大马士革(Damascus)
阿拉伯语作Dimashq
法语作Damas
叙利亚（Syria）首都及最大城市，人口约1,550,000（1994）。为叙利亚西南部一个绿洲。靠近前黎巴嫩山脉（Anti-Lebanon Mtns.）山脚的沙漠，自古以来一直是重要的中心地点。素有「东方珍珠」之称，西元前第四千纪即有人定居於此，许多学者认为它是世界上最古老的城市。西元前15世纪在埃及碑文中首见记载，而《圣经》上称之为阿拉米人（Arameans）的首都。其後几个世纪遭人侵略，几度易手，先後为亚述人（西元前8世纪）、巴比伦人（西元前7世纪）、波斯人（西元前6世纪）、希腊人（西元前4世纪）、罗马人（西元前1世纪）所占。西元4世纪末罗马帝国分裂後，大马士革成为拜占庭人重要的军事前哨。635年落入阿拉伯人手中。後来伍麦叶王朝（Umayyad）定都於此，因而开始繁荣，宏伟的大清真寺（Great Mosque）屹立至今。1516年为土耳其人所夺，之後四百多年一直属於鄂图曼帝国。1920年被法国人占领，最後与叙利亚一起重获独立（1946）。如今该市为繁华的商业中心，设有许多教育和科学机构。
English version：
Damascus
FrenchDamasLargest city (pop., 1994: 1,550,000) and capital of Syria. Located at an oasis near the desert at the base of the Anti-Lebanon Mtns., it has been an important center from antiquity. Believed to be the world's oldest continuously inhabited city, it has evidence of occupation from the 4th millennium BC. The first written reference to it is in Egyptian tablets of the 15th century BC, and biblical sources refer to it as the capital of the Aramaeans. It changed hands repeatedly over the centuries, belonging to Assyria in the 8th century BC, then Babylon, Persia, Greece, and finally Rome in the 1st century BC. A Byzantine military outpost in the 4th century AD, it fell to the Arabs in 635; it flourished as the Umayyad capital, and the remains of their Great Mosque still stand. Taken by the Turks in 1516, it remained in the Ottoman empire for some 400 years. It was occupied by France in 1920 and finally regained its independence, with Syria, in 1946. Today the city is a flourishing trading center, with many educational and scientific institutions.