ISIS Executes Antiquities Scholar in Syrian City of Palmyra
Syrian official reports death of scholar Khaled al-Asaad
Khaled al-Asaad was head of antiquities in Palmyra for 40 years until his retirement in 2003. Photo: Marc Deville/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.
Militants of the Islamic State (known as ISIS, ISIL or Daesh) have executed antiquities scholar Khaled al-Asaad in the Syrian city of Palmyra, reports Maamoun Abdulkarim, the Director of the Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums in Syria.
Al-Asaad, who was 81 years old at the time of his death, was the head of antiquities in Palmyra for 40 years until his retirement in 2003. He had taken part in archaeological projects in Palmyra and was the author of more than 20 books on Palmyra and the Silk Road, the BBC reports.
ISIS militants reportedly held Al-Asaad for over a month, interrogating him about the location of valuable antiquities. Last spring, hundreds of statues were said to have been moved to a secure location as Palmyra was coming under siege.
Third-century C.E. funerary bust of a woman from Palmyra named Haliphat, now on view at the Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington, D.C. Photo: Robin Ngo.
“They killed him because he would not betray his deep commitment to Palmyra,” UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said in a statement.
The extremist group had captured the Syrian city of Palmyra in May, laid explosives around the 2,000-year-old ruins and blew up two nearby Muslim shrines.
In antiquity, the palm tree-lined oasis of Palmyra had been an important trading center along the Silk Road, connecting the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea. Monumental ruins at this UNESCO World Heritage site attest to the prosperity Palmyra enjoyed in the Roman period.
“The continued presence of these criminals in this city is a curse and bad omen on [Palmyra] and every column and every archaeological piece in it,” Syrian antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim said to Reuters.
Over the last year, ISIS has looted and destroyed a number of important archaeological sites in Syria and Iraq, including Aleppo, Nineveh and Nimrud.
From Babylon to Baghdad: Ancient Iraq and the Modern West examines the relationship between ancient Iraq and the origins of modern Western society. This free eBook details some of the ways in which ancient Near Eastern civilizations have impressed themselves on Western culture and chronicles the present-day fight to preserve Iraq’s cultural heritage.
Related reading in Bible History Daily:
ISIS Captures Syrian City of Palmyra
ISIS Plants Explosives in Ancient City of Palmyra
Temple of Baal Shamin in Palmyra Blown Up by ISIS
Satellite Images Confirm ISIS Destruction of Temple of Bel and Other Monuments in Palmyra
ISIS Destroys Antiquities in Mosul, Iraq
Archaeological Looting and the Destruction of Cultural Heritage
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Oh well, they will find that eternity is a long time
Spoiled kids trying to show off their new-found power. Were the U. N. any good for mankind they would anticipate and have more military power to stop such cultural destruction before the fact. We are still in the dark ages with this religious supremacy complex. Like socialists these kids attempt to reduce others to their lower level, where everyone is the same and their is no culture except revere the leader.
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http://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/wp20151101/
I really hate to see headlines like this that say “execute”. There was no judge, jury, defense. How about “Isis murders antiquities scholar”?
Can Isis please turn the guns 180 and pull the trigger ASAP.
Since you are destroying history, best you stop making history and just kill yourselves now.
The people of this planet thank you for your assistance in this matter.