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| Palmyra - Tombs |
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Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 2, p. 187. |
Ruined Tombs, Palmyra
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We now turn our attention to what constitute one of the most interesting and
striking features in the ruins of Palmyra—the mausoleums, or tower sepulchres.
One of the most beautiful towers [the one on the right in the illustration]
stands in the glen, or Wâdy el Kûbûr, near the road to Kuryetein. It is a square
tower, thirty feet on each side, and about eighty feet high, divided into four
stories, and slightly tapering . . . . The door is ornamented with pediment and moulding, and half-way up is a bilingual inscription on a slab, above which is a
bracket with two winged figures, and surmounted by a canopy. . . . This building
is a fair specimen of the mausoleums of Palmyra, of which more than one hundred
can be seen along the mountain slopes and on the plains, a few of them entire,
but the greater part in ruins. The inscriptions on them are generally in the
Palmyrene character only, though not a few are bilingual, having a Greek
translation appended. On the tower above described is a Greco-Palmyrene
inscription stating that it was built as a family tomb by Elabelos in the
Seleucian year 414 (A.D. 102) . . . . (Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 2, p. 198.) |
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Palmyra, Tower Tomb of Elahbel, Interior |
Source: Matson Collection. |
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Entering the door we find ourselves in a
chamber twenty-seven feet by ten, and twenty
feet high. On each side are four fluted
Corinthian pilasters, with tiers of loculi
between them. Opposite the door is a recess
containing five busts in relief, each having a
short Palmyrene inscription, giving the name
and parentage of the person represented. Over
the cornice of the recess is a projecting
slab, above which are four other busts with
inscriptions. The interior of the doorway is
ornamented with pilasters, and has a large
bust over it. To the left of the door is a
narrow staircase leading to the upper stories,
and above the door to the staircase are five
busts in two rows. The ceiling is beautiful,
consisting of heavy slabs of stone, panelled
and painted. Each of the central lacunars has
a bust on a blue ground, and each of the outer
ones a white flower in relief. The colours are
fresh as those in the subterranean tombs of
the Sidon Necropolis, but the busts are
mutilated, as they are wherever Muslim
iconoclasm has sway. (Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 2, p.
198.) |
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Source: Matson Collection. |
Palmyra, Highest of
Tower Tombs
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The mode of burial would seem to have been to embalm the body, place it in one
of the loculi, and seal up the opening. Wood found in one of the tombs a mummy
in all respects similar to those in the land of the Pharaohs, and fragments of
mummy linen and winding-sheets soaked in tar have been discovered here recently,
like those in the tombs of Egypt. . . . The hill to the south-west of the city
is called Tell es Sitt Balkis (“Hill of the Lady Balkis, Queen of Sheba”), the
only name in Palmyra which connects it with the age of Solomon. The Arabs claim
that the Queen of Sheba was named Balkis, a descendant of Yarab Ibn Kahtan of
Yamen, and that Solomon married her. This would account for their naming a hill
in Palmyra “Tell Balkis,” had Solomon actually built or reconstructed Palmyra;
but if Solomon had nothing to do with Palmyra, it would be difficult to explain
the association of the Queen of Sheba’s name with a spot so remote from
Jerusalem. (Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 2, pp. 198-200.) |
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Palmyra, Tomb of Three Brothers, Right Hand
Chamber |
Source: Matson Collection. |
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South of the fountain is a large cemetery
with about twenty tower sepulchres of great
antiquity. In one of them are two life-sized
statues, sadly mutilated, “with flowing robes
and close jackets curiously and elaborately
laced over the chest.” Near by are numerous
subterranean tombs, whose arched roofs rise
just enough above the surface of the ground to
reveal their existence. A few are open, but
the majority are buried beneath the débris of
ages, and in all probability still
undisturbed, with all their treasures of
statuary and memorial tablets. One which was
broken through a few years since is cruciform,
with three tiers of loculi in each
compartment. Several statuettes and other
ornaments were discovered in it. (Source:
Picturesque Palestine,
vol. 2, p. 200.) |
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See
Palmyra,
Palmyra Grand
Colonnade,
Palmyra Temple of the Sun,
Damascus,
or
Baalbek |
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