Damascus, capital of Syria, was settled as early as 9000 BCE. It stands on the eastern slopes of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, nourished by the Barada River. The city was never abandoned or swallowed by desert sands; it always served as a center for trade, culture, religion, and medicine. Throughout its rich history, Damascus was conquered by Egyptians, Arameans, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, and by Alexander the Great in 333 BCE. Subsequently, the Seleucids, Ptolemies, and Romans ruled from 64 BCE onward. As a Roman provincial capital, Damascus flourished. According to Christian tradition, Saul of Tarsus was struck blind by a divine light on the road to Damascus and became the Apostle Paul, thereby granting the city a lasting place in Western spiritual imagination.

In 636 CE, Arab armies captured the city from the Byzantine Empire. It soon became the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate, the first major Islamic empire that stretched from Spain to India. During their rule, between 706 and 715 CE, the Great Umayyad Mosque of Damascus was built on the site of a Byzantine cathedral. Its mosaics, among the finest examples of Byzantine art, shimmer with golden depictions of paradise. Inside, a shrine is said to hold the head of John the Baptist.

Damascus flourished in the seventh and eighth centuries. As the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate, the city drew scholars from Persia, Greece, India, and the Arab world. As a result of this influx, cultural exchange enabled the rapid spread of scientific and medical knowledge. For example, in Damascus, physicians studied Greek texts by Hippocrates and Galen after they were translated into Arabic. Furthermore, medical learning went beyond theory; doctors emphasized observation, diagnosis, and disease treatment.

One of Damascus’s greatest medical achievements was founding hospitals called “bimaristans.” These advanced medieval hospitals set new standards for care. Founded in the twelfth century by Nur al-Din Zangi, Al-Nuri Hospital served as both a treatment center and a medical school. Patients received free care regardless of status, religion, or nationality. Separate wards addressed different illnesses, and the hospital included pharmacies, lecture halls, and libraries. Physicians documented symptoms and treatments, creating early medical records.

The city benefited from the work of prominent Muslim physicians of the Islamic Golden Age. Ibn Sina (Avicenna) wrote The Canon of Medicine, which was used for centuries in both the Islamic world and Europe. Though he did not live permanently in Damascus, his writings were widely studied there.¹ Ibn al-Nafis, a Syrian physician based in Damascus, described the pulmonary circulation centuries before European scientists recognized it. His discovery challenged Galen’s earlier ideas and showed advanced scientific thinking in the region.¹

Medical education in Damascus also emphasized practical experience. Students learned directly from experienced doctors while treating patients in hospitals, just as they do in medical schools nowadays. They studied anatomy, pharmacology, surgery, infectious diseases, and ophthalmology. Eye diseases were especially common in the Middle East due to the climate and environmental conditions. This led doctors in Damascus to become highly skilled in treating them. New surgical instruments and treatment methods developed in the Islamic world later influenced European medicine during the Renaissance.

Damascus became known for pharmacies and herbal medicine. Markets sold medicinal herbs, oils, and pharmacist-made compounds. Physicians blended dietary advice, hygiene, and natural remedies with treatments. Cleanliness and public health defined Islamic medicine. Damascus hospitals maintained advanced sanitation for their time.

The intellectual life of Damascus matched its practical importance. Under the Umayyads, Ayyubids, and Mamluks, the city was a center of Islamic scholarship, culture, poetry, and medicine. Ibn Asaker, the medieval historian, cataloged its heritage in a biographical dictionary. Saladin, who retook Jerusalem in 1187, maintained deep ties to Damascus and is buried there in a modest tomb beside the Umayyad Mosque. Even in the Ottoman centuries, as the empire’s center shifted to Constantinople, Damascus retained prestige as a gathering point for Hajj pilgrims. Its administrators, merchants, and scholars continued to shape Islamic civilization.

The Old City of Damascus was a labyrinth of covered markets and merchants’ houses built around courtyards blooming with orange trees and fountains. The Souq al-Hamidiyye, a grand nineteenth-century bazaar, leads visitors to the mosque through an arcade of iron-vaulted ceilings. Damascus once played a central role in the Silk Road trade and was synonymous with luxury. The city gave its name to damask, a textile of intricate floral patterns. Damascus steel was the legendary, strong metal used in the finest medieval swords.

The collapse of the Ottoman Empire brought suffering: French colonial rule, independence, repeated coups, and then the catastrophic 2011 civil war. Ancient neighborhoods were destroyed. Populations fled. Hospitals were damaged, healthcare was disrupted, and medical supplies and staff were scarce. Doctors escaped. Hospitals struggled to treat wounded civilians. Infectious diseases spread unchecked.

Yet despite these challenges, Damascus remains undaunted. It has outlasted Assyrian kings, Roman legions, Crusader armies, Mongol invasions, colonial rule, and modern war. Still, it is where the drive to learn and to help the needy endures.

References

1. Islamic medicine. Hektoen International, Fall 2018.