Three Syrian Historical Sites Under Threat

The Syrian conflict has claimed 70,000 lives according to the United Nations. Along with that staggering human toll, Syria’s unique cultural heritage is also being devastated.

Historian Nasser Rabbat was in our studio a few months ago when he reminded us that Syria’s historical heritage is part of our history too.

Violence In Syria Threatens World Cultural Heritage

Syria has two of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities.

It has one of the first known Christian churches. It has castles built by Christian crusaders and the Muslim knights who fought them. And it has ancient tablets that are thought to contain the first known mention of the Biblical Patriarchs.

Nasser returned to our studios to tell us about three sites that are under threat and what they mean:

The Dead Cities: 700 abandoned settlements in Northwest Syria, including the Church of Saint Simeon Stylites, that date back to Roman times.

The Shayzar Citadel: a site that has been traded between kingdoms for over a thousand years. It played a part in the Crusades

The Old City of Aleppo: the historic center of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city. It’s the place where, according to legend, Abraham camped to milk his sheep. A fire reportedly burned a large number of shops in the narrow, vaulted passageways of the city’s old bazaar.

Washington Post: Syrian rebels loot artifacts to raise money for fight against Assad

Guest:

Nasser Rabbat, historian, architect and director of the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Art at MIT.

We welcome comments from all of our listeners. Post below. Please stay on topic and be civil. Comments may be moderated by us, but you are solely responsible for the content of your comments.

Ananymous

There is no way that a true Syrian citizen will harm his/her own country. Don’t blame this on Syrian goverment. The rebels are the reason this damage is being inflicted on Syrian sites. Free syrian army is consistent of rebel gangs, from Turkey and other countries that will damage Syria and its heritage sites with pleasure
Raoul Ornelas

The heart of the Syrian problem is as old as time, dictators and tyrants don’t give a damn about cultural heritage. Their only concern is self and access to their countries assets through taxation. Taxation is the basis of their wealth and attaining great wealth allows one to purchase the latest spear, swords, bombs or missiles that keeps them in power. During a major uprising people will seek shelter in other countries or even in one’s cultural heritage – its about the basics of biology of surviving to reproduce; one’s culture heritage takes second to surviving. For tyrants, people are expendable for all tyrants are sociopathic by nature.