Palmyra
Subtitle: an irreplaceable treasure
By: by Paul Veyne ; translated from the French by Teresa Lavender Fagan
Contributors: Fagan, Teresa Lavender, translator
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 88
ISBN-13: 9780226427829
Subjects: History
Work titles: Palmyre
Description: Located n ortheast of Damascus, in an oasis surrounded by palms and two mountain ranges, the ancient city of Palmyra has the aura of myth. According to the Bible, the city was built by Solomon. Regardless of its actual origins, it was an influential city, serving for centuries as a caravan stop for those crossing the Syrian Desert. It became a Roman province under Tiberius and served as the most powerful commercial center in the Middle East between the first and the third centuries CE. But when the citizens of Palmyra tried to break away from Rome, they were defeated, marking the end of the citys prosperity. The magnificent monuments from that earlier era of wealth, a resplendent blend of Greco-Roman architecture and local influences, stretched over miles and were among the most significant buildings of the ancient worlduntil the arrival of ISIS. In 2015, ISIS fought to gain control of the area because it was home to a prison where many members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood had been held, and ISIS went on to systematically destroy the city and murder many of its inhabitants, including the archaeologist Khaled al-Asaad, the antiquities director of Palymra. In this concise and elegiac book, Paul Veyne, one of Palymras most important experts, offers a beautiful and moving look at the history of this significant lost city and why it wasand still isimportant. Today, we can appreciate the majesty of Palmyra only through its pictures and stories, and this book offers a beautifully illustrated memorial that also serves as a lasting guide to a cultural treasure.
Notes: Originally published as: Palmyre: l'irremplaçable trésor.

Includes bibliographical references.

Translated from the French.
Table of contents: title: Riches in the desert; title: A monumental ancient city; title: Being a capitalist back then; title: Antiquity in antiquity; title: Palmyra: a subject of the Caesars; title: A Syrian tribe and a Hellenized city; title: Saving the empire; title: The Palmyrene saga; title: A hybrid identity; title: Dining with the gods; title: Religion in Palmyra; title: Palmyrene portraits.