Palmyra: Roman ruins in the desert

  Palmyra, Syria
Saturday, March 25, 2006

Situated on an eastern arterial road about 130km from Homs is the ancient Greco-Roman city of Palmyra, Syria's premier tourist attraction and one of the world's best preserved ruin sites.

Initially a caravan town for 1,000 years until around the birth of Christ, it became such an important Greek outpost that the Romans annexed it in the early 3rd century AD. Why in the middle of nowhere? Both the old and new cities lie on the edge of a substantial oasis that has sprung up out of the flat and desolate desert around, ensuring a steady supply of artesian water. As a tourist bonus, it makes for a spectacular setting instead of the cramped, built-around feel you get at many other historic sites.

And despite being a little 'ruined out' by now it is a stunning place, so through dusty and occasionally very hot weather I spent most of the little time allocated for Palmyra in sandy wastes to see for myself.



You can divide the sights into three categories - the ancient city, the separate but accessible funerary towers that dot adjoining valleys, and the Arab castle that overlooks all below. Three interesting and diverse attractions that definitely keep you occupied for a couple of days. Surprisingly, entry into the majority of the ancient city is free so you can wander this to your heart's content and not spend a dime. Payment is only required for the (main) Temple of Bel, opening of the Funerary Towers and to get into the Arab Castle.



The cute and largely intact Temple of Baal Shamin is on your right as you pass through the old city walls. It was dedicated to the god of storms and fertilising rains and from appearances now, it seems like the local inhabitants may have to start worshipping him again. Entry to Baal's temple is barred but it does have a nice courtyard and some pretty intricate carving on the columns and lintels. If you can run the gauntlet of souvenier and camel ride touts it's well worth a quick look.

On from there is the main event - The Temple of Bel and the Monumental Arches, complete with a very long and reasonably intact Colonnade. Bel was a big cheese in the panoply of Greek gods worshipped in town but I never found out what he actually took care of. Anyway, it must have been good because this temple was massive - consisting of a substantial inner sanctum and surrounded on all sides by a huge, columned walkway and wall.



Judging from this, Greek building projects may have been on a larger scale than much of the Roman examples from around this time. At a guess the Temple of Bel would measure 150 or 200 metres square which certainly required a lot of stone - especially for the towering columns, most of which now lie like giant cheese roundels about the place in neat rows (possibly awaiting re-erection).



The inner temple is equally baronial, soaring twenty or thirty metres into the air and consisting of a number of now inaccessible levels. Some of the delicate carvings are still in pretty good nick but the majority was no doubt plundered or succumbed to the elements over time. That so much was invested in such an out of the way place is difficult to fathom but the ancients had their own priorities so we can only look on and wonder.



Nearby is the Monumental Arch, actually a set of arches hinged together to allow different streets to run off at odd angles into the city itself. The Greeks weren't as orderly as the Romans it seems, who wouldn't have tolerated bent streets in any typical Roman town, but you get what you annex and a unique Cardo Maximus (main street) is what they got. The colonnaded cardo stretches for more 1.3 kilometres off to the west, which indicates the size of the city in its heyday.



The eastern section to the Tetrapylon (above left) is relatively complete whilst further down it is only partially excavated, resulting in a jumble of fallen stone that you have to navigate through as you progress further into the site.



A newly renovated and subsequently artificial-feeling Theatre is off one side street, but the interest here is really in the little details like carving on the columns and the random colonnades sprouting out of the desert on all sides. Piles of carved blocks lay in heaps here and there which provide good opportunities to admire the stonework at close quarters. No doubt there is still a lot buried under the sands around the area too.



At the end of the colonnaded street lays a pleasant funerary temple, marking the extremity of the old town proper. However in 271AD, Rome's emperor Aurelian was forced by troublesome Queen Zenobia to destroy the city and subsequently an Army outpost called Diocletian's Camp was built a little further out, some of which (including the altars where the army insignia were housed) is still visible today.

As usual the local Bedouin were the ones to hang out and have a couple of chi (tea) with, including a very cute little Latifa wriggling around in the dust and playing with beads that mum was trying to make jewellery with. One of the sons tried to convince me to part with my watch for three necklaces ('nice try but no chance, sport'). In spite of the lack of customers and the seemingly harsh conditions the family of nine looked like it was doing pretty well with plenty of clothes on the washing line and a trail bike out the front of the concrete shack. Sometimes you have to admire their initiative...



From Diocletian's Camp it's a short trek to the top of a nearby hill for a good view of the entire site and the oasis beyond it. Large black beetles (possibly camel ticks?) chase you around but if you move fast enough there's time to marvel at the extent of the expansive site below. Not many tourists venture this far, opting to take the view and the sunset from the much higher Arab Castle, but it was too dusty that evening for me to enjoy it so the low shot will have to do.



These Funerary Towers are an intriguing extension to the site and certainly unlike anything I've seen in the region thus far. A number are still mostly intact though many are no more than piles of rubble on the hillsides and valley floor.



Narrow and free-standing, they are up to five stories tall and contain dozens of niches with channels for neatly sliding coffins into - one on top of the other. It looks very much like a prototype for the morgues we see on TV today, except these towers feature involved carving on the ceilings and some walls, as well as a variety of statues - mostly headless unfortunately.

There was also one underground tomb I managed to get into despite a French restoration team working in it. It had the same compact niches lining most walls but apart from that looked very much like Valley of the Kings style tombs with ornate painting on other exposed surfaces and statues completing the detailing.



Finally the Arab Castle - an odd structure apeak the highest hill around and looking much like a cluster of dominoes standing on their ends. There's not a great deal to see inside except a bunch of ragged rooms that, from the looks of it, living in would have been very uncomfortable indeed. The roof terraces and battlements have been restored to the point that they're entirely new, but it does make for a good viewing platform to watch the ruins as the sun sets. Too bad the weather didn't cooperate that night - it would undoubtedly be an awesome panorama.

Palmyra is a tourist town and because of regional tensions and hardline US rhetoric there is a lot less tourists than there would usually be at this time of year. While this resulted in a few instances of desperate selling it is no way near as bad as other major sites like Petra or the Pyramids which was a relief. Just watch out for any over-friendly street kids - one had a go picking my pocket with a razor blade and almost succeeded. Cheeky scrote!

Next entry -> the Noria (water wheels) of Hama

Krazy Kontraptions

It seems every region has a crazy three-wheeled contraption for transporting goods and people around its chaotic streets and this is the Middle East's contribution to the breed.



Fortunately they only go about 30 km/hour because if you tried turning at speed in one of these, all 13 people and their luggage who are riding in the back would be on the bitumen in no time. Just watch out for the bright paintwork and have a giggle every time one passes!