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DAMASCUS

(Heb. dammeśeq; Gk. Damaskós)

A city in southern Syria that played an important role in the political history of Israel during the 1st millennium b.c.e. Damascus also appears in the NT in connection with the conversion of Saul of Tarsus to Christianity.

The city is located in a well-watered basin along the banks of the Barada River. The fertility of the region and its location on the primary north-south trade route have made Damascus a key player in the political and economic history of Syria-Palestine.

Because the city continues to be occupied, very little excavation has been done below the Roman period levels. However, recent work in the courtyard of the Umayyad mosque has indicated that the city was occupied at least as early as the 3rd millennium. The earliest written record of Damascus comes from an inscription of the Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose III, in which he lists the names of cities who submitted to him in 1482, following an Egyptian campaign in Canaan. The city also appears in three of the Amarna Letters of the 14th century. These texts do not suggest that it was an important city during this period. Rather, it was simply one of a number of towns along the northern periphery of Egyptian political control.

The city became significant politically during the 1st millennium, when it emerged as the capital of an important Aramean kingdom, sometimes called Aram-Damascus, but usually referred to simply as Aram in the OT. The first information we have concerning Iron Age Damascus comes from 2 Sam. 8 = 1 Chr. 18, , which recounts a battle between Israelite troops under King David and those of Damascus. The Israelites defeated Damascus, and David incorporated the city into his new empire. During the reign of Solomon, however, a certain Rezon proclaimed himself king in Damascus and withdrew from Israelite sovereignty (1 Kgs. 11:23-25). Solomon was unable to restore his control over the region. This represents the beginning of Aram-Damascus as a major political entity.

From the early 9th century Aram became a serious rival to the northern kingdom of Israel. Bir-hadad I (biblical Ben-hadad) attacked Israel during the reign of King Baasha, after making an anti-Israelite alliance with King Asa of Judah. During this campaign he captured and destroyed a number of cities in the northern part of Israel (1 Kgs. 15:16-22). By the mid-9th century Aram was the most powerful state in Syria-Palestine, its king Hadadezer leading a coalition of 12 states against the invasion of northern Syria by the Assyrians. The Monolith inscription of Shalmaneser III of Assyria refers to Ahab of Israel as one of the major allies of Hadadezer during the battle of Qarqar in 853.

Ca. 842/841 Hazael, an officer of the Damascene court, assassinated the king of Damascus and seized the throne (cf. 2 Kgs. 8:7-15). Following two or three further confrontations with Shalmaneser III between 841 and 837, Hazael began an expansionist policy by which he created a substantial Aramean empire that included Israel and Judah, as well as other Palestinian states, as vassals (2 Kgs. 10:32-33; 12:17-18). For ca. 40 years Aram dominated the region. But after the death of Hazael, his son Bir-hadad lost control over the empire. The Assyrians returned in 796, attacking the city of Damascus and forcing the king to pay a heavy tribute. Bir-hadad led a coalition of states against Zakkur, king of Hamath and Luash to the north of Aram, but was defeated by the latter. King Joash of Israel was able to throw off the Aramean domination of Israel during this time (2 Kgs. 13:14-19, 24-25). It is probable that the account of the two battles between Israel and Damascus described in 1 Kgs. 20 has been misattributed by later editors to the reign of Ahab, and that it is probably the account of Joash’s victories over Bir-hadad, son of Hazael. During the reign of Jeroboam II (ca. 786-746), Israel actually made Damascus into a vassal (2 Kgs. 14:25, 28).

The last period of political power for Aram-Damascus came in the 730s, when King Radyan (biblical Rezin) of Aram and Pekah of Israel formed an anti-Assyrian coalition. They attempted to force Ahaz of Judah to join them, but were stopped when the Assyrian army under Tiglath-pileser III marched into the region in 734 (2 Kgs. 16:5-9; Isa. 7:1–8:15). Over the next two years the Assyrians recaptured all the rebellious states, conquering Damascus and annexing it into Assyria in 732. This was the end of Aram-Damascus as an independent state.

Damascus remained a significant city throughout the following centuries. It was a provincial capital during the Persian period (539-334), and continued to flourish in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. The city during the Roman period was laid out according to the traditional Hellenistic plan. It had a substantial wall, parts of which are still preserved, an impressive cardo maximus, which may be the “street called Straight” of Acts 9:11, and one of the largest temples of Roman Syria. Construction of the temple of Jupiter Damascenius (Hadad-ramman) began in the early 1st century c.e., and substantial remains of its two concentric enclosure walls still stand.

Bibliography. J. M. Miller, “The Elisha Cycle and the Accounts of the Omride Wars,” JBL 85 (1966): 441-54; W. T. Pitard, Ancient Damascus (Winona Lake, 1987).

Wayne T. Pitard

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DAMASCUS

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)