A road in the Ġūṭa

 

 The forested appearance of this dirt road makes one think of the Ġūṭa of the past. From the time of the siege of Damascus by the Crusaders to the days of the French Mandate, it served very conveniently for guerilla movements, ambushes and surprise attacks. 

The area irrigated by the ʾAʿwaj and Barada, the two main rivers of the oasis, as well as by the many artificial qanawāt, reached a total of about 165 square miles (427 square kilometers) back in 1935. Of this, 3.5 square miles (9 square kilometers) lie in the city of Damascus, including the two suburbs of aṣ-Ṣāliḥīyya and the Mīdān. The former suburb makes use of the Yazīd, the latter of the Dārāni. The irrigated area in the Ġūṭa amounts to some 102 square miles (264 square kilometers). The Marj has an area of 85 square miles (220 square kilometers) of which only 65% is irrigated. The Ġūṭa takes so much water for its orchards that there is not enough to irrigate all the Marj. 

Jacques Ghislain de Maussion de Favières. Damascus, Baghdad: Capitals and lands of the caliphs. Translation to English by Edward J. Banks. Librairie orientale (Dar el-Mashreq), Beirut, Lebanon. 1972.

J. Allen Tower. the Oasis of Damascus (p. 27-28). The American University of Beirut 1935.

Tower's obituary (continued): monograph series of Birmingham Southern College. In addition, he wrote on Near East topics for two leading encyclopedias and on the South for three encyclopedias. In recognition of the value of his research, Tower received two A.A.A.S. grants-in-aid and a Rosenwald Fellowship grant for research on the geography and agriculture of Alabama. J. Allen Tower was among the founders of the organization from which our Southeastern Division of the A.A.G. has developed, and he was, I believe, in effect our first Chairman. Later, in 1947-48, he served as a regularly elected Chairman of the Division. During the past several years he has furnished stimulating leadership to the important Southern Studies Committee. Through the years he was constantly active in our organization, serving on various committees, contributing papers, and giving valuable leadership with sound ideas and unselfish effort to further the work of the Division and the advancement of geography within the Southeast. J. Allen Tower was a good man, a good husband and father, and a good geographer. He had many friends among us and no enemies. We shall miss him sorely. —William H. Pierson.