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One of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world [widely believed to be the oldest continually inhabited city in world].
It wasn’t documented as important until Aramaeans.
Damascus was created by many civilizations: Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine - Greek - and Islamic.
In medival times, it was the center of a flourishing indusrty.
Damascus was an important cultural and commercial center. Mainly because of its geographical position at the crossroads of the orient and occident. It is practically in the middle of the world.
Damascus was inhabited in 8 000 - 10 000 BC [from the 10th millennium to the 8th millennium].
Damascus was founded in the 3rd millennium BC.
In the 4th millennium BC an urban center was built at Tall al-Sālhiyyah southeast of Damascus.
In the year 333 BC, Damascus became a part of the Hellenistic world for around 1 000 years thanks to Alexander the Great's conquest
The Amareans lived with the new Greek settlement which used a Hippodamian plan and - with incorporation to the Roman Empire - gave Damascus enviable status and endowments of a metropolis under Hadrian’s rule [a Roman Emperor, ruled AC 117 - 138, Hadrian pronounced Adrian] and of a colonia - roman colony - under Severus Alexander (ruled AC 222 - 235)
Severus Alexander
Emperor Hadrian
Damascus wasn't documented as important until the Aramaeans came in the 1st millennium.
Damascus became a part of the Aramaean principality whose history is only known through biblical references and Assyrian references.
In the 8th century, Damascus fell to foreign conquerors like other parts of the region. Damascus was conquered by the Assyrians.
In the 7th century, the Babylonians conquered Damascus.
The Persians conquered the city in the 6th century. The Persian wars were mainly fought on Syrian land - in the 6th century - which ruined the economy. That's why Damascus - in 635 AC opened its gates to the Muslim armies.
The Aramaeans, Assyrians, Chaldeans and Suteans became largely indistinguishable. These groups were culturally and ethically absorbed into the native populace of Mesopotamia.
The Aramaeans left a legacy in portions of the canal system, place-names in and around the city, and, in one outlying area, the Aramaic language itself, which served as the lingua franca of the wider Levant until the advent of Islam.
Damascus was conquered by the Greeks and christianized in the 4th century. The city also became an important military base for the Greek Empire [back then it was the Byzantine Empire].
Byzantine Empire flag
In the 1st century the Romans conquered Damascus.
Roman Empire flag
Muʿāwiyah was the first Umayyad Caliph and he established his court in Damascus. He also founded a dār al-imārah [a center of government] in 661 AC.
The Umayyad caliphate made Damascus it’s capital, setting the scene for the city’s ongoing development as a living Muslim, Arab city, upon which each succeeding dynasty has left and continues to leave its mark. The widening Empire for which Damascus is a capital of stretched all the way from what is now Spain to what is now China - this was the most far-reaching in Islamic history.
The great Mosque [which still stands] was built by Umayyad caliph al-Walīd.
The mosque has been burned, damaged, and repaired multiple times, but it's still one of the marvels of Islamic architecture.
After the fall of the Umayyads, the successor 'Abbāsids, moved the Empire's capital to Baghdad [which is currently Iraq's capital].
Damascus became a provincial town once again but was punsihed by the new dynasty for its many revolts
Buildings of Umayyad were sacked and city’s fortifications were dismantled.
Trade routes changed so Damascus lost a lot of its economic prominence.
In the late 9th century, the power shifted from Baghdad to Cairo [currently Egypt's capital].
Turkish adventurers came and took turns ruling Damascus - whether independently or under the nominal suzerainty of either the Fātimid dynasty or the Seljuk dynasty.
Crusades posed a threat to Damascus near the end of the 11th century
Even though Damascus was able to evade direct occupation, it went through many attacks and sieges. The region also lost large parts of its hinterland.
Then came the introverted, homogeneous and self-reliant residential areas.
During this time, they strengthened the gates, founded a Citadel in northwest area of the city.
Damascus was divided into communities. Each community had its own public bath, oven, water supply, mosque, and small markets.
The Great Mosque and the central markets stayed as the loci of civic unity.
Public bath
Had the same concept as Roman baths
A new era opened when Nūr al-Dīn ibn Zangī, a powerful Turkish military commander, captured Damascus.
Nūr al-Dīn ibn Zangī
Once again, Damascus was the capital of a strong kingdom. Damascus also became Nūr’s base for his military campaigns against the crusaders.
The city revived and its fortifications were strengthened. Even with a few military and economic setbacks, the city flourished under Saladin and his Ayyūbid successors who ruled there until 1260
After the Mongol invasion in March 1 1260, Syria became dependent on the new rulers of Egypt, the Mamlūks.
Mongol soldier
Damascus' economy recovered quickly and was booming by the 14th century.
In the Mamlūks period, Damascus suffered 2 major disasters:
Black Death bacteria
The plague - black death - in 1348 to 1349
It wiped out half of the city's population
Pillage of the city in 1409
It was led by Timur and his policy of deporting skilled artisans
He took whatever he stole to his capital, Samarkand [present day Uzbekistan]
Statue of Timur in present day Uzbekistan
These disasters resulted in a chronically weak economy which was negatively reflected in the structure of the city.
The Ottoman Empire was one of the mightiest and longest-lasting dynasties in history.
It was Islamic run.
Osman I
Ruled large parts of the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and North Africa for over 600 years.
The empire was founded around 1299 by a leader of the Turkish tribes in Anatolia, Osman 1 [the term “Ottoman” is derived from Osman’s name which was “Uthman” in arabic]
Mehmed II
In 1453, Mehmed II led the Ottomans in seizing the ancient city of Constantinople [the capital of the Byzantine Empire] which put an end to the 1000 year long reign of the Byzantine.
Mehmed II died in 1481 and his eldest, Bayezied II, became the new Sultan.
Bayezied II
By 1517, Bayzied’s son - Selim I - brought Syria, Arabia, Palestine and Egypt under Ottoman control.
The Ottoman Empire reached its peak between 1520 and 1566, during Suleiman the Magnificent’s reign.
This period was marked by great power, stability and wealth.
Throughout Sultan Suleiman’s rule, the empire expanded and parts of Easter Europe were included.
After the Ottoman conquest in 1516, Damascus lost its political position, but remained its commercial importance.
The incorporation of the Middle East and the Balkans into one empire facilitated internal trade, but the rise of European preeminence in international commerce diminished the role of Syrian cities as final depots in the overland trade from Asia to the Mediterranean.
The main rise in economic activities in Damascus was at the time of hajj.
Ottoman sultans - who received the title of protectors of the 2 holy cities [Mecca and Medina, both cities in Saudi Arabia] - were eager to organize and secure hajj.
Damascus is the last urban center on the way from Anatolia to Mecca and was designated as the official meeting place for pilgrims coming from north and east.
As a result, accommodating pilgrims in the hajj season became the city’s leading commercial activity.
All urban developments related to hajj were concentrated on the road to Mecca.
Al-Maydān [a district that envelopes several quarters and villages] developed south of the walled city.
At its height, the Ottoman Empire controlled the following regions:
Damascus is indeed the oldest continually inhabited place in the world.
The Ottoman Empire isn't brought to an end at 1683 AC, the empire lived on until WWI, and were defeated in 1918. The Ottoman Empire isn't the end, the history goes on until today.
I hope you learned something through this timeline I made.
To learn more visit:
www.layanstuffs/thisisfake.com
https://www.britannica.com/place/Damascus/History#ref25660 Damascus - History | Britannica
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/20/
Ancient City of Damascus - UNESCO World Heritage Center
https://www.history.com/topics/middle-east/ottoman-empire#:~:text=The%20Ottoman%20Empire%20was%20one,for%20more%20than%20600%20years.
Ottoman Empire - WWI, Decline & Definition - HISTORY
orient and occident
orient means east and occident means west
lingua franca
A mixture of Italian with French, Greek, Arabic, and Spanish, formerly used in the Levant.
prominence
the state of being important or famous
crusades
military expeditians that began in the late 11th century. They were organized by the western European Christians in response to centuries of Muslim wars of expansion.