Medhat Pasha Souq, Roman-era market in Ancient City of Damascus, Syria.
Medhat Pasha Souq is a covered market district in the Ancient City of Damascus stretching about 490 meters along the western edge of the Street Called Straight. The space contains numerous merchant stalls and stone-vaulted passages that provide shade and shelter for both traders and shoppers.
The site originated as a columned Roman street constructed around 64 BC during the early Roman period in Damascus. In 1878 the market received its current name and was reorganized as a major trading zone.
The market serves as a working hub where merchants sell fabrics, spices, and crafts inside low stone vaults that shape how people move through the space. You can observe how traders arrange their goods and interact with customers in a pattern that has remained largely consistent across generations.
You can enter the market through several openings along the surrounding streets, with the busiest shopping times occurring in morning and mid-afternoon hours. The covered passages offer shade throughout the day, though crowds build up as evening approaches.
The street hosting this market claims the distinction of being the world's oldest continuously inhabited street, maintaining its role as a commercial hub for over two thousand years. This unbroken continuity makes it a living record of how trade and urban life have persisted through changing eras.
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