Why Islamic State wants to destroy the treasures of the ancient world
The destruction is not just of physical structures - its the texture of the city and the lives of its different communities, said Bernard Haykel, a professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University.
And Islamic State is known to have reaped significant revenue from black-market trafficking in archaeological relics. The group considers antiquities a natural resource, like mining or oil, said Christopher Jones, a Columbia University historian who has documented cultural damage in the region on his blog.
Few comments w article:
- The way to conquer a people is to destroy their cultural artifacts. This has happened over and over, with one example being the Romans destroying Greek sculptures and other art. The Romans even came up with a different measurement for statues: 9 heads tall instead of 8 which is nearer the lifelike measurement. The sad thing is that once these antiquities are destroyed, they are gone for good.
- They have the same mentality as those who would march across this country destroying any flag or symbol they feel is insulting to their beliefs or their past.
- You saw what happened in the South as people demanded the destruction of flags and monuments dedicated to confederate soldiers, a number of prestigious universities have removed monuments or changed the names of buildings because the original endowers were southern or slave holders. This is absolutely no different than the radical Muslims who cannot accept any symbol of human history that does not conform to the Quran.
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He was charged with trespassing, then vanished.