What It Was When It Was

AP

By now, we've become a little more inured to the tragedy of the world's beautiful historic monuments being destroyed by religiously fanatical conquerors. Actually, as a practice, it's nothing new: Invading armies have stomped on defeated countries' links to their past ever since such links existed. The thing is, way back when, those links weren't so ancient. But nor were they as well-photographed and -documented as they fortunately are now. So at least there's that. The latest of these devastations was of the Baal Shamin temple in the ancient city of Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in almost the very center of Syria. And one can't discuss this event without paying homage to the brave Syrian archaeologist Khaled Asaad (1934-2015), head of antiquities for Palmyra, who very literally gave his life while trying to save his country's historical treasures (http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/08/palmyra-isis-khalid-al-asaad-beheading-isis/402148/). Now might be a good time to learn a little about this city and what made it great, because it was.
   One of those things was its location at a crossroads, which made it a melting pot of cultures and ideas. "Palmyrene merchants grew wealthy through taxing and protecting caravans that made their way across the Syrian desert to the Euphrates River and down to the Persian Gulf, ferrying gems and spices to the markets of the Mediterranean in return for precious metals, glass, and other luxury materials that have been found as far away as India," this article tells us. "Along with the caravans came a wealth of cultural influences, and among the thousands of inscriptions recorded at Palmyra are dedications to gods and goddesses from Phoenician, Babylonian, Arab and Canaanite traditions": http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/08/150826-syria-palmyra-islamic-state-isis-archaeology-history/