Damascus: Tailors 

Arabic: khayyāṭ

Date: c. 1400

In his biography of Timur (d. 1405; known in European sources as Tamerlane), Ibn ʿArabshah notes that the ruler ‘took from Damascus learned men and craftsmen and all who excelled in any art.’ His list of craftsmen includes tailors. Timur ordered that the artisans of Damascus be taken to his capital in Samarqand. See also: Cotton Weaver; Silk Weaver; Textile Dyer; Wool Merchant.

Citation: Ahmad Ibn ʿArabshah, Kitāb al-Ajāʾib al-maqdūr fī akhbār Tīmūr. Translated by John H. Sanders as Tamerlane: or, Timur the Great Amir (London: Luzac and Co., 1936), p. 161.

Date: 1830s

In his description of the markets of Damascus, Thomas Skinner (d. 1843) mentions that customers would try on clothing in the shops of tailors. See also: Silk weaver; Cotton weaver; Wool merchant; Brocade maker.

Citation: Skinner, Thomas, Adventures during a Journey overland to India, by Way of Egypt, Syria and the Holy Land (London: Richard Bentley, 1836), II, pp. 33-34.