Damascus

In Damascus, a total of 21 epidemic events are known so far. It is a capital of Syria The coordinates are 33° 30' 47.16" N, 36° 17' 30.84" E.

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Table

Disease	DateStart date of the disease.	SummarySummary of the disease event	OriginalOriginal text	TranslationEnglish translation of the text	ReferenceReference(s) to literature	Reference translationReference(s) to the translation
1258-00-00-Baghdad 001	1258 JL	Famine and plague in the Middle East.		And in his time there was a very severe famine and a pestilence in all the land of SEN'AR, and 'ATHOR (Assyria), and BETH NAHRIN, and SYRIA and BETH RHOMAYE; for in DAMASCUS a young dove for a sick man was sold for twelve nasraye		None
1258-00-00-Syria	1258 JL	Around the time when the Mongols took Baghdad, an epidemic (ṭāʿūn) affected the people in Syria. This was in 656 H (January 8, 1258 to December 27, 1258). The former Ayyubid sultan of Damascus, al-Nāṣir Dāwūd, died of the disease in al-Buwayḍāʾ [May 21, 1259], a village in the surroundings of Damascus. His cousin al-Nāṣir Yūsuf, the lord of Damascus, traveled to al-Buwayḍāʾ, transferred Dāwūd's body to al-Ṣāliḥiyya and buried it in the tomb of Dāwūd's father al-Malik al-Muʿaẓẓam.	ولحق الناس بالشام في تلك المدة طاعون مات فيه الناصر داود، وخرج الناصر يوسف صاحب دمشق إلى البويضاء، وأظهر عليه الحزن والتأسف، ونقله إلى الصالحية فدفنه بتربة والده المعظم	In that period, a plague struck the Levant, in which Al-Nasser David died, and Al-Nasser Yusuf of Damascus went to Al-Buwayda, showed grief and sorrow for him, and transferred him to Salhiyah, where he was buried in the soil of his great father.	Ibn Faḍl Allāh al-ʿUmarī - Masālik al-abṣār 2001-2004, vol. 27, p. 369.	Translation by DeepL
1258-00-00-Syria 001	1258 JL	Famine and plague raged in the East.	Cette année, la famine et une maladie dangereuse, désolerent toutes les contrées de l’Orient.[…] Cette meme année, une maladie pestilentielle fit, en Syrie, de grands ravages. Il mourait, à Alep, douze cents personnes par jour. Und grand nombre d’ inhabitants de Damas fut victim de ce fléau	This year, famine and a dangerous disease devastated all the regions of the East. [...] In the same year, a pestilential disease caused great havoc in Syria. In Aleppo, twelve hundred people died per day. A large number of inhabitants of Damascus fell victim to this scourge.	Histoire des Sultans Mamlouks 1845, pp. 77-78.	Translation by Martin Bauch
1259-05-21-Aleppo	21 May 1259 JL	The sultan of Damascus died of a disease in al-Buwayḍāʾ.		The former Ayyubid sultan of Damascus, al-Nāṣir Dāwūd, died of the general disease in al-Buwayḍāʾ, a village in the surroundings of Damascus. His cousin al-Nāṣir Yūsuf, the lord of Damascus, traveled to al-Buwayḍāʾ, transferred Dāwūd's body to al-Ṣāliḥiyya and buried it in the tomb of Dāwūd's father al-Malik al-Muʿaẓẓam.	Template:Ibn Faḍl Allāh al-ʿUmarī - Masālik al-abṣār 2001-2004, Vol. 27, p. 369.	Translation needed
1303-08-00-Syria	August 1303 JL	Horse epidemic (fanāʾ) in Syria in 703 AH (August 1303 - August 1304) which killed a majority of the Syrian horse population; the author who lived in Damascus during those days lost all of his horses (ten or more) to the illness; before the epidemic, horses in Syria had been abundant and easily available; due to the epidemic, horses became scarse and their price increased sixfold.	File:1303-08-00-Syria.jpg		al-Nuwayri - Nihayat al-arab 1964-1998, vol. 32 (ed. by Fahīm Muḥammad ʿUlwī Shaltūt, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Ahwānī, and Saʿīd ʿAbd al-Fattāḥ ʿĀshūr, 1998), p. 78	Translation needed
1323-08-05-Cairo	1323 JL	In the wake of a hot, black storm illnesses (amrāḍ) spread in Cairo in summer/autumn 723 AH (1323). For the period of a month, a number of people died. A similar storm had killed people in Damascus before, in Shaʿbān 723 AH (August 5 - September 2, 1323), and had made fruits wither and water run dry; Damascene wheat prices had subsequently gone up. In Cairo, the storm equally hampered grain crop growth, hence grain prices rose since little grain was available.	File:1323-08-05-Damascus.jpg		Al-Maqrīzī, Al-Sulūk 1997, vol. 3, p. 66.	Translation needed
1348-04-00-Crimea	April 1348 JL	News about the Black Death (wabāʾ) in other countries kept reaching Damascus in early 749 H (the year starts in April 1348): Terrible things were told about Crimea where a great number of people had reportedly died. Afterwards the plague, it was told, was transmitted to the lands of the Franks. The majority of the inhabitants of Cyprus were said to have died from the plague.			Ibn Kathīr - Al-Bidāya wa-l-nihāya 1997-1999, vol. 18 (1998), pp. 502-503.	Translation needed
1348-04-00-Middle East	April 1348 JL	From April 1, 1348 to March 22, 1349), an unprecedented plague hit the Middle East, and lasted about a year, and one third of Greater Syria’s and Egypt’s population died.		The Black Death in the Middle East: In the year 749 H (April 1, 1348 to March 22, 1349), an unprecedented wave of plague hit the Middle East. It was the sixth plague which affected the Middle East in the Islamic period. It was called the Kinship Plague (Ṭāʿūn al-Ansāb) since the decease of a person was often followed by the death of some of his or her relatives. People developed pustules, spat yellow blood and died within 50 hours. When people started spitting blood they would bid farewell to their friends, close their shops, their burial would be prepared, and they would die in their homes. The daily death toll reached a maximum of ca. 500 in Aleppo, more than 1,000 in Damascus, and ca. 20,000 in Egypt. Mostly women, youths, poor people, and riffraff died. The plague wave lasted about a year, and ca. one third of Greater Syria’s (Shām) and Egypt’s population died.	Ibn Ḥabīb - Tadhkirat al-nabīh 1976-1986, vol. 3 (1986), pp. 110-112	Translation by Undine Ott
1348-04-10-Gaza	10 April 1348 JL	The Black Death in Gaza: Some ten thousand people died of plague in the course of one month in Gaza in the beginning of 749 H (April-May 1348) according to a report (muṭālaʿa) the gouvernor (nāʾib) of Gaza had sent to Damascus.			Ibn Kathīr - Al-Bidāya wa-l-nihāya 1997-1999, vol. 18 (1998), p. 503.	Translation needed
1348-05-00-Levantine coast	May 1348 JL	The Black Death at the Levantine coast (sawāḥil): The inhabitants of Damascus, after having heard about plague (wabāʾ) in the Levantine coastal plain and other regions, feared it might reach their city, too, and many people might die of the disease (dāʾ). For this reason, al-Bukhārī's (d. 870) hadith collection was recited in Damascus after Friday prayer on June 6, 1348. The judges and a group of people were present. Prayers of supplication were spoken, asking God to bring the pandemic to an end. On June 9, surah "Nūḥ" from the Quran was recited 3,363 times.			Ibn Kathīr - Al-Bidāya wa-l-nihāya 1997-1999, vol. 18 (1998), pp. 502-503.	Translation needed
1348-05-31-Gaza	31 May 1348 JL	In the beginning of Rabīʿ I, 749 H (the month began on May 31, 1348) news about the Black Death in Gaza reached Aleppo while the author stayed there. The daily death toll had reportedly amounted to more than 1,000. Ibn Baṭṭūṭa then traveled on to Ḥoms which had already been affected by the plague; ca. 300 people died on the day of his arrival. He went on to Damascus whose inhabitants had fasted for three days [July 22 to 24] and on Friday set out for the Mosque of the Footprints (Aqdām). God subsequently reduced the burden of plague lasting on them. The daily death toll in the city had amounted to 2,400. Ibn Baṭṭūṭa traveled on to ʿAjlūn, and then to Jerusalem where the plague wave had already come to an end.		In the first days of the month of Rabīʿ I in the year forty-nine news reached us in Aleppo that plague had broken out in Ghazza and that the number of dead there exceeded thousand a day. I went to Ḥims and found that the plague had already struck there; about three hundred persons died on the day of my arrival. I went to Damascus and arrived on a Thursday; the people had been fasting for three days. On Friday they went to the Mosque of the Footprints, as we have related in the first book. God alleviated their plague. The number of deaths among them had risen to two thousand four hundred a day. Then I went to ʿAjlūn, and then to Bait al-Muqaddas [Jerusalem], where I found the plague had ceased.	Ibn Baṭṭūṭa - Tuḥfat al-nuẓẓār 1853-1859, vol. 4 (1858), pp. 319-320.	None
1348-06-00-Damascus	31 May 1348 JL	Black Death in Damascus from May 31 to June 28, 1348) with every day more than 100 people died; especially women.		The Black Death in Damascus: In the month of Rabīʿ I 749 H (May 31 to June 28, 1348), every day more than 100 people died of plague (amrāḍ al-ṭawāʿīn) in Damascus; especially women died.	Ibn Kathīr - Al-Bidāya wa-l-nihāya 1997-1999, vol. 18 (1998), p. 503.	Translation by Undine Ott
1348-06-29-Damascus	29 June 1348 JL	The number of plague deaths in Damascus increased in the month of Rabīʿ II 749 H (June 29–July 28, 1348). More than 200 people died per day, and the removal of the dead bodies was delayed. Poor people suffered the highest losses. On July 3, 1348, the Friday preacher prescribed to recite prayers and supplications asking for the plague to abate. The abolition of taxes (ḍamān) on funeral services by the governor of Syria (nāʾib al-salṭana) Sayf al-Dīn Arghūn-Shāh al-Nāṣirī was proclaimed on July 14. On July 21, it was announced that the inhabitants of Damascus should fast for three days, and on day four abase themselves before God at the suburban Mosque of the Footprint (Qadam) and implore him to end the plague; afterwards, people set out for the desert to recite prayers of supplication, including Jews, Christians, and Samaritans, high and low, etc.			Ibn Kathīr - Al-Bidāya wa-l-nihāya 1997-1999, vol. 18 (1998), pp. 503-504	Translation needed
1348-07-00-Damascus	July 1348 JL	In the days of the Black Death, in late July 1348, the governor of Syria Arghūn-Shāh ordered the inhabitants of Damascus to fast for three days and to close the food stalls in the market. People fasted from July 22 to 24. Afterwards, the elites and the other social strata flocked to the Umayyad Mosque to recite ritual prayers, supplications and invocations of God. They spent the night there, and at dawn the morning prayer was said. Then all the inhabitants of the city – men, women and children – went out to the Mosque of the Footprints (Aqdām), the amirs on bare feet. Muslims, Jews, and Christians all took part, carrying their respective Books and imploring God. At the mosque, people abased themselves before God and supplicated him. At noon they returned to the city and the Friday prayer was said. God, then, reduced their suffering. The daily death toll in Damascus did not reach 2,000 whereas in Cairo it amounted to 24,000.		Anecdote: I witnessed at the time of the Great Plague at Damascus in the latter part of the month of Second Rabīʿ of the year 49, a remarkable instance of the veneration of the people of Damascus for this mosque. Arghun-Shah, king of the amirs and the Sultan's viceroy, ordered a crier to proclaim through Damascus that the people should fast for three days and that no one should cook in the bazaar during the daytime anything to be eaten (for most of the people there eat no food but what has been prepared in the bazaar). So the people fasted for three successive days, the last of which was a Thursday. At the end of this period the amirs, sharifs, qadis, doctors of the Law, and all other classes of the people in their several degrees, assembled in the Great Mosque, until it was filled to overflowing with them, and spent the Thursday night there in prayers and liturgies and supplications. Then, after performing the dawn prayer [on the Friday morning], they all went out together on foot carrying Qur'ans in their hands — the amirs too barefooted. The entire population of the city joined in the exodus, male and female, small and large; the Jews went out with their book of the Law and the Christians with their Gospel, their women and children with them; the whole concourse of them in tears and humble supplications, imploring the favour of God through His Books and His Prophets. They made their way to the Mosque of the Footprints and remained there in supplication and invocation until near midday, then returned to the city and held the Friday service. God Most High lightened their affliction; the number of deaths in a single day reached a maximum of two thousand, whereas the number rose in Cairo and Old Cairo to twenty-four thousand in a day.	Ibn Baṭṭūṭa - Tuḥfat al-nuẓẓār 1853-1859, vol. 1 (1853), pp. 227-229	None
1348-08-07-Damascus	7 August 1348 JL	On August 7, 1348 the number of plague deaths in Damascus and its surroundings reached almost 300. Around September 10 (in mid-Jumādā II 749 H), the number of deceased further increased; both elite and common people died; the exact death toll remained unknown. On August 18, the governor of Syria (nāʾib al-salṭana) ordered all dogs in the city to be killed. On September 27 [or, according to one manuscript: October 3], 42 deceased were prayed for at the Umayyad Mosque alone; the mosque didn’t provide enough space for all the corpses, so some had to be placed outside the Sirr Gate.	... ...	On Thursday, the 10th of Jumada al-Awwal, after the noon prayer, the preacher performed a funeral prayer for sixteen deceased individuals all at once. This greatly alarmed and terrified the people, as death was striking many, and the death toll in the town and its surroundings reached nearly three hundred. Indeed, we belong to Allah, and to Him we shall return. After the prayer, another funeral prayer was performed for fifteen deceased individuals at the Great Mosque of Damascus, and at the Mosque of Khalil, a prayer was performed for eleven souls. May Allah have mercy on them. On Monday, the 21st of the same month, the deputy of the Sultanate ordered the killing of dogs in the town. These dogs had become numerous throughout the town, and there were reports of them attacking people and blocking their way during the night. The defilement of places by these dogs had become widespread, making it difficult to avoid. Many had compiled sections of the hadiths regarding their killing and the differences among the scholars on this issue. Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, used to command in his sermons to slaughter pigeons and kill dogs. Malik, in the narration of Ibn Wahb, stated that it is permissible to kill dogs in a town where they cause harm, provided the Imam permits it for the public interest. On Friday, the second of the month of Rajab, after the Friday prayer at the Umayyad Mosque, a funeral prayer was performed for someone absent, who was Judge Alauddin, the son of Judge Shubha. Then, a funeral prayer was performed for forty-one deceased individuals all at once. The interior of the mosque could not accommodate them, so some of the deceased were taken outside to the gate of Al-Sirr. The preacher and the naqeeb (head of a group) went out and prayed for all of them there. It was a significant and solemn moment, a great tragedy. Indeed, we belong to Allah, and to Him we shall return	Ibn Kathīr - Al-Bidāya wa-l-nihāya 1997-1999, vol. 18 (1998), pp. 504-506.	Translation by ChatGPT-3.5
1348-10-00-Damascus	7 October 1348 JL	On October 7, 1348 the number of people who had died of plague and were prayed for at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus reached 150 or more; not included were inhabitants of the outskirts of the city and members of the protected religious minorities (ahl al-dhimma) whose bodies were not brought to the Umayyad Mosque. It was said that on many days, casualties in the outskirts of Damascus (ḥawāḍir al-balad) reached more than 1,000. On October 7, a dust storm reached Damascus; people prayed to God and ask for this to be the end of the plague; things only got worse afterwards, though. On Miʿrāj Night (October 21), not as many people as usual gathered in the Umayyad Mosque because so many people had died of plague and many more were occupied caring for the sick and the deceased. In the beginning of Shaʿbān 749 H (the month began on October 25), many people were infected with plague (fanāʾ), and often there would be a bad smell in the city.	... ...		Ibn Kathīr - Al-Bidāya wa-l-nihāya 1997-1999, vol. 18 (1998), pp. 507-508.	Translation needed
1349-01-27-Damascus	27 January 1349 JL	On January 27, 1349, the Friday preacher Tāj al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥīm al-Qazwīnī died of plague in Damascus after two days of illness. The members of his household were infected, too; his brother Ṣadr al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Karīm died soon afterwards.			Ibn Kathīr - Al-Bidāya wa-l-nihāya 1997-1999, vol. 18 (1998), p. 509.	Translation needed
1349-03-22-Damascus	22 March 1349 JL	In the year 750 H (March 22, 1349 to March 10, 1350), the number of plague infections in Damascus greatly declined. The number of deceased people with taxable inheritance which the Office of Inheritances (dīwān al-mawārīth) recorded was ca. 20 for 750 H while it had been 500 for 749 H (April 1, 1348 to March 21, 1349). Plague did not yet disappear entirely, though: on March 25, 1349, the jurist Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad b. al-Thiqa, his son and his brother all died of plague within one hour. They were buried in one grave.			Ibn Kathīr - Al-Bidāya wa-l-nihāya 1997-1999, vol. 18 (1998), p. 509.	Translation needed
1349-08-17-Syria	August 1349 JL	The governor (nāʾib) of Aleppo, Sayf al-Dīn Quṭlīshā, died. News of his death reached Damascus in the beginning of Jumādā II (August 17 to September 14, 1349). Many people rejoiced at his death given his misconduct in Hama during the plague (ṭāʿūn) (before he became governor of Aleppo). It was reported that he had enriched himself on the inheritance of the deceased.			Ibn Kathīr - Al-Bidāya wa-l-nihāya 1997-1999, vol. 18 (1998), pp. 515-516	Translation needed
1360-00-00-Damascus	1360 JL	Devasting plague in Damascus and Cairo. The reason is only known to god and gods will is more powerful than natural influence.	Della grande pistolenzia che percosse li Saracini. In questo anno pestilenzia di febri fu in Damasco e al Caro tanto fuori di modo, che sanza niuno riparo quasi generalmente ogni gente uccidea; il perché si credette che lle province di là rimanessono disolate e sanza abitatore, e sse guari tempo fosse durata avenia. Li morti furono tanti, che stimare numero certo o vicino non si poté. La cagione onde mossa a dDio solo, o ccui lo rivela, è manifesta. La naturale nicissità, la quale surge dalla influenza de' cieli e delle stelle, dà luogo alla nicisità soluta che procede dalla sua volontà.	Of the great plague that struck the Saracens In that year, a fever plague raged so violently in Damascus and Cairo that it carried off almost the entire population without any defence. It was believed that the provinces there would remain devastated and uninhabited if the plague continued for much longer. The number of deaths was so great that it was impossible to make an exact or even approximate estimate. The cause of this plague was known only to God or to those to whom he revealed it. The natural necessity arising from the influence of the heavens and the stars gave way to the divine necessity arising from his will.	Matteo Villani 1995,Vol. 2, p. 506	None
1369-05-09-Damascus	9 May 1369 JL	Five men stated before a Jerusalem notary sometime between October 12 and 21, 1369 that they knew a shaykh named ʿAlī b. Badr al-Dīn who was a resident of Jerusalem. They stated they knew that the shaykh had left Jerusalem for Damascus while an epidemic (ṭāʿūn) was raging in the latter city and its surroundings. The shaykh had left Jerusalem in the beginning of the month of Shawwāl 770 H (May 9 to June 6, 1369) with a couple of associates and had stayed in Damascus in a Sufi khanaqah for some days. The witnesses stated that he had intended to proceed from Damascus to Aleppo but that his further whereabouts were unknown to them.	بسم اللّه الرّحمن الرّحيم يقول الواضعون خطوطهم آخره من المشائخ والفقراء والعدول إنّهم يشهدون شهادة لا يشكّون فيها ولا يرتابون أنّهم يعرفون الشّيخ عليّ بن الشّيخ بدر الدّين اللذي المقيم بالقدس الشّريف أنّه سافر من القدس الشّريف مع رفاقه ومشائخ وغيرهم إلى دمشق المحروسة في مستهلّ شهر شوّال سنة سبعين وسبع ماية في الطّاعون وأنّه أقام بدمشق في خانقاه القصّاعين مدّة أيّام في خدمة الشّيخ والفقراء بها وأنّه ذكر أنّه متوجّه إلى مدينة حلب لزيارة أخيه وأنّه لم يعلم بعد ذلك له خبر ولا عرف أين يوجد بعد ذلك وبذلك وضعوا خطوطهم مسولين في العشر الأوسط من شهر ربيع الأوّل سنة إحدى وسبعين وسبع ماية أعرف الشّيخ عليّ المذكور أعلاه وأشهد أنّه توجّه إلى دمشق في الطّاعون صحبة المشائخ وغيرهم وأنّه أقام المذكور بدمشق أيّام وذكر عليّ المذكور أنّه يتوجّه إلى حلب لزيارة أخيه كتبه عبد اللّه بن خضر الحنفيّ أشهد بمضمونه كتبه خليل بن محمّد الحنفيّ أشهد أنّ الأمر على ما نصّ وشرح أعلاه وكان الطّاعون بدمشق وضواحيها كتبه عمر بن أبي القاسم الشّافيعيّ أشهد بمضمونه كتبه محمّد بن خليل الشّافعيّ كذلك يشهد عبد اللّه بن محمّد الشّريف	In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate The undersigned elders, the poor and the righteous say that they testify without doubt or doubt that they know Shaykh Ali bin Shaykh al-Shaykh Badr al-Din, who resides in Jerusalem, that he travelled from Jerusalem with his companions and other elders to Damascus at the beginning of the month of Shawwal in the year seventy-seventy-seven, during the plague He stayed in Damascus in the Khanqah al-Qassa'een for a few days in the service of the sheikh and the poor in Damascus. He mentioned that he was travelling to Aleppo to visit his brother and that he did not know after that He did not know his whereabouts after that, and so they put their lines on the tenth of The middle tenth of the month of Rabi al-Awwal in the year seventy-one and seven hundred and seventy-seven I know the aforementioned Sheikh Ali I testify that he travelled to Damascus during the plague in the company of the elders and others and that he stayed in Damascus for a few days and the aforementioned Ali mentioned that he was travelling to Aleppo to visit his brother Written by Abdullah bin Khadir al-Hanafi I testify to its content Written by Khalil bin Muhammad al-Hanafi I testify that the matter is as stated and explained above The plague was in Damascus and its environs Written by Omar ibn Abi al-Qasim al-Shafi'i I testify to its content Written by Muhammad ibn Khalil al-Shafi'i Abdullah also testifies Ibn Muhammad al-Sharif	Arabic Papyrology Database (APD), P.Haram I 30 = P.HaramCat. 229	Translation by DeepL

Authority data: FactGrid: Q83969 Wikidata: Q3766