Skip to main content

Secondary sourceArtifact706 CE

Umayyad Mosque

706 CE

The Great Mosque of Damascus, described in detail by Ibn Battuta, who also witnessed mass prayers there during the Black Death in 1348.

Ibn Battuta described this mosque and witnessed mass prayers here during the 1348 Black Death outbreak.

Ask Ibn Battuta about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Exterior view of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus across a paved courtyard with people walking. A large gray stone dome with a golden finial rises above a mosaic-covered facade, with arched windows and tall wooden doors along the stone colonnade.
Umayyad Mosque, Damascus, Syria.

About this source

What it is

The Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, built from 706 under the Umayyad caliph al-Walid I, is one of the oldest mosques in the world still standing in its original form, on a site used for worship since the Iron Age.

Why it matters

Medieval Muslim writers regarded it as a wonder of the world, and Ibn Battuta described it in detail during his travels. He was also present in Damascus in 1348 during the Black Death, when he recorded mass prayers held at the mosque — a rare eyewitness account linking a great monument to a devastating historical crisis.

Look closer

  • Why might a city gather at a mosque like this during a disaster such as plague?
  • What does the mosque's long history as a temple, cathedral and mosque tell you about Damascus itself?
  • What can a traveller's description add to what the building itself can show us today?

This artifact is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Ibn Battuta on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Ibn Battuta sources

Meet the AI Ibn Battuta →
Scanned manuscript page in Arabic calligraphy on aged cream paper. The top has a line of black script with a decorative heading, and a red-ink title block in larger calligraphy reading the opening of the work. Below are about two dozen lines of brown-ink handwritten text in dense Arabic script, with a marginal note at the bottom left.Book

Primary source

The Rihla

Ibn Battuta · 1354-1356

Two facing pages of a handwritten Arabic manuscript on aged paper. The right page is written in dark ink in neat, flowing script; the left page is faded and more worn, with lines of script partly obscured. The pages show the text of the travel account.Book

Primary source

Manuscript of the Rihla by Ibn Juzayy

Ibn Juzayy · 14th century

Ruins of a stone fort on a dry, hazy hillside under a pale sky. Massive sloping stone walls with crenellated battlements stand on the left, and a long arched stone gallery with a flat roof runs across the right. Scrubby bushes and dry earth surround the site, with a distant city skyline on the horizon.Artifact

Secondary source

Tughlaqabad Fort

Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq · 1321

Photograph of an open handwritten Arabic manuscript with dense black ink script on cream pages, with some red-ink headings visible. The left page is in focus and the right page is angled and partly blurred.Book

Secondary source

Manuscript copy of the Rihla (1484)

Ibn Juzayy · 1484

Eight vertical panels of the Catalan Atlas side by side, showing an illuminated medieval world map with colored seas, decorated landmasses, compass roses, flags, rulers on thrones, and figures and animals.Painting

Primary source

Catalan Atlas

Cresques Abraham · c. 1375

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Ibn Battuta now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions