How Syria is Loosing its Precious Heritage

Looting, bombing, and overall destruction of antique sites, even those listed by UNESCO as part of our world heritage hurt me deeply. They are part of our history and part of our culture that is being lost forever – and for what!

In previous posts, I have tried to draw the world’s attention to this problem, although this will not help in any way to protect these precious treasures.

See:  Organized Looting in Syria

         The War in Syria, what will happen to its heritage?

         Loss of our Cultural Heritage in the Middle-Eastern conflicts

For those who share this sorrow with me and want to be kept updated, there is this collection of wonderful articles assembled by ASOR Syrian Heritage Initiative on their Facebook pages. Near-weekly reports are being published there providing full information and illustration of what is happening in that beaten country.

Syria is immensely rich in history going back all the way to the Bronze Age (Mari, Ebla, Qatna, and Ugarit), and was occupied by great civilizations like the Sumerians, Egyptians, Hittites, Assyrians, and Babylonians. It saw the rise of the Phoenicians. It suffered invasions by the Persians till Alexander the Great arrived and his empire was in turn taken over by the Seleucids. During the first century BC it became a Roman province and lived a moment of glory under its own Queen Zenobia till it declined under Byzantine expansion. Let us not forget the rise of Christianity (Aramaic) and Islam (Arabs), the repeated attacks by the Crusaders, and the conquest by the Ottoman Empire. I perfectly realize that this kind of summary is absurd for it is impossible to rush with such giant steps through so many centuries and civilizations, but at least I tried to draw a picture of the country’s unique past.

I am certain that whoever visited any of the grand sites and cities of Syria will look on with a bleeding heart and tearing eyes. The absurdity of war – still questioned after so many centuries …