Alum Bryan Denton '05 traveled to Palmyra, Syria to document what was left of its archeological treasures after one year of ISIS control for The New York Times. A version of the story was featured on the front page of the April 5, 2016 print edition.
From the April 4, 2016 New York Times article, "A Jewel in Syria Where ‘Ruins
Have Been Ruined’ by ISIS" by Bryan Denton:
PALMYRA, Syria — As my Hezbollah escort and I entered the modern city around Palmyra, we were greeted by the mangled body of an Islamic State fighter left to rot in the sun. He looked as if dogs might have gotten to him after Syrian government forces, backed by loyal militiamen, routed him and his comrades from the ancient city after almost a year of Islamic State control.
In that time, the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, destroyed some of the remains of a civilization that 2,000 years ago was a mix of Roman, Persian and local cultures.
Where Palmyra’s impressive Temple of Bel once stood, only a single stone archway was left to frame a rectangle of blue sky above the arid desert about 160 miles northeast of Damascus, the capital.
I traveled to Palmyra on Saturday with members of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militia allied with President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, to see what remained of the archaeological treasures of Palmyra .
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