has frequently changed its course in the northern reaches. The traffic has long been confined to the passing of the Haf, the Moslem pilgrimage to and from LlHaramein, El-Medinah, and Mecca. The great road from Aleppo in the north is split as with a wedge at Emcsa by the Anti-Lebanon ridge. It throws an arm round either side of the moun- tain, that on the west traversing the valley of Cadesyria by way of Ba'albck, and unites again at Damascus. Eastward lay the highways across the desert to Palmyra and Baghdad. Thus the great avenues of communication between north and south, east and west, along which flowed the com- merce and marche<i the armies of the ancient world, lay through the heart of the city. Resting in the midst of a beautiful oasis on the edge of the changeless desert, surrounded by desert hills, she formed the natural harbour whither steered the argosies from the sea of sand, bearing the treasures of the East • whence again the sombre mariners set forth upon their dreary voyage homeward. Herein we have the secret of her perennial greatness. A strong position she never was, and often has she bowed beneath the stroke of the conqueror, be- coming 'a servant to task work.' But, ever as the tides of war rolled back, she has arisen again, fresh and vigorous as of yore. She has been the meeting place and mart of the nations ; and as she has been of use to all, to the desert nomad and to the more civilized and settled peoples alike, so the necessities of all have conspired to perpetuate her prosperity.
iii. Trade. — It seems probable that the chief source of income to the people of D. would be the constantly passing caravans. But that they also traded on their own account is shown in EzK 27'*, the ' handy works ' of Tyre beinfr exchanged for ' the wine of Helbon and white wool.' Hatbun, a Wllage about 12 miles north of D., is still famous for its vine produce ; and the mountain shepherds of Anti-Lebanon would always have a B\ipply of white wool for the 1). merchants. From Am 3'" (RV) we may gather that the citj' was already known for silken manufactures. Our word ' Damask ' is derived from a product of the looms of Damascus. At a later time her armourers also achieved wide fame, and the ' Damascus blade' was highly prized. They were carried off en masse by Tamerlane, and settled in Samarkand.
iv. AntiQUITIKS. — The main stream of El-Bar- ada, the true creator of the city, enters from the N.W., and, passing under the great square, part escapes to water the gardens on the north, while the rest is carried off through multitudinous conduits to supply the houses of the inhabitants. The distribution of the water has always been a matter requiring the exercise of both care and tact among these excitable people : so it has come to be a common savin;;, that 'every drop of the water of KlBarada lias to run according to law.' The ancient city was built on the southern bank of the stream. Much more grounil is now covered to the north, and especially to the S. and S.W., while the long limb of ElMcdi'in, ter- minating in the 'Gate of {joA,' Bnxmvabet Ullah, whence issue the pilgrims for Mecca, stretches far to the S. The old walls may he traced, how- ever, along the edge of the stream, and through tlie centre of the modern city, in circumference about 4 miles. For a city of such extraordinary age, D. is not rich in antiquities. The castle, a rect- angular building of great extent, standing at the N.W. corner of the old wall, probably dates only from the Middle Ages, although the substructures are ancient. To the S. of the eiuitcrn gate iiart of the wall is very old. The gate itself dates from Koiiian times ; ami the lino of the Vin Hcctn, ' the street called straight,' may be traced from this to the western gate. It is still called Derb ei-Uus
548 DAMN, DAMNABLE, DAMNATION
DAN
takim, straight street, by the natives {Derb es. ^uMrqi, ' thu kind's hijjhway,' is the name given to every inijioilaiit road, in tlie country). This is the straight street common to all Syro-Greek and Syro- Roman cities, of which line examples are still to be seen at Bosrah and Shuhbah. The great mosque possibly occupies the site of the temple of liimmon (2 K 5'*). It is in accordance with the conservatism of the Orient, that the spot has preserved its religious character under the dominion of successive faiths. It was a spacious Greek temple, then a Christian church, and finally it became a Moslem mosque ; the only remaining evidence of Christian use being the Greek inscrip- tion over the southern gateway, ' Thy kingdom, O Christ, is an everlasting kingdom, and Thy dom- inion endureth for all generations.' The Moslems say that the head of John the Baptist was buried here ; but Christian tradition has it that the church was dedicated to John Damascenus, whose tomb was within it ; and there his body was mir- aculously retained, when an effort was made to remove it. Of this mosque, which for centuries had been the pride of the Moslem world, a large part was destroyed by fire in October 1893.