Hotels In Damascus

Hotels In Damascus

Hotels in the city of Damascus, Syria are often required by people who want to have accommodation in the city of Damascus. Some may want to have a hotel as they want to have a vacation in the city or because they want to study or work in the city. Some may want to have use luxury or cheap hotels in the city. Some may want to have a vacation or holiday in the city because they want to see the culture of the city, or because they want to see the tourist attractions, the historical landmarks and mosques.

Damascus is the capital and largest city of Syria. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.

Excavations at Tell Ramad on the outskirts of the city led to many to claim that Damascus has been inhabited as early as 6,000 to 5,000 BC. It is due to this that Damascus is considered to be among the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. However, Damascus is not documented as an important city until the coming of the Aramaeans, Semitic nomads who arrived from Mesopotamia. It is known that it was the Aramaeans who first established the water distribution system of Damascus by constructing canals and tunnels which maximized the efficiency of the Barada river. The same network was later improved by the Romans and the Umayyads, and still forms the basis of the water system of the old part of Damascus today. It was mentioned in Genesis 14 as existing at the time of the War of the Kings.

Damascus first came under western control with the giant campaign of Alexander the Great that swept through the near east. After the death of Alexander in 323 BC, Damascus became the site of a struggle between the Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires. The control of the city passed frequently from one empire to the other. Seleucus Nicator, one of Alexander's generals, had made Antioch the capital of his vast empire, a decision that led Damascus' importance to decline compared with the newly founded Seleucid cities such as Latakia in the north.

In 64 BC, the Roman general Pompey annexed the western part of Syria. The Romans occupied Damascus and subsequently incorporated it into the league of ten cities known as the Decapolis because it was considered such an important center of Greco-Roman culture. According to the New Testament, St. Paul was on the road to Damascus when he received a vision, was struck blind and as a result converted to Christianity. In the year 37, Roman Emperor Caligula transferred Damascus into Nabataean control by decree.[citation needed] The Nabataean king Aretas IV Philopatris ruled Damascus from his capital Petra. However, around the year 106, Nabataea was conquered by the Romans, and Damascus returned to Roman control.

Damascus became a metropolis by the beginning of the second century and in 222 it was upgraded to a colonia by the Emperor Septimius Severus. During the Pax Romana, Damascus and the Roman province of Syria in general began to prosper. Damascus's importance as a caravan city was evident with the trade routes from southern Arabia, Palmyra, Petra, and the silk routes from China all converging on it. The city satisfied the Roman demands for eastern luxuries.

Little remains of the architecture of the Romans, but the town planning of the old city did have a lasting effect. The Roman architects brought together the Greek and Aramaean foundations of the city and fused them into a new layout measuring approximately 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) by 750 metres (2,500 ft), surrounded by a city wall. The city wall contained seven gates, but only the eastern gate (Bab Sharqi) remains from the Roman period. Roman Damascus lies mostly at depths of up to five meters (16.4 ft) below the modern city.

The old borough of Bab Tuma was developed at the end of the Roman/Byzantine era by the local Eastern Orthodox community. According to the Acts of the Apostles, Saint Paul and Saint Thomas both lived in that neighborhood. Roman Catholic historians also consider Bab Tuma to be the birthplace of several Popes such as John V and Gregory III.

Damascus was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate during the reign of Umar by forces under Khaled ibn al-Walid in 634 CE. Immediately thereafter, the city's power and prestige reached its peak when it became the capital of the Umayyad Empire, which extended from Spain to India from 661 to 750. In 744, the last Umayyad caliph, Marwan II, moved the capital to Harran in the Jazira, and Damascus was never to regain the political prominence it had held in that period.

The Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four Arab caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph. The Umayyad Arab Caliphate is historically the fifth largest empire, the second largest contiguous empire and the third largest empire by percentage of world population (29.5%). Damascus was the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate. After the Umayyads were overthrown by the Abbasid Caliphate, they relocated to Al-Andalus, where they established the Caliphate of Córdoba.

After the fall of the Umayyads and the establishment of the Abbasid caliphate in 750, Damascus was ruled from Baghdad, although in 858 al-Mutawakkil briefly established his residence there with the intention of transferring his capital there from Samarra. However, he soon abandoned the idea. As the Abbasid caliphate declined, Damascus suffered from the prevailing instability, and came under the control of local dynasties.

In 970, the Fatimid Caliphs in Cairo gained control of Damascus. This was to usher in a turbulent period in the city's history, as the Berber troops who formed the backbone of the Fatimid forces became deeply unpopular among its citizens. The presence in Syria of the Qaramita and occasionally of Turkish military bands added to the constant pressure from the Bedouin. For a brief period from 978, Damascus was self-governing, under the leadership of a certain Qassam and protected by a citizen militia. However, the Ghouta was ravaged by the Bedouin and after a Turkish-led campaign the city once again surrendered to Fatimid rule. From 1029 to 1041 the Turkish military leader Anushtakin was governor of Damascus under the Fatimid caliph Al-Zahir, and did much to restore the city's prosperity.

It appears that during this period the slow transformation of Damascus from a Graeco-Roman city layout - characterised by blocks of insulae — to a more familiar Islamic pattern took place: the grid of straight streets changed to a pattern of narrow streets, with most residents living inside harat closed off at night by heavy wooden gates to protect against criminals and the exactions of the soldiery.
Damascus Walls

With the arrival of the Seljuk Turks in the late 11th century, Damascus again became the capital of independent states. It was ruled by a Seljuk dynasty from 1079 to 1104, and then by another Turkish dynasty - the Burid Emirs, who withstood a siege of the city during the Second Crusade in 1148 . In 1154 Damascus was conquered from the Burids by the famous Zengid Atabeg Nur ad-Din of Aleppo, the great foe of the Crusaders. He made it his capital, and following his death, it was acquired by Saladin, the ruler of Egypt, who also made it his capital. Saladin rebuilt the citadel, and it is reported that under his rule the suburbs were as extensive as the city itself. It is reported by Ibn Jubayr that during the time of Saladin, Damascus welcomed seekers of knowledge and industrious youth from around the world, who arrived for the sake of "undistracted study and seclusion" in Damascus' many colleges.

In the years following Saladin's death in 1193, there were frequent conflicts between different Ayyubid sultans ruling in Damascus and Cairo. Damascus was the capital of independent Ayyubid rulers between 1193 and 1201, from 1218 to 1238, from 1239 to 1245, and from 1250 to 1260. At other times it was ruled by the Ayyubid rulers of Egypt. Damascus steel gained a legendary reputation among the Crusaders, and patterned steel is still "damascened". The patterned Byzantine and Chinese silks available through Damascus, one of the Western termini of the Silk Road, gave the English language "damask".

Ayyubid rule (and independence) came to an end with the Mongol invasion of Syria in 1260, and following the Mongol defeat at Ain Jalut in the same year, Damascus became a provincial capital of the Mamluk Empire, ruled from Egypt, following the Mongol withdrawal.

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Damascus International Airport is a public airport located in Damascus, the capital of Syria. Some tourists may want flights to Damascus syria. Numerous tourists may seek Damascus flights that have good flights. Some tourtists to the city may want to get cheap flights to Damascus. There is often a demand for a flight to Damascus to get to the city by plane. Some may want a Damascus flight to go the airport. Some may want a flight Damascus visit.
Political

Damascus is divided into many districts. Among them there are ; Salhiyyeh, Amara, Midan, Qanawat, Baramkah, Mazraa, Mazzeh, Muhajreen, Shaghoor, Tijara, Abbasiyyin, Bahsa, Barzeh, Abou Remaneh, Sha'alan, Malki, Kafar Souseh, Rukn Eddeen, Sarouja, Jobar.

Damascus has a wealth of historical sites dating back to many different periods of the city's history. Since the city has been built up with every passing occupation, it has become almost impossible to excavate all the ruins of Damascus that lie up to 8 feet (2.4 m) below the modern level. The Citadel of Damascus is located in the northwest corner of the Old City. The Street Called Straight (referred to in the conversion of St. Paul in Acts 9:11), also known as the Via Recta, was the decumanus (East-West main street) of Roman Damascus, and extended for over 1,500 metres (4,900 ft). Today, it consists of the street of Bab Sharqi and the Souk Medhat Pasha, a covered market. The Bab Sharqi street is filled with small shops and leads to the old Christian quarter of Bab Tuma (St. Thomas's Gate). Souk Medhat Pasha is also a main market in Damascus and was named after Medhat Pasha, the Ottoman governor of Syria who renovated the Souk. At the end of the Bab Sharqi street, one reaches the House of Ananias, an underground chapel that was the cellar of Ananias's house.
The Minaret of the Bride, Umayyad Mosque in old Damascus.

The Umayyad Mosque, also known as the Grand Mosque of Damascus, is one of the largest mosques in the world, and one of the oldest sites of continuous prayer since the rise of Islam. A shrine in the mosque is said to contain the head of John the Baptist. The mausoleum where Saladin was buried is located in the gardens just outside the mosque. Sayyidah Ruqayya Mosque, the shrine of the yongest daughter of Husayn ibn Ali, can also be found near the Umayyad Mosque. Another heavily visited site is Sayyidah Zaynab Mosque, which is the tomb of Zaynab bint Ali. Hundreds of thousands of Shia Muslims visit it every year.

The walls and gates of Damascus

The Old City of Damascus is surrounded by ramparts on the northern and eastern sides and part of the southern side. There are seven extant city gates, the oldest of which dates back to the Roman period. These are, clockwise from the north of the citadel:

Bab al-Faraj ("the gate of deliverance"),
Bab al-Faradis ("the gate of the orchards", or "of the paradise")
Bab al-Salam ("the gate of peace"), all on the north boundary of the Old City
Bab Tuma ("Touma" or "Thomas's Gate") in the north-east corner, leading into the Christian quarter of the same name,
Bab Sharqi ("eastern gate") in the east wall, the only one to retain its Roman plan
Bab Kisan in the south-east, from which tradition holds that Saint Paul made his escape from Damascus, lowered from the ramparts in a basket; this gate is now closed and a chapel marking the event has been built into the structure,
Bab al-Jabiya at the entrance to Souk Midhat Pasha, in the south-west.

Two other areas outside the walled city also bear the name "gate": Bab Mousalla and Bab Sreija, both to the south-west of the walled city.

Churches in the old city

Cathedral of Damascus.
Virgin Mary's Cathedral.
House of Saint Ananias.
Chapel of Saint Paul.
The Roman Catholic Cathedral in Zaitoon (Olive) Alley.
The Damascene Saint Johan church.
Saint Paul's Laura.
Saint Georgeus's sanctuary.

Islamic sites in the old city

Sayyidah Zaynab Mosque
Sayyidah Ruqayya Mosque
Bab Saghir cemetery
Umayyad Mosque.
Saladin Shrine.

Rulers of the Umayyad Caliphate

Muawiyah I ibn Abi Sufyan, 661–680
Yazid I ibn Muawiyah, 680–683
Muawiyah II ibn Yazid, 683–684
Marwan I ibn al-H.akam, 684–685
Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, 685–705
al-Walid I ibn Abd al-Malik, 705–715
Suleiman ibn Abd al-Malik, 715–717
Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, 717–720
Yazid II ibn Abd al-Malik, 720–724
Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, 724–743
al-Walid II ibn Yazid II, 743–744
Yazid III ibn al-Walid, 744
Ibrahim ibn al-Walid, 744
Marwan II ibn Muhammad (ruled from Harran in the Jazira) 744–750

Umayyad Emirs of Córdoba

Abd ar-Rahman I, 756–788
Hisham I, 788–796
al-Hakam I, 796–822
Abd ar-Rahman II, 822–852
Muhammad I of Córdoba, 852-886
Al-Mundhir, 886 - 888
Abdallah ibn Muhammad, 888–912
Abd ar-Rahman III, 912–929

Umayyad Caliphs at Córdoba

Abd ar-Rahman III, as caliph, 929–961
Al-Hakam II, 961–976
Hisham II, 976–1008
Mohammed II, 1008–1009
Suleiman, 1009–1010
Hisham II, restored, 1010–1012
Suleiman, restored, 1012–1017
Abd ar-Rahman IV, 1021–1022
Abd ar-Rahman V, 1022–1023
Muhammad III, 1023–1024
Hisham III, 1027–1031

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