars of note and a bishop's diocese. After the western portion of the Roman Empire collapsed, Eastern Christian rites came to dominate.

In 635, Muslim forces conquered the city. The new rulers commenced a period of unprecedented growth and influence, especially after the city was named the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate in 661. The monumental building projects undertaken by the Umayyad rulers as well as major economic and cultural advances contributed to the city's golden age, which ended when the Abbasid Caliphate supplanted the Umayyad Caliphate and the capital moved to Baghdad in 750. Many monuments from the Umayyad period were destroyed or damaged at that time.

Its state of decline meant another succession of rulers, first the Seljuk Turks and then the Egyptians, who undertook extensive building projects. Timur (Tamerlane), the Turkic leader, destroyed Damascus in 1401. Once rebuilt, it passed back and forth between the Egyptians and the Ottomans before it was finally absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, which ruled it for the next four centuries. Its fortunes rose and declined with the general fortunes of the empire. At their peak, the Ottomans contributed new buildings to the city.

World War I brought another major change to Damascus. As the Ottoman Empire was dismantled, it lost control over Syria, and the Ottomans left the city in 1918. It came under control of the future king of Iraq, Faisal, whom the British had helped take Damascus. Faisal attempted to make Syria an independent kingdom with the capital in Damascus, but he was forced out by the French, to whom control of Syria had been granted under the Sykes-Picot Agreement.

During the French mandate period, Damascus became a hotbed of nationalist activity and the scene of fighting. The French bombarded the city in 1925 as a means to put down a revolt and were able to hold power until 1946. During World War II, a pro-German government occupied Damascus until Allied forces liberated it toward the end of the war.

After independence, Damascus became the capital of the Syrian Arab Republic. In the latter half of the twentieth century, it was at the center of major conflicts and political upheavals, internally and regionally. A period of relative stability and economic development ensued after the coup of 1970, which put Hafez al-Assad in power for the next thirty years.

In 2011, protests took place in a number of Middle Eastern and North African countries in a movement that became known as the Arab Spring. Though the protests in Syria were initially peaceful, violent conflict between the Syrian government under President Bashar al-Assad and rebel groups soon began. The conflict quickly developed into a civil war, and various governments and paramilitary groups from neighboring countries soon took sides. As the country's capital, Damascus saw significant violence and destruction. In 2014, the terrorist organization Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) entered the fray and made the conflict increasingly dangerous and violent. The United States and Russia both intervened in the conflict, both opposed to ISIS, but with Russia supporting Assad and the US supporting moderate rebel groups. By the end of 2018 ISIS had been largely defeated, but Russian intervention ensured Assad remained in power.

Bibliography

Al Mounes, Maher. "Syrian Beekeepers Battle Both War and Climate Change." Al-Monitor, 28 Sept. 2023, www.al-monitor.com/originals/2023/09/syrian-beekeepers-battle-both-war-and-climate-change. Accessed 28 Feb. 2024.

"Ancient City of Damascus." UNESCO World Heritage Centre. United Nations, 2014. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.

Commins, David, and David W. Lesch. Historical Dictionary of Syria. 3rd ed., Scarecrow, 2014.

Dawisha, Adeed. The Second Arab Awakening: Revolution, Democracy, and the Islamist Challenge from Tunis to Damascus. Norton, 2013.

Lesch, David W. Syria: The Fall of the House of Assad. Yale UP, 2013.

Sandford, Christopher. "The Road from T. E. Lawrence's Damascus to Syria's Civil War." America Magazine, 10 Nov. 2018, www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2018/11/10/road-t-e-lawrences-damascus-syrias-civil-war. Accessed 22 Apr. 2019.

"Syria." World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency, 21 Feb. 2024, www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/syria/. Accessed 28 Feb. 2024.

"Syria Country Profile." BBC, 19 Apr. 2023, www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-14703856. Accessed 28 Feb. 2024.

"Syria War: Army Takes Full Control of Damascus after Ousting IS." BBC, 21 May 2018, www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-44198304. Accessed 22 Apr. 2019.