Download Damascus: The History and Legacy of the Syrian Capital from Antiquity to Today AudioBook Free
Throughout history, Syria has been dominated not by one great city but by two. Aside from Aleppo to the north, the religious and commercial metropolis of Damascus is a place desired by the powerful. For thousands of years the Phoenicians, Hittites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Christians, and Muslims all vied for control of the town. Damascus has many important architectural sites seeing from almost all eras of its history, and vestiges of the past have existed and been valued in Damascus throughout its living. The history of Damascus from the Byzantine period to the 12th century is particularly amazing, in conditions of its role as the administrative centre of the Umayyad Caliphate and the changes that this experienced when the Abbasid Caliphate and Seljuk dynasty arrived to power. At Damascus, the exciting capital of modern Syria, you can experience the love and spirituality of the numerous faiths which have coexisted in Syria for centuries. The reviews of Damascus are a full time income embodiment of age Islamic renaissance; the city has one of the oldest and most important mosques in the world, and it includes a vibrant history linked to the rise of Islam in the region. The Umayyad Mosque is an excellent example of the continuity of sacred sites in the city through the millennia. Though it has never been put through an archaeological inspection, this was probably the site of the temple of the Semitic thunder god Haddad, and it was certainly the website of the Roman cult of Jupiter following the amalgamation of Haddad with the Roman god, typical of the syncretic way that the Romans took to overseas religions. It had been also certainly the website of the Christian Cathedral of St. John the Baptist; in truth, it can be surprising to learn that the relics of St. John the Baptist are kept in this particular mosque, and are revered by Muslims and Christians alike. Christians constitute about ten percent of the populace, with the remainder being mostly Muslim. A number of Christian holy sites associated with the transformation and work of St. Paul - who's considered by many to be the key creator of the Christian church after Jesus - are available in Damascus. The longstanding tolerance and value between people of different faiths in Syria is a noteworthy feature of the exceptional city.
