Desert Ruins
Trip Start
Aug 23, 2010
1
16
44
Trip End
Oct 13, 2010
Palmyra, Syria
Saturday, September 11, 2010
The site is unfenced, and you have to pay only if you want to visit a couple off--limit places. It was pretty cool in the a.m., and didn't heat up too badly in the afternoon. I was wearing my floppy hat, looking even more like a tourist, but it kept the sun off.
There is a main colonnaded street that runs from the Temple of Nebo to a funery temple. Along the way are baths, the senate, the agora, houses, some Byzantine ruins further out, and a Roman garrison for troops stationed there after Zenobia's exit. The ruins are pretty extensive and they have done a good job reconstructing a lot of it.
I paid to get into the Temple of Bel, a long-time Mesopotamian god. The temple was from the early ADs, but Bel is mentioned as early as the Bible (Jeremiah 50:2). There was a large interior courtyard for processions and gatherings, and the priests were in the interior where they performed sacrifices. After Christianity took hold it was converted into a church, and later into a mosque. I guess I can't get too upset about churches being converted to mosques, unless I am also upset when churches were built over pagan temples (who stands up for the rights of pagans?).
Went to dinner, had vegetables instead of more camel meat.
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rUECJzrPmM
