Damascus

One of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities, Damascus holds significance across all three Abrahamic traditions. Located in Syria, it served as the capital of the Aramean kingdom, a frequent enemy of Israel, and the site of Paul’s dramatic conversion experience that transformed early Christianity.

Damascus appears as early as Abraham’s time, when he pursued the kings who captured Lot “as far as Hobah, north of Damascus” (Genesis 14:15). During the divided monarchy, Damascus was Israel’s northern rival—the Aramean king Ben-Hadad besieged Samaria multiple times. Yet Damascus also witnessed God’s mercy: the Syrian commander Naaman traveled there to seek healing from the prophet Elisha, initially objecting that “the rivers of Damascus” were superior to Israel’s Jordan (2 Kings 5:12).

The city’s most pivotal biblical moment occurred on the road approaching Damascus. Saul of Tarsus, “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord” (Acts 9:1), was journeying there to arrest Christians when a blazing light struck him down. Jesus himself appeared, asking “Saul, Saul, why are you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4). Blinded, Saul was led into Damascus, where Ananias restored his sight and baptized him. This conversion transformed Christianity’s greatest persecutor into its most influential apostle.

In Islamic tradition, Damascus became an early and major center of Islamic civilization. The Umayyad Mosque, built on the site of a Christian basilica dedicated to John the Baptist, is one of Islam’s holiest sites. Muslim eschatology holds that Jesus will return and descend at the white minaret of Damascus, where he will defeat the Antichrist.