什麼是大馬士革

阿拉伯語作Dimashq

法語作Damas

敘利亞（Syria）首都及最大城市，人口約1,550,000（1994）。為敘利亞西南部一個綠洲。靠近前黎巴嫩山脈（Anti-Lebanon Mtns.）山腳的沙漠，自古以來一直是重要的中心地點。素有「東方珍珠」之稱，西元前第四千紀即有人定居於此，許多學者認為它是世界上最古老的城市。西元前15世紀在埃及碑文中首見記載，而《聖經》上稱之為阿拉米人（Arameans）的首都。其後幾個世紀遭人侵略，幾度易手，先後為亞述人（西元前8世紀）、巴比倫人（西元前7世紀）、波斯人（西元前6世紀）、希臘人（西元前4世紀）、羅馬人（西元前1世紀）所佔。西元4世紀末羅馬帝國分裂後，大馬士革成為拜占庭人重要的軍事前哨。635年落入阿拉伯人手中。後來伍麥葉王朝（Umayyad）定都於此，因而開始繁榮，巨集偉的大清真寺（Great Mosque）屹立至今。1516年為土耳其人所奪，之後四百多年一直屬於鄂圖曼帝國。1920年被法國人佔領，最後與敘利亞一起重獲獨立（1946）。如今該市為繁華的商業中心，設有許多教育和科學機構。

Damascus

FrenchDamasLargest city (pop., 1994: 1,550,000) and capital of Syria. located at an oasis near the desert at the base of the Anti-Lebanon Mtns., it has been an important center from antiquity. Believed to be the world's oldest continuously inhabited city, it has evidence of occupation from the 4th millennium BC. The first written reference to it is in Egyptian tablets of the 15th century BC, and biblical sources refer to it as the capital of the Aramaeans. It changed hands repeatedly over the centuries, belonging to Assyria in the 8th century BC, then Babylon, Persia, Greece, and finally Rome in the 1st century BC. A Byzantine military outpost in the 4th century AD, it fell to the Arabs in 635; it flourished as the Umayyad capital, and the remains of their Great Mosque still stand. Taken by the Turks in 1516, it remained in the Ottoman empire for some 400 years. It was occupied by France in 1920 and finally regained its independence, with Syria, in 1946. Today the city is a flourishing trading center, with many educational and scientific institutions.