The terrible earthquake this week damaged the ancient city of Aleppo. Very few cities anywhere have the history that this city does. The first part of this visit is about Damascus. The second part is about Aleppo.
DAMASCUS
Damascus, the capital of Syria, is possibly the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It's beginning as a major city was with the Arameans, who will be familiar to readers of the Old Testament as enemies, and occasionally allies, of the Israelites. The two began cooperating when both were threatened by the Assyrians, who took the "Ten Lost Tribes", of the Israelites, into captivity. The city is in a dry area, but receives water from the Barada River.
Damascus seems to have begun as the capital city of the Arameans about 1500 B.C., making it about 500 years older than Jerusalem. The Arameans never formed a united empire, but their language was in wide use. In Jesus' time, the educated class spoke Greek, but Aramaic was the "language of the streets". The Hebrew language, by this time, was mostly limited to religious rites. Aramaic was also the language of Jesus, and one remnant of it is the "amen" that is commonly said at the end of a prayer.
Damascus, like it's sibling city of Aleppo, has been through the usual parade of conquerors in the region. In ancient times, it had been under Egyptian control and then was ruled by the Israelites, in the time of King David. Later, there was Alexander, then the fragment of his empire known as the Seleucids, the Romans, the Byzantines (or eastern Romans), the Seljuks and the Crusaders. There were less-than-friendly visits from the Mongols and Tamerlane (or Timur), then there were the Ottomans, and then the French, finally an independent Syria, but now the civil war that has been going on since 2011.
But what Damascus is best known for today is having been the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate of Islam. This was the first major caliphate that lasted for a long time. It was the Umayyad capital from 661-750, but when the Abbasid Caliphate took over, they moved the capital to Baghdad, which they had built especially for that purpose.
The following scenes are general views of central Damascus. The Damascene Sword Monument is in Umayyad Square. The horizontal striped Ottoman structure is a commercial area, not a mosque, and is named for the governor of Damascus when it was under Ottoman rule.
Muhammad is reported to have once said that he "Never wanted to see Damascus, because then I might not want to go to Heaven".
Damascus is also very important to Christians. It was while St. Paul was on his way to Damascus, to persecute Christians, that Jesus appeared to him and he instantly went from being the greatest enemy of Christianity, to being it's foremost apostle. (Chapter 9 of the Acts of the Apostles).
The "Street called Straight" that Paul went to, in Damascus, is still there today.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damascus_Straight_Street#/media/File:Street-called-Straight-Detroit.jpeg
On that street is what is believed to be the home of St. Ananias, who baptized Paul.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Saint_Ananias#/media/File:Chapel_of_Saint_Ananias_01.jpg
Paul had enemies in Damascus, and other Christians helped him to escape by lowering him from the wall in a basket. The Chapel of St. Paul is believed to contain some stones that were part of the wall from which he was lowered.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapel_of_Saint_Paul#/media/File:Damascus-Bab_Kisan.jpg
There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >. After clicking the up arrow, you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.
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Further east from city center is Old Damascus. This is where we find three world-famous sites. The star attraction of Damascus is the Umayyad Mosque. It was built in 706 on the site of a former Christian church, dedicated to John the Baptist. That church is believed to have been built on the site of a Roman temple. The Umayyad Mosque has went through being damaged and repaired many times, including by both the Mongols and Tamerlane.
The Umayyad Mosque is a very important place to Moslems, just behind the top three of Mecca, Medina and, the Temple Mount. This mosque was a prototype for the Cathedral-Mosque of Cordoba, which we saw in the posting "When The Moors Ruled Spain". Many Moslems believe that Jesus, who they consider as a prophet, will return here. Pope John Paul visited because this is where the relics of John the Baptist are believed to be buried, supposedly the first time a pope ever visited a mosque.
Remember that the two mosques that we saw on the Temple Mount, Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock, were also both built by the Umayyads. There was also a Umayyad palace at the southern wall of the Temple Mount, as we saw in "Esau And The Temple Mount".
The Al Azm Palace, also seen in the following images of Old Damascus, was built by the Ottomans for the local governor about 1750.
The Citadel of Damascus is a medieval fortification and palace, built in 1076. It was the residence of Saladin. The Mongols demolished part of it. It was used as a fort by both the Ottomans, and then the French.
https://www.google.com/maps/@33.5118461,36.3062533,3a,75y,352h,60t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-rO1hu6SF5L0%2FVBgg9RE_wPI%2FAAAAAAAAEtE%2FC-ardP3ghpwufNISOEfflASJDtIDk_0VgCLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh4.googleusercontent.com%2F-rO1hu6SF5L0%2FVBgg9RE_wPI%2FAAAAAAAAEtE%2FC-ardP3ghpwufNISOEfflASJDtIDk_0VgCLIB%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-30.000002-ya172.48958-ro-0-fo100%2F!7i5000!8i2500
Notice that, outside the Umayyad Mosque, is the Dome of the Clock,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umayyad_Mosque#/media/File:Dome_of_the_Clocks,_Umayyad_Mosque.jpg
and the Dome of the Treasury,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umayyad_Mosque#/media/File:Umayyad_Mosque-Dome_of_the_Treasury211099.jpg
Just as, outside the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount, there is the Dome of the Chain. This was a scale model for the construction of the Dome of the Rock.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dome_of_the_Chain#/media/File:Israel-2013(2)-Jerusalem-Temple_Mount-Dome_of_the_Chain_(south_exposure).jpg
The following views of Damascus are east of the city center.
https://www.google.com/maps/@33.5127776,36.2924492,3a,75y,120h,110t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipPelsC8OOLPFwQjRMvkJxwMww3Ms59CDO_FOkjQ!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPelsC8OOLPFwQjRMvkJxwMww3Ms59CDO_FOkjQ%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-20-ya298-ro0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352
ALEPPO
The city of Aleppo, in northern Syria, has been settled for at least five thousand years. It is the location where the route across Mesopotamia meets the route along the coast, and has always been a great center of trade. Aleppo was the western end of the fabled Silk Road, from the east. Damascus, the capital of Syria, is generally considered as the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, but Aleppo was definitely a large city before Damascus was.
Aleppo isn't just part of history, it literally is history. It has been through just about every empire that there has been in that part of the world, through the course of it's five thousand-year history. It is Syria's largest city today, and is remembered as a very important city of the Ottoman Empire, but that is only the most recent of it's history.
You can be sure that wherever the Ottomans ruled a city, we will find a structure that is modeled on the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, in Istanbul, Aleppo is no exception.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khusruwiyah_Mosque#/media/File:Khusruwiyah_Mosque,_Aleppo.jpg
Unlike most cities that we visit, the history of Aleppo is far too long to go into here. In the Wikipedia article titled "Ancient City of Aleppo", there is a section called "Historical Timeline". It has been part of literally dozens of empires, going back to the beginnings of civilization. Just imagine if the stones of Aleppo could talk.
Aleppo was an important center of early Christianity. It was destroyed by Tamerlane, or Timur, who we met in the posting on this blog, "Why We Should Understand The Mongols". There was an old Jewish community, and it was the destination of many when Jews were forced to leave Spain.
In stark contrast to the ancient cities of Aleppo and Damascus, the nation of Syria is a very recent creation. There was somewhat of a natural rivalry between these two largest cities. There was question as to whether the country might join in union with Iraq or with Egypt.
Does anyone remember the United Arab Republic, the UAR? I remember when I was a boy, world atlases listed Egypt as the U.A.R. There had been a brief union of Egypt and Syria by that name. But Syria was the smaller of the two, and felt dominated by Egypt. Wealthy Syrians also reportedly resented Nasser's socialist philosophy. It resulted in a coup in Syria, which then withdrew from the union. Egypt alone continued to be called the U.A.R. for some time.
Syria is roughly the area that, in biblical times, belonged to the Arameans. Their language, Aramaic, was the everyday language in Israel at the time of Jesus. Hebrew, by that time, was mainly used in religious rites.
In two places in the Old Testament, in Isaiah Chapter 36 and also in the Second Book of Kings, it is described how the Jews ask the messenger from the king of Assyria to speak to them in Aramaic, rather than Hebrew.
Aramaic was a very widespread language in the Middle East in the centuries before the time of Jesus. Much of the Bible was first written in Aramaic.
Aleppo has a the massive Citadel at it's center, which was begun about three thousand years ago. There are mosques in the Citadel, which were originally Byzantine churches.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citadel_of_Aleppo#/media/File:Aleppo_Citadel_04.jpg
Aleppo is such an old city that there is what is known as the Old City, and then the Ancient City within that. Like virtually every such city, there used to be walls and gates, some of which remain.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_City_of_Aleppo#/media/File:Bab_Qinnasrin2010.jpg
Here is an example of the narrow Medieval alleys in Aleppo.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Jdayde#/media/File:Jdeydeh_str2.jpg
Aleppo was built on trade, remaining a vital trading center until sea travel became predominant. The center of trade in Aleppo was the Al Madina Souk, or market. This was a vast complex of markets and manufacturing, that was like a city in itself. At the time, nowhere in the world was more important to trade. Here are a few scenes of the many centuries old Al Madina Souk today.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_City_of_Aleppo#/media/File:Aleppo_Khan_Shuneh.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_City_of_Aleppo#/media/File:05-03-23_InsideTheSoukInAleppo.JPG
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Madina_Souq#/media/File:Covered_Suq_of_Aleppo2.JPG
Aleppo has been the scene of intense combat in the Syrian Civil War. Historical buildings have been destroyed than can never be replaced. This is the worst thing to happen to the city since Tamerlane, over 600 years ago. The nearly thousand-year-old minaret, at the Great Mosque of Aleppo, has since been destroyed in the Syrian Civil War.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Mosque_of_Aleppo#/media/File:Aleppo-Great-mosque-Alp.jpg
Here are some scenes in old Aleppo. The large stone fortification is the Citadel.
https://www.google.com/maps/@36.1983824,37.1570732,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-P0bARWnXA_E%2FVBXxjg2lpuI%2FAAAAAAAAcs0%2FiLCGcSMqrgw_1cWyEbOHeJjRmKAxHGnCQCLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2F-P0bARWnXA_E%2FVBXxjg2lpuI%2FAAAAAAAAcs0%2FiLCGcSMqrgw_1cWyEbOHeJjRmKAxHGnCQCLIB%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya42.259346-ro-0-fo100%2F!7i6000!8i3000
Here are some more scenes of the area which were taken, of course, before the war. You may see the towering minaret, of the Great Mosque of Aleppo, before it was destroyed. The tall modern building is Aleppo City Hall.
https://www.google.com/maps/@36.1975984,37.1515721,3a,75y,280h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-6avy_ASb_CQ%2FVHOIiFWYQKI%2FAAAAAAAAG8c%2FYnHaJer_-n0jp2bnljVQaoKkJ2C33j56gCLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2F-6avy_ASb_CQ%2FVHOIiFWYQKI%2FAAAAAAAAG8c%2FYnHaJer_-n0jp2bnljVQaoKkJ2C33j56gCLIB%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya150.92719-ro-0-fo100%2F!7i5918!8i2959
-Jerusalem-Temple_Mount-Dome_of_the_Chain_(south_exposure).jpg){kind=link}
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