Damascus : A History
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This is the first book in English to relate the history of Damascus, bringing out the crucial role the city has played at many points in the region's past. Damascus traces the history of this colourful, significant and complex city through its physical development, from the city's emergence in around 7000 BC through the changing cavalcade of Aramaean, Persian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Mongol and French rulers right up to the end of Turkish control in 1918.
In Damascus, every layer of the history has built precisely on top of its predecessors for at least three millennia, leaving a detailed archaeological record of one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The book looks particularly at the interplay between the western and eastern influences that have provided Damascus with such a rich past, and how this perfectly encapsulates the forces that have played over the Middle East as a whole from the earliest recorded times to the present.
Lavishly illustrated, Damascus: A History is a compelling and unique exploration of a fascinating city.
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In Damascus, every layer of the history has built precisely on top of its predecessors for at least three millennia, leaving a detailed archaeological record of one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The book looks particularly at the interplay between the western and eastern influences that have provided Damascus with such a rich past, and how this perfectly encapsulates the forces that have played over the Middle East as a whole from the earliest recorded times to the present.
Lavishly illustrated, Damascus: A History is a compelling and unique exploration of a fascinating city.
show more
Product details
- Paperback | 408 pages
- 159 x 235 x 19.05mm | 680g
- 13 Apr 2007
- Taylor & Francis Ltd
- ROUTLEDGE
- London, United Kingdom
- English
- 24 Line drawings, black and white; 30 Illustrations, black and white
- 0415413176
- 9780415413176
- 354,062
Table of contents
Introduction 1. The Emergence of Damascus: 9000-1100 BC 2. Dimashqu - Damascus from the Aramaeans to the Persians: 1000-532 BC 3. A Greater Game - Assyrians, Persians, Greeks: 732-300 BC 4. The Sowing of Hellenism - Ptolemies and Seleucids: 300-64 BC 5. Pax Romana: 64 BC-AD 30 6. Metropolis Romana: AD 30-268 7. Holding the Line: AD 269-610 8. 'Farewell, Oh Syria': 611-750 9. The Umayyads: 661-750 10. Decline, Confusion and Irrelevance: 750-1008 11. Islam Resurgent: 1098-1174 12. Saladin and the Ayyubids: 1174-1250 13. Mamluks: 1260-1515 14. The Ottoman Centuries: 1516-1840 15. Reform and Reaction: 1840-1918 Epilogue Appendices Glossary of Terms and Names Maps of City and Environs Bibliography Index
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Review quote
"Master of all the written, archaeological, and epigraphic sources, ever alert to fine nuances in political developments and architectural elements, and possessed of a writing style in which elegant simplicity and clarity is often elivened by a rhetorical flourish. Burns has proved himself a chronicler worthy of a city that for three thousand years drew to itself those who made the history of the region."
- Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, Revue Biblique
"Ross Burns wears his massive learning lightly and the book will be a lively and enlightening guide for anyone contemplating taking the Road to Damascus."
- Professor Sam Lieu, Macquarie University, Australia
"Burns has succeeded outstandingly in providing a coherent and fascinating survey of Damascene history, interesting for the art historian, archaeologist, and historian alike ... highly readable ... plausible and attractively written account of both the Hellenistic and Roman periods ... with passion and an excellent eye for detail ... a fluent and interesting account of the urban history right up to the brink of modern Syria."
- Antti Lampinen, Arctos
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- Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, Revue Biblique
"Ross Burns wears his massive learning lightly and the book will be a lively and enlightening guide for anyone contemplating taking the Road to Damascus."
- Professor Sam Lieu, Macquarie University, Australia
"Burns has succeeded outstandingly in providing a coherent and fascinating survey of Damascene history, interesting for the art historian, archaeologist, and historian alike ... highly readable ... plausible and attractively written account of both the Hellenistic and Roman periods ... with passion and an excellent eye for detail ... a fluent and interesting account of the urban history right up to the brink of modern Syria."
- Antti Lampinen, Arctos
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About Ross Burns
Ross Burns has recently retired from the Australian Foreign Service after assignments which included several countries of the eastern Mediterranean, including Syria. Currently pursuing his archaeological and historical interests fulltime, he is the author of Monuments of Syria, the first modern study of that country's rich archaeological heritage.
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