Phespirit goes to Syria
tour     March 2004

THE TOMB OF ELAHBEL

Phespirit sits on top of the four storey high 'Tower Tomb of Elahbel' in the Valley of the Tombs just west of Palmyra.

Other funerary tower tombs can be seen in the background but the one below Phespirit is the biggest and best.

THE TOMB OF JOHN THE BAPTIST

This cavernous building is the prayer hall of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus.

The smaller domed monument inside is the burial site of the head of John the Baptist.

It is said that workmen discovered the head in a small Christian crypt while the mosque was under construction. What luck!

THE TOMB OF ST SIMEON

The egg-like boulder on the plinth is all that remains of the column that Simeon Stylites sat on for over three decades.

He died in 459AD, 18m above the ground.

Observe the area in front where he was first buried before being dug out and transported to Antioch, and later to Constantinople.