Gates of Damascus

Damascus is considered the oldest inhabited city in the world . And it was orderly constructed from its early historical beginning .

The wall of Damascus was built in the Roman period with huge rounded rocks and stones and was provided with seven gates and a paved network of roads that comes out of this gates in different ways


The only intact part of the wall stretches from Bab Assalam to Bab Toma ( 500 meters). But most of the gates are still intact with slight changes in their original marks. Other gates were installed in the Islamic era such as Bab Assalam and Bab Al-Faraj. Some of the towers of the wall are still intact such as Nour Eddin tower, South of Bab Al-jabieh, and Salhieh tower, east of Bab Toma.


And the seven gates of Damascus are:
Three settled in the northern side

Thomas Gate (bab toma): the name of the gate is related to one of Roma’s known great figures and his name was Thomas, and it’s mentioned that Amr Ebn Alas entered Damascus from this gate the day Damascus was conquest



Peace gate (Bab Asslam) : its next to Thomas gate to the west and it was takedown and rebuild in the time of Nour al Din Mahmod where he build a minaret over it. And it was called that way because the warriors entered it hardly.







Paradise Gate (Bab Al Faradis) : it was named that way because in the Roman era it was surrounded by many groves and water and it was innovated in the time of King Al Saleh Ismail



From the south side there’s two gates:

Bab Kissan : and it is located to the South near Al Baytara Square, and in the Byzantine era a church was build there and it became the entrance to the Church. And the name is related to Kissan the guardian of the Caliph Mo’awia that revealed to him during the Islamic conquest.



The small Gate ( bab al sagher): it is located in northern eastern the city near to Shahgor now. And it was named that way because it is the smallest of all gates and Yazid ben abi sufian entered Damascus through this gate while the conquest of the city, and also Tamurlane in 14oo A.D.



And in the east there’s one Gate:

The eastern Gate (Bab Sharki) : and it was named according to the location of the gate in the east of the city. This gate is formed of three vents in the form of arches the biggest vent is the one in the middle and behind it there’s a straight street while the other 2 vents behind them there is small hallways located on the two sides of the street and carried by columns. the Islamic warrior Khaled ebn al waleed entered the city through this gate and also the Abbasid commander abed allah ben ali in the year 749 A.D.



And in the west side there is a gate

Bab Al jabieh: and it faces the eastern gate and also has the same structure. And the name of the gate is related to Al Jabieh village because they used to pass out of it when going to that village. Obayda Ben Al Jarah entered Damascus through this Gate. And this gate has a great memorial when Mosa Ben Nassir entered Damascus with a great pageant in the year 714 A.D.

The eastern gate and Al Jabieh gate enclose between them a straight street that includes arches of triumph



In addition to the seven main gates of Damascus there’s other gates less important and they are:

Bab al Faraj: situated to the south of Damascus between Asroniah and Manakhiah and it had two function the 1st is misleading the enemies and the 2nd was economic.

Bab Al Naser ( victory Gate) : situated in the entrance of AL Hamediah Market and it was demolished in the Abbasid era.

The quarters of Damascus was well bulwarked behind those Gates and some of those Quarters had its own gates like Bab Srejah, bab Mosalah , bab Maser


Those are the Main and the subordinate gates of Damascus and every stone of it tells us the Story of an eternal City through ages

The Meaning of Damascus

Controversial explanations have been made to guess etymological origin of the name of the Syrian capital city. Some hold that “damashaq” means the fast-moving camel and the name was given because the building of the city was completed swiftly. Others believe it was named after Damashaq the great grandson of Sam son of Noah,who built the city.Still others presume that the Romans called it “Dumuskus” which means the double musk.Or perhaps the name was taken from Hermes son in Greek mythology who came over to Syria. In Aramean the name might have been derived from Dermask or dersauk as (E deim) means land and (mask) means (red) in Syriac.Whatever the etymological origion of the word, Damascus remains, as ever (the eye of the whole east) as the Rooman Julianus described the greatness of the city.Under the Roman it was a chief town, and later the fortress of bilad-U-Sham, and the passage to Mecca, the pavilion of all Muslims and God’s paradise on earth have never seen anything so extensive as its orchard, so good as its fruits and so plentiful as its water.It is said the water is so abundant that a fountain can be found in every house.Some historical sources say that the name of Damashaq (Damascus) is derived from the Aramaic word (dam shaq) which means a town built on the rock where the blood of Mash, the fourth son of Aram Bin Sam Bin Noah,flowed soon after a heavy blow by his brother Aws deeply cut Mash’s head.The fight between the two brothers broke out when they could not come into agreement on the name of the new town, some historians had different illustrations with regard to the name of (Dimashaq).The old city of Damascus still preserve its graphical and historical aspects,the high wall which protects the old city of Damascus is crystal clear until today.The citadel was built during the Seljuk rule, and rebuilt during Saladdin rule.It occupies an area of land estimated 220*190 square meters.It has 13 towers. Nur Eddin tower in the south west part of the wall, was built in 1168 A.D.Al-saleh Ayoub tower was built in 1248 A.D.There are seven gates, some of the gates date back to the roman era. Bab Touma and Bab Sharqi are perhaps the most oldest and famous gates of the old city of Damascus.Damascus museum, souk Al-Hamidieh and several other souks, palaces, Khans, and oldschools and Bimarestans are additional attraction in the old city of Damascus.