Description: Not only is the
Sanctuary of Bel the largest, best preserved, and most singularly spectacular of all the ruins at Palmyra, but it is the largest and most spectacular Roman-era temple complex that I have ever seen throughout the Roman world. Its towering walls, columns, and shear size are bound to impress, and it is definitely one of the must-see sights of Palmyra.
The enormous walls on the outside look more like the walls of a fort than of a temple, and part of that is because the temple was actually refortified and used as fort during Arab times, but there are still good sections of the walls where you can see the impressive nature of the original Roman walls, which were definitely not small by any measure. The best example is probably the old
propylaeum, the main entrance to the temple. Sadly, though, this entrance is now closed, and you now enter through a make-shift gate in one of the crumbled sections of the wall.
Upon entering the inner-sanctuary, or
tenemos, you will immediately be stuck by the size of this vast open space now littered with crumbled column capitals that probably once stretched towards the sky, but now lie in pieces. You will also notice the rows of columns that line the inside of the walls in parts. These are the remains of a colonnade that used to run around the whole inside of the complex providing shade. Inside the
tenemos you will notice right away the large structure in the middle, the
cella, or main temple, a large complex that dates back to 32 AD, but was built on top of a place that has been used as a site of worship since 2,000 BC. While the inside contains nothing much more than some nicely carved door frames, there are some stones beautifully carved with some figures that will give you a good example of Palmyrene art and how it differed from Roman art. Around the back of the
cella is a well-preserved section of tall columns that will give you a good idea of what the
cella would have looked like when it was completely surrounded by similar columns.
Other than the
cella, there is nothing else in particular to see other than the whole complex itself. The area is huge and even if you happen to get stuck there at the same time as a tour bus, it is easy to find a spot of your own where you can be alone and imagine just what the complex would have looked like in Roman times.
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