Chrysorrhoas

 

 Barada (Cold River) was once called Chrysorrhoas (Golden River) by the Greeks. It rises in the eastern face of the Anti-lebanon range where we find several beautiful summer resorts such as Blūdān and Zabadāni. It flows east, passes through the city, divides into countless canals irrigating extensive orchards, and finally consumes itself in the marshy regions east of Damascus. From the times of the Aramean kings to those of the ʾUmayyād caliphs, the inhabitants of the oasis sought ways of exploiting the abundant waters for the needs of the city as well as for farming. These efforts had resulted in harnessing the life-living liquid through Barada's three main branches: Bānīās, Ṯōra, and Yazīd (1). Seen in the photo is the main stream (2) washing the ramparts of the city on the right bank, flowing past the old Mamlūk and Ottoman houses on the left bank. 

(1) Qanawāt is also a major branch of Barada, as far as providing water to intra-muros Damascus is concerned. 

(2) Barada, as opposed to one of its branches. 

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.