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CRSN/ICS Classical Reception Summer Seminar Series
“Ruins Still Standing at the Frontline of Violence: Tadmor-Palmyra and the Future of the Site”
Rory McInnes-Gibson (University of Durham)
Palmyra-Tadmor is an ancient site defined by violence. In this seminar, Rory McInnes-Gibbons excavates three different layers of violence at the ruins. We open with the defeat of the third century AD ruler, Zenobia at the hands of Aurelian in 272AD and subsequent fortification of the ruins under Diocletian’s rule. Through a survey of the visual reception of the ruins from its rediscovery in 1678, I will outline the significance of Palmyra in the Western imagination. Then attention turns to the modern destruction of monuments such as the Temple of Bel and theatre during the Syrian Civil War as Islamic State, forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad and Russian military reinforcements all vied for control of this strategic site. Finally, we explore the alterations made to select monuments by architects and archaeologists during the French Mandate of Lebanon and Syria. They were designed to preserve the ruins and return them to something akin to their Roman-era state, in turn displacing the community then resident within the Temple of Bel complex. The discussion will invite attendees to interrogate what we mean by authentic ruins in their original state and whether this cycle of violence to the ancient city and its inhabitants can be stopped.