Syrian Sunset

As I've been on a run into Syria in a few previous posts just below here, am continuing in that vein... with this sunset in the ruins at Palmyra. One of my driving motivations for making the effort, and taking whatever risks may have been involved in getting all the way to Palmyra, was having read an account of the trip that John Fowles took there long ago, which he wrote about in his superb novel "Daniel Martin". (a synopsis of which can be found on the web page linked to here) John Fowles has been one of my favorite authors since having read "The Ebony Tower" in a college English Lit. class. I then went on to discover "The Collector", "The French Lieutenant's Woman", "The Magus", and many more that he penned, and have never been disappointed by his sheer intellectual perspicacity. If you are not familiar with Fowles, I strongly encourage you to head over to Amazon and pick up a few of his works, they are rewarding reading. And while you're doing some digging, don't forget to look up Queen Zenobia, who ruled over Palmyra and an empire that stretched all the way into Egypt in the third century ! Quite a woman...

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