DAMASCUS, a celebrated city, formerly capital of the Turkish vilayet of Syria, now capital of the independent state of SYRIA (q. v.). It is beautifully situated on a plain which is covered with gardens and orchards and watered by the Barrada. The appearance of the city, as it first opens on the view, has been rapturously spoken of by all travelers; but the streets are narrow, crooked, and in parts dilapidated, and, except in the wealthy Moslem quarter, the houses are low, with flat-arched doors and accumu lations of filth before the entrance. Within, however, there is often a singu lar contrast, in courts paved with marble and ornamented with trees and spouting fountains the rooms adorned with ara besques and filled with splendid furni ture. Among the chief buildings are the Great Mosque and the Citadel. The bazaars are a notable feature of Damas cus. They are simply streets or lanes covered in with high wood-work and lined with shops, stalls, cafés, etc.
In the midst of the bazaars stands the Great Khan, it and 30 inferior khans being used as exchanges or market places by the merchants. One of the most important and busiest streets is "Straight Street," mentioned in connec tion with the conversion of the Apostle Paul. Damascus is an important em
porium of trade in European manufac tures; it is also a place of considerable manufacturing industry in silk, damasks, cotton and other fabrics, tobacco, glass, soap, etc. Saddles, fine cabinet-work, and elegant jewelry are well made; but the manufacture of the famous Damas cus blades no longer exists. It has rail way connections with Aleppo, Beirut, and the Hejas, and is the seat of a Mel chite Patriarch. It is one of the holy Moslem cities, and continues to be one of the most thoroughly Oriental in all its features of any city in existence. Of its origin nothing certain is known; but it is of great antiquity, being mentioned as a place apparently of importance in Gen. xiv: 15. After passing successively under the power of Israelites, Persians, Greeks, and Romans, it fell at last in 1516 into .the hands of the Turks. On Oct. 1, 1918, the city was occupied by British troops. Pop. about 250,000.