WORLD_ Where is Palmyra and what has happened to it?

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Where is Palmyra and what has happened to it?

Date May 21, 2015 - 11:59AM
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Chris Zappone



The ancient Roman city of Palmyra. Photo: AP


What is Palmyra?

Located north-east of Damascus, Palmyra is considered one of the most important archaeological sites of antiquity. In its time, Palmyra was a "crossroads of several civilisations" that "married Graeco-Roman techniques with local traditions and Persian influences", according to the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). The site was "was an established caravan oasis when it came under Roman control in the mid-first century AD as part of the Roman province of Syria", and "grew steadily in importance as a city on the trade route linking Persia, India and China with the Roman Empire, marking the crossroads of several civilisations in the ancient world", UNESCO says. The city was forgotten for years until it was rediscovered in the 17th and 18th centuries by travellers.

UNESCO recognises the site's outstanding universal value in part because the influence the rediscovery of the ruins had on the "subsequent revival of classical architectural styles and urban design in the West."

Today, the site contains a "grand, colonnaded street" more than a kilometre long intersected with cross streets that link to monuments like the Temple of Ba'al, a religious building with Greco-Roman engravings mixed with Persian influences, according to UNESCO. The site also contains Diocletian's Camp, or Roman military camp, an agora, or open square, as well as a theatre.

What has happened?

Fighters of the so-called Islamic State have pushed into the Syrian territory where Palmyra is located, displacing soldiers loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. This is the first time IS [also known as ISIL or ISIS] has claimed land previously held by Syrian government soldiers. In June 2013, UNESCO placed Palmyra, along with five other sites in Syria, on the List of World Heritage in Danger to "draw attention to the risks they are facing because of the situation in the country".

What is the situation in Syria?

One of the worst civil wars in modern times, claiming an estimated 200,000 lives, according to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The war, which broke out in 2011 during the Arab Spring, has pitted Syrian government forces, against Islamist and secular rebel groups and now against the Islamic State, which has sprung up in an area straddling Syria and Iraq. There is no end in sight for the conflict, which has sent 3 million Syrians fleeing over the border in search of safety.

Will Islamic State destroy Palmyra?

Not only could fighting inadvertently destroy the antiquities, Islamic State has a track record of trashing icons, temples and artwork which clash with their iconoclastic puritan brand of Sunni Islam. In 2013, in Mali, Islamists from Boko Haram sought to destroy priceless Malian texts dating back to the 13th century. Famously, in Afghanistan in 2001 the Taliban destroyed two sixth-century statues of Buddha, despite an international outcry. Syrian and international figures have voiced concern for the safety of Palmyra. Syria's antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim has secured statues from the site but has fears for the museum and the larger momuments. "This is the entire world's battle," he said.

with agencies
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