Temple of Bel, Palmyra, First Millennia B.C.E

Zhuan Liang

                                         Original Temple of Bel                                        

                     Palmyra, a noble city was once a stopping point for caravans traveling the Syrian Desert trade route. Over two thousand years ago, Palmyra was viewed as an oasis for traders because the city linked the Mediterranean with lands of the south and east. The nearby trading neighbors lead Palmyra to great prosperity, allowing the people to invest in elaborate and monumental architecture such as the Temple of Bel.

            

Plan of Temple of Bel

      

Section view of Temple of Bel

            The Temple of Bel dates from the first millennia, and sits within a square like boundary with approximately 205 meters on each side. The Temple of Bel takes on a few different architectural styles, probably due to the vast among of trade and influence that was coming in daily. The ground plan derived from eastern traditions of ritual architecture where independent shrines are designed for distinct divinities. They also designed with bent axis which connects to cults: one enters the temple and immediately turns 90 degrees to reach the cult. Another architectural style of the Temple of Bel is exhibited on its elevation where the Corinthian order governs the frieze course of the roofline, a technique well used by the Greco- Roman canon. The third architectural style seen in the Temple of Bel is the Hellenistic Greek style. Within the Temple of Be, mason’s marks and graffiti were found that indicates and hints the various craftspeople of different background such as Greeks, Romans and Palmyrans taking part of this monumental structure. (1)

                   

                Decorations on masonry

Decorations on masonry

                    Although some parts of the temple are similar to Greek architecture, there are differences as well, such as that the roof is decorated with triangles known as merlons. Another difference is that usually entrances are designed on the short side leading to one altar, however, since the Temple of Bel has two altars, the door is designed on the long side and once entered, it forces the visitor to either turn left or right in order to reach the altars. The Temple of Bel was built for divine triad: Bel, along with the moon god, Aglibol and the sun god, Yarhibol. Triad is the primary while the gods are secondary, portrayed as Bel’s attendants. The Temple of Bel uses a very deep foundation in order to support the stepped platform. It also uses a wide variety of columns such as pseudoperipteral, these are the free standing columns, Corinthian columns and Ionic half columns. (2) The stylobate or base for some of these columns was 30 x 35 meters in size. The temple contains a cella, 39.45x 13.86x 14 meters in size where all the cult statues are held. The cella is designed in eastern tradition with bent axis, one gets access to the cella through a ramp or through the central stair that is connected to the off center doorway.

Temple of Bel before destruction by Islamic State

            The Temple of Bel started out where multiple gods were worshiped, but The Temple of Bel was first destroyed by Aurelian after he took over Palmyra. However, he soon commissioned the Temple of Bel to be rebuilt as Roman garrison town. Then as times passes, Christianity came along, and the temple transformed to a Byzantine Church and later on when Islam became popular, the church transformed to a mosque. Eventually, in the 1900s Palmyra became a total ruin, but despite the ruin, the Temple of Bel became a small village for many people.(3) Through the years, Palmyra went through prosperity and went through natural and man- made disasters, but it survived and stood until it was sadly destroyed under the attack of ISS in 2015. Now, nothing remains except a few columns.

Sources:

11.   Khan Academy, Temple of Bel, Palmyra. Essay by Dr. Jeffrey A. Becker

22.  BBC News Magazine. Museum of Lost Objects: The Temple of Bel. By Kanishk Tharoor and        Maryam Maruf. March 2016

33. The Washington Post. Palmyra’s Temple of Bel withstood 2,000 years of war and invasions- until the Islamic State. By Ishaan Tharoor. September 2015.