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Damascus

Damascus was inhabited by the 4th millenium BCE. Pottery finds there date back to the 3rd millenium BCE, and before the 2nd millenium BCE there was already an extensive irrigation system that would continue to be developed by later rulers. The ancient settlement is located on a terrace some 690 meters above sea level overlooking the Barada River. This river, rising in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, created a large and fertile oasis before disappearing in the desert. Located at the eastern end of the only easy route through the Anti-Lebanon mountains, it became an important trading center where caravan routes began and ended.

The earliest written reference to Damascus comes from the Amarna letters, where Dimashqa is listed among conquered territories. In the Bible it is the capital of the Aramaeans, who expanded the canal system there. Later, like most near eastern cities, it fell successively to the Assyrians in the 8th century BCE, the Babylonians in the 7th, the Persians in the 6th, the Greeks in the 4th, and the Romans in the 1st.