See Rbtaliatioh. 2. Wounding a free person in an aftay (where both irtiee mieht be presumed to be pretty nearly equally » blame, the iigaiy, however, must have been inflict- I with a stone or the fist, rti'^^M ; oomp. Philo, ii, L7, ry x^tpi ; not with a proper weapon, Josephus, ,ni. iv, 8, 83; also in a suddenly outbreaking quar- 3l between them that gave no evidence of long-med- ated barm), which rendered the individual unfit for rork, required compensation for the loss through sick- ess and the expense of cure (Exod. xxi, 18 sq. ; ver. 9 prescribes that this mulct should cease when the rounded person became able to go about again); hould he die afterwards no further penalty was to be txacted (Philo, 0pp. ii, 817 ; oomp. Baba Kamma, viii, .). More severe exaction followed when in a fray a >regnant woman was so injured as to suffer abortion, lor then the law of life for life prevailed in full (Exod. cxi, 22 ; according to Josephus, however. Ant. iv, 8, Sd, and Philo, 0pp. ii, 817, pecuniary reparation was lUowed in such cases likewise). See PuinsHHEifT.
8. Damage to one's property by cattle (Exod. xxii, by, or accidental spread of fire in the field (ver. 6), call- ed for ftill remuneration of the loss (as also among the Romans; see Walter, G€$ch. d. Rom. ReckU, p. 812), and was to be paid for in kind, although a commuta- tion in money certainly might obtain (Philo, 0pp. ii, 839). For fuller details, see the Talmudic treatise Baba Kamma, iv, 1. When a hired animal or article was injured no special restitution was required (Exod. xxii, 16). It was otherwise, however, with property placed in trust. See Deposit. On the jurisdiction of all cases, see £li»er.<— Winer, Realw. i, 155.
Dam'axla (Aaiuzpic), an Athenian woman con- verted to Christianity by Paul's preaching (Acts xvii, 84), A.D. 48. Chrysostom (de SacerdoHo^ iv, 7) and others held her to have been the wife of Dionysius the Areopagite, but apparenUy for no other reason than that she is mentioned together with him in this pas- sage. Grotius and Hemsterhuis think the name should be DamaUSj AdfjutXig (signifying keifer)^ which is fre- quently found as a woman's name ; but the permuta- tion of X and p was not uncommon both in pronuncia- tion and writing (Lobeck on Phiynichus, p. 652). — Smith, 8. V.
DamaBOene' (Aafiamoiv^c), an inhabitant (2 Cot. xi, 82) of the city of Damascus (q. v.).
Damasoemis, Joahmss. See Jomr of Damas- cus.
Damas'cuB (Heb. Damme^iek, piS^all [sometimes Darme^ttk, pb^^^T, by resolution of the Dagesh, 1 Chron. xviii, 5, 6 ; once Dwnme'tek^ P^^^*^! probably by erroneoos transcription for the last, 2 Kings xvi, 10], signifying actkrity [Qesenins, Thes, p. 845 sq.], fttm its commerce ; Arab. JDimeshh ; Gr. AafMffKoc)^ one of the moet ancient, and at all times one of the most important of Oriental citlse. It is called by the natives E»-8kam^ and is capital of an important pashalie of this latter name, and indeed is the chief or capital cit7 of Syria. It was sometimes spoken of by the ancients as an Arabian city, but in reality it be- longs to Syria (Coele-Syria, Strabo xvi, 766 ; Ptolemy, V, 15,22). In 2 Sam. viii, 5, 6, *'the Syrians of Da- ma8eQ8"sie spoken of, and the words '* Syria of Da-
mascus" an found in Isa. vii, 8. It is expressly said, ''the head of Syria is Damascus ;" also, Isa. xvii, 8, "the kingdom" is to cease *'from Damascus;" so that this place was obviously the metropolis of a Syr- ian empire. It gave name (Syria Damascena, PUn. HiiL Natural, v, 19) to a district of Syria, which, in 1 Chron. xix, 6, is distinguished as *' Syria-Maachah** in the A. V. The city is even mentioned in the cunei- fonn inscriptions (q. v.). The following account is chiefly from Kitto and Smith, s. v.
1. Situation. — Damascus occupies the mostbeantiftil site in Syria, or perhaps in aU Western Asia. At the eastern base of Anti-Iibanus lies a vast plain, having an elevation of about 2200 feet above the level of the sea. It is bounded on the south by the river Awaj, with its branches, which separates it from Itursa. On the east a little group of conical hiUs divides it from the great Arabian desert Its form is triangu- lar, and its area about 500 square miles. Only about one half of this is now inhabited, or indeed habitable ; but in richness and beauty this half is unsurpassed. It owes all its advantages to its rivers (2 Kings v, 12). The plain is about 400 stadia frt>m the Mediteranean, and from six to eight days' journey from Jerusalem. Its celebrity is of early date. Strabo (xvi, p. 756) speaks of it in eulogistic terms. In a religious point of view, also, its repute was great. Julian (Ep. 24) terms it ''the great and sacred Damascus, surpassing every dty both in the beauty of its temples and the magnitude of its shrines, as well as the timeliness of its seasons, the limpidness of its fountains, the volume of its waters, and the richness of its soil." The Aba^ na (q. v.), now called Barada, rising high up on the western flank of Anti-Libanus, forces its way through tlie chain, running for some time among the moun- tains, till suddenly it bursts through a narrow cleft upon the open country east of the hills, and difftiset fertility far and wide. "From the edge of the moun- tain-range," says a modem traveller, " you look down on the plain of Damascus. It is here seen in its widest imd ftillest perfection, with the visible explanation of the whole secret of its great and enduring charm, that which it must have had when it was the solitary seat of civilization in Syria, and which it will have as long as the world lasts. The river is visible at the bottom, with its green banks, rushing through the deft; it bursts forth, and as if in a moment scatters over the plain, through a circle of thirty miles, the same ver- dure which had hitherto been confined to its single