I see that many tend to compare the destruction of the (now two)
Roman temples in Palmyra as well as Assyrian sites, by The
Islamic State to the various disastrous destructions of other “jewel in the crown” sites in latest centuries such as
The Parthenon - lets
face it: it hurts so much mainly since it nearly survived
intact into modern times.
Had it been destroyed by the
Crusaders, like the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, for instance, it would have been easier to accept.
The many
medieval and Baroque cities of Central, Eastern and Western Europe destroyed by aerial and land bombardments during the 2nd World War (and with some
French and Belgian ones – also during the first).
ALSO – in many countries ancient sites are systematically destroyed for the most simple reasons – such as modern development (same as was in Europe in the 19th century) – these are often ancient sites with no celebrity status: city walls in remote towns, entire segments of
Roman roads and even ancient mosques and houses in Mecca Saudi
Arabia.
Etc. etc.
BUT – there is a big difference here:
had we spoken about the damage caused to the ancient core of Aleppo, Homs or even to the Kerac
des Chevaliers fortress (all damaged by fighting)- this was a similar case. However all the “who wants to blow up/bulldoze an ancient site for the camera?” twisted reality show acts we witness, are a deliberate
act of vandalism meant to publicly destroy a symbolic structure of what is regarded as an “enemies culture”. If we really look for parallel actions from the near Western worlds
history we may find parallel actions in acts such as the burning down of the Palaces of the Tulleries during the
Paris Commune in 1870, the deliberate demolition of some symbolic churches (especially in
Russia) by the Bolshevik regime or (as
Islamic state apologetics might have claimed) the systematic destruction of Nazi era buildings and
symbols in
Germany by the Allies in the immediate post war years.
Anyway – its 2015 now and these actions take a different meaning: The
Islamic State elements responsible do not really care for the “purity” of the landscape – they just look for publicity. Attracting the attention of the millions of people who are attracted to nihilism, wish to cause pain to whatever real/imaginary enemies they might have – people who tend to admire such ancient relics from the past. At least that is how I see it.
