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by Manos Angelakis
 Since the dawn of time, the area that is Syria has been a crossroads of civilization, the bridge connecting the cultures of the eastern Mediterranean and the fertile crescent; the beginning of the Silk Road, the caravan trail to the Far East. It was here that the cultures of Mari and Ugarit rose and fell; where the Assyrian, Sumerian, Phoenician, Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Ottoman empires and cultures met and influenced each other.
Damascus is a crowded metropolis of four million people and is the chief manufacturing and trading center of Syria.
 In Damascus, past and present mingle at every turn. Most of the main sites of interest are found in or near the Old City including the workshops that still make the world-famous Damask silk brocade and embroidery, carpets, gold and silver filigree jewelry and beautiful inlaid woodwork. Despite rapid urbanization, Damascus retains some of the many orchards and private gardens that made the city famous. It is a delight to encounter groves of apricot, almond and quince growing so close to the noisy heart of a modern city. A specialty of Damascus and a treat not to be missed are crystallized apricots and apricot delights sold in abundance in the city's souqs.
In a region where a number of cities claim the title of "the world's oldest", Damascus credentials are very impressive. Josephus attributes the building of Damascus to Uz, the grandson of Noah, from whose father, Aram, the Arameans are descended. A settlement of the fourth millennium BCE has been excavated in Tell al-Salihiye and pottery from the third millennium was unearthed in the Old City.
In the tablets discovered at Tell al-Amarna, in Egypt, Dimashqa is mentioned as being amongst the cities conquered in the 15th Century BC by Tuthmosis III. The Arameans, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Macedonians under Alexander, the Nabateans, Rome and Byzantium all stamped their influence on this great city. Christianity was established in Damascus from the beginning of the religion --Saul of Tarsus converted to the new faith on "the road to Damascus" -- and flourished under Byzantium. On August 20th, 636 AD the Arabs routed the Byzantine army in the battle of the Yarmouk and entered Damascus a few days after. Apart from the short period of the French Mandate, Damascus has been under Muslim rule ever since. For nearly 100 years Damascus was the political and cultural center of the Islamic world under the Omayyad Caliphate.
 It was under the Caliph Walid, in 705 that the Great Omayyad Mosque was built, the 4th most important in Islam, and the most splendid and opulent building dedicated to the faith of Islam ever constructed in the Middle East .
Other conquerors followed. The Abbasids were replaced by the Seljuk Turks. Nure al-Din captured the city from its Turkoman rulers and under him and his successor Salah al-Din (Saladin of the Crusades fame) the city entered its most illustrious era. A major Islamic city at the time, it became famed for the "Damascened" steel weapons that the local swordsmiths created for Saladin and his warriors. The Mongols came and went, followed by the Mameluke Sultans of Egypt, followed by Tamerlane --who burned down half of the city after looting it and taking the best of its craftsmen captives to Samarkand.
In 1516 the Ottoman Sultan Selim I, captured Damascus and for the next 400 years the city was a part of the Ottoman Empire. On October 1st, 1918 troops under General Allenby entered the city and Turkish domination came to an end. The French, who were given the UN Mandate over Syria finally left in the spring of 1946, and Damascus became the capital of the Syrian Republic.
 The sites that are a must during a visit are Souq Hamidiye, the Citadel, Nur al-Din Hospital and Museum, Madrasas (religious schools) Zahiriye and Adiliye, the Tomb of Salah al-Din and the Omayyad Mosque --a feature interesting to Christians would be the South-East minaret named Madhanat Issa, the Tower of Jesus. According to Muslim tradition Jesus will descent to earth via this tower to fight the Antichrist before the Day of Judgment. Also the Azem Palace museum and Souq Assagha (the gold market). Do not miss a visit to the Hammam al-Malik al-Zaher (a Turkish style steam room, massage, and bath). Dating from the 11th or 12th century the baths have been completely restored and modernized. It is one of the few places left in the world where a man can still enjoy a cup of coffee and a narghile (water-pipe).
About two hours from Damascus, one can see silhouetted against the blue sky at the pinnacle of a stone mountain the citadel and massive walls of  Crac des Chevaliers, a 12th century castle, the most extraordinary and well preserved of all Crusader strongholds in the Middle East. Known in Arabic as Qala'at al-Husn, it stands 650 meters above sea level and was built to dominate the pass that is Syria's gateway to the Mediterranean. Local black basalt forms the foundation. Pink and white limestone was dragged from a village 5 kilometers (3 miles) away for much of the rest of the complex, a rough rectangle of towers and Gothic arches and 3-yard-thick walls spread over three hectares. Medieval writers compared the Crac to a white pigeon perched on a black stone. It kaleidoscopes from white to pink to gray depending on the light and the viewer's perspective.
Today, the barbicans, casements and bastions tower over the rich fig and olive orchards of the valley below. After walking through the entrance, the visitor can see the small town housed inside the citadel, with a church and chapel, aqueducts, cisterns, courtyards, stables, living quarters and large halls. Historians state that its completeness, setting, size and sheer magnificence make it the finest example of military fortification in the world.
© March/April 2001. All rights reserved.
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