City or site

Damascus

The capital of Aram and the city of Paul’s conversion.

Region

Over time

Syria (Roman province)Roman provinceinferredThe Spread of Christianity
Verses and notes
No verse names the Roman province here. Rome had made Damascus part of the province of Syria in 64 BC.
Verses: Acts 9:2
Outside sources: Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception, vol. 6 (2013), “Damascus”

What the sources say, and how sure we are

The text says
Damascus is the capital of Aram and Israel’s northern rival. Centuries later, Paul meets the risen Jesus near the city and is baptized there, then escapes through a window in the wall.1 Kgs 20; 2 Kgs 16:9; Acts 9:1–25; 2 Cor 11:32–33
Outside evidence
Assyria’s Tiglath-pileser III conquered Damascus in 732 BC, as 2 Kings 16:9 says. The Tel Dan inscription is an Aramaean record of the same wider region.Tel Dan Stele
Debated
Damascus was in the Roman province of Syria, but 2 Corinthians 11:32 puts a governor of the Nabataean king Aretas IV there at one point, and scholars still debate how that came about (some think Aretas held the city briefly around AD 37–40).2 Cor 11:32