Damascus is situated at the Ghouta Oasis, fed by the waters of the Baruda River. It was this oasis which first made settlement possible, as the surrounding area would otherwise be uninhabitable. The old city of Damascus is surrounded by what was once a Roman wall, much rebuilt at various times during the past two millennia. B.C. The Temple gate is situated at the far end of the Souk al-Hamadiyyah and consists of two vast Corinthian columns supporting a decorated lintel. Damascus has the reputation of being the oldest city in the world though there are no actual records of when Damascus was founded - as records were not kept by its early inhabitants.
More recent discoveries suggest that Damascus was first settled ca.
There is no real knowledge, however, of what Damascus was like at that time. It is unclear what the lifestyle of its peoples was. The documented history of Damascus starts half-way through the second millennium B.C., in the Amorite period. At that time the city became the capital of a small, Aramaean principality. The Aramaeans were Arab people who spoke a northern Arabian dialect of Arabic called Syriac, originated in the Arabian peninsula.