Dark News From Palmyra
October 5, 2015
The ruins of Palmyra in central Syria are being systematically destroyed by the terrorist group Islamic State. © Styve Reineck, Shutterstock
In 2015, the news from Palmyra, an ancient city in Syria, is often dark. Yesterday, October 4, the Syrian minister of antiquities, Maamoun Abdulkarim, confirmed that the Arch of Triumph, a monumental icon of Palmyra’s 2,000-year-old Roman ruins, had been destroyed by the terrorist group Islamic State (also known as ISIS). Islamic State captured Palmyra in May 2015, and preservationists at that time worried that the ruins of the once-great caravan city would be harmed. Before Palmyra fell, archaeologists (scientists who study of the remains of past human cultures) moved as many statues and other portable objects as possible to a safe location to prevent ISIS from selling them on the black market to fund its operations. Largely for shock value, ISIS has destroyed many of the immovable large objects left behind. The fear of destruction also drives up prices for smaller objects they have found and hope to sell.
Since ISIS took Palmyra, they have wasted no time destroying priceless ruins. In August, the group used explosives to destroy the Temple of Baal Shamin. Dedicated to a Canaanite god, the stone temple was built around 100 B.C. The Temple of Bel, dedicated to a Mesopotamian god and dating to A.D. 32, was also destroyed in August. Most shockingly, an 83-year-old Syrian archaeologist, Khaled al-Assad, was murdered by ISIS on August 18 for refusing to reveal the location of art treasures removed from the city and hidden. In September, the group destroyed funerary towers (tombs), that were built between A.D. 44 and 103.
Palmyra was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980. The organization called Palmyra “one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world.” Sadly, the ancient city’s importance fades with every cruel obliteration of its storied past.
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