The Temple of Bel as it appears today dates from the C1st-C2nd AD, but stands on a much older cult site near the date palm grove and Eqfa spring that enabled the foundation of a city in the middle of the Syrian desert. Later on the cella of the temple was adapted for use as a Christian church and faint traces of frescoes are still visible on the interior walls. It was also fortified in the middle ages and there was a village within the walls of the compound until the population was removed by the French authorities during their rule of Syria in the 1920s.
Creator
Emma Loosley
Joshua Bryant
Date of Visit
February 1997
June 1998
August 2004
25th August 2010
26th August 2010
Contributor
Emma Loosley
Joshua Bryant
William Chappell
Rights
Metadata and all media released under Creative Commons
unless otherwise indicated
Type
Architecture
Tags
Archaeology, Architecture, Bel, C1st-C2nd, Church, Fresco, Islam, Medieval, Palmyra, Roman, Sculpture, Syria, Tadmor, Temple
Collection
Citation
Emma Loosley Joshua Bryant, “Palmyra Temple of Bel,” Architecture and Asceticism, accessed November 21, 2024, https://architectureandasceticism.exeter.ac.uk/items/show/265.