{"id":11656,"date":"2018-03-21T18:15:14","date_gmt":"2018-03-21T18:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=11656"},"modified":"2018-03-21T18:15:14","modified_gmt":"2018-03-21T18:15:14","slug":"the-green-halo-of-damascus-a-brief-history-of-ghouta-in-the-wake-of-its-destruction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/the-green-halo-of-damascus-a-brief-history-of-ghouta-in-the-wake-of-its-destruction\/","title":{"rendered":"The green halo of Damascus: A brief history of Ghouta in the wake of its destruction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Karen Pinto<\/a>, Boise State University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Ghouta, the one-time oasis of Damascus, is being destroyed<\/a>. Every day brings with it news of renewed bombing<\/a>, deadly chemical attacks<\/a> and starved or crushed bodies<\/a>, accompanied by desperate scenes of mass exodus<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Located a mere seven miles from Bashar Al Assad\u2019s palace, Ghouta is the last surviving rebel enclave<\/a> close to Syria\u2019s capital, where the Assad family\u2019s dictatorial regime<\/a> has ruled for 47 years.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Syrian revolution that began seven years ago has failed, and the death rattles out of Eastern Ghouta are among its tragic dying gasps. But the political facts, while somber and tragic, fail to tell the full story of Ghouta \u2013 the story of its history and beauty.<\/p>\n

I am a scholar<\/a> of Islamic cartography who studies the depiction of geographical places in history. I have visited Ghouta, which now contains suburbs of Damascus as well as agricultural land. I have met its people and enjoyed its sights, sounds, smells and tastes. As the world watches the daily news of the destruction of the once majestic city, it is important to remember this city\u2019s exalted past, when it was hailed as the green halo of Damascus.<\/p>\n

An abundant oasis<\/h2>\n

Ghouta ( \u063a\u0648\u0637\u0629 \u062f\u0645\u0634\u0642 \/ Gh\u016b\u1e6dat Dimashq) was once Damascus\u2019s fertile beltway. For millennia, its lands produced vegetables and fruits and fed Damascus<\/a>. It was especially well-known for its delicious pomegranates. <\/p>\n

Without Ghouta to feed it, Damascus would not have survived and achieved its distinction as one of the oldest continuously occupied cities in the world. Dating back to 10,000-8,000 B.C., Damascus lies<\/a> along the southern terrace of Mount Qasiyun in the foothills of the mountains on Syria\u2019s border with Lebanon. Watered by the Barada River, the green zone of Ghouta is Damascus\u2019 final frontier before the Great Syrian Desert. <\/p>\n

\n \"\"
\n 1903 photo of Damascus with Ghouta\u2019s gardens in the distance.<\/span>
\n Keystone-Mast Collection, UCR\/California Museum of Photography, University of California at Riverside<\/span>, CC BY<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So famous was Ghouta that its name ( \u063a\u0648\u0637\u0629 \/ Gh\u016b\u1e6da) has morphed into the generic name in Arabic for \u201cabundantly irrigated areas of intense cultivation surrounded by arid land.\u201d<\/a> <\/p>\n

Indeed, this special space has had such an impact on the Arab psyche that it has mapped itself onto the language as the word for greenery. Edward Lane, in his classic \u201cArabic-English Lexicon of 1877<\/a>,\u201d says the word stands for \u201ca place comprising water and herbage.\u201d He specifically references the \u201cGh\u016b\u1e6da of Dimashq\u201d \u2013 in English, \u201cGhouta of Damascus\u201d \u2013 as \u201ca place abounding with water and trees.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n \"\"
\n 1588 stylized map from Georg Braun\u2019s \u2018Civitates orbis terrarum\u2019 showing Damascus surrounded by the green fields of Ghouta, creating the visual impression of a green halo.<\/span>
\n Georg Braun, via Wikimedia Commons<\/span><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The geographer al-Muqaddasi, who visited the area in the late 10th century, ranked Ghouta as one of the three most delightful places in the Muslim world, alongside the valley of Samarqand and the estuary of the Tigris<\/a>. Indeed Muslim tradition considers Damascus\u2019s Ghouta to be one of the few paradises on Earth. <\/p>\n

Ghouta as protector<\/h2>\n

History tells us that the lush lands of Ghouta served another purpose too. Mentioned by Arab chroniclers from the time of the earliest Muslim conquests during the period of the Rashidun (Rightly-Guided) Caliphate<\/a> of the mid-seventh century, the orchards acted as a moat of trees that protected Damascus from attack. This was yet another way in which Ghouta made it possible for Damascus to survive and flourish for three millennia. Ghouta\u2019s role in war as protector of Damascus was memorialized in a story of the Prophet:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Prophet (\ufdfa) said: The place of assembly of the Muslims at the time of the war will be in al-Ghutah near a city called Damascus, one of the best cities in Syria<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n \"\"
\n View of Ghouta and Al Kiswah farms.<\/span>
\n AAlsaiad<\/span>, CC BY<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Many travelers passed through Ghouta on their way to Damascus and were inspired to write about it. Ibn Jubayr, the 12th-century Andalusi who made a pilgrimage from Cordoba to Mecca, returned home via Syria and Sicily in 1184 and described the gardens of Ghouta as \u201cbeauty beyond description.\u201d<\/a> Ghouta encircled Damascus, he wrote, \u201clike the halo round the moon,\u201d containing it as if \u201cit were the calyx of a flower.\u201d<\/p>\n

The famous Syrian scholar, historian and poet, Muhammad Kurd Ali, who lived from 1876 to 1953, devoted an entire book to celebrating Ghouta in verse.<\/a> And there is a popular myth that Ghouta was originally located in heaven and brought down to Earth by God at Adam\u2019s request.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"TheAs a cartographer watching the destruction from afar, I see it as if Damascus is destroying one of its own arms. Such is the unspeakable tragedy of Ghouta as the death toll continues to rise, and paradise long lost comes to a terrible end<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Karen Pinto<\/a>, Professor of History, Boise State University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This article was originally published on The Conversation<\/a>. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Karen Pinto, Boise State University Ghouta, the one-time oasis of Damascus, is being destroyed. Every day brings with it news of renewed bombing, deadly chemical attacks and starved or crushed bodies, accompanied by desperate scenes of mass exodus. Located a mere seven miles from Bashar Al Assad\u2019s palace, Ghouta is the last surviving rebel enclave […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":11657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[2159,371],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11656"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11656"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11658,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11656\/revisions\/11658"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}