Aleppo is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Evidence of habitation at the current site of Aleppo dates to about 8,000 years ago, but excavations at a site just 25 kilometers north of the city show the area was inhabited about 13,000 years ago.The city is first mentioned in cuneiform tablets from roughly 5,000 years ago, where it is cited for its commercial and military proficiency.
Because of its location between the Mediterranean Sea and Mesopotamia — it was also the end of the Silk Road that passed through central Asia and Mesopotamia — Aleppo was at the center of the ancient world. Today it remains the largest city in Syria. Located at the crossroads of several trade routes from the 2nd millennium B.C., Aleppo was ruled successively by the Hittites, Assyrians, Arabs, Mongols, Mamelukes and Ottomans.
The 13th-century Bab Antakya, the western gate of the old walled city, is all but completely hidden by the swarm of busy workshops surrounding it, but you definitely get a sense of 'entering' as you pass under its great stone portal and through the defensively doglegged vaulted passageway.
Until the development of the New City in the 19th century, this was Aleppo's main street, tracing the route of the decumanus, the principal thoroughfare of the Roman city of Beroia.
Close to the museum you’ll find five major churches, each aligned to a different denomination. Immediately west of the museum is the Syrian Catholic Church (Mar Assia al-Hakim), built in 1625 and happy to admit visitors who come knocking.
Next stop is the 19th-century Greek Orthodox Church and further beyond that, on Haret al-Yasmin, is the entrance to the 17th-century Armenian Cathedral of the 40 Martyrs. North of these three, on Saahat Farhat, are the Maronite Cathedral and a smaller Greek Catholic Church, which date to the 19th century.
Next to Al-Jumruk is the much smaller Khan al-Nahaseen, dating from the first half of the 16th century. Until the 19th century, rooms on the 1st floor housed the Venetian consul, and during the 20th century they were the residence of the Belgian consul, Adolphe Poche, and his family. Madam Jenny Poche, descended from the last of the Venetian consuls, maintains the property, which may well qualify as the oldest continuously inhabited house in Aleppo.
Photo source: wikipedia.org
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