****The events in the lead-in to this discussion happened! The city lost its walls ~ leaving it totally unprotected in a time when it was good to live behind a wall! All ‘royal’ or other type of authority was relocated from a headquarters in Damascus to the new city of Baghdad ~ which is mentioned otherwise as ‘daughter of Babylon’. The other cities were equally disabled ~
The least interesting descriptions of Damascus all contain the same basic facts ~ the city is in an area that’s East of a row of mountains that provide a rain screen ~ so it’s usually dry ~ and hot in summer. There are a couple of rivers in the area that provide all the water. The second the locals were no longer in charge of irrigation policy the area, not just that city, turned into a heap of ruins suitable only for herding****
That sounds very interesting. Do you have a source for this history? And if so would you be so kind as to direct me to it?
using google to search for damascus history will give you gazillions of articles to read. it’s a very old town ~ on the crossroads of several ancient traderoutes