دمشق (Dimashq)
دمشق (Dimashq), also known as Damascus or Δαμασκός (Damascós), the capital of سورية (Sūriyya or Syria) is situated in the nation's south, on the esh Sharqi (Anti-Lebanon) Mountains' eastern edge along the nearly dry Barada River. The tallest building is the 29 story Damascus Tower. The large and old Ummayad Mosque is said to have the body of John the Baptist within and that of Saladin in the gardens without. The city also has a shrine to the Sufi Mufi al-Din ibn Arabi. The old city is a World Heritage Site. It has the nation's main international airport.
| Year | Population1 | Political entity |
| 361 | 40,000 | Rhomania (Romania or the Byzantine Empire) |
| 622 | 50,000 | Eranshahr (Sassanian Empire) |
| 800 | 2 | al-Khilafah al-Abbasiyyah al-Islamiyyah (Abbasid Empire) |
| 1200 | 90,000 | Sulṭānate of Miṣr and Sūriyya (Ayyubid Empire) |
| 1300 | 64,000 | Sulṭānate Miṣr al-Māmalīk (Mamluk Empire) |
| 1400 | 74,000 | Sulṭānate Miṣr al-Māmalīk (Mamluk Empire) |
| 1500 | 60,000 | Sulṭānate Miṣr al-Māmalīk (Mamluk Empire) |
| 1600 | 60,000 | Devlet-i Âliye-yi Osmâniyye (Ottoman Empire) |
| 1700 | 70,000 | Devlet-i Âliye-yi Osmâniyye (Ottoman Empire) |
| 1800 | 90,000 | Devlet-i Âliye-yi Osmâniyye (Ottoman Empire) |
| 1900 | 165,000 | Devlet-i Âliye-yi Osmâniyye (Ottoman Empire) |
It has an estimated 2.8 million metropolitan residents in 2010 and had over a million in 2000.3
External references
Lady Zaynab Mosque
Historical maps
Footnotes
1. Estimates in Tables of the World's Largest Cities, in Tertius Chandler, Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth, 2nd ed. (The Edwin Mellen Press, 1987). In 361, 800, 1200, 1700, 1800, 1900 and probably 2000 Dimashq was the largest city in what is now Suriyya.
2. Chandler has it ranked above cities of 60 thousand and below those of 70 thousand, Ibid.
3. World-gazetteer.com (accessed 9/4/2010). Metropolitan population in 1983 was 1.1 million.
