Palmyra, the bride of the desert

A couple of weeks ago I woke up early on a Saturday and drove to Palmyra, supposedly some of the most amazing ruins in the world. I had high expectations and I was scarred to actually be disappointed. I wasn’t. It is probably one of the most breathtaking places I have ever visited.

In the middle of the desert, surrounded by an oasis of palm trees, hide the ruins of this ancient city called Palmyra. At first it seems like 50 hectares of sand and columns, but it is so much more: an amphitheater, the Bel temple, funerary towers… a journey to an ancient civilization.

There are records of Palmyra that date from the second millennium bC and the Hebrew bible explains the city was founded by King Salomon, son of David. Its unique and exceptional location made of Palmyra an important stop in the Silk Road, between China and Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

But it wasn’t really until the third century of our era that Palmyra reached its greatest splendor, under the leadership of queen Zenobia. Zenobia was descendant of Cleopatra, and she is said to be more beautiful, smarter and also more ambitious than the Egyptian queen. Zenobia’s reign was short but intense and in only six years she expanded the boundaries of the city, built temples and erected statues. Most importantly, she conquered territories around hers and got to dominate lands all the way to Western Egypt. She even had the guts to stand up against the Roman Empire and succeeded at it. However, this was also a breaking point in Palmyra’s history, and the beginning of its end. Zenobia ended up captive and it is said that she was taken to Rome where she was exhibited half naked with golden chains around her body.

But Zenobia’s legacy is undeniable. She made of Palmyra an empire, rich and developed, which had its own language and art. The golden limestone of surrounding mountains is a symbol of that time, and hundreds of columns are silent witnesses of everything that has happened here ever since.

Honestly, visiting Palmyra is a unique experience. While you walk through the kilometer long colonnade you suddenly travel in time, you find yourself far in the past, surrounded by a combination of cultures. After the Romans came the Arabs, and the Ottoman Empire was the one that witnessed the fall into decline of this once great city.

An example of the blend of cultures is the temple of Bel. It is half destroyed but it still has a feeling of what it must have been back in the time. It was at first a temple dedicated to the god Bel (the equivalent of the Greek Zeus or Roman Jupiter), it became a church in Byzantine times, a fortress with the Arabs and a mosque with the Mamelucs.

A bit further away hide camouflaged in the colors of the desert the funerary towers that used to belong to the rich families of Palmyra. They are quite tall and simple buildings, which could host several buried bodies. It is the Valley of the tombs.

But truth is the ruins are so big and they take so much space that it is only possible to gaze at them and admire them from one spot: the Qalaat Ibn Maan, an Arab castle built on the top on a nearby mountain in the 16th century. These are pictures taken from this fantastic viewpoint of the stunning views. (you can clik on the image to see it larger)

* All pictures taken by la elfa