The Senseless Death of Mr. Palmyra

The war on culture unfolding in Syria, and the 83-year-old archaeologist who became its latest casualty.     

By Frederick Deknatel    

FOREIGN POLICY - August 20, 2015

When the self-proclaimed Islamic State took the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra in May, many waited for the smashing to begin. “ISIS has vowed to destroy these vast temples. Are they capable of doing that?” one television journalist asked a former British Museum curator, expectantly. Another news anchor declared: “We’ve failed to save the humans in this disaster. What likelihood is there that we will be able to save the stones?”  Except there are still people in Palmyra, along with the vast Roman-era ruins. One of those people, who spent his life studying, excavating, and preserving the stones in his hometown, was murdered this week at the hands of the Islamic State. Instead of lining Palmyra’s triumphal arch with dynamite or bulldozing the Temple of Bel, like so many imagined they would, the criminals killed an 83-year-old archaeologist. For 40 years, Khalid al-Asaad was the director of antiquities in Palmyra and ran its museum. “Mr. Palmyra,” as another Syrian archaeologist remembered him, was beheaded in public in the center of town by the jihadis, who then strung up his body with his head at his feet. His glasses were still on.

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