On This Day In Roman History, January 21
ISIS carries out a set of attacks on a Roman theater and its surrounding ruins in modern day Syria and evidence of its destruction is seen on January 20 and 21, 2017 CE. The destruction took place in the Roman city of Palmyra, which is located in present day Tadmur, Homs Governorate, Syria. This UNESCO World Heritage Site has been threatened since 2013 and suffered substantial damage in 2015. Today I would like to examine this city, and it's historical value.
Palmyra shows evidence of being inhabited as early as the late neolithic period, and was first recorded in the second millennium BCE. Its first Hellenistic occupiers were the Seleucids, who had control of the city between 312 and 64. This came to an end with the Roman annexation of the Seleucids in 64 BCE, and was included in the Roman province of Syria. The earliest recorded Palmyrene text describing a Roman presence dates to 18 CE. During these few hundred years, the architecture became increasingly Hellenistic and boasted some truly remarkable buildings including the Baths of Diocletian and the Temple of Baalshamin. As Roman reach decreased this far eastward in the mid 200's CE, records of the Palmyrans having their own "lord" and council for government can be seen. This is recorded in a an inscription dated to 252 CE.
Palmyra shows evidence of being inhabited as early as the late neolithic period, and was first recorded in the second millennium BCE. Its first Hellenistic occupiers were the Seleucids, who had control of the city between 312 and 64. This came to an end with the Roman annexation of the Seleucids in 64 BCE, and was included in the Roman province of Syria. The earliest recorded Palmyrene text describing a Roman presence dates to 18 CE. During these few hundred years, the architecture became increasingly Hellenistic and boasted some truly remarkable buildings including the Baths of Diocletian and the Temple of Baalshamin. As Roman reach decreased this far eastward in the mid 200's CE, records of the Palmyrans having their own "lord" and council for government can be seen. This is recorded in a an inscription dated to 252 CE.
Did you know?
Palmyra's "re-discovery" happened in the 1600's, with the first scholarly recording dating to 1705 by author Abednego Seller. It wasn't until the 1950's when a joint Swiss/ UNESCO organized excavation began to truly reveal how much the site had to offer in a historical and archaeological context. It wasn't in until 1980 when UNESCO declared the site and its surrounding walls a world heritage site.
Pictured: Tetrapyla in Palmyra. By High Contrast (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/de/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons.
The image depicted was some of the structure confirmed lost via satellite imaging of the area.
Opinion
This is a tough one to read about this week. I think it is very important to remember why these things are happening, and examine the current events with a historical eye. I administrate a Facebook page on Roman and Byzantine history, and I was faced with an ethical dilemma of handling overtly hateful and violent comments on this subject. I preface my following opinion with this statement: The actions ISIS commits and the information this organization perpetrates are so backwards and wrong no other human should support them in any context. That being said, I do view this situation in the context of history; Did the Romans not sack and destroy Temple at Jerusalem in 70 CE? There are political, social, and economic factors that drive incredibly malicious action such as this. I am not pardoning these organizations and people for what they have done and what they do, but it is important to remember that demonizing races or religions will lead us nowhere. We must come together to understand how and why these events happen in order to confront and stop them. No matter where your political bias lands you, there is no denying we have lost an incredible site this week. I leave you today with an article in which the video and text lend hope. It shows native Syrians, risking their lives, in order to catalog and smuggle artifacts out of these war-torn areas. Enjoy: http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/20/middleeast/palmyra-isis-theater/#
Sources
Andrade, N. J. (2013). Syrian identity in the Greco-Roman world. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.
Cohen, G. M. (2006). The Hellenistic settlements in Syria, the Red Sea Basin, and North Africa. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Further Reading:
Special Thanks: Michael Houghan
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