Alexander and ISIS
Recently, I attended my state’s historic preservation
conference as part of my new job. One of
the presentations I attended was given by a man working for UNESCO, the UN’s
cultural and educational arm, on ISIS and its current participation in the
illegal antiquities trade. It was simultaneously
an extremely interesting and disturbing talk that taught me a lot of things
that I was unaware of and that bear sharing here.
You may be asking how ISIS has anything to do with
Alexander, or like me originally, you would assume any ISIS having to do with
him would be of the Egyptian goddess variety.
However, I am, in this case, referring to the current terrorist
organization rampaging throughout the Middle East. Again you may be asking yourself, “what do
Arabs and Islam have to do with Alexander?”
The Middle East (especially Iraq)=Ancient Persian Empire=Empire Alexander
conquered=Alex’s stomping grounds. See
the connection now?
Current estimates place the sale of illegal antiquities as
the second- or third-highest source of funding for ISIS, and it is not just
random looting. ISIS has created and
operates a highly organized system of looting and sale. Major sites are looted by ISIS troops upon
take-over, often before being destroyed to further the group’s public image as
cultural cleansers. ISIS, likewise,
encourages the local populations to search for and gather artifacts to use as
payment for the hefty taxes ISIS imposes.
These artifacts are collected in holding camps where auctions are then
held on a regular basis. When a large
enough assembly of artifacts are collected, lists of available items are posted
on the internet with details for the auctions.
ISIS demands immediate payment for all items then leaves it to the buyer
to get them out of the auction locations, usually spot in Syria along the
Turkish border.
Current estimates believe that as much as $100 million
dollars of antiquities leave Iraq illegally each year since conflict began in
that country. The UN has unanimously
passed Resolution 2199 pledging to protect the region’s cultural heritage
through coordinated efforts among its signatory bodies. Text of that document can be found here http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002321/232164e.pdf
. Several countries of the Middle East have
made further promises in a recent declaration signed in Cairo the text of which
can be found here http://www.mei.edu/sites/default/files/publications/CairoDeclaration.pdf
Looting and the destruction of cultural artifacts is nothing
new when it comes to war. Some would
accuse Alexander’s army of doing much the same as it marched through the Persian
Empire. My love for Alexander in no way
makes me condone looting or seizing or however you wish to phrase such
actions. But my love for Alexander makes
this an important issue for me.
I have never been a big fan of Islamic art or even Persian,
Assyrian, or Babylonian art. So at
first, I was only a little sad as I think the destruction of any historical
item or information is a great loss to humanity. Then it suddenly occurred to me that
artifacts and information related to Alexander could be lost, or even more
importantly (to me anyway), related to the already elusive Hephaestion could be
lost forever.
While UNESCO has made important steps as seen by these
documents, problems remain. As ISIS has
proven, money=power. Due to some past
political issues and laws passed to deal with those issues that have remained
on the books beyond their need, the United States stopped paying its UNESCO
dues in 2011 following the acceptance of Palestine into UNESCO with full
membership rights. This caused an
immediately 22% budget cut for UNESCO directly affecting its ability to put
boots on the ground to combat the illegal antiquities trade.
I don’t intend to make this blog a political column or an
attempt to convert people to a certain world view. This issue, however, it think will be of
importance to those of us who are Alexandrophiles. What action you choose to take or not take is
entirely up to you. I just offer the
information for your consideration and encourage to read for your own on the
internet to form your own opinion.
I also apologize for
any errors or lack of sense in this hastily written post. I have been unwell but didn’t want to put
this off any longer.
