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Visions of Palmyra: Between legend and destruction
June 01, 20167:00 p.m.
MADRID
Casa Árabe Auditorium (at Calle Alcalá, 62).
7:00 p.m.
Free entry until the event’s capacity is reached.
In French and Spanish with simultaneous translation.
Casa Árabe and the French Institute of Madrid have organized a conference about the Syrian city of Palmyra.
Palmyra, an oasis city, exceptional due to its archeological remains and location, has a unique history. Despite the commotion over its recent partial destruction at the hands of Daesh and the arrival of Bashar al-Assad and his allies’ troops there, it is important to review the site’s splendorous past and current status. Three experts will be commenting on the threats which jeopardize the treasures found in this ancient city, a crossroads of influences between the Greco-Roman Mediterranean and Parthian Mesopotamia, between the sedentary cultures of Syria and the nomadic world of the desert.
This conference will be given by Maurice Sartre, professor emeritus of Ancient History at the University of Tours, Annie Sartre, professor emeritus of Roman History at the University of Artois, and Mario Agudo Villanueva, a journalist and historian. The event will be presented and moderated by Karim Hauser, who is responsible for the Governance Area at Casa Árabe.
Maurice Sartre is a historian and professor emeritus of Ancient History at the University of Tours. At the same time, he works to disseminate the historical culture of the university to the public at large. He has actively taken part in creating the “Rendez-vous de l’histoire de Blois,” promoted by Jack Lang, as the first chairman of the scientific board for this event with an international following. A specialist on the Greco-Roman Near East, a subject to which he has devoted several books, Maurice Sartre has had many works published, including D’Alexandre à Zénobie, Histoire du Levant antique (IVe s. av. IIIe s. ap. J.C.) [From Alexander to Zenobia, History of the Ancient Levant (4th cent. BC to 3rd cent. AD)], on Palmyra in particular, with Annie Sartre Fauriat, Palmyre: La cité des caravanes (The City of Caravans, published by Gallimard-Découvertes, 2008), Zénobie, de Palmyre à Rome, (Zenobia: From Palmyra to Rome, published by Perrin, 2014) and Palmyre, vérités et légendes (Palmyra: Truth and Legend, published by Perrin, May 2016).
Annie Sartre is a historian, professor emeritus of Roman History at the University of Artois (Arras) and a specialist in Syrian history and heritage. She has worked on the funerary architecture of Greco-Roman Syria and on the country’s archeological discovery by Western travelers.
Mario Agudo Villanueva. Born in Madrid in 1977, Agudo Villanueva is a journalist and historian. He currently runs the archeology website www.mediterraneoantiguo.com. He is a professor of the subjects “Journalism, Heritage and Archeology” and “Measuring Communication” at the University of Burgos and has authored various articles and reports for publications such as Djeser, Enjoy Castilla y León, Románico and Gladius. He contributes to SER Historia and recently published Macedonia: la cuna de Alejandro Magno (Macedonia: Cradle of Alexander the Great).
