Palmyra: IS Threat to 'Venice of the Sands'

Palmyra is one of the best-known ancient sites in the world

BBC AMERICA: Palmyra is in danger. As Islamic State fighters clash with Syrian government forces around the historic site, it is worth considering what the loss of this wonder, dubbed the "Venice of the Sands", would mean for the world's cultural heritage.

Palmyra is the last place anyone would expect to find a forest of stone columns and arches. Travellers in the 17th and 18th centuries were repeatedly astonished by what they saw: a vast field of ruins in the middle of the Syrian desert, roughly half-way between the Mediterranean coast and the valley of the River Euphrates.

For anyone visiting, however, the key reason for the site's prosperity is immediately apparent: ancient Palmyra sits at the edge of an oasis of date palms and gardens.

It was as a watering place on a trade route from the east that Palmyra's story begins, and the very name Palmyra refers to the date palms that still dominate the area (the origin of its Semitic name, Tadmor, is less certain; a derivation from tamar - date palm - is favoured). » | By Prof Kevin Butcher *, Warwick University | Friday, May 15, 2015

* Kevin Butcher is a Professor in the Department of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Warwick and a specialist in the Roman Near East. He is author of Roman Syria and the Near East (2003).