This town is set in a desert oasis.
The city was ruled by the legendary Queen Zanobia, who stood against
the two great empires of the Romans and the Persians.
Zenobia was taken captive to Rome when the Emperor
Aurelian conquered and destroyed the city in A.D 272. the ruins
of the valley of Tombs, the Hypogeum of The three brothers,
the Temple of Baaland the Monumental Arch are some of the fine
remains found over a wide area of the city, prized as some of
the most famous monuments to the Classical period in the Middle
East.
One cannot visit this palace of
the desert without making sure that it has not rained before your
arrival and also having the services of a guide who knows well
the desert tracks. The road is not too long since out of the 120
Km separating Palmyra from Qaser El Heir Al Sharqi you will follow
80 Km of the excellent Deir Ezzor Road up to Sukhneh.
After El – Taybeh, the road
turns definitely to the east and you can see the ruins of Qaser
El Heir El Sharqi, 15 Km away you will reach it at the outer wall,
rather well preserved in its southeastern angle ( you will arrive
from the west ) which has a series of round shaped towers and
walls of beautiful white limestone. It is a wall used rather to
surround a vast agricultural exploitation or a hunting reserve,
like Qaser Al Heir Al Gharbi
About 150 km. from Damascus, by
the more commonly followed road, near the Basiri station
( on a track serving the Phosphate fields), a tarmaced road separating
to the left in the direction of Homs will take you to the Qaser
El Heir Al Gharbi, a castle erected about 727 by the Caliph Hisham
on the site of a Monastery which was built in 559 under emperor
Justinian by a Ghassanide tribal chief with the name of "
Arethas " or Al Hareth Bin Jabala, the fortified tower of
the Monastery was incorporated into the castle while materials
taken from the ruins of Palmyra ( By the Ghassanides or the Omayyads
) were also used.
