Syria’s Most Renowned Archaeologist Loved Palmyra More Than Life Itself

Syria’s Most Renowned Archaeologist Loved Palmyra More Than Life Itself

Among the verdant greenery and sun-dappled stelae in the gardens of Syria’s National Museum, Tareq al-Asaad, 44, wipes the sweat from his brow, sweltering in the Damascene heat. This place is a sanctum that he comes to almost weekly, surrounded by names written upon rock, inscriptions whose authors' identities are lost to time. The gardens of the museum are full of these and other artifacts, carvings and columns. His head is clouded with memorie…