Remembering Roman Syria: Valuing Tadmor-Palmyra, From ‘Discovery’ to Destruction

Abstract

The 1753 publication of The Ruins of Palmyra by Robert Wood was key in the formation of archaeological understandings of the site. Examining the original notebooks and drawings of the expedition, which formed the basis for this publication (now held by the Combined Library of the Institute of Classical Studies and the Hellenic and Roman Societies in London), this article examines the relationship between those first documents, the publication, and some of its afterlives. We demonstrate how Wood’s treatment of Tadmor‐Palmyra and its inhabitants has shaped memories of the site, prioritizing certain narratives and occluding others, a process that continues today.

Knowing Palmyra: Mandatory production of archaeological knowledge

“…Antiquities from Palmyra are now globally dispersed as a result of their collection and trafficking since at least the 18th century (Baird and Kamash, 2019); sculptures from Palmyra, for example, can now be found in at least 34 nations, 147 different institutions and 50 private collections (nos. from the Palmyra Portrait Project database).…”

“…3.Wood himself reported scathingly local resistance to his ‘collecting’ in the preface to his 1753 volume (Baird and Kamash, 2019: esp. 11).…”

The Ruination of Dura-Europos

“…The DGAM professes that Syria's heritage 'belongs to all Syrians regardless of their political views' by releasing statements, printed on letterhead featuring Syria's coat of arms complete with the national flag, concerning the status of antiquities but it places itself, and hence Assad, as the stewards and controllers of that heritage, leveraging it as yet another tool in their arsenal. 18 There is also an irony in that the specific targeting of classical sites for looting or even more spectacular destructions happen precisely because archaeology has been so very successful at turning its objects of study into objects of value (Baird and Kamash 2019). This value is one that, as we have seen, can have a very exact monetary price, but it is also one that sees worth in objects themselves, and not in the contexts from which they have come.…”

“The Ingholt Archive. Data from the Project ‘Archive Archaeology: Preserving and Sharing Palmyra’s Cultural Heritage through Harald Ingholt’s Digital Archives’”

“…More specifically, the archive can inform and enrich several current research initiatives that engage with the cultural heritage preservation of Syria, thereby strengthening restitution efforts [20,21,22]. Although scholars have reflected upon potential next steps in the study and restitution of Palmyra, the archive and its publication as a source of primary data is a definitive action in the progress of Palmyrene studies [23,24].…”