Syria's Monuments: their Survival and Destruction

Abstract

This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided no alterations are made and the original author(s) and source are credited. Further information and the complete license text can be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ The terms of the CC license apply only to the original material. The use of material from other sources (indicated by a reference) such as diagrams, illustrations, photos and text samples may require further permission from the respective copyright holder.An electronic version of this book is freely available, thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched. More information about the initiative can be found at www. knowledgeunlatched.org.Cover illustration: Serjilla, seen here in 2003, is in the Jebel Riha, some 80km southwest of Aleppo, and is one of the many "Dead Cities" travellers described in north and south Syria. Thriving in Late Antiquity, growing grapes and olives, it had houses, villas and public baths. Some structures were decorated with mosaics and frescoes; all were built from the limestone on which the town stood. Like other sites, Serjilla declined and was then largely abandoned; the possible reasons are discussed in the text.The complete endnotes are available on the site of the Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden (