DAMASCUS
650
DAMASCUS
It WAS long before Damasctu recovered from this serious blow. As Isaiah and Amos had prophesied in the day of her prosperity that Damascas shoald be " taken away from being a city and be a minons heap" (Isa. xvii,l), that 'U fire shoald be sent into the house of Hazael which should deyonr the palaces of Ben- hadad" (Amos i, 4), so Jeremiah, writing about B.C. 600, declares ** Damascus u waxed fed>ie and tumeth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her ; anguisb and sorrows have taken her as a woman in travail. How is the city of praise nd left, the city of my joy !" (Jer. xlix, 24--5). Damascus remained a province of Assyria unto the capture of Nineveh by the Medes (B.C. 625), when it submitted to the conquerors. Its wealth and commercial prosperity appear to have de- clined for a considerable period, probably on account of the ravages of Tiglath-Pileser, and the captivity of the most influential and enterprising of its people. The city was afterwards held in succession by the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Persians. We have no particulars of its history for a period of three centu- ries. Under the rule of the Persians it was the capi- tal of the province of Syria, and the residence of the satrap. We do not know at what time Damascus was rebuilt, but Strabo says that it was the most famous place in Syria during the Persian period (xvi, 2, § 19). When Darius, the last king of Persia, made his great effort to repress the rising power, and bar the progress of Alexander of Macedon, it was in this city he depos- ited his £smily and treasures (Arrian, Exp. Al.n, 11). The fate of Damascus, with that of all Western Asia, was decided by the battle of Issus, in which the Per- sian army was almost ahnihUated. Damascus now became the capital of a province which Alexander gave to his general Laomedon (Plat. Vk. Alexcmdri). During the long wars which raged between the Seleu- cidsB and the Ptolemies, Damascus had no separate history : it sometimes fell to the one, and sometimes to the other. Antioch was founded, and became their favorite residence, and the capital of the Seleucidis ; but when the Syrian kingdom was divided in B.C. 126, Damascus was made the second capital. Its ter- ritory embraced Coele-Syria, Phoenicia, and the country east of the Jordan, and it was afterwards governed in succession by four princes of the family of Seleucus. Damascus and Antioch thus became the seats of ri- val factions, and aspirants after complete sovereign- ty (Joseph. AtU, xiii, 18, 4, and 15, 1). The last of these princes, Antiochns Dionysus, was killed in bat- tle against Aretas, king of Arabia, and the Damascenes forthwith elected Aretas his successor (Josephus, Ant, xill, 15, 1), B.C. 84. In the year B.C. 64, the Romans, under Pompey, invaded and captured Syria, constitu- ted it a province of the empire, and miule Damascus the seat of government (ib. xiv, 2, 8, and 4, 5 ; Mos. Choren. i, 14; Appian, Bell, Mithrid. p. 224). From Josephus (War, i, 2; xxv, 2; xx, 2; comp. Acts ix, 2) it appears that its population contamed great num- bers of Jews.
Coin of Damascns. For twenty years Damascus continued to be the res- idence of the Roman procurators. The city prospered under their firm and equitable rule, and even after their removal to Antioch did not decline. Strabo, who flourished at this period, describes it as one of the most magnificent cities of the East. Nicola&s, the famous historian and philosopher, the friend of Herod
the Great and Augustus, was now oae of jli t (Strabo, Geogr, xvi ; Joeephus, Ant. xvi, 16, 8). i the strong arm of Rome was not anfficieat toqeii fieiy spirit of the Syrians. The whole caBMr^ rent into factions, and embroiled by the vom rivalries and wars of petty piinoes. Aboat tk A.D. 37, a family quarrel led to a war betven iaot king of Arabia, and Herod AntiptM. The Bcaa ^ emor, Vitellius, was instructed to intecfere m kni the latter ; but when he was ready to atta^ ^tt who had already driven back Herod, imwi arn^i the death of the emperor Tiberins. Tbe govona of Syria was thas thrown into confosaon, and Vtskt returned to Antioch (Joeeph. AnL xvili, 5, l-fi . appears that now Aretas, taking advantagi efft state of affairs, followed up his successes, s^rai upon Damascus, and seized the dty. Itn te his brief rule (or some earlier one) that Pfeil ram Damascus on his return from Azafala (GtLi,liri See Aretas. His seal as a Tniwwwaty, and tk q ergy with which he opposed every ftvm of idci^ had probably attracted the notice and exoted tke mity of Aretas ; and consequently, when baSamd\j the Jews that the apostle had retomed to tbe dt^. ^ was anxious to secure him, and gave oidai u> ^ governor to watch the gates day and nigiit iotid purpose (Acts ix, 24 ; 2 Cor. xl, 92. See ^m^ Pkmtmg and Trtnnmg of the Ckri$iiim Chtrd, i,l^'| The Romans adorned Damascna with maaj iffa^ buildings, the ruins of which still exist Soae i them were probably designed by ApoUodorus, a sts^ of the city, and one of the meet celebrated aKhtasi of his age, to whose genius we are indebted for oaei^ the most beautiftil monuments of ancient Bsrae.!^ Column of Trajan (Dion Cass. bdx>. A littfe hkti was reckoned to DecapoUs (Plin. BuL Kat. t, If l ^ ter which it became a part of the province kxm m Phcenicia-Libanesia (HierocL Syneisd. p. 717).