City
Damaspo
Damaskus
Listen to the story
Damascus, the ancient city of Syria, appears on the Tabula with the usual pair of towers and under the curious form Damaspo, where a Roman register of routes has Damasco. It lay in a fertile landscape watered by the river the Greeks called Chrysorrhoas, the golden stream. Under Rome it flourished again, and the emperor Diocletian built large storehouses and arms factories there. The emperor Julian counted it among the finest cities of his day. On the map, Abila lies eighteen Roman miles away, and Ad Medera twenty-six, beyond a river crossing.