More on Palmyra

SYRIA CONFLICT: Syria’s war is blasting the past (Adam Blitz, The Times of Israel).

Today it is Palmyra’s turn to face the bullet. It too is caught in conflict albeit with the Assad regime, Hezbollah’s bedfellow, and rebel opposition forces. It remains highly strategic. Quite simply Palmyra is “smack-bang” in the middle of Syria. ...

Palmyra remains an artistic marvel. It was one of the top tourist-destinations prior to the civil war. Its artistic heritage derives from its unique role as a buffer city which it first held in the 2nd Century between Rome in the West and Parthia (Iran) in the East. Palmyra responded to a state of “betwixt and between” and became one of the most prosperous of all caravan cities. As merchants of antiquity crisscrossed the desert, wealth flowed through the sands of Palmyra. Affluence found expression in a distinct yet hybrid art. It borrowed from Greek, Roman, Semitic and Iranian traditions while at the same time it offered its own local contribution.

This artistic endeavour finds its voice in the rich funerary art which can now be seen in the great museums of the world. In the town itself soaring burial towers, colonnades and temples dominate the landscape. The Temple of Bel is the most monumental of all of the temple-complexes in Palmyra. As with Baalbek, the Temple of Bel has retained the name of an earlier Semitic cult. It was associated with the Mesopotamian Baal, chief god of the pantheon. And as with Baabek’s Temple of Jupiter, the Temple of Bel also sits on the site of a much older Semitic temple.

More on Palmyra in the present conflict and on its historical and archaeological significance here and links.