Dead cities

The drive from Krak to Aleppo in northern Syria is a first view of the "Dead Cities" — abandoned ruins of some 700 Byzantine towns, villages and monastic settlements. These ruins are among the greatest treasuries of Byzantine architecture to be found anywhere in the ancient world. The photos are of Sergila, probably the most intact of the cities.

It is difficult to relate the impact on first citing; the cities are eerie (may be even more so when shrouded in winter mist) yet at the same time awe-inspiring. I have not experienced anything like it in my travels.

Deserted and desolate today, the region of the Dead Cities once supported an immense and prosperous population, for it was rich in olive groves and was the hinterland of the great Christian city of Antioch. The towns and villages ("cities" is a misnomer but sounds more dramatic) lack the grid plan of ancient cities; the "Dead Cities" instead seem to be settlements that developed organically in the countryside.

After the Islamic conquest of the Byzantine world, the political and demographical center moved from Antioch to Damascus and this region, which depended on Antioch for its prosperity, went into decline. Its inhabitants moved away, leaving behind ghost towns. In the absence of invasions or natural disasters, these towns and villages remained remarkably well-preserved over the centuries.