Amrit
The Ancient Global Village
Location: Tartus, Syria
Disappearing Places > Going to Ruins > Crumbling Classics
Information: www.amrit-syria.com
Airport: Lattakia
Lodging: Daniel Hotel 2 stars Sharia al-Wahda, Tartus ☎ 963/43/220 581; Bilbars Hotel 2 stars Sharia Okbah Ben Nafee, Crac des Chevaliers ☎ 963/31/741 201;
Airport: Lattakia
Lodging: Daniel Hotel 2 stars Sharia al-Wahda, Tartus ☎ 963/43/220 581; Bilbars Hotel 2 stars Sharia Okbah Ben Nafee, Crac des Chevaliers ☎ 963/31/741 201;
Even in ruins, the ancient port city of amrit on the syrian coast is still beautiful and full of archaeological treasures. But as the nearby city of Tartus continues to expand, the coastline where Amrit once stood becomes increasingly valuable as a possible site for resort hotels and other development.
Among Syria's ancient sites, Amrit is one of the most beautiful—and one of the least protected. That's part of its charm, but charm won't be enough to save it if the real estate becomes valuable enough. Over the past 25 years, various developers have launched projects to build hotels here, extending the sprawl of the popular Syrian beach resort of Tartus. In some cases, they were stopped only at the last minute, usually because construction crews had dug up valuable artifacts—an easy thing to do in a locale that's been settled since the Bronze Age.
Looking at the ruins of ancient Amrit, it's hard to figure out whether these people were Phoenicians, Egyptians, Persians, or Greeks. The answer is, a little of each—they were confident citizens of a global village, long before humans knew they even lived on a globe. There's no harbor here now, but evidence shows one existed that later silted up. Amrit became prominent around 3000 B.C. as a mainland extension of the island nation of Arwad, just offshore from Tartus. Amrit's chief ruins today date back to the era of Persian rule (6th c. B.C.), but the central temple is shrewdly dedicated to Melqart, a god of the original Phoenician inhabitants, and Eshmun, a god of the Egyptians, with whom the Phoenicians had always traded extensively. Less than a kilometer (1/2 mile) south of the temple, two funeral towers nicknamed the Spindles (al maghazil) stand atop burial chambers, where distinctly Egyptian-like sarcophagi were excavated. In 333 B.C. when Alexander the Great took over the city (by then it was going by the Greek name Marathus), the temple was adapted to the worship of Hercules. What's more, another excavation on the other side of the river reveals an ancient stadium, dating from 1500 B.C.—a stadium 225m (738 ft.) long and 30m (98 ft.) wide, whose design is exactly like the famous Greek stadium at Olympia, but built several centuries earlier.
Back and forth Amrit went—independent for a while, then defeated again by Arwad, then part of the Roman Empire, and then abandoned by the Romans for Tartus, which had a larger harbor. In the Byzantine era, Amrit rebounded, but by the time of the crusades, it had declined so much that the crusaders raided it for stone to build their island stronghold on Arwad.
From the 18th century on, Amrit was protected as a romantic set of ruins, which is exactly what it remains today—overgrown with soft green grass where sheep graze freely, favored by locals as a peaceful picnic site. Edged by a graceful colonnade, the grass-choked artificial lake surrounding the temple is still rumored to have healing powers. A concrete-slab resort here? Sacrilege.
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→ n. a syrup considered divine by Sikhs and taken by them at baptism and in religious observances.
Origin: from Sanskrit amrta ‘immortal’.
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This article is about the ancient city of Amrit. For the Hindi film of Rajesh Khanna, see Amrit (film). For the mythical substance, see Amrita.
| Amrit عمريت |
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| The Temple of Amrit | |
 Shown within Syria
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| Alternate name | Amrith, Marathus, Marathos |
|---|---|
| Location | 6 km (3.7 mi) from Tartus, Syria |
| Region | Phoenicia |
| Coordinates | 34°50′N 35°54′E / 34.83°N 35.90°E |
| Type | Settlement |
| History | |
| Founded | Third millennium BC |
| Abandoned | c. 148 BC |
| Periods | Phoenician (Persian, Hellenistic) |
| Site notes | |
| Excavation dates | 1954 |
| Archaeologists | Maurice Dunand |
| Condition | Ruins |
| Management | Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums |
| Public access | Yes |
Amrit or Amrith (Arabic: عمريت), also known as Marathos or Marathus (Ancient Greek: Μάραθος), was an ancient Phoenician city located near Tartus in Syria. Founded in the third millennium BC and abandoned during the second century BC, the city's Phoenician ruins have been preserved in their entirety without extensive remodeling by later generations.[1]
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Contents
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Overview
The city lies on the Mediterranean coast around 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) south of modern-day Tartus. Two rivers cross the city: Nahr Amrit, near the main temple, and Nahr al-Kuble near the secondary temple, a fact that might be linked to the importance of water in the religious traditions in Amrit.[1] The city was probably founded by the Arvadites,[2] and served as their continental base.[3] It grew to be one of the wealthiest towns in the dominion of Arwad. The city surrendered, along with Arwad, to Alexander the Great in 333 BC.[4] During Seleucid times the town, known as Marathus, was probably larger and more prosperous than Arwad.[5] In 219 BC Amrit gained independence from Arwad, and was later sacked by forces from the latter city in 148 BC.[2]
Excavation
Excavations of the site principally began in 1954 by French archaeologist Maurice Dunand.[3] Ceramic ware finds at Amrit indicated the site had been inhabited as early as the third millennium BC.[1] Middle and Late Bronze Age "silo tombs" were also excavated, with contents ranging from weapons to original human remains. Excavations at the necropolis south of the town yielded several tomb structures. The funeral art found in some tombs with pyramidal-or cube-shaped towers, is considered some of "the most notable grave-monuments of the Phoenician world."[3] Excavations also uncovered the town's ancient harbor, and a U-shaped stadium that dates back to the 4th and 3rd centuries BC and measures around 230 metres (750 ft) in length.[3]
Temples
One of the most important excavations at Amrit was the Phoenician temple, commonly referred to the "ma'abed," dedicated to the god Melqart of Tyre and Eshmun. The colonnaded temple, excavated between 1955 and 1957, consists of a large court cut out of rock measuring 47×49 metres (154×161 ft) and over 3 metres (9.8 ft) deep, surrounded by a covered portico. In the center of the court a well-preserved cube-shaped cella stands.[3] The open-air courtyard was filled with the waters of a local, traditionally sacred spring, a unique feature of this site. The temple—which was dated to the late 4th century BC, a period following the Persian expansion into Syria—shows major Achaemenid influence in its layout and decoration. According to Dutch archaeologist, Peter Akkermans, the temple is the "best-preserved monumental structure from the Phoenician homeland."[6]
A second temple, described by visitors to the site in 1743 and 1860 and thought to have disappeared,[3] was later discovered by the Syrian archaeological mission near the Nahr al-Kuble spring.[1]
Conservation
Amrit was included on the 2004 and 2006 World Monuments Fund watch lists of endangered archaeological sites. The Fund called attention to the site's rapid deterioration due to vandalism and encroaching development. In 2006 a three-day workshop was organized with participation from the UNESCO, Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums of Syria and local administrators responsible for the sites of Amrit, Tartus and Arwad.[7]
References
- ^ a b c d Al Maqdissi, Michel; Benech, Christophe (2009). "The spatial organization of the Phoenician city of Amrith (Syria)". ArchéoSciences 33 (suppl.): 209–211. http://archeosciences.revues.org/1596.
- ^ a b Baedeker, Karl (1876). Palestine and Syria, handbook for travellers. p. 536. http://books.google.co.jp/books?id=qoIDAAAAQAAJ&redir_esc=y.
- ^ a b c d e f Bryce, Trevor (2009). The Routledge Handbook of the People and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persians Empire. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-15908-6. http://books.google.co.jp/books?id=E1aF0hq1GR8C&dq=Amrit+syria&hl=ja&source=gbs_navlinks_s.
- ^ Kuhrt, Amelie (2007). The Persian Empire: A Corpus of Sources from the Achaemenid Period. Routledge. p. 439. ISBN 978-1-134-07634-5. http://books.google.co.jp/books?id=S6BevAUWSGAC&dq=Marathus+syria&hl=ja&source=gbs_navlinks_s.
- ^ Fattah, Hala Mundhir; Caso, Frank (2009). A brief history of Iraq. Infobase Publishing. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-8160-5767-2. http://books.google.co.jp/books?id=Q_-hrXU-mWYC&dq=Marathos+syria&source=gbs_navlinks_s.
- ^ Akkermans, Peter; Schwartz, Glenn (2003). The archaeology of Syria: from complex hunter-gatherers to early urban societies (c. 16,000-300 BC). Cambridge University Press. p. 391. ISBN 978-0-521-79666-8. http://books.google.co.jp/books?id=_4oqvpAHDEoC&dq=Amrit+syria&source=gbs_navlinks_s.
- ^ "AMRIT ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE". World Monuments Fund. http://www.wmf.org/project/amrit-archaeological-site. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
External links and references
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