Tower Tomb of Elahbel
برج إلهبل
The most famous tower tomb in Palmyra's Valley of the Tombs, built in the early 2nd century AD with four storeys; destroyed by ISIS in 2015.
In the Valley of the Tombs west of Palmyra, where tower tombs dot the hillsides, stood the Tower of Elahbel, the most famous and beautiful of them, built in the early 2nd century AD for the wealthy family of Elahbel.
Tower tombs are a distinctive Palmyrene funerary form: tall multi-storey stone towers with stacked niches for the dead, closed by slabs carved with portrait busts. Elahbel's four storeys held many generations, with carved and painted stone ceilings and fine sculpture; visitors could once climb inside.
The tower stood in the Valley of the Tombs a few hundred metres outside the city wall, below the Umm al-Bilqis hill. It was completed in AD 103 by the Palmyrene aristocrat Marcus Ulpius Elahbelus and his three brothers. It matters to the history of textiles: fragments of very early Chinese silk yarn of the 1st century AD were found in its tombs.
They reflect Palmyrene beliefs about the afterlife and wealth from caravan trade. The tower was destroyed in September 2015, with several others in the valley. Part of the Palmyra World Heritage site.
Note: photos may not reflect the site's current condition.
For the visitor
Location: 34.5533, 38.2504 · Open on the map
Photos
Photos: Bernard Gagnon — via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA) · Dosseman — via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA)
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