The Tower of Elahbel (also known as Tower 13 or Kubbet el 'Arus) was a four-storey sandstone tower tomb near the ancient city of
Palmyra
Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () ''Tadmor''; ar, تَدْمُر ''Tadmur'') is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early second ...
in Syria. The tower was one of several built outside the city walls of Palmyra, in an area known as the
Valley of the Tombs. The tower was important in the history of textiles: fragments of very early Chinese silk yarns, dated to the 1st century AD, were discovered in the tombs at the tower. The tower was demolished using explosives by the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...
in August 2015.
Description
The tower was one of several multiple-storey stone funerary buildings in a
necropolis
A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead".
The term usually im ...
a few hundred metres outside the city walls of Palmyra, in an area in the hills to the south and west that became known as the Valley of the Tombs. It lies below the
Umm al-Bilqis hill, about west of the similar Towers of Iamblichus (or Iamlichu, or Yemliko) from AD83. The tower was completed in AD103 by a Palmyrene aristocrat Marcus Ulpius Elahbelus and his three brothers, Manai, Shakaiei, and Malku; they were all sons of Wahballat, son of Manai Elahbel. It is thought that Marcus Ulpius Elahbelus became a Roman citizen in the reign of the
Emperor Trajan
Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...
, which is why he shares elements of Emperor's birth name (Marcus Ulpius Traianus). Elahbel was known from an inscription at the
Temple of Nabu in Palmyra.
The Tower of Elahbel was a tower of four storeys, with an approximately square plan, constructed from large sandstone blocks. The ground storey was slightly larger, and stepped back to the upper floors. A single door in the south face of the ground floor led to the interior, with an inscription plaque and round headed niche (like a window or balcony) decorating the otherwise blank wall above. The chambers inside were decorated inside with Corinthian pilasters and a painted coffered ceiling. The tower was partially reconstructed after it was visited by
Gertrude Bell
Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell, CBE (14 July 1868 – 12 July 1926) was an English writer, traveller, political officer, administrator, and archaeologist. She spent much of her life exploring and mapping the Middle East, and became highly ...
in 1900, and visitors could climb an internal staircase to the upper tomb chamber, and then the roof. Inside, the tower was divided into
loculi
Loculi ( sc, Lòcula) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Nuoro in the Italian region Sardinia, located about northeast of Cagliari and about northeast of Nuoro. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 538 and an area of . ...
, separate compartments like
pigeonholes or a
columbarium
A columbarium (; pl. columbaria) is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns, holding cremated remains of the deceased.
The term can also mean the nesting boxes of pigeons. The term comes from the Latin "'' colu ...
used to store the
sarcophagi
A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a cadaver, corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from ...
of deceased wealthy Palmyrenes, with each cell sealed with a carved and painted image of the occupant.
Destruction
The site containing the ruins of the ancient Palmyra, including the tower, was captured by ISIL in May 2015. Some portable carvings from the tombs had previously been removed to safety. Others were already held by museums. After ISIL/ISIS destroyed parts of the temples of
Baalshamin and
Bel later in 2015, the Tower of Elahbel and several other less well preserved tower tombs were reportedly blown up in August 2015, including the Tower of Iamblichus.
[{{cite news , url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-34150905 , title=Islamic State 'blows up Palmyra funerary towers' , work=]BBC News Online
BBC News Online is the website of BBC News, the division of the BBC responsible for newsgathering and production. It is one of the most popular news websites, with 1.2 billion website visits in April 2021, as well as being used by 60% of the U ...
, date=4 September 2015 , access-date=19 November 2019 , publisher=BBC Online
BBC Online, formerly known as BBCi, is the BBC's online service. It is a large network of websites including such high-profile sites as BBC News and BBC Sport, Sport, the on-demand video and radio services branded BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, t ...
, agency=BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
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Andrew M. Smith II, p. 93-95