Palmyra

Does it ever happen to you, that a completely random word comes into your mind for no reason? It relates to nothing you’re reading or have recently read in newspapers, books, on-line, nothing you’ve heard on the radio or TV, nothing anyone has mentioned to you – it’s just suddenly there, as clear as if it’s painted in luminous writing on a billboard right in front of you.

The word which popped into my head this morning as I was about to do some writing, was Palmyra. What? Oh, Palmyra – that’s a place, isn’t it? Maybe it’s in the news – I checked but there’s nothing current, however it did remind me of where it is. I most probably heard of Palmyra in a general way as an ancient city, somewhere in the near east – in fact it is in central Syria, and is situated on what was known as the Silk Road. In fact I actually have a copy of ‘The Silk Road’ by Peter Frankopan which I started some time ago but haven’t finished – guess what I will be reading in bed tonight!

…impressive architectural monuments were erected in places like Palmyra on the edge of the Syrian desert, which did well as a trading centre linking east and west. Not for nothing has Palmyra been called the Venice of the sands.

This very ancient place dates right back to earliest history, to the Neolithic period (the New Stone Age – about 12,000 years ago) As you can imagine it has been within various different empires over its long history, and as an oasis, was an important place on the Silk Road. It has come under the rule of Romans, the Byzantines, the Timurids, the French, the Syrians, the Islamic State, the Ba’ath Party, and now the Syrian Arab Republic.

Having survived, even in a somewhat ruinous state, it was still a magnificent and fascinating place, a most significant and important site in world history – however, during the civil war in 2015, Islamic State militants launched a destructive attack on the site itself, destroying and blowing up statues, ruins, arches, temples and monuments. Thankfully the Syrian Army recaptured it and since then huge efforts have been made to repair and restore the site and its historic remains.

So, Palmyra was very much in the news ten years ago, but why did its name come into my head today? I have no idea, and while I was wondering about it, I thought what a lovely sounding name it is. Maybe it will appear in one of my stories one day!

I can’t find any image which might relate to Palmyra, so my featured image is a carpet.