World Heritage:
Iraq's damaged Babylon hopes for revival
......... The main ruins you can see now are of Nebuchadnezzar's
northern palace, some 2,600 years old, and parts of the old city walls.
Saddam Hussein had a statue of a lion killing a man, which was found there, set up on a plinth nearby.
It was Nebuchadnezzar who is supposed to have built the hanging gardens
for his wife. The story goes that she was from the mountains, but
living in this desert city, she missed the sight of greenery.
Procession street in Babylon, Iraq
Saddam Hussein's new palace walls line what remains of Procession Street
Perhaps the real story is still there underground.
Mr Shahid hopes that one day, proper archaeological exploration will resume.
"We have many important historical sites here," he says, "but still only a quarter of the area has been excavated."
Its importance, and that of the many other ancient sites in Iraq, cannot be overestimated.
Long before there were any towns or cities in Europe, Babylon was thriving.
Modern civilisation as we know it now - built around organised, planned cities - first emerged in what is now Iraq.
Before that, humans had only lived as nomads.
Mr Shahid says he hopes Babylon can regain its World Heritage status -
removed because of Saddam Hussein's alterations - and eventually
re-open to visitors.
But at the moment, the shutters on the old souvenir shop I remember from 2000 are still down.
Syria uncovers 'largest church'
This is the fourth ancient church to be found in Palmyra
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Archaeologists have discovered what they believe to be the largest ancient Christian church in Syria.
The remains of the building, thought to date back some 1,500 years, were found in Palmyra in central Syria.
A small amphitheatre and two rooms for Christian rituals were also found on the site of the church.
Palmyra, 220km (135 miles) north-east of Damascus, was an important
Roman-era desert stop for caravans travelling to Mesopotamia and Persia.
Much of the city was destroyed by the Romans in the third century, in
revenge for rebelling against their rule under Syrian Queen Zenobia.
The site remains a treasure trove for archaeologists.
The director of Palmyra museum, Walid Assad, said the latest find by
Syrian and Polish archaeologists was the fourth church to be discovered
in the city - and the largest in Syria.
Map
Its base measures 12m by 24m (39ft by 79ft) with 6m-high (20ft) columns, the AFP news agency reports.
"Christianity came to Palmyra in the year 312, at a time when
Christians had begun to build churches," Mr Assad told AFP. "And this
one is huge - the biggest ever found in Syria. It dates back to the
fourth or fifth centuries after Jesus Christ."
He said archaeologists found two rooms on one side of the building and
an amphitheatre in the courtyard that may have been used for baptisms,
prayers and other religious ceremonies.
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