The Sanctuary of Bel in perspective: selective destructions, selective memories, selective realities

Baird, Jennifer and Kamash, Z. and Raja, R. (2024) The Sanctuary of Bel in perspective: selective destructions, selective memories, selective realities. In: Raja, R. (ed.) Palmyra in Perspective. Studies in Palmyrene Archaeology and History 11. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, pp. 231-248. ISBN 9782503610320.

Abstract

In this chapter, we trace how the actions of Western archaeologists created a classical vision of the Temple of Bel in Palmyra at the expense of other histories. We draw on archival documents and photographs to demonstrate how the lenses and pens of the archaeologists working at the site since its ‘discovery’ in the eighteenth century transformed the complexity of the sanctuary into a single narrative that paid insufficient attention to the living population of Tadmor-Palmyra. We argue that a consistent practice of heritagizing the sanctuary, emptying the sanctuary, and divorcing it from its local community have led to actions in the present, both by Da’esh, but also by Western institutions, that continue that process of emptying and the disenfranchisement of local communities.

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