Lately, I've been thinking about the destruction of ancient sites that has accompanied the warfare going on in regions like Syria, Iraq, and places in Africa, like Mali. Sites like Palmyra in Syria, and numerous others in the world today, were ancient even in the days when observers whom we consider historical figures were alive and active. That is often a very sobering and fascinating concept for me to ponder. Think about it: The pyramids at Giza in Egypt were ancient by the time Alexander the Great came through and declared himself Pharaoh. They were ancient when Rome was founded. That thought is so profound to me!
An example of this that hits home for me when I think of these things is Ibn Battuta's brief, sad description of Balkh in his Rihla. Starting in 1325 at the age of 20, Ibn Battuta set off on a journey that would take him across the Islamic world (Dar al-Islam) of his day, covering "about 75,000 miles visiting the equivalent of 44 modern countries which were then mostly under the governments of Muslim leader"(1). Balkh itself had been in existence since the 6th c. BCE as part of the Achaemenid Empire, and was attested by Ctesias of Cnidos as possibly being inhabited as early as the 8th or 9th century BCE(2). So to a 14th century observer viewing a site such as Balkh that had seen its share of strife and war, especially at the hands of the recent Mongol invasion, Balkh must not have appeared as the Umm al-Belaad (Mother of Cities, so named due to its ancient origins) that earlier Arab conquerors must have beheld for themselves(3).
Ibn Battuta had this observation to give of the ancient city of Balkh:
690 years from the time Ibn Battuta began his travels to today is no small stretch of time, yet even then Balkh was ancient and ruinous by the time the traveling qadi (judge of Islamic Law) laid eyes upon it.
I suppose, what I am trying to say is, that perspective is important. When regarding the ancient sites that still exist in our world today, it is important to note that even these great, man-made monuments have witnessed the rise and decline of successive generations. What do you think future travelers will think when they behold the works of the present that endure into the decades and centuries to come?
1.) Bartel, Nick. "The Travels of Ibn Battuta: A Virtual Tour with the 14th Century Traveler." U.C. Berkley website. 2012. http://ibnbattuta.berkeley.edu/index.html (accessed on 11 December 2015).
2.) Leirche, P. and F. Grenet. "Bactra". Encyclopædia Iranica, online edition, 2011, available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bactria (accessed on 11 December 2015).
3.) Harold, Frank. "Balkh and Mazar-e-Sharif." Silk Road Seattle website. Walter Chapin Simpson Center for Humanities: University of Washington. 2006. http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/cities/afghanistan/balkh.html
4) Ibn Battuta. Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354, trans. H.A.R. Gibb. (London: Routeledge and Kegan Paul LTD/ Psychology Press, 2004), pg. 175 accessed through Google Books.
An example of this that hits home for me when I think of these things is Ibn Battuta's brief, sad description of Balkh in his Rihla. Starting in 1325 at the age of 20, Ibn Battuta set off on a journey that would take him across the Islamic world (Dar al-Islam) of his day, covering "about 75,000 miles visiting the equivalent of 44 modern countries which were then mostly under the governments of Muslim leader"(1). Balkh itself had been in existence since the 6th c. BCE as part of the Achaemenid Empire, and was attested by Ctesias of Cnidos as possibly being inhabited as early as the 8th or 9th century BCE(2). So to a 14th century observer viewing a site such as Balkh that had seen its share of strife and war, especially at the hands of the recent Mongol invasion, Balkh must not have appeared as the Umm al-Belaad (Mother of Cities, so named due to its ancient origins) that earlier Arab conquerors must have beheld for themselves(3).
Ibn Battuta had this observation to give of the ancient city of Balkh:
We crossed the river Oxus into the land of Kurasan and after a day and a half's march through a sandy uninhabited waste reached Balkh. It is an utter ruin and uinhabited, but anyone seeing it would think it inhabited on account of the solidity of its construction. The accursed Tinkiz (Chinggis, or Genghis Khan) destroyed this city and demolished about a third of its mosque on account of a treasure which he was told lay under one of its columns. He pulled down a third of them and found nothing and left the rest as it was. After leaving Balkh we travelled for seven days through the mountains of Quhistan, in which there are numerous inhabited villages with running streams and leafy trees, mostly fig-trees, and many hospices inhabited by devotees. Thereafter we reached the city of Herat, which is the largest inhabited city in Khurasan. There are four large cities in the province, two of them, Herat and Naysabur [Nishapur] inhabited, and two, Balkh and Merv, in ruins.
690 years from the time Ibn Battuta began his travels to today is no small stretch of time, yet even then Balkh was ancient and ruinous by the time the traveling qadi (judge of Islamic Law) laid eyes upon it.
I suppose, what I am trying to say is, that perspective is important. When regarding the ancient sites that still exist in our world today, it is important to note that even these great, man-made monuments have witnessed the rise and decline of successive generations. What do you think future travelers will think when they behold the works of the present that endure into the decades and centuries to come?
1.) Bartel, Nick. "The Travels of Ibn Battuta: A Virtual Tour with the 14th Century Traveler." U.C. Berkley website. 2012. http://ibnbattuta.berkeley.edu/index.html (accessed on 11 December 2015).
2.) Leirche, P. and F. Grenet. "Bactra". Encyclopædia Iranica, online edition, 2011, available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bactria (accessed on 11 December 2015).
3.) Harold, Frank. "Balkh and Mazar-e-Sharif." Silk Road Seattle website. Walter Chapin Simpson Center for Humanities: University of Washington. 2006. http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/cities/afghanistan/balkh.html
4) Ibn Battuta. Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354, trans. H.A.R. Gibb. (London: Routeledge and Kegan Paul LTD/ Psychology Press, 2004), pg. 175 accessed through Google Books.
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