Civilisation is paying the worst possible price as hot spots in West Asia battle terrorism of the kind unleashed by the Islamic State, or ISIS. The fall of Palmyra, an ancient Syrian city whose ruins are considered by experts as an iconic monument that has had great impact on the modern world as a legacy of the classical world in its heyday, represents a huge threat to living history.
Palmyra, which today is a mainly Sunni tribal city, was at the height of its glory in the 2nd century CE, a great historical centre considered a crossroads for the Greek, Roman and Persian cultures. Government officials and civilians aver that most Palmyrene artifacts, like statutes, which fetch very high prices, have been moved safely away from the town. But the magnificent ruins, like those of the Temple of Ba’al, and the theatre, are extremely vulnerable as they simply stand on the sands of time.
The record of the IS is already blotted with the callous destruction of the Mosul museum in Iraq and the damage wreaked on cities like Nimrud. The group justifies all this as an attack against idolatry, which is little consolation for the conservationists who have nothing to do with religion and are more concerned with the historicity of Syria and Iraq and the splendid remnants there of ancient civilisations. Saeed al-Bashar’s forces have now lost Palmyra after Iraq lost Ramadi and observers are saying that divided loyalties are making far-flung towns easy prey for the extremists. As such wars rage, history weeps.
