5th Grade Social Studies Fantasies

I think it was in the fifth grade that I first learned about History and Civilization. We learned the basics of social studies and were informed that the first civilizations sprung up (like weeds?) on the banks of two rivers called the Tigris and the Euphrates.

I have now been to the Euphrates. Roommate and I took a bus to the town of Deir az-Zour from Aleppo, and spent that evening drinking coke in a cafe along the banks of the river. My feet were eaten by mosquitos during that time, so I have given something back to the environment.

Deir az-Zour is known for its suspension bridge, which spans the Euphrates and which is lit at night to a very beautiful effect. The town itself isn’t particularly scenic, but it is full of very friendly folks, many of whom speak perfect Modern Standard Arabic. In fact, when we stopped into a pharmacy for bug cream, I was drawn into a long conversation with the pharmacist and his friend, a dentist. When I said that we live in Tunis, the dentist started quoting (and perfectly, I might add) the work of Tunisia’s favorite poet, Abdul al-Qasim Shaabi.

Deir az-Zour is also the standard jumping-off point for visits to the archaeological site, Dura Europos. This is a pre-Roman city along the banks of the Euphrates, about 20 miles from the border with Iraq. Roommate and I took a minibus there. We passed through sleepy-looking little towns along the way, a few markets, and a lot of desert.

After a little over an hour we reached the site, whose gates were an additional 20-minute walk in from the road. Once inside the gates, the landscape changes. We reached the river and the desert disappeared, replaced by verdant fields, agricultural outcroppings and green grasses, all at the bottom of a very impressive cliff.

We stared into the views for as long as we could before heading back into town and onward to Palmyra.

Palmyra is known in Arabic as Tedmor, and is one of those charming cities which were erected solely to serve the tourist industry. We got the first taste of that when, upon arriving at the bus station, the taxi drivers insisted upon exorbitant fees to take us into town. The guidebook claimed that the town was only 5 km away, and I preferred walking to being ripped off, so we set out on foot. A few minutes into the walk, however, I managed to wave down a driver and we got a fantastically affordable trip into town in the back of a truck. The taxi driver, I am pleased to report, found no one willing to pay his prices. He stayed behind at the bus station as we pulled gleefully away.

We visited Palmyra twice - once at sunset, and then in the morning of the next day. The sunset was very impressive, and the moon glowed above us, almost full.

There’s only one portion of Palmyra that requires an admission price; we saved that for the morning. It was there that we saw the ancient wall carvings and, even more exciting, a lizard! Palmyra was the home of Queen Zenobia who, in the 3rd century AD, succeeded in defying the Roman Empire and extending her own kingdom into Egypt. She only ruled for a few years, but is now part of the Syrian mythology - hotels and restaurants are called Zenobia, and her image is featured prominently in Damascus’s war Panorama, just as Pharaonic images dominate the Cairo Panorama. It's a very good story. I wonder why it's not a major Hollywood movie yet?