DAMARALAND, a region of south-western Africa, bounded W. by the Atlantic, E. by the Kalahari, N. by Ovampoland, and S. by Great Namaqualand. It forms the central portion of German South-West Africa. Damaraland is alternatively known as Hereroland, both names being derived from the tribes inhabiting the region. The so-called Damara consist of two probably distinct peoples. They are known respectively as "the Hill Damara" and "the Cattle Damara," i.e. those who breed cattle in the plains. The Hill Damara are Negroes with much Hottentot blood, and have adopted the Hottentot tongue, while the Cattle Damara are of distinct Bantu-Negro descent and speak a Bantu language. The term Damara ("Two Dama Women") is of Hottentot origin, and is not used by the people, who call themselves Ova-herero, "the Merry People" (see HOTTENTOTS and HERERO).
DAMASCENING, or DAMASKEENING, a term sometimes applied to the production of damask steel, but properly the art of in-crusting wire of gold (and sometimes of silver or copper) on the surface of iron, steel or bronze. The surface upon which the pattern is to be traced is finely undercut with a sharp instrument, and the gold thread by hammering is forced into and securely held by the minute furrows of the cut surface. This system of ornamentation is peculiarly Oriental, having been much practised by the early goldsmiths of Damascus, and it is still eminently characteristic of Persian metal work.
DAMASCIUS, the last of the Neoplatonists, was born in Damascus about A.D. 480. In his early youth he went to Alexandria, where he spent twelve years partly as a pupil of Theon, a rhetorician, and partly as a professor of rhetoric. He then turned to philosophy and science, and studied under Hermeias and his sons, Ammonius and Heliodorus. Later on in life he migrated to Athens and continued his studies under Marinus, the mathematician, Zenodotus, and Isidore, the dialectician. He became a close friend of Isidore, succeeded him as head of the school in Athens, and wrote his biography, part of which is preserved in the _Bibliotheca_ of Photius (see appendix to the Didot edition of Diogenes Laërtius). In 529 Justinian closed the school, and Damascius with six of his colleagues sought an asylum, probably in 532, at the court of Chosroes I., king of Persia. They found the conditions intolerable, and in 533, in a treaty between Justinian and Chosroes, it was provided that they should be allowed to return. It is believed that Damascius settled in Alexandria and there devoted himself to the writing of his works. The date of his death is not known.