From Page 341, Handbook for Travelers: (1898)

Jews, Christians, and Muslims have numerous different legends regarding the origin of the city. David conquered the town after a bloody war, as it was allied with his enemy the king of Zobah, and placed a garrison in it (2 Sam. viii. 5, 6). During the reign of Solomon Rezon succeeded in making himself king of Damascus (1 Kings xi. 23-25). The foreign policy of the northern kingdom of Israel is almost exclusively occupied with its relations to Damascus (see 1 Kings xv and xx for such struggles), while that of the kingdom of Judah was largely directed towards embroiling Israel and Damascus. The most formidable enemy of Israel was Hazael, whose usurpation of the Syrian throne appears to have been promoted by Elijah and Elisha (2 Kings viii. 7-15). Owing to the hostilities between the two Jewish kingdoms the Damascenes could attack Israel unopposed. Hazael devastated the country E. of Jordan, crossed that river, captured the town of Gath, and made the king of Judah pay dearly for the immunity of Jerusalem from siege (2 Kings xii. 17, 18).  Benhadad III., the son of Hazael, was less successful than his father had been (2 Kings xiii. 25). Jeroboam II. succeeded in recapturing the former Jewish territory from Damascus (2 Kings xiv. 28). Shortly afterwards we find Pekah, king of Israel, in alliance with Eezin of Damascus against Jotham, king of Judah (2 Kings xv. 37). They marched against Jerusalem, but had very little success against Ahaz, although he was compelled to restore the seaport of Elath on the Red Sea to the Syrians (2 Kings xvi.  5, 6). Ahaz invited the Assyrians to aid him against the Syrians. These allies took one after the other of the three kingdoms which ought to have united their forces against them , first Damascus , to which Ahaz repaired to pay homage to the king of Assyria. In the Assyrian accounts the kingdom of Damascus is called Imtrisu and the city Dimaski.

Thenceforward the ancient city seems entirely to have lost its independence. The town, however, appears soon to have recovered its former prosperity, as it is one of the objects of the denunciations of Jeremiah (xlix. 27). After the battle of Issus (B. C. 333) the whole of Syria became subject to Alexander the Great, and Damascus, where the harem and treasures of Darius had been left, was surrendered to Parmenio by treachery.  During the contests of the Diadochi Damascus and Lebanon sometimes fell into the hands of the Ptolemies. In 112 the step-brothers Antiochus Grypus and Antiochus Cyzicenus divided the empire of Syria, the latter being established at Damascus and reigning over Phœnicia and the Bikâ (p. 338). Demetrius Eucserus, the fourth son of Grypus, supported by Egypt, next became king of Damascus. On the invitation of the Jews he invaded Palestine in B. C. 88 and defeated Alexander Jannseus at Shechem. Demetrius was afterwards overthrown by his brother and the Parthians, and died in captivity. Antiochus Dionysus, another brother, now reigned in Syria for three years, but fell in B. C. 85 in a battle against Aretas, king of Arabia. Aretas next became king of Damascus, after which it came into the possession of Tigranes, king of the Armenians, and was subse quently conquered by Metellus, the Roman general. In 64 Pompey here received ambassadors with presents from the neighbouring kings, and in 63 Syria became a Roman province. Herod, when a young man, visited the proconsul Sextus Ceesar at Damascus and received from him the territory of the Bikâ', and he afterwards caused the city to be embellished with a theatre and a gymnasium, although it lay beyond his dominions.  In the history of the Christian church Damascus likewise played a very important part. The miraculous conversion of St. Paul took place whilst he was on his way thither, and shortly afterwards the apostle boldly preached Christ in the city (Acts ix. 1-25). Under Trajan, 150 years later, Damascus at length became a Roman provincial city.

Civilisation at Damascus must once have been in a very advanced condition, and the city was undoubtedly an important manufacturing and commercial place , being the great starting-point of the caravan traffic with the East, and particularly with Persia. The language of the city was Syrian, and the religion probably consisted in the worship of Astarte (p. 305) and similar deities. The Græco-Roman influence, however, made itself felt at an early period, A considerable colony of Jews was resident here.  An interesting fact in the history of Damascus is that the Arabs gained a footing in the city at a very early period. (Aretas, or Haritha, see above.) The Nabatæans sometimes extended their power as far as Damascus (2 Cor. xi. 32). The relations of the nomadic tribes, who dwelt to the E. of the city, towards the Damascenes were probably similar to what they are at the present day , when the attacks of these predatory hordes are but imperfectly warded off by the dense hedges and clay walls of the orchards with which Damascus is surrounded. — The city was also politically important to the Byzantines as an outpost in the direction of the desert. Damascus afterwards became the residence of a Christian bishop, who in point of rank was the second in the patriarchate of Antioch. The names of many of the bishops have been handed down to us. The Emperor Theodosius, who destroyed the heathen temples in Syria, converted the large temple of Damascus into a Christian church, and a new church was erected in the city by Justinian. Damascus suffered severely in the course of the conflicts between the Byzantines and the Persians, and during the reign of Heraclius (610-41) many of the inhabitants were carried off as slaves to Persia.
 

The third and most brilliant period in the history of the city soon afterwards began with the introduction of El-Islâm. Damascus had already long been surrounded by the Arabs. In the Hauran, a few days' journey to the S., were established the powerful Ghassanides (p. 181), the outposts of the Byzantines. They were originally Christians, but embraced Islamism, and materially aided their co-religionists in their encroachments westwards. The Byzantine empire in Syria, being now in a tottering condition, was unable to resist the vigorous incursions of these ambitious and predatory hordes. After the battle of the Yarmuk Damascus fell into the hands of the Arabs. Their commander was Abu 'Ubeida, while Khalid Ibn Welid, the victor on the Yarmuk, was posted at the E. gate of the city. Khalid, who was noted for his bravery, scaled the walls by means of rope-ladders one night when the Greeks were off their guard, opened the gate, and. thus gained access for his troops. When the Damascenes observed this, they surrendered to the generals who were besieging their other gates, and the Arabs accordingly entered the city, in the middle of which they encountered the pillaging hordes of Khalid. The city was, therefore, regarded half as a conquered place, and half as one which had voluntarily surrendered. The Christians were on this occasion secured in possession of fifteen churches (at the beginning of the year 635).
 

The splendour of Damascus begins with the supremacy of the Omayyades (p. lxiv), who were unquestionably the greatest princes ever produced by Arabia. Mu`âwiya was the first who established his residence at Damascus. (With regard to the building of the great mosque, see p. 361.) The central point of the empire was removed farther eastwards the `Abbasides, and the Damascenes were therefore dissatisfied with their new masters. — During the following centuries the city was in possession of the Tulunides of Egypt, and at the close of this period Syria was ravaged by the conflicts of the Carmatian sect, who penetrated as far as the gates of the city. (Like the Isma`ilians, the Carmatians were a sect with communistic principles; p. xciv.) Subsequently to 936 the country was again devastated by the contests of the Ikhshides with the Hamdanides, who occupied N. Syria and Mesopotamia (p. lxv). Damascus then came into the possession of the Fâtimites of Egypt, but these princes were unable to quell the internal feuds of the citizens, or effectually to ward off the attacks of the Byzantines. In 1075-76 the city fell into the hands of the Seljuks (p. lxvi). — In 1126 the Crusaders under Baldwin marched from Tiberias against Damascus. To the S. of the city they gained a victory over Toghtekin, but were afterwards obliged to withdraw. A few years later the Assassins, who formed a powerful party at Damascus, promised to deliver up the city to the Franks in exchange for Tyre. This, however, was prevented by the Prince Buri, who defeated the approaching Franks.  In 1148 Damascus was besieged by Conrad III., but Seifeddîn Ghâzi, prince of Mosul, and Nureddin Mahmud, brother of the prince of Aleppo, came to the relief of Mujireddin Eibek, Prince of Damascus. This prince was almost constantly at war with the Franks, but Damascus was at length wrested from him by Nureddin (1153). The new master of the city em bellished it in various ways. He surrounded it with new fortifications, caused many mosques and schools to be built and fountains repaired, and founded a court of justice in which he presided twice weekly in person.  In 1177 Damascus was again threatened by the Franks, but its immunity from attack was purchased by the vicegerent of Saladin. The city afterwards became the headquarters of Saladin during his expeditions against the Franks, and during the wars of his successors was subjected to several sieges. In 1260 it was taken by the Mongols under Hulagu (p. lxviii), by whom the Christians were much favoured, but they again experienced a great reverse when the city was recaptured by Kotuz, the Mameluke sovereign of Egypt. The successor of Kotuz was Beibars, who rebuilt the citadel of Damascus. In 1300 the city was plundered by the Tartars under Ghazzan Khan, and many buildings were burned. In 1399 Timur marched against the place, but the citizens purchased immunity from plunder with a sum of a million pieces of gold. All the famous armourers of Damascus were on this occasion carried away as prisoners, and introduced the art of manufacturing Damascus blades at Samarkand and Khorasan, where it flourishes to this day, while at Damascus it has fallen into complete oblivion. In 1516 the Turkish sultan Selim marched into Damascus, and since that period it has been one of the provincial capitals of the Turkish empire.
 

The cruel tragedy of 1860 must lastly be mentioned. One great cause of this was an article in the Treaty of Paris in 1856, which was destined to exclude foreign intervention in the affairs of Turkey, and which was thought to place the Christians entirely at the mercy of the sultan. The Muslim mind had, moreover, been much excited by the insurrection against the British in India. Ahmed Pasha is said to have been guilty of giving the signal for the massacre from the Turkish barracks, and the soldiers fraternised with the Druses and the populace of Damascus who were devastating the Christian quarter. The fearful scene began on 9th July, 1860. Many fugitives were received at the British and Prussian consulates, and others sought refuge in the citadel. The whole Christian quarter was soon converted into a heap of ruins. All the consulates, except the British and the Prussian, were burned down. 'Abd el-Kader (p. 339), the Algerian exchief, with his Moorish retinue, succeeded in saving many Christians, while the pasha himself remained completely passive. No fewer than 6000 unoffending Christians are said to have been thus murdered in Damascus alone. To this day the Christian quarter still bears traces of the terrible devastation to which it was then subjected. Similar tragedies took place among the mountains, where the Druses gave vent to their inveterate hatred of the Maronites. The whole number of Christians who perished in these days of terror is estimated at 14,000. — It was not until aroused from its apathy by the universally expressed indignation of Europe that the Turkish government attempted to interfere in the matter. A number of the ringleaders, including several Jews and Ahmed Pasha himself, were arrested at Damascus and beheaded. A French corps of 10,000 men was despatched to Syria (comp. p. lxix), and dispersed the Druses. Many of the latter emigrated at this period from Lebanon to the Hauran (p. 182), while many Christians removed to Beirut.