Editing Damascus (section)

===Late Bronze===
Some of the earliest [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] records are from 1350 BC [[Amarna letters]] when Damascus (called ''Dimasqu'') was ruled by king [[Biryawaza]]. The Damascus region, as well as the rest of Syria, became a battleground circa 1260 BC, between the [[Hittites]] from the north and the [[Ancient Egyptians|Egyptians]] from the south,<ref name="Burns5">{{Harvnb|Burns|2005|pp=5–6}}</ref> ending with a signed treaty between [[Hattusili III]] and [[Ramesses II]] where the former handed over control of the Damascus area to Ramesses II in 1259 BC.<ref name="Burns5" /> The arrival of the [[Sea Peoples]], around 1200 BC, marked the end of the [[Bronze Age]] in the region and brought about new development of warfare.<ref name="Burns7">{{Harvnb|Burns|2005|p=7}}</ref> Damascus was only a peripheral part of this picture, which mostly affected the larger population centers of ancient Syria. However, these events contributed to the development of Damascus as a new influential center that emerged with the transition from the Bronze Age to the [[Iron Age]].<ref name="Burns7" />

Damascus is mentioned in [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] 14:15 as existing at the time of the [[Chedorlaomer|War of the Kings]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2014:15&version=NIV|title=Genesis 14:15 (New International Version)|publisher=Bible Gateway|access-date=25 November 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100807050209/http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2014:15&version=NIV|archive-date=7 August 2010|url-status=live}}</ref> According to the 1st-century Jewish historian [[Flavius Josephus]] in his twenty-one volume ''[[Antiquities of the Jews]]'', Damascus (along with [[Trachonitis]]), was founded by [[Uz (son of Aram)|Uz]], the son of [[Aram, son of Shem|Aram]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2848/2848-h/2848-h.htm#link2HCH0006 |title=The Antiquities of the Jews, by Flavius Josephus, Book 1, Ch. 6, Sect. 4 |publisher=Project Gutenberg |access-date=19 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150613020910/http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2848/2848-h/2848-h.htm#link2HCH0006 |archive-date=13 June 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref> In Antiquities i. 7,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2848/2848-h/2848-h.htm#link2HCH0007 |title=The Antiquities of the Jews, by Flavius Josephus, Book 1, Ch. 7, Sect. 2 |publisher=Project Gutenberg |access-date=19 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150613020910/http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2848/2848-h/2848-h.htm#link2HCH0007 |archive-date=13 June 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref> Josephus reports:

{{blockquote|[[Nicolaus of Damascus]], in the fourth book of his History, says thus: "[[Abraham]] reigned at Damascus, being a foreigner, who came with an army out of the land above [[Babylon]], called the land of the Chaldeans: but, after a long time, he got him up, and removed from that country also, with his people, and went into the land then called the land of [[Canaan]], but now the land of Judea, and this when his posterity became a multitude; as to which posterity of his, we relate their history in another work. Now the name of Abraham is even still famous in the country of Damascus; and there is a village named after him, The Habitation of Abraham.}}