A careful look at a detailed map of Damascus reveals two superimposed cities: the first is Roman and the second is Arab-Islamic. This view has occasionally been debated on the following grounds:
1. The outlines of the Islamic city had arguably been sketched under the Byzantines.
2. Some consider Roman Damascus as an aberrancy, arguing that Medieval Damascus had simply reverted to its pre-classical plan or the lack thereof.
Those reservations in mind, Roman Damascus boasted imposing large avenues intersecting at right angles. The city's main axis was of course Via Recta stretching east to west from the Bab Sharki (east gate) to Bab al-Jabia. Another and shorter axis parallel to the above was Via Sacra, that had connected the Temple of Jupiter with the Agora or Forum. Still a third east-west artery further north would be Suq Saruja, but the latter is located outside the city's wall and belongs not to the Classical era.
The Medieval City was an Oriental one. Its streets and alleys were narrow, crooked, entangled, and often issuing onto a dead-end. Several explanations could be put forward such as the desire to enlarge one's property by infringing on the street in an otherwise limited urban space. This would often result in rooms overhanging the alley when the lower floor no longer offers the capacity of expansion. Thus protruded, the upper floors can cover the narrow paths under to form the so called sibat, providing walkers with the added bonus of shade in the hot season and shelter in the rainy one.
Security remains however the main factor in determining what at first sight appears to be a chaotic and maze-like urban tissue. Fear can compel a man to lock his door and when several families share this sentiment the natural result would be to restrict the access of the neighborhood or subdivision by constructing a gate at its entrance. There used to be legions of such gates until the end of the 19th century when they started to disappear. Still quite few of them were still present in the early years of the French Mandate and some were replaced in 1925-1926 (doubtless a reference to the Great Syrian Revolution). As a rule, those gates were closed every day between 21:00 and 23:00.
The photo on the right displays a gate in Suq saruja that was rebuilt in 1925. The one on the left is from the Midan Quarter.
Géographie humaine de la Syrie Centrale
Tours
Arnault et Cie, Maîtres Imprimeurs
1936
1. The outlines of the Islamic city had arguably been sketched under the Byzantines.
2. Some consider Roman Damascus as an aberrancy, arguing that Medieval Damascus had simply reverted to its pre-classical plan or the lack thereof.
Those reservations in mind, Roman Damascus boasted imposing large avenues intersecting at right angles. The city's main axis was of course Via Recta stretching east to west from the Bab Sharki (east gate) to Bab al-Jabia. Another and shorter axis parallel to the above was Via Sacra, that had connected the Temple of Jupiter with the Agora or Forum. Still a third east-west artery further north would be Suq Saruja, but the latter is located outside the city's wall and belongs not to the Classical era.
The Medieval City was an Oriental one. Its streets and alleys were narrow, crooked, entangled, and often issuing onto a dead-end. Several explanations could be put forward such as the desire to enlarge one's property by infringing on the street in an otherwise limited urban space. This would often result in rooms overhanging the alley when the lower floor no longer offers the capacity of expansion. Thus protruded, the upper floors can cover the narrow paths under to form the so called sibat, providing walkers with the added bonus of shade in the hot season and shelter in the rainy one.
Security remains however the main factor in determining what at first sight appears to be a chaotic and maze-like urban tissue. Fear can compel a man to lock his door and when several families share this sentiment the natural result would be to restrict the access of the neighborhood or subdivision by constructing a gate at its entrance. There used to be legions of such gates until the end of the 19th century when they started to disappear. Still quite few of them were still present in the early years of the French Mandate and some were replaced in 1925-1926 (doubtless a reference to the Great Syrian Revolution). As a rule, those gates were closed every day between 21:00 and 23:00.
The photo on the right displays a gate in Suq saruja that was rebuilt in 1925. The one on the left is from the Midan Quarter.
Richard Thoumin
Géographie humaine de la Syrie Centrale
Tours
Arnault et Cie, Maîtres Imprimeurs
1936
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