DAM 
DAMASCENA, in Ancient Geography, a country of 
A\fia, in Ceele- -Syria, ua its name from Damafcus 
which is fituated 1 x this country. 
DAMASCENUS, Jon. in eae a learned Chrif- 
tian father in a eighth century, was born at Damafcus. 
His father, though a Chritien, was alo counfellor s sr 
to the caliph of the Sarac educated by 
at Jerufalem, who had eu ecieaines by his ae ‘Pon 
flavery, and under whofe inftructions he made great progrels 
in mathematical and philofophical learning. He fucceed 
his father in the caliph’s court 
dere 
From the {plendour of a court he retired 
naftery, determining to — Lee . ftu udy, and 
ee ay of the cloifter. prieft to- 
wards the latter end of his life by the. patiarch of Jerufa- 
lem, and died about the year author of a 
great variety of pieces in eoeey, me ee and eccle- 
fiaflical hiftory, which exhibit ftriking proofs of extenfive 
erudition and eminent talents. The beft edition of Damaf- 
cenns’s works conilifts of two vols. fol. printed at Paris, in 
1712. e Arabians were much indebted to this Chriftian 
Among 
ics under the title of 
This latter work, fays Dr. 
firft attempt that was s made toa 
339 
m, sos 
the doGtrines of Chrift and the aay of Ariftotle 
Brucker by Enfield. John Damafcenus is ecard by the 
writers of his life, and by ecclefiattical hiftorians, as the 
compiler and reformer of chants in reek church, 
in the 
were co b amafcenus. Zar goes ftill 
farther, and informs us (Inttit ta. parte. cap. viii.) 
thati ges 1 eek no- 
the Greek ecclefiaftical tones; and that thefe charafters aid 
not, like aurs, merely exprefs fingle fourds, but ail the in- 
tervals ufed in melody: as a femitone, tone, third minor, 
third mete &e. oe and defcending, with their dif- 
ae: duration. This refembles, in many pale et the 
on of the ecclefialtical books of the mifh church, 
before the time-table an oS in erient ufe were in- 
vented, or, at leait, generally rece 
DAMASCIUS, a a gentile pilfopher, was born at Da- 
mafcus, and flourifhed in the eS He ftudi 
Athens and Alexandria aside 
in which he lived. The 
him he fucceeded in his. office, as he did alfo Ifidorus as 
teacher of philofophy at Athens. From Athens he went 
to Alexandria, and prefided in the philofophical see in 
that city; but he was obliged to withdraw, on account of 
the perfecutions which were exercifed at that paioe ‘. ie 
emperor Juftinian againft the gentile philofophers. Damaf- 
cius fied to Perfia, and after this we have no certain accounts 
DAM 
of what happened . him. He i author of the “ Lives of 
Ifidorus and others.”? He wro fo ‘* Commentaries on 
Plato ;”? and a treatile *¢ concer ne ee cane dapat 
and furprizing.”? All his worka are marked with the cha- 
raters of the eclectic fchool, cbferty, fanaticifn, and im- 
pofture. Moreri. Brucker ld. 
DAMAS CUS, in Geography, a » celebrated town of Afia, 
once an metropolis of Syria, and, in the time of Strabo, a 
oft confpicuous city. The emperor Julian, furnamed the 
Apoftate, ftyles it * the eye of all the Eaft, the fac a and 
moft magnificent Damafcus ;’’ and commends it on account 
of its temples, fountains, rivers, and alfo the one 3 and 
fertility of . foil. It was os at the diftance of 50 
3 
miles fr e ae aha which it was aie by lotty 
snare ha A two m bara, wi 
oie i through it ere ran called i the Greeks Chry- 
forrhea, which ee on the outfide of its walls. 
writers have afcribed its origin to one Damafcus, who built 
it, and from whom it derived its name; but the more genes 
rally sada opinion is, that it was founded by ae the 
eldeit a ram. (Bochart, Geog. Sa 8. 
Oper. so). However this be, Damafcus bite in 
the ee ‘of Abraham, and may be reckoned one of the m 
ancient cities now in being. Some have faid, that renee 
reigned in this city immediately after its founder Damafcus. 
Accor ding to Jofephus, Adad was the firlt perfon 
who affumed the title of king of Damafcus; and he 
was vanquifhed by David. It was _ captured and ruined 
by Tiglath- Pileffer, king of A 
its inhabitants to Kin 
thus fulfilling tHe predic- 
Amos 
a 4, 5.) It was alfo taken 
the generals of Alexander the Gre 
feized it ae the war of Poa with Tigranes the 
Great, and it remained under the dominion of 
the Romans, cael che Saracens took poffeffion of it about 
.D. 634. Under Auguftus, Obodas, father of Aretae, 
king of Arabia, was ruler of Damafcus; and Aretas was 
governor when St. Paul was there. It ale for a long 
time fubje& to the emperors, and was of the five ar- 
fenals which they had in the eaft. After eet revolutions 
im, empero 
of Syria, A.D. 1 516, ee the battle of Aleppo, in which 
the Mamelukes were defeated ; aud it flill remains a province 
of the Turkifh dominions. It was from the territory of this 
city, that the prunes of Damafoos, aa by the Romans 
“ pruna Damaicena,” derived th 
Damafcus is now the capital a a spectalie (See the next 
am, and the ori 
t in to 
limit the view at no great diftance. The rivulets which flow 
from the adjacent mountains render the territory of Damafs 
cus the beft watered and moft delicious province of all Sy- 
ria; the Arabs {peak of it with enthufialm ; and think they 
can never fufficiently extol the frefhnefs and verdure of its 
orchards, the abundance and variety of its fruits, its nu- 
Ka merous 
