The Temple of Baal - Ancient City of Carthage

William Walcot

Walcot's vision of Palmyra, Syria, before time and weather began their slow destruction of the structures built in the first century C.E. Known in the West as the Temple of Baalshamin (or, as here, the Temple of Baal), the name comes from one two sky gods worshipped by pre-Islamic Palmyrenes: Hadad, or Ba'al Samen (Ba'al). From the Khan Academy website:

"The Temple of Baalshamin in Pamyra is a rough contemporary of the Temple of Bacchus in [contemporary Lebanon]. ...This is one of a number of sanctuaries in the city that demonstrates the great wealth of the Palmyrenes. Palmyra and much of the Roman Near East was rich in cultural diversity, a diversity expressed in many ways, including by means of art and architecture."

Walcot's interest in reconstructing ancient sites on the plate in the early 20th century have incidentally made his work small preservations of a more contemporary history: Since 2015, this and many other sacred sites in Syria have been further damaged as a result of the ongoing Syrian Civil War, as well as a series of devastating earthquakes that took place in early 2023.