GLASS NECKLACE – ROMAN PERIOD, FOUND IN DAMASCUS -SYRIA Start Price USD 420.00 Current Price USD 420.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Sunday, November 30, 2008 End Time Tuesday, December 30, 2008 Location Rio de Janeiro See more about 'GLASS NECKLACE – ROMAN PERIOD, FOUND IN DAMASCUS -SYRIA' Description Item # 70 Name of the Item EXCEPTIONAL GLASS NECKLACE – ROMAN PERIOD - DAMASCUS Provenance Damascus Materials Glass beads, dark ceramic beads, silver and metal details Description This collar is a rare item. It was found ( the beads) in Damascus – near  Khan Asa’ad Bacha - during the works in a private building in 1979.  It was restrung with a modern polyester line.   Damascus (Arabic: دمشق‎, transliteration: Dimashq, also commonly known as الشام ash-Shām) is the capital and largest city of Syria. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, before Al Fayyum, and Gaziantep.   In Arabic, the city is called دمشق الشام Dimashq ash-Shām. Although this is often shortened to either Dimashq or ash-Shām by many, the citizens of Damascus, and of Syria and some other Arab neighbors, colloquially call the city ash-Shām. Ash-Shām is an Arabic term for north and for Syria. (Syria — particularly historical Greater Syria — is called Bilād ash-Shām — بلاد الشام, 'land of the north' — in Arabic, or 'land of Shem (son of Noah)' — in Arabic, but with Shem being from the native Syriac language.) The etymology of the ancient name 'Damascus' is uncertain, but it is suspected to be pre-Semitic. It is attested as Dimašqa in Akkadian, T-ms-ḳw in Egyptian, Dammaśq (דמשק) in Old Aramaic and Dammeśeq (דמשק) in Biblical Hebrew. The Akkadian spelling is the earliest attestation, found in the Amarna letters, from the 14th century BC. Later Aramaic spellings of the name often include an intrusive resh (letter r), perhaps influenced by the root dr, meaning 'dwelling'. Thus, the Qumranic Darmeśeq (דרמשק), and Darmsûq (ܕܪܡܣܘܩ) in Syriac.   Excavations at Tell Ramad on the outskirts of the city have demonstrated that Damascus has been inhabited as early as 6,000 to 5,000 BC. It is due to this that Damascus is considered to be among the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. However, Damascus is not documented as an important city until the coming of the Aramaeans, Semitic nomads who arrived from Mesopotamia. It is known that it was the Aramaeans who first established the water distribution system of Damascus by constructing canals and tunnels which maximized the efficiency of the Barada river. The same network was later improved by the Romans and the Umayyads, and still forms the basis of the water system of the old part of Damascus today. It was mentioned in Genesis 14 as existing at the time of the War of the Kings.   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 were become 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 shown a village named from him, The Habitation of Abraham.   Damascus is designated as having been part of the ancient province of Amurru in the Hyksos Kingdom, from 1720 to 1570 BC. (MacMillan, pp. 30-31). Some of the earliest Egyptian records are from the 1350 BC Amarna letters, when Damascus-(called Dimasqu) was ruled by king Biryawaza. In 1100 BC, the city became the center of a powerful Aramaean state called Aram Damascus. The Kings of Aram Damascus were involved in many wars in the area against the Assyrians and the Israelites. One of the Kings, Ben-Hadad II, fought Shalmaneser III at the Battle of Qarqar. The ruins of the Aramean town most probably lie under the eastern part of the old walled city. After Tiglath-Pileser III captured and destroyed the city in 732 BC, it lost its independence for hundreds of years, and it fell to the Neo-Babylonian Empire of Nebuchadnezzar starting in 572 BC. The Babylonian rule of the city came to an end in 538 BC when the Persians under Cyrus captured the city and made it the capital of the Persian province of Syria.   Damascus first came under western control with the giant campaign of Alexander the Great that swept through the near east. After the death of Alexander in 323 BC, Damascus became the site of a struggle between the Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires. The control of the city passed frequently from one empire to the other. Seleucus Nicator, one of Alexander's generals, had made Antioch the capital of his vast empire, a decision that led Damascus' importance to decline compared with the newly founded Seleucid cities such as Latakia in the north.   In 64 BC, the Roman general Pompey annexed the western part of Syria. The Romans occupied Damascus and subsequently incorporated it into the league of ten cities known as the Decapolis because it was considered such an important center of Greco-Roman culture. According to the New Testament, St. Paul was on the road to Damascus when he received a vision, was struck blind and as a result converted to Christianity. In the year 37, Roman Emperor Caligula transferred Damascus into Nabataean control by decree. The Nabataean king Aretas IV Philopatris ruled Damascus from his capital Petra. However, around the year 106, Nabataea was conquered by the Romans, and Damascus returned to Roman control.   Damascus became a metropolis by the beginning of the second century and in 222 it was upgraded to a colonia by the Emperor Septimius Severus. During the Pax Romana, Damascus and the Roman province of Syria in general began to prosper. Damascus's importance as a caravan city was evident with the trade routes from southern Arabia, Palmyra, Petra, and the silk routes from China all converging on it. The city satisfied the Roman demands for eastern luxuries.   Little remains of the architecture of the Romans, but the town planning of the old city did have a lasting effect. The Roman architects brought together the Greek and Aramaean foundations of the city and fused them into a new layout measuring approximately 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) by 750 metres (2,500 ft), surrounded by a city wall. The city wall contained seven gates, but only the eastern gate (Bab Sharqi) remains from the Roman period. Roman Damascus lies mostly at depths of up to five meters (16.4 ft) below the modern city. Highlights Well preserved item. Condition As it is and shown in picture. We would say: very good. Measures 25 inches ( 63 cm) Reverse As shown in picture Date (or estimated) Not  completely sure, but possibly II Century AD Origin of the item Private Collection in RJ. Acquired in Damascus in 1982.     Business Information History/background Every item offered by MAT-AC (Mouseîon Antiques Trading) is unconditionally guaranteed to be Genuine and Authentic. We are located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where we have a small shop. From 1996 we started to work as Antique Dealers and we have travelled many times to places related to History and Archaeology, looking for interesting items to sell and pieces for our own collection. From 2002 we work with Archaeological Tours. Also, we collect archaeological artifacts and art works for more than 25 years and part of this collection will be displayed in the Mankind Museum in Rio de Janeiro, which will be inaugurated soon. Payment policy We accept payments through PayPal, Mail order or Bank transfer for Citibank account. All payments are required until 5 days after the end of auction. After that an unpaid item report will be issued to eBay. Shipping information   Shipping WORLDWIDE => Buyer pays shipping costs depending on buyer's requests. Some expensive items can be sent free. Combined Shipping => Multiple items can be combined for a single low shipping cost. Insurance => Optional insurance. Registered Mail => If you would like registered Mail, please let me know as soon as you win the item. Not registered Mail is sent with buyer's risk. Note => For countries like China, Turkey, all Eastern Europe & Central and South America we recommend to send all items with registered Mail for your security. Note 2 => Parcels and Orders to Italy are subject to a high insurance always. Insurance We strongly recommend doing Insurance for all items sent abroad. For some expensive and rare items, we offer insurance as a COURTESY, even if the Buyer opts for not doing it. Otherwise, it is at buyer’s risk and we have no responsibility for damaging or losing the items. Return policy All illustrations are of the actual item offered here. The authenticity of all pieces is fully guaranteed and comes with our gallery Certificate of Authenticity. If the object does not fit the description; just let us know within 07 days after receiving the object. You send the item back in the same conditions and we will return the price you paid (shipping excluded).We don’t accept damaged items back. We will answer your questions as soon as possible. Please write to us: pradodemello@hotmail.com Travels to places of Archaeological significance Also, we organize special tours to places of archaeological and historical significance in travels designed as Courses of Archaeology in loco. With pleasure, we help people to purchase items in places as Damascus, Bucharest, Cusco and other odd places. Then, not only you can visit the place, but you can be assisted to buy good and interesting items. New Items and Special Collections We are listing items several times a week. We have a big collection of AFRICAN & OCEANIC ART - under our responsibility - and we are available to give information upon request. If someone is interest, we can offer the item on eBay. We have a good list of customers and sellers in Brazil and abroad. If you have a special thing in mind, don’t hesitate in asking to us. Please write to: pradodemello@hotmail.com Place a Bid!