Palmyra Underscore The Cultural Cost Of Syria's War

Throughout the past 2,000 years the ancient temple of Bel has stood tall until recent events of the syrian war. In April of 2016 ISIS was attacked by the Islamic Army in the Syrian city of Palmyra. This invasion caused the main temple of Bel as well as a row of columns to be dismantled leaving only one stone doorway standing. After millions of years surviving the empires, it was finally taken down within a few days of the Syrian war. In Jared Malsin’s article “The Damaged Ruins of Palmyra Underscore the Cultural Cost of Syria’s War” from the April 18, 2016 Times Magazine, he efficiently uses logos and imagery to show the devastating effect of civil war on the ancient temples of Bel.
Within Malsin’s article he uses many different examples of

The first image used that truly captures the idea of his writing also happens to be the very first picture shown of the temple and columns in pieces on the ground. When the reader sees this they get a sense of what truly happened and how drastic this event was. Not only this but another image he used that captivates the main idea of his article is the second image, which shows six soldiers walking through the ruins with their weapons after the matter, and evaluating what has happened. The reader sees the effects it has had on not only the people of Syria but also the ones whom had fought in this civil war. These temples withstood a tremendous amount through the years, and for them to be gone is something that was devastating at this time. In addition, the seventh picture had a strong impact on the article as a whole because it showed the other side. It shows ISIS holding up their flags walking through the streets of theses ruins as if they did not just ruin an ancient temple that had so much more meaning than the time it’s been up. Not the last picture but the last one that truly stood for something in this article was the eighth picture. The image allows the audience to see how the civil war affected its people. The image almost screams out silence. You can feel the soldier taking everything in and watching his world fall apart in this one moment. This image out of them all has so much meaning within it. Maslin uses the element of imagery to not only give the reader an idea of what happened during this time but to also allow them to feel the pain and sorrow of this drastic