The Old City It is claimed that Damascus is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, with traces going back as far as around 7,000 years ago. It has seen much of the world history of the past millennia, it has seen Persians, the Greeks and Alexander the Great, Romans, Muslims, Mongols, Ottomans, Mamluks and the French. Inside the souq of Damascus, as soon as you enter into the old town from any of the entrances from the modern city, you dive into a maze of alleys. A labyrinth of small streets with arches, shops, restaurants hidden behind small …