 The Romans first built the seven gates and during their era, the gate was dedicated to Venus.The current gate was reconstructed by the Ayyubids in the 13th century.Famous historical residents of the borough of Bab Tuma include, Saint Paul (hence expressions such as "the road to Damascus experience"); Saint Thomas the Apostle himself who, after lending his name to the neighborhood, went on to explore India; Saint Ananias, French writer Alphonse de Lamartine, Greek Orthodox theologian Saint Joseph of Damascus, founder of the Damascus Patriarchal School, Saint Raphael of Brooklyn, the first Eastern Orthodox Bishop of New York City (sent there by the Czar Nicholas II of Russia in 1895), and Syrian-born philosopher Michel Aflaq, founder of the Ba'ath Party and ba'athist ideology.