A unique opportunity to witness Palmyra’s wealth

Those who are closely interested in the art that blossomed in Palmyra from the first to the third century AD are in for a treat at the newly rearranged Getty Villa in Malibu, California.

[The Beauty of Palmyra, 190-210 AD. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen]

The Getty Villa opened on Wednesday 18 April 2018 with a chronological instead of thematic display of its precious artwork. At the same time, they will present a typical funerary sculpture from the collections of the Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen together with Getty’s own reliefs and photographs related to the once so wealthy city of Palmyra in Syria (see: The Glorious Days of Palmyra).

What started as a mere caravan stop-over became a major crossroad between the Roman and Parthian empires in which Queen Zenobia played an unrivaled role (see: The Dream of the Queen of Palmyra).

For the aficionados, remember that the entrance to this museum is free but that advance entry tickets are required (click here). This special exhibition will run until 27 May 2019 under the title Palmyra: Loss and Remembrance.

The dream of the Queen of Palmyra

We can't stress enough how vital Palmyra's site and location were in antiquity, reaching its absolute heydays under Queen Zenobia in the second half of the 3^rd century AD.

Luckily, I am not the only one to be in awe at this grandeur that has now been destroyed (see: The glorious days of Palmyra). I recently came across this great article published in the Mediterraneo Antiguo under the title Palmyra: The Dream of the Queen of the Desert. Unfortunately, the attached PDF report is in Spanish, but that should not be a problem for those interested. Note the reverence to the great archaeologist Khaled el-Asaad at the end.

Thank you, Mario Villanueva Agudo, for sharing this with the world.

The glorious days of Palmyra

My first view of Palmyra was at nightfall when the entire city was bathed in floodlights. My eyes could not take in this fascinating scenery; it was a mere flash, a snapshot of columns and arches, of waving and fluted lines, of temples and streets whose warm tones strongly contrasted with the black velvet night sky. The mirage disappeared in the blink of an eye, but tomorrow looked most promising!

This city, which the Arabs called Tadmor, is not mentioned in Alexander’s history and was strangely enough ignored by the succeeding Seleucids who ruled over Greater Syria from 305 BC till it was annexed by Rome in 63 BC. Even at that time, it already had a long history going back to the second millennium BC as mentioned in the clay tablets found at Mari as well as in the Bible as part of Solomon’s realm. The oasis of Palmyra was generally an independent city, ideally located at the heart of the Syrian Desert, an important crossroad of several trade routes on the Silk Road. In other words, a strategic place that was most envied by the Roman Emperors.

For the next one hundred years, business boomed thanks to Palmyra’s intensive trading with Persia, India, and China and even with the Parthians who for many years were the enemies of Rome. The well-traveled Emperor Hadrian inevitably visited Palmyra in 129 AD and he was so much taken by this city that he renamed it Palmyra Hadriana and declared it independent. Unfortunately, the good days did not last and in 212 it became a Roman colony. From then onward it played a mere military role and its trading regressed, especially when the Sassanids occupied the lands between Tigris and Euphrates in the third century AD.

However, in 256/257 Palmyra’s King Odenathus (Septimus Edeinat) was held in high esteem by the Roman Emperor Valerian who appointed him Consul and Governor of the province Syria-Phoenicia that belonged to Palmyra since 194 AD. A few years later, Valerian was killed by the Sassanids (see: Sassanid reliefs tell a story of their own in Persia) and apparently, Odenathus felt morally obligated to revenge the emperor’s death. He pursued the Sassanids to their capital Ctesiphon, situated on the Tigris River, on the opposite bank of Seleucia, but failed to take the city.

At this period of time, Palmyra had reached its glory, much to the chagrin of Rome, and Odenathus was murdered under obscure circumstances. His wife, Queen Zenobia took over and ruled in the name of her minor son Vaballath. Zenobia was a tough lady who caused quite a stir in history. Classical as well as Arabic sources describe her as handsome and intelligent, with dark skin, pearly-white teeth, and sharp black eyes. She is said to be more beautiful than Cleopatra, yet very chaste. Zenobia could ride a horse like a man, and on hunting or drinking parties she stood her man. She also was very learned, fluent in Arabic, Greek, Aramean, and Egyptian, and had a good knowledge of Latin. She was a sophisticated hostess and entertained philosophers and poets, among whom the famous Cassius Longinus. This Longinus wrote especially for her one of his masterpieces in which he integrated now lost parts of love poems by Sappho of Lesbos, who composed them in the 6^th century BC.

Zenobia also was very ambitious and extended her territory to the west, occupying Bosra, and in 269-270 she even marched all the way to Egypt; on the way back she took the harbor of Antioch-on-the-Orontes. She even managed to annex a big part of Anatolia including Ancyra (Ankara) in her empire. As can be expected, the Romans were not grateful for her interference and in 272 Emperor Aurelian took Antioch-on-the-Orontes back, followed by Emesa (Homs) and finally also Palmyra. Zenobia tried to escape by fleeing across the Euphrates but she was captured and taken to Rome, together with her son, Vaballath.

Vaballath probably died on the way to Rome. In 274 Zenobia appears in golden chains during Aurelian’s triumphal march through Rome. Out of pity but also taken by her beauty and pride, he granted Zenobia her freedom and installed her in an elegant villa at Tibur (today’s Tivoli, Italy), where she lived under her Roman name of Iulia (or Julia) Aurelia Zenobia. She spent her days in wealth and became a prominent philosopher, hostess, and Roman matron. She married a Roman governor and senator whose name is not known, giving him several daughters who all married into prominent Roman families. Some sources mention that Zenobia committed suicide after Aurelian’s defeat, but that is not very credible. A great number of her descendants have been traced to far into the 4^th and 5^th centuries.

In the meantime, Palmyra had not been entirely forgotten. Emperor Diocletian enlarged the city to install his Roman legions in all comfort and built a city wall to protect them against a possible invasion by the Sassanids from Persia. Later the Byzantines constructed several churches, but after the conquest by the Arabs Palmyra played only a marginal role.

It is still early and bone-chilling when I arrive at the site of Palmyra on this November day in 2009. The blistering wind chases freely through the colonnades and ruins but strangely enough, the surrounding hills remain shrouded in a low foggy veil – an eerie scenery. For a moment I pause to get my bearings and it all seems too much to take in, so many columns, stones, arches, walls, streets, remains, etc. I am totally overwhelmed and have to kick myself to move on.

My visit starts at the eastern city gate, very appropriately called the Monumental Arch, consisting of three Roman arches of which the middle one is the largest and leads immediately to the unpaved main street. We owe this arch to Septimius Severus (193-211 AD) who ingeniously built it with a twist to cover up the 30-degrees-angle between the Decumanus on one side of the arch and the Temple of Nebo on the other side. Nebo or Nabo was the Mesopotamian god of oracles, later assimilated with Apollo – hence the importance of this Temple. The remains are still imposing with its columns along the temenos in reserved Doric style, while the columns of the Temple itself are enhanced with Corinthian capitals.

With wide open eyes, I set foot on the Great Colonnade Street or Decumanus with its wonderful 10-meter-high monolithic columns crowned with Corinthian capitals. Each column has an empty pedestal where rich or prominent gentiles could place their likeness against payment that is. Public Relations even in those days were an important tool!

Then I come across the Baths of Zenobia, a rather large bathing complex where the Frigidarium as well as the Tepidarium, and the Caldarium are clearly recognizable. At the entrance, there are four remarkable pink granite monolithic columns, which with their Corinthian capitals stand in pleasant contrast with the white-pinkish stones used for the construction of the Baths.

On the opposite side of the street, I find the remains of the theater which looks too small for a city like Palmyra. Appearances are deceptive for originally this theater from the 2^nd century AD must have counted at least 30 tiers of seats but only nine have survived. The stage with the entire skena however is still in excellent condition. The theater has obviously been restored to be used for local festivals. The high stone wall around the orchestra indicates that it was also used for wild animal fights, a favorite sport of the Romans.

At an angle lies the Agora, also from the 2^nd century, complete with its annexes. The market area is well preserved as are a number of the surrounding shops and buildings. It is always exciting to discover that besides the original columns, the 2,000 years-old walls of the building have survived, including their windows and doorframes.

Elegant typical Roman arches are still marking the crossroads along this Great Colonnade Street, and that’s how I reach the Tetrapylon, a group of four times four columns. Only one of the sixteen pink granite columns is original, imported all the way from Aswan in Egypt. The other columns are modern copies but clearly illustrate the key position of this Tetrapylon at the bend in the Great Colonnade Street. This 1200-meter-long street or Decumanus although very impressive, is however shorter than the main street at Apamea (see: Apamea, heritage of Alexander), which I found more impressive. It may seem strange that this street was never paved but the reason therefore is that the camels needed a comfortable passage through the city – an animal-friendly consideration! With its porticoes and sidewalks, this Decumanus was exceptionally wide and measured nothing less than 23 meters! This avenue alone would be worth the visit.

On the sidewalk, I discover a long row of connecting pipes belonging to an aqueduct. An awkward place, but not so when you realize that this aqueduct ran on top of the colonnade along the Decumanus. The image brings back memories of the grand aqueduct of Aspendos (see: Aspendos the unfaithful) in Turkey where I saw these elements for the first time.

And that is how I reach the columns carrying the inscriptions of Zenobia, a bilingual text in Greek and Palmyrean. On one of the columns, one can read that it was dedicated by the rulers of Tadmor to their king and master Odenathus. The other column was dedicated to Septimia Bath-Zabbai (in Greek, Zenobia), their religious and saintly queen.

From afar the Citadel with the Arabian fortress probably built in the 13^th century by the Mameluks controls the landscape. However, what we see here dates mainly from the early 17^th century when Emir Fakhr-ud-Ding-ibn-Ma’ani occupied what is now Syria and Lebanon, and constructed several strongholds as a defense against the Ottomans. It is a constant backdrop in between the columns and streets of Palmyra and a photogenic one for that matter.

Walking northwards, I stop at the Temple of Baal-Shamin, the god of rain and fertility. It was built around 150 AD and is very well preserved because the Byzantines converted it into a church. It is a cozy temple that somehow reminds me of the Temple of Nike high on the Acropolis in Athens, except that it has Corinthian columns and a window in the sidewall. The inside is very inviting with the antique naos in the back, now a semi-circular apse with slender columns. It is a lovely spot, in the shade of a young tree that grows within its sheltering walls.

Keeping the best for last is a visit to the magnificent Temple of Bel that I treated in a separate blog (see: The Temple of Bel at Palmyra – In Memoriam).

A visit is not complete without a stop at one of the many tower tombs with their underground Hypogea. I have never seen anything like it, but there always is a first time for everything. After the Valley of the Queens in Egypt, this is the largest and most impressive collection of tombs. Surprisingly the entire landscape between the city walls of Palmyra and the surrounding hills is dotted with square towers or remains thereof, containing burial sites underground as well as above ground. They generally can be dated to between the 9^th century BC and the 2^nd century AD. I am told there are as many as 150 tombs, a significant number. Yet I have no idea what to expect.

The tower tomb of the Elahbel Family from 103 AD seems to be the most popular, and that is no wonder. I step inside a rather large rectangular room, deeper than it is wide and pretty high as well. The ceiling is still intact and is made of colorful starry caissons with at its center four portraits of the founders set against a bright blue background. What a beauty! The long side walls are meant to receive the remains of the dead in one of the four stories high slots. In this way, there was enough space for future generations, at least 300 family members. The vertical pillars separating the rows are fluted and crowned with a Corinthian capital. To the left of the entrance door is a staircase that leads to the upper floor, meaning that access to the superposed niches was easy enough.

Unfortunately, I am running out of time and I have to skip the less impressive remains on the north-western side of Palmyra with the Temple of Allat, the Temple with the Emblems, the Grave Temple, the Camp of Diocletian and especially the Oval Forum – although I was curious whether it was as big as the one at Gerasa (Jerash) in Jordan; probably not since I haven’t seen any pictures so far.

Yes, I am one of the lucky few to have seen this great and glorious city with my own eyes. The famous Temple of Bel (see: The Temple of Bel at Palmyra – In Memoriam) survived wars and conflicts for nearly two thousand years to shine in all its glory. This glory is gone now in 2015 as this great sanctuary and many other precious buildings have been blasted to dust. A part of the world’s history has been annihilated and obliterated. Our ancestors deserved a better fate.

My story and my pictures are a praise to Palmyra’s rich memory and to all those brave forefathers and fellow citizens who have lived there and led the city to its greatness.

[Click here to see all the pictures of Palmyra]
[The picture of Odenathus comes from Wikipedia. The concept of Zenobia from Zenobia, empress of the East]

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 …

Prophets and Prophecies about Alexander the Great

Very little of our literature mentions the prophecies made by the Babylonians or the predictions made by prophets about Alexander the Great. Just like the majority of the clay tablets that have been so far deciphered never made it to the ancient Greek world and consequently never to our Western world, the prophecies have been kept away from us also.

I was made aware of the very existence of those clay tablets during the Zenobia Congress that was held a couple of years ago in Amsterdam and where Prof. dr Bert van der Spek, who specialized in classic and ancient Near Eastern studies at the VU University of Amsterdam, mentioned them. It is a new way to “adjust” history as it came to us through ancient authors. Thanks to these tablets, an entire astronomical diary could be pieced together. What caught my attention was the 29th Ahû-tablet from the Book of Heaven which reads: “When on the 13th or 14th day of the month Ulûlu the moon eclipses […] there will be an intruder to [unreadable: arrive, attack or raid] with rulers from the west; during eight years he will exercise his kingship; he will defeat enemy armies; and there will be opulence and wealth on his path; he’ll constantly pursue his enemy; his luck has no end”. The 13th day of the month Ulûlu corresponds to 20 September 331 BC when a moon eclipse was predicted. During this eclipse, the planet Jupiter disappeared and the planet Saturn appeared instead, which was considered as a presage that a king would lose his empire. Ten days later, the Great King Darius was defeated by Alexander the Great during the Battle of Gaugamela on 1 October 331 BC. Eight years later the Macedonian conqueror died on 11 June 323 BC in the Palace of Nebuchadnezzar II in Babylon.

As to the predictions, there is one related by Ezekiel 26-3:10 made in 588 BC. Here we read that many peoples have attacked Tyre, starting with the Babylonians who destroyed the city on the mainland. In the operation, defense towers were demolished, walls torn down and houses demolished. Afterward, the Greeks came and threw the rubble, stones, and beams into the sea and turned the city on the island into a barren rock on which the city was never rebuilt. After the destruction of Tyre, Alexander went to Jerusalem. The Israelites who were familiar with the prophecies granted him free passage to Egypt. The symbol of a radiant sun (also known as the Macedonian star) was used by Alexander the Great all over his empire and is to be found in the family tomb in the village of Vergina. His star blazed briefly but very brightly. In just eleven years, he managed to conquer the entire known world. He was King of Macedonia, hegemon of the Corinthian League, Pharaoh of Egypt, Shah of Persia, and King of Asia. Nevertheless, none of these titles went to his successors! So much for Alexander’s passage mentioned by Ezekiel. More details can be found at this Bible Gateway site.

The rise and fall of Alexander’s empire were also revealed in great detail to Prophet Daniel, two centuries before the king’s rule. In a nutshell, this is what has been reported to us:

In a vision of 603 BC, four successive empires are being presented as a large statue of which the Babylonian empire is the head made of pure gold to be succeeded by three empires, successively represented by a silver chest, thighs in bronze and legs of iron. The third empire of bronze would be overthrown by the Greeks under Alexander the Great and dominate the entire world. The iron legs would turn out to be the Roman Empire that split in two, the Western and the Eastern Empires.

The next vision from around 549 BC presented the four empires as four big beasts. The first beast representing Babylon was a lion with eagle’s wings. The second (Medo-Persian) empire was represented as a bear holding three ribs between his teeth (Media, Lydia, and Babylonia), and the third empire by a four-headed leopard with four wings on his back representing the expeditious conquest of Alexander the Great.

In a vision from around 547 BC the mighty kingdoms of Media and Persia were represented by a ram with two horns. The ram, however, is being defeated by the Greek empire in the shape of a fast-moving male goat coming from the west that has a large horn between his eyes. The large horn of the ram represents the first king. According to the explanation of this vision, four empires emerged from the four horns that arose from the broken one. This empire never reached the power of the first king.

In 536 BC, Daniel had a vision revealing that the fourth Persian King would use his wealth to conquer the Greek empire. After this, a heroic king would appear in the Greek empire. His power would be great but his rule short-lived, after which his empire would fall apart to be distributed over the four corners of the world but would not fall in the hands of his own children. The newly formed kingdoms would not be as powerful as under the leadership of the heroic king. More details can be looked up at the site of Lamb & Lion Ministries.

It is evidently easy to explain visions afterward and I am not saying that all the above is true or interpreted in the correct way, but at least it should make us rethink history in a different way. Predictions and prophecies in antiquity were seen very differently than what we do today. It has nothing to do with our horoscopes or soothsayers. Yet we must agree that with hindsight it is not difficult to recognize Alexander in the different prophecies.

Maybe one day we will find the key to unlock these mysteries. After all, there is much more between heaven and earth than what we are aware of.

Halabiya on the Euphrates

To see the Euphrates is one of those lifetime experiences that leave a deep impression. For me, the very name is forever associated with the Bible and visions of old Mesopotamia, the land of milk and honey, and, of course, with Alexander the Great.

Unlike my previous trip when I crossed the famous river by bus over a modern bridge, I now have the opportunity to take a much closer look. The late wintry sun stands low above the horizon, wrapping the entire landscape in gold adding a touch of indescribably mystical to the Euphrates. And then there is the omnipresent silence. All I hear is the murmur of the current and the sweet rustle of the wind through the high reeds. The picture is timeless, eternal even. For me, a moment to let my thoughts drift back to Alexander the Great who crossed this very river with his army on the way to his confrontation with King Darius at Gaugamela to conquer Persia. I venture through the high grasses, carefully avoiding the marshy edges to get as close as possible to the fast-flowing water that reflects the moods of the sky and the riverbanks. I deeply savor the moment before boarding my van and driving down the winding road alongside the river.

The villages and settlements I encounter are from another world with houses assembled from large blocks of cement; cube-shaped piles of harvested cotton secured under patches of tarp; a lonely donkey tied to a pole; women carrying bushels of dried cotton stalks on their heads (fodder for the sheep); etc.  In what appears to be the heart of the settlement, hollow square rooms line the street where shops are set up displaying their colorful wares on the sidewalk: bananas, leek, oranges, potatoes, lemons, cauliflower, tomatoes, and all kinds of fresh herbs. Even the bakery shows off his bread and buns for everyone to see. Further down, stacks of crates filled with soft drinks; plastic jugs and tubs; brooms and cleaning products; drying racks for clothes; shoes, and slippers are waiting for potential customers. Men pass by on bikes, mopeds, and scooters in all possible shapes and sizes enhanced with the strangest accessories. The women’s dresses are more colorful than in the West, more like what I have seen in eastern Turkey. The taxi ahead of me is crammed with six men in black wearing their typical red-and-white scarf around their heads. The local vans, comparable to the Turkish dolmuş, seem to take more people on board than there are seats. This local folklore is very welcome for otherwise the road is rather uneventful.

In fact, I’m on my way to Halabiye, old Halabia, one of those garrisons founded by Queen Zenobia of Palmyra in 266 AD.  Time is of the essence in the fast failing daylight. Except for the sturdy city walls, there isn’t much left to see of Halabiya, only the Pretorium which occupies a very strategic place high above the Euphrates valley. The old city was located on the Silk Road and flourished till 273 AD when Emperor Aurelius added the city to the Roman Empire. However, Emperor Justinian (527-565) judged it useful to restore the city and built these mighty defense walls to withstand possible invasions from the Persians.

It is a strenuous climb up to the Pretorium and a run against the failing daylight but I’m determined to make it in time. It is hard to believe that these remains are at least 1,500 years old. The strong walls are cracked in many places due to repeated earthquakes in the area which the three-stories-high arched rooms have survived. Deep niches around arch-shaped windows remind me of Medieval castles and look in fact quite cozy with a stone bench on either side that may have been covered with some cushions or covers. This is a great spot for the lookout to scrutinize the river upstream as well as downstream. The quietness of the late evening is disturbed by a rattling sound, that of a car crossing the Euphrates a few hundred meters away using a pontoon bridge – a system that was very well-known in antiquity and used repeatedly by Alexander on his march east.

It feels as if I’m looking over Alexander’s shoulder, a special glance into the past.

[Click here for more pictures taken along the Euphrates] 

Deir Ezzor on the Euphrates in Syria

Deir Ezzor is one of those cities whose foundations go back to the third millennium BC, the days of King Sargon I, till it fell into the hands of King Hammurabi (reigned 1792 to 1750 BC), followed by the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, and the Persians. It is located some 450 km northeast of Damascus on the banks of the Euphrates River. 

When Alexander the Great marched through Syria, Deir Ezzor became part of his empire. After his death in 323 BC, the country was ruled by Seleucos, one of his former generals. In Roman times, this green oasis was a crossroad on the trade route that connected the Mediterranean Sea with India. We may not forget to mention Queen Zenobia, who in the third century fervently opposed the Roman presence and occupied the city. 

By the fourth century, Deir Ezzor fell under the rule of Aleppo and afterward became part of the Ayyubid and the Mamluk empires. Tamerlane (read more under the Label Central Asia) and his Mongols totally destroyed Deir Ezzor in 1401, after which the city sank into the desert and disappeared.  

It is only in recent years, when oil was discovered in the region, that Deir Ezzor was revived, and this is what we are seeing today.

The confrontation with the Euphrates River is always an exciting experience. The river was used as a frontier line for eons and still is – in fact, the other side (east) is where Mesopotamia starts. The French, who arrived here at the end of the 19th century, built a narrow suspension bridge, a mini San Francisco Bay bridge, executed by nobody less than engineer Eiffel! Recently, a wider modern bridge has been built for motorized traffic. It is an unforgettable adventure to cross this old bridge on foot, as it is now reserved for pedestrians, and to feel the soft swinging movement caused by our steps. The strong current of the Euphrates is clearly visible from up here, and setting foot on Mesopotamian soil for just a short moment is definitely worth the detour. 

 

This is the story in a nutshell. Unfortunately, no traces have been found of Alexander’s presence here – not yet, at least.

[Click here for more pictures of the cities along the Euphrates]