Xerxes to Alexander: Damascus on the Eve of the Classical Age

Herodotus' extravagantly embellished narrative (1) notwithstanding, Xerxes' reign (486-465 BC) marked the high tide of the Achaemenid Empire as far as territorial extension is concerned. Darius I -Xerxes' father- is credited with creating a "Fifth Satrapy", the Biblical "Abar Nahara" (2) or "Eber-Nari" (Aramaic name for the lands to the west of the Euphrates) that included, in addition to Syria, Phoenicia and Cyprus.

Virtually nothing persists from Achaemenid Damascus. There exists no mention of the city in the accounts of Classic Greek historians such as Herodotus (5th century BC) or Xenophon (431-354 BC). A brief citation in Strabo (63 BC-23 CE) on the other hand, speaks of Damascus as the most illustrious of "that part of Asia" under Persian domination. As for physical evidence, Wulzinger and Watzinger (3 & 4) were able, during their stay in Damascus while WWI ravaged Europe and the Near East, to identify what they deemed to be two Iranian-style capitals that had perhaps belonged to the Governor's palace.

Fast forward to October 333 BC and Alexander's victory over the army of Darius III at Issus. The negotiation that ensued prior to the final collapse of the 1st Iranian Empire are discussed elsewhere (5). The Macedonian conqueror dispatched Parmenion, his lieutenant, to take possession of Damascus (332 BC) and., in the process, the treasures and harem of the defeated Great King (6). A certain Memnon was appointed as Governor of the city and a new age had started, known as the Hellenistic.

Alexander's passing in Damascus is mentioned in 14th century's Muslim sources, though its apocryphal nature is all but a certainty. According to al-Umari (1301-1349) after al-Jahiz  (776-868):

Alexander ذو القرنين  "He of the Two Horns", returning from the East, arrived at the mountain of Dummar to eye the site where Damascus currently rises. The valley where the River of Damascus (Barada) flows nowadays was at the time a forest of cedar trees and the waters that are currently  distributed (through several canals) were then united in one river.

The fact that Alexander's sojourn in Damascus was not on his return from the Orient (rather from Egypt) notwithstanding, what's interesting about this testimony is that it postulates an era -doubtless much older than the 4th century BC- when the Cedar Grove had extended from Mount Lebanon all the way to Damascus Plain before the creation of Barada's elaborate water diversions (7).



1. The History of Herodotus

2. Ezra 5-6. King James Version

3. Karl Wulzinger & Carl Watzinger. Damaskus,  Die antike Stadt, Walter de Gruyter 1921. 

4. Karl Wulzinger & Carl Watzinger. Damaskus, die Islamische Stadt. Walter de Gruyter 1924.

5. Georges Radet. Alexander en Syrie. Les offres de paix que lui fit Darius. Mélange Syriens offerts à Monsieur René Dussaud. Paris, Librairie Orientaliste  Paul Geuthner 1939.

6. Ross Burns. Damascus: A History. Routledge 2005. 

7. Gérard Degeorge. Damas: des origines aux Mamluks. L'Harmattan, 1997.