Primitive Barbarians

"This destruction marks a new phase in the cultural cleansing perpetrated in regions controlled by armed extremists in Iraq."
"It adds to the systematic destruction of heritage and the persecution of minorities that seeks to wipe out the cultural diversity that is the soul of the Iraqi people."
Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director-General

Palmyra lies 133 miles northeast of Damascus, and has been an important city since 2000 BC.Early rulers included the Assyrians and Persians, before the settlement was incorporated into the realm of the Seleucids, the empire founded by a former general of Alexander the Great.By the first century AD it was under Roman rule.   Picture: AP

Yes, it is a tragedy on a monumental scale, the world's loss of invaluable archaeological sites that speak of the progress and historical provenance of humankind. The architectural beauty and uniqueness of the remnants of ancient civilizations are meant to be valued historical sites for humanity, preserved and appreciated as part of our human heritage.

Of course, the bestial barbarism so beloved of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, the Islamic world's most recent gift to the globe, transcends in its stark brutality what we think we know of the limits to human perversions in doing immense harm to other humans. We think that way because the Islamic State has taken great care to record its human rights offences, so normal people can be horrified, and so that potential recruits can be impressed.

The fact is, of course, that in some Muslim countries of the world; Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, brutal executions are commonly carried out, in reflection of Islamic tradition and the instructions carried forward in Islam's sacred texts. And Islam, in its belief that only it represents the final incarnation of a fully realized religion dedicated to god, has always converted the holy places of Judaism and Christianity to reflect Islamic places of worship.



It is why the most sacred remnant of the ancient Temples of Solomon have been built over by the Dome of the Rock, and why the oldest Church in Jerusalem was overbuilt by the Al Aksa Mosque and it is why the current caretakers of the Noble Sanctuary built over the Temple Mount, deny that a great Judaic temple ever stood where Islam now claims the area as its third most sacred site in the Islamic world. When possible, the Islamic Waqf actively attempts to destroy any ancient finds validating the Temples' existence on the site.

Islam has claimed ancient Judaic sites mentioned in the Old Testament as being reflective of their tribal Arab culture, the prophets really Arab, not Jewish, and claims that Abraham, Jacob and Jesus were really Arab not Jewish, have also been promulgated. Now the Islamic State is on a rampage of destruction. The Taliban destroyed the immense, ancient Buddhist shrines at Bamiyan, horrifying the world at the casual annihilation of ancient statues, and ISIS is determined to outdo the Taliban.

The Hagia Sophia Church in Eregli (the Greek form is Heraclea) has become the ninth Hagia Sophia Church converted into a mosque by Turks over recent years

The mosque of the Prophet Yunus in Mosul where the burial site of the prophet Jonah is said to exist is yet another site claimed by Christianity and by Islam, which reflects in fact an Old Testament Judaic (minor) prophet. That tomb has now been destroyed by an explosive blast, though it was contained inside a Sunni mosque built over it. Mosul, home to numberless archaeological artifacts and heritage sites saw them destroyed with the use of sledgehammers and drills at the Mosul Museum.

The famous Winged Bulls at the Nergal Gate, the entrance to ancient Nineveh, were destroyed. Anything that escaped destruction became a valuable pawn for sale on the international black market for antiquities. The two thousand year old ruins of ancient Palmyra are threatened by the Islamic State advance where fighting between ISIL and Syrian government forces threaten the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Once Palmyra falls, that too will be gone.

 

Syria's UNESCO world heritage site of Palmyra is under threat from Islamic State fighters. The city was founded in the second millenium BC, and was an important stop for caravans crossing the Syrian desert. It became prosperous under the Roman empire, and reached its pinnacle of importance in the second century AD. While the Isil advance is not aimed at the ancient city itself, it has raised fears for its futurePicture: AP

 

Mosul University Central Library saw thousands of books burned, along with rare manuscripts and documents spanning centuries of knowledge. The structure itself was destroyed with explosive devices. The ancient city of Nimrud founded in the 13th Century BC, the first capital of the Assyrian Empire, was bulldozed by Islamic State. Sledgehammers, drills, saws and explosives were used to tumble the walls of the ancient town.

Another UNESCO World Heritage site, Hatra, 2,300 years old, the well preserved Parthian city was shown in a video released by Islamic State destroyed by rifle-wielding Islamic State terrorists using sledgehammers to destroy the "idols" -- "Islamic State has sent us to these idols to destroy them", proudly stated the barbarians while pillaging gold and silver artifacts in their spree against all human decency.