Damascus

However, its attested existence dates back only to the fifteenth century BC, as one of the cities that opposed the pharaoh Thutmoses III at the battle of Megiddo in 1453 BC.

In the Iron Age (9th and 8th centuries BC) it was the centre of the Arameaan city state of Aram, one of the great city states in the area and of major significance in the biblical accounts concerning the Hebrew kingdoms of Israel and Judah. During this period, Damascus was one of the main opponents of Assyrian encroachment, ultimately without success.

The city is situated in a desert oasis, fed by the Barada River, and its fertility is the stuff of legends. The founder of Islam, the prophet Mohammed, is reported to have refused to enter Damascus saying that one could only enter Paradise once. As one would expect, the present Old City of Damascus reflects the Islamic periods most strongly, but evidence of its pre-Islamic past is all around. The town plan is still based on that of the Roman town, with the ‘Street Called Straight’ following the course of the original Roman main street, the Cardo. Likewise, the famous Omayyad Mosque is built on the site of the Byzantine Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, previously the Roman temple of Jupiter, which was itself most likely an Aramaean temple in the Iron Age (first millennium BC). You can still see remnants of the Roman temple standing at the entrance to the modern soukh, and in the enclosure wall of the mosque.

Particularly relevant to this feature, with its primary focus on the Bronze and Iron Ages, were the artefacts from Ras Shamra (the Bronze Age Canaanite city of Ugarit), and the display of current excavations taking place along the Euphrates as part of the Tishrine Dam project.