Baghdad is the pearl of the desert, described in the book of the Arab geographer Mukadassi. And the Syrians call Deir ez-Zor the Pearl of the Desert - a city in northeastern Syria, on the right bank of the Euphrates River, on the Raqqa-Baghdad river route and the Palmyra-Fadjami highway.
Lily in France was a symbol of royalty in the shadow of the church. France itself is the kingdom of lilies, and the French king is the king of lilies. And the ancient Persians called their capital Susa the city of lilies. This is what Florence is now called.
Damascus is arguably the oldest city in the world, and certainly the world's oldest living capital. Its foundation is lost in the mists of time. The medieval Arab historian Ibn Asakir (XII century) argued that the first wall erected after the Flood was the Damascus Wall, and attributed the emergence of the city to the 4th millennium BC. e. There is also an opinion that the city was founded even earlier - by Adam and Eve.
One of the oldest capitals in the world, Damascus strikes the imagination with the interweaving of the cultural heritage of the great civilizations that built, conquered, destroyed and rebuilt it. For millennia, Arameans, Egyptians, Jews, Romans, Persians, Greeks and Arabs replaced each other, and today they merge on the streets of the city into one noisy, many-sided crowd of residents, visiting businessmen, students and tourists. The pilgrims, or rather the shrines that attract them, deserve special mention.
According to legend, in the vicinity of the city lived the progenitor Eve, and in the nearby mountains rests her innocently murdered son Abel, especially attentive ones can even discern traces of his blood in that place. Christians also appreciate Damascus because the Apostle Paul was baptized here, and from here he had to flee from his pursuers through the Bab Kisan gate. The famous Umayyad Mosque is dear to the heart of Muslims: legends say that the remains of Imam Hussein and a hair from the beard of the Prophet Muhammad himself are kept in the mosque; but the authenticity of the turban of the great Saladin, which was buried in the mausoleum near the walls of the mosque, is beyond doubt. Revered by professors of Islam and Christian prophets - in the center of the mosque is the chapel of John the Baptist with the relics of the saint, and one of the minarets is named after Jesus.
In addition to Christian churches, the only straight street in the Old City remained from the Romans to Damascus, as it is called - Direct. The Arabs, on the other hand, gave the Syrian capital the nickname al-Feikh, which in translation can mean "extensive" or "fragrant." You can fully feel the "fragrantness" at the Suk al-Hamidiyya bazaar, where it smells of coffee and oriental spices, fried meat and hookah smoke, wood heated in the sun and fresh paints - all this accompanied by muezzins and snatches of lively speech, either Arabic, whether English, or some other. By the way, the street itself is quite wide, but it is too crowded with goods. The rest of the streets of the Old Town are more and more winding and narrow so that you can touch the walls of the houses facing each other if you spread your arms.
Behind the vastness, it is worth going to the new part of Damascus, as it should be, built up with hotels, business centers, cluttered with cafes, cars and shops for every taste, but not every wallet. On the border between the two districts there is a fortress, possibly built by Saladin, a sculptural composition nearby, at least, dedicated to him.
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Capital of Syria (since 1943). Located in the lower reaches of the river. Barada. Population 1.6 million people (2006), in the agglomeration 2.5 million
One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, first mentioned approx. 2500 BC e. Capital of the Damascus Kingdom until 732 BC e. It was conquered by the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Alexander the Great, and the Romans. From the 4th century. n. e. under the rule of Byzantium. In 661-750. the capital of the Umayyad caliphate, since 1154 - the ruler of the Seljuk people, Hyp ad-Din. In 1173 it was captured by Salah ad-Din, in 1401 by Timur. In 1516-1917. as part of the Ottoman Empire. In 1918 it was occupied by the British. In 1920-43. adm. center of the French Mandatory Territory. Old town included
The Great Umayyad Mosque (8th century) was built on the basis of the Basilica of John the Baptist, and the basilica was built on the basis of the Temple of Jupiter on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The new city was built up according to the French plan of 1929. The main highway crosses Damascus from west to east. The colonnade of the temple of Jupiter of Damascus (1st century), the tower (1,168) and the hospital (12th century) of Hyp ad-Din, the Jami Muzaffari mosque (1213), the Salah ad-Din mausoleum (1193), the Zakhariya madrasah, the Tekk Suleymaniye monastery (1553), al-Azem palace (1750), churches of the Mother of God and St. Ananias. There are museums (National and others), theaters, Damascus and Arab academies, and a university.