Photos

I was most fortunate in being invited to visit a newly discovered tomb under the desert sands of Palmyra. One cannot, of course, take flash pictures for fear of affecting the fragile remnants of paints and tints. So I propped my head against a wall to steady my camera and held a flashlight in the other hand. The result was this shot, far from crisp and clear, but full of the spirit of the tomb's primary resident.
For those who are interested:
Palmyra, called the City of Palms by the Romans, is known as Tadmor, the City of Dates by the Arabs. It is an oasis city (though the oases are also affected by the world wide climate change and are turning to mudholes) and was an end stop on the great "Silk Road." History first records its presence in the second millenium BC, but its fame and destruction came about under the rule of Zenobia (AD 269-270) when she stood up against the Romans and even dared to take Antioch. Aurelian retaliated and took back Antioch then Emesa (Homs) and then Palmyra itself. Zenobia tried to escape but was captured and was taken back to Rome as a prisoner.