Casa Árabe and the Three Cultures of the Mediterranean Foundation, with the cooperation of the Sísifo Research Group of the Archeology Department at the University of Cordoba, have organized this conference given by Hugh Kennedy, SOAS - University of London.

The conference focused on the history and topography of Damascus from the Byzantine period to the twelfth century. It will mainly deal with the importance of this city as the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate, the uprise of the Abbasid government and its negative effect on the city’s prosperity, as well as the later role played by the Seleucid dynasty. The changes in the urban street layout, the Umayyad mosque and the reconstruction of the first fortress will all be discussed. Last of all, it will deal with this historical city’s reality within the context of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.