Damascus (Aramaic דמשק; Greek Δαμασκός): important city in the ancient Near East.
Bronze Age
Damascus, "Street which is called Straight"
Mentioned for the first time in the fifteenth century BCE in an Egyptian text from the reign of Thuthmose III (r.1479-1457): T-m-ś-q. (Almost certainly a pre-Semitic name.) Thuthmose III established Egyptian rule in Canaan, which was to last until the mid-twelfth century BCE.
Fertile plain of the Barada river, which emptied in a lake east of the town
The Amarna Letters (i.e., the fourteenth century BCE) mention a Damascene king named Biryawaza
First half of the twelfth century: end to the Bronze Age system. We learn about new people in the Near East who, until then, had not made their appearance. The Aramaeans took control of (a/o) Damascus. In the Bible, Damascus and "Aram" can be words for the same, important Iron Age kingdom.
Iron Age
In the Bible, especially in the Book of Kings, Aram is mentioned as a rival to Israel and Judah. From Assyrian sources, we know that Aram's king Hadad-Ezer (Biblical: Ben-Hadad) was the leader of a Levantine, anti-Assyrian coalition, which managed to keep the Assyrians away in the Battle of Qarqar (853 BCE).
Main sanctuary: a temple of the thunder-god Hadad
In the last quarter of the ninth century, Damascus became part of the Assyrian Empire; a revolt in 727 BCE was suppressed.
Assyria was replaced by Babylonia, which was in turn replaced by Achaemenid Persia. Damascus was used as treasury, but the details escape our understanding.
It was redesigned on a gridiron plan. Like all Seleucid towns, it had a "colonnaded street" (mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as "the street which is called Straight"note[Acts 9.11.] The temple of Hadad must have been converted to a temple of Zeus, not unlike the sanctuary at Baalbek.
They expand their power; Philip moved to Beroea (Aleppo) and Demetrius attacks Judaea, but loses control of the situation and is defeated in 87 when the Parthians invade Syria; in Damascus, he is succeeded by a third brother, Antiochus XII Dionysus
83/82: Antiochus XII Dionysus is defeated and killed by the Nabataean Arabs; Damascus is seized by Ptolemy of Chalcis
Roman Age
64 BCE: Pompey the Great conquers the Seleucid Empire; Damascus becomes part of the Roman province Syria
Damascus, Temple of Jupiter, Outer court with Propylees
Late Antiquity
The temple of Zeus was converted into a church for John the Baptist
After the battle of the Yarmuk, the city was captured by the Arabs; the church was shared by Christians and Muslims
Capital of the Umayyad Caliphate
c.705: the church is converted in the mosque. It still is in use as mosque, but you can recognize all kinds of elements from the former church and temple
