Δαμασκός

Damaskos: a city in Syria, inland, above Phoinike, by the river Bardines. It was named because one of the Giants, named Askos, along with Lykourgos bound Dionysos and threw him into the river; Hermes freed him and stripped Askos of his skin, whence the skin is suitable for wine. Others say that Damaskos, son of Hermes and the nymph Halimede, came from Arkadia to Syria and founded a city with the same name. Others say that a man was called Damaskos, and when Dionysos had made Syria vine-planted he cut these with an axe; Dionysos, angered, pursued and flayed him..... 'Darmaskos' came about..... and so 'Damaskos' by corruption. A citizen is a 'Damaskenos', and the region and the city are 'Damaskene'.