ASIANOVERLAND.NET SYDNEY TO LONDON  DAY 299/138/50: JERASH TO DAMASCUS,  SYRIA

Jerash is in northern Jordan, close to the Syrian border, and is home to one of the best preserved Greco-Roman cities, which earned it the nickname of "Pompeii of the East".  It contains human remains dating to around 7500 BC were uncovered.

Jerash flourished during the Greco and Roman periods until the mid-eighth century CE, when the 749 Galilee earthquake destroyed large parts of it.

In the year 1120, the emir of Damascus ordered a garrison to build a fort in Jerash, but it was captured in 1121 by Baldwin II, King of Jerusalem, utterly destroyed, and the Crusaders immediately abandoned Jerash after destroying it.

Jerash was deserted until it reappeared by the beginning of the Ottoman rule in the early 16th century.

Syria, "Greater Syria", "Syria-Palestine", or the Levant, is a large area east of the Mediterranean Sea. Syria has been controlled by numerous different peoples, including ancient Egyptians, Assyria, Babylonia, the Achaemenid Empire, the ancient Macedonians, the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Crusaders,  the Mamluk Sultanate, and the Ottoman Empire.

Aleppo and Damascus are among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.

The modern Syrian state was established in the mid-20th century after centuries of Ottoman rule and a brief period French mandate. Syria is the largest Arab state to emerge from the formerly Ottoman-ruled Syrian provinces. It gained independence as a parliamentary republic on 24 October 1945, when the Republic of Syria became a founding member of the United Nations, an act which legally ended the former French Mandate.

Syria borders Lebanon, the Mediterranean Sea, Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Israel.  Syria is home to diverse ethnic and religious groups, including Syrian Arabs, Kurds, Turkemens, Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks. Religious groups include Muslims (87%), Christians (10%) and Druze (3%). Arabs are the largest ethnic group, and Sunnis the largest religious group.

Damascus is the capital of Syria, and is commonly known in Syria as the "City of Jasmine". Damascus has been a major cultural centre of the Levant and the Arab world for thousands of years. The name Damascus first appeared in an Egyptian geographical list in the 15th century BCE

Damascus was settled in the second millennium BCE, and 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 from Damascus to Baghdad.

Our overland trip books record July 1980 and “6 November, 1980

3 cheers to Peter and Les for getting our Syrian visas and getting us through the border in one day (you couldn’t have done it without my legs)

A special bonus cheer to Peter, Corrie, Jim, Sarah and Deb for letting me beat them at Backgammon.”

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