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}} Damascus ((アラビア語:دمشق) ') is the capital and the second-largest city of Syria after Aleppo. It is commonly known in Syria as ''ash-Sham'' ((アラビア語:الشام) ') and nicknamed as the ''City of Jasmine'' ((アラビア語:مدينة الياسمين) '). In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major cultural and religious center of the Levant. The city has an estimated population of 1,711,000 (2009 est.).〔 Located in southwestern Syria, Damascus is the center of a large metropolitan area of 2.6 million people (2004).〔Central Bureau of Statistics Syria (Syria census 2004 )〕 Geographically embedded on the eastern foothills of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range inland from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean on a plateau above sea-level, Damascus experiences a semi-arid climate because of the rain shadow effect. The Barada River flows through Damascus. First settled in the second millennium BC, it was chosen as the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate from 661 to 750. After the victory of the Abbasid dynasty, the seat of Islamic power was moved to Baghdad. Damascus saw a political decline throughout the Abbasid era, only to regain significant importance in the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods. During Ottoman rule, the city decayed while maintaining a certain cultural prestige. Today, it is the seat of the central government and all of the government ministries. ==Names and etymology== The name of Damascus first appeared in the geographical list of Thutmose III as T-m-ś-q in the 15th century BC.〔List I, 13 in J. Simons, ''Handbook for the Study of Egyptian Topographical Lists relating to Western Asia'', Leiden 1937. See also Y. AHARONI, ''The Land of the Bible: A Historical Geography'', London 1967, p147, No. 13.〕 The etymology of the ancient name "T-m-ś-q" is uncertain, but it is suspected to be pre-Semitic. It is attested as ' in Akkadian, ' in Egyptian, ' () in Old Aramaic and ''Dammeśeq'' () in Biblical Hebrew. The Akkadian spelling is found in the Amarna letters, from the 14th century BC. Later Aramaic spellings of the name often include an intrusive ''resh'' (letter ''r''), perhaps influenced by the root ''dr'', meaning "dwelling". Thus, the Qumranic ''Darmeśeq'' (), and ''Darmsûq'' () in Syriac.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=(in Book Reviews) ''Ancient Damascus: A Historical Study of the Syrian City-State from Earliest Times Until Its Fall to the Assyrians in 732 BC.'', Wayne T. Pitard. Review author: Paul E. Dion, ''Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research'', No. 270, Ancient Syria. (May, 1988), p. 98 )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=''The Stele Dedicated to Melcarth by Ben-Hadad of Damascus'', Frank Moore Cross. ''Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research'', No. 205. (Feb., 1972), p. 40 )〕 The English and Latin name of the city is "Damascus" which was imported from (ギリシア語:Δαμασκός), which originated in ; "a well-watered place".〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Online Etymology Dictionary )〕 In Arabic, the city is called ' (), although this is often shortened to either ''Dimashq'' or ''ash-Shām'' by the citizens of Damascus, of Syria and other Arab neighbors and Turkey (as ''Şam''). ' is an Arabic term for "Levant" and for "Syria"; the latter, and particularly the historical region of Syria, is called ' ( / "land of the Levant"). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Damascus」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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