Temple of Bel

Temple of Bel
معبد بل

The Temple of Bel's exterior
Shown within Syria
Location Palmyra, Syria
Coordinates 34°32′49″N 38°16′26″E / 34.547°N 38.274°E / 34.547; 38.274
Type Temple
Height 15 metres (49 ft)
History
Material Stone
Founded 32 AD
Cultures Palmyrene
Site notes
Condition Main building destroyed, exterior walls and gate survive
Ownership Public
Public access Inaccessible (in a war zone)
Type Cultural
Criteria i, ii, iv
Designated 1980 (4th session)
Part of Site of Palmyra
Reference no. 23
State Party Syria
Region Arab States
Endangered 2013–present

The Temple of Bel (Arabic: معبد بل‎‎), sometimes also referred to as the "Temple of Baal", was an ancient temple located in Palmyra, Syria. The temple, consecrated to the Mesopotamian god Bel, worshipped at Palmyra in triad with the lunar god Aglibol and the sun god Yarhibol, formed the center of religious life in Palmyra and was dedicated in 32 AD.[1][2] Its ruins were considered among the best preserved at Palmyra,[3] until they were further destroyed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in August 2015.[4] The arched main entrance into the temple is still intact,[5] as well as its exterior walls and fortified gate.

History

Temple of Bel, Louis Vignes, 1864. Albumen print. 8.8 x 11.4 in. (22.5 x 29 cm). The Getty Research Institute, 2015.R.15

The temple was built on a tell with stratification indicating human occupation that goes back to the third millennium BC. The area was occupied in pre-Roman periods with a former temple that is usually referred to as "the first temple of Bel" and "the Hellenistic temple". The walls of the temenos and propylaea were constructed in the late first and the first half of the second century AD. The names of three Greeks who worked on the construction of the temple of Bel are known through inscriptions, including a probably Greek architect named Alexandras (Greek: Αλεξάνδρας).[6][7] However, many Palmyrenes adopted Greco-Roman names and native citizens with the name Alexander are attested in the city.[8]

The Temple of Bel was converted into a Christian church during the Byzantine Era.[9] Parts of the structure were modified by Arabs in 1132 which preserved the structure and converted the Temple into a mosque. The enormous temple courtyard (approx. 200 x 200 meters) held mud-brick houses among the ruins, and served as a fortified citadel for the village of Palmyra (known as Tadmur during the 1100s). The mosque in the temple proper and the dwellings remained in use until the 1920s when Franco-Syrian archaeological missions cleared the temple grounds of its postclassical elements.[10][11] Most of the Corinthian columns of the inner colonnades still showed pedestals where the statues of the benefactors stood.[2] The temple was aligned along the eastern end of the Great Colonnade at Palmyra.

The Temple's destroyed cella

Architecture

Columns in the inner court of the temple


The temple showed a remarkable synthesis of ancient Near Eastern and Greco-Roman architecture.[1] The temple remains lay inside a large precinct lined by porticos. It had a rectangular shape and was oriented north-south.[1] It was based on a paved court surrounded by a massive 205-metre (673 ft) long wall with a propylaeum. On a podium in the middle of the court was the actual temple building. The cella was entirely surrounded by a prostyle of Corinthian columns, only interrupted on the long side by an entrance gate with large steps leading from the court. The cella was unique in the fact that it had two inner sanctuaries, the north and south adytons, dedicated as the shrines of Bel and other local deities. The northern chamber was known for a bas-relief carving of the seven planets known to the ancients surrounded by the twelve signs of the Zodiac and the carvings of a procession of camels and veiled women.[12] The cella was lit by two pairs of windows cut high in the two long walls.[1][2] In three corners of the building stairwells could be found that led up to rooftop terraces.[1]

In the court there were the remains of a basin, an altar, a dining hall, and a building with niches. And in the northwest corner lay a ramp along which sacrificial animals were led into the temple area.[2] There were three monumental gateways, of which the entry was through the west gate. These were modified by the Arabs in 1132 when they erected a bastion, and the temple was converted into a mosque,[12] which preserved it from further dilapidation.





Destruction

The Temple's fortified gate and its exterior walls (left) and main archaway (right) are the surviving remains of the temple after its cella's destruction.


Syria's Director of Antiquities Maamoun Abdul Karim stated that ISIL was looking for treasures and "stores of gold" in the city.[13] On 30 August 2015, the Associated Press reported that ISIL had partially demolished the temple by explosives, citing eyewitness accounts.[14][15] The bricks and columns were reported as lying on the ground and only one wall was reported as remaining, according to a Palmyra resident.[16][17] The damage was also attested by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.[18] Syria's antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim later stated that although there was an explosion within the temple's perimeter, "the basic structure is still standing".[19] However, these reports were proved to be incorrect.

Digital reconstruction of the Temple of Bel from the New Palmyra project

On August 31, 2015 the United Nations confirmed the temple's destruction after reviewing satellite imagery, "We can confirm destruction of the main building of the Temple of Bel as well as a row of columns in its immediate vicinity" reported by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).[20][4] The BBC issued a video report showing the satellite images and the destruction described by Einar Bjorgo, manager of UN Satellite Imaging (UNOSAT UNITAR).[21]

The main entrance arch survived the destruction of the temple. The Institute for Digital Archaeology proposed that replicas of this arch be installed in Trafalgar Square, London and Times Square, New York City.[22] It was later decided that instead of the temple's main entrance, the replica would be of part of the Monumental Arch.[23]

Restoration

Following the recapture of Palmyra by the Syrian Army in March 2016, director of antiquities Maamoun Abdelkarim stated that the Temple of Bel, along with the Temple of Baalshamin and the Monumental Arch, will be rebuilt using the surviving remains (anastylosis).[24] ISIL recaptured the city on 11 December,[25] but the Syrian Army retook it on 2 March 2017.[26]

In July of 2017, the French company "Art Graphique et Patrimoine" travelled to Palmyra and scanned the Temple's rubbles in order to create a plan for its restoration [27]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Gates, 2003, p.390–91.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Kaizer, p.67.
  3. ↑ Cremin, p.187.
  4. 1 2 "Palmyra's Temple of Bel destroyed, says UN". BBC News. 1 September 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  5. ↑ Domingo, Plácido (December 2016). "End the International Destruction of Cultural Heritage". Vigilo. Din l-Art Ħelwa: National Trust of Malta (48): 30–31. ISSN 1026-132X.
  6. ↑ Stoneman, Richard (1994). Palmyra and Its Empire: Zenobia's Revolt Against Rome. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. p. 54. ISBN 9780472083152.
  7. ↑ Alcock, Susan E. (1997). The Early Roman Empire in the East. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. p. 157. ISBN 9781900188524.
  8. ↑ Yon, Jean-Baptiste (2002). Les notables de Palmyre. Institut français d'archéologie du Proche-Orient. pp. 10,59. ISBN 9782912738196.
  9. ↑ Browning, Iain (1979). Palmyra. Noyes Press. p. 168. ISBN 9780815550549. Like the Temple of Bel, the Baal Shamin was converted into a church during the Byzantine period.
  10. ↑ Frances Terpak and Peter Louis Bonfitto. "Temple of Bel". The Legacy of Ancient Palmyra. The Getty Research Institute. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  11. ↑ Yan, Holly (1 September 2015). "How ISIS' demolition of a Syrian temple impacts the world". CNN. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  12. 1 2 "Temple of Bel". Syrian Embassy in the United States. Archived from the original on 15 July 2009. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
  13. ↑ "Syrian archaeologist 'killed in Palmyra' by IS militants". BBC News. 19 August 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  14. ↑ Westall, Sylvia (30 August 2015). "Islamic State destroys part of Syria's Temple of Bel – monitors". Reuters UK.
  15. ↑ "СМИ: боевики ИГ подорвали Храм Бэла на территории сирийской Пальмиры". RIA Novosti (in Russian). 30 August 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  16. ↑ "Syria's Palmyra Temple of Bel 'severely damaged' by IS". BBC News. 31 Aug 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  17. ↑ "IS Partially Destroys Temple Of Bel – Reports". Sky News. 31 August 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  18. ↑ "Activists: ISIL damages ancient temple in Syria's Palmyra". USA Today. Associated Press. 30 August 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  19. ↑ "Palmyra's Temple of Bel 'still standing'". BBC News. 31 August 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  20. ↑ Barnard, Anne; Saad, Hwaida (2015-08-31). "Palmyra Temple Was Destroyed by ISIS, U.N. Confirms". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2015-09-01.
  21. ↑ "Satellite images show Palmyra temple destruction". BBC News. 1 September 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  22. ↑ Gayle, Damien (28 December 2015). "Palmyra arch that survived Isis to be replicated in London and New York". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 9 January 2016.
  23. ↑ Richardson, Nigel (8 April 2016). "Why the Arch of Triumph of Palmyra is being recreated in London - 1,800 years after it was built". The Telegraph. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  24. ↑ Shaheen, Kareem; Graham-Harrison, Emma (27 March 2016). "Syrian regime forces retake 'all of Palmyra' from Isis". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 27 March 2016.
  25. ↑ "Islamic State recaptures Palmyra after Syria army withdrawal". The New Arab.
  26. ↑ Dearden, Lizzie (2 March 2017). "Isis driven out of ancient Syrian city of Palmyra for second time". The Independent.
  27. ↑ "Scientific Cooperation Project with (Art Graphique & Patrimoine Co.)". Retrieved 27 July 2017.

Bibliography

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