Roman Palmyra: Identity, Community, and State Formation by A. M. Smith

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We won’t ever see the glorious structures of Palmyra again. ISIL/Daesh destroyed the Temple of Bel, the Temple of Baalshamin and the Arch of Triumph in 2015, and beheaded the elderly head of antiquities, Khaled al-Assaad. Thank whichever god you serve for the photographs, the museums that hold ancient reliefs and inscriptions, and books such as Smith’s Roman Palmyra. The outrages of 2015 came after Smith had completed his work on the community that thrived in the Syrian desert, located at an oasis on the frontier between Rome and Parthia. Therefore it stands as a monument in its own right to a rich period (the first three centuries AD) that saw the pastoral settlement develop into an important trading city with influence throughout the Roman empire....

 

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