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| The Roman Theatre of Palmyra |
The historical ruins in the ancient city of Palmyra have become more and more famous. Many people now know about the site thanks to “the headline today”. However, the increasing popularity seems a little bit too late as the sites are no more today due to attacks by a terror group on 2015. Once one of the most popular tourist destinations in Syria, the magnificent Palmyran temples, the beautiful pillars, statues, and sculptures, and of course their impressive tracks in human history have now been reduced to rubble.
Palmyra is an ancient city of central Syria. Located in an oasis in the Syrian desert, 130 miles north-east of Damascus, Palmyra contains the monumental ruins of a great city in the past. The city was also mentioned in the Old Testament as being fortified by Solomon. In the mid-first century AD, Palmyra had become an established caravan oasis when it was under the control of the Roman Empire. Once dubbed the "Bride of the Desert", the oasis was a very important stop for many caravans crossing the arid desert between Mesopotamia and northern Syria.
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| Gate of the fortified Temple of Bel Palmyra |
This oasis lies halfway between the Euphrates River in the east and the Mediterranean Sea in the west, and therefore helped link the eastern realm with the West. It connected Persia, India and China with the Roman Empire in the 3rd century BC with a road and made the reputation of Palmyra shine more than ever in the past. The 2nd and 3rd centuries were the golden age of Palmyra as it thrived through its extensive trading and favored status under the Roman Empire.
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| Colonnaded streets of Palmyra |
The last effective ruler of Palmyra was Queen Zenobia, the widow of the previous Palmyran governor who died of assassination. Claimed to be descended from Queen Cleopatra of Egypt, Zenobia was remarkably intelligent and an eloquent speaker of Palmyrian, Greek and Egyptian. She and her armies had managed to conquer most of Anatolia (Asia Minor) in 270, and then declared Palmyra’s independence from Rome. She was captured in 272 during her expansionist adventure to Antioch and sent to Rome for trial, where she was paraded in golden chains as Emperor Aurelian’s trophy. One year later, Palmyra was destroyed and its inhabitants slaughtered.
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| James Dawkins and Robert Wood discovering the ruins of Palmyra by Gavin Hamilton |
In 1089, a major earthquake had destroyed what was left of Palmyra. In 1678, the ruined city was “rediscovered” by James Dawkins and Robert Wood—two British travelers living in Aleppo, Syria. Excavation began in 1924 and resulted in further findings on their remarkable architectural styles. Standing at the crossroads of several civilizations from the 1st to the 2nd century, the art and architecture of Palmyra married Greco-Roman techniques with indigenous traditions and Persian influences in a strongly original style.
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| Lion in the garden of Palmyra Archeological Museum |
A few examples of these unique architectural monuments and ornaments include those found at the Temple of Bel, Diocletian's Camp, the Agora, the Roman Theatre, other temples and urban quarters, also a network of colonnaded streets which link the major public monuments. Outside the wall of the city are remains of a Roman massive aqueduct and immense necropolises. In 1980, the ruins of the ancient city of Palmyra were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. Palmyra was once magnificent, and still today.
Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. ~ HG Wells
Bagikan
Palmyra, Magnificent Once and Still
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Oleh
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