The town of Palmyra is an oasis in the desert on the old silk and spice trail between the Euphrates river and the Mediterranean Sea. Palmyra is a modern form of the ancient Greek and Latin "palma" or date palm. The oasis today is still rampant with date palms, and the reason for the name is obvious at first glance. Neolithic materials from the many tells in the area indicate prehistoric villages may have existed at the oasis as early as the 17th Millennium BC.
Next to the town at the oasis of Palmyra are the ruins of an ancient city which most people and texts now refer to as Palmyra. Palmyra was originally known as Tadmor, and is still called Tadmor in Arabic. Local tradition indicates the name Tadmor is a modern adaptation of the Arabic word "tatmor", to cover or bury. This is very descriptive of the hundreds of tombs in the area.
The first known mention of Tadmor was in an Assyrian contract found in Kanish of Cappadocia (Anatolia) in or about 1900 BC. Later evidence from the town of Mari (Syria) mention Palmyrenes at the time of Hammurabi and seals have been found at ancient Emar dating from the 13th/14th centuries BC. At the beginning of the 11th century BC, Tadmor was mentioned in context with a raid against the Aramaeans in the central Syrian deserts. The oasis was populated first by the Amorites, next the Aramaens and finally Arabians.
Although much excavation has gone on at the site in the last 50 years, little evidence of the city prior to the 2nd or 3rd millennium has been found, other than some small pot shards from around the temple of Bel. It is assumed the current ruins lie on top of the ancient city.
In the bible book of Chronicles it says it was Solomon who founded "Tadmor in the desert". There is some disagreement whether the Syrian city or another city named "Tadmar", which was near the Dead Sea was meant. However, some scholars feel the Temple of Bel at Palmyra was possibly the work of Solomon in his later years, as the bible indicates he "fell into false worship" during his later life, or perhaps the Temple which now exists was based on the plan of an earlier temple. The plan and footprint of the Palmyrian Temple of Bel is almost exactly like the biblical description for the footprint of Solomon's temple in Jerusalem.
After the 3rd century BC, starting with Alexander the Great, Palmyra is mentioned in historical documents with increasing regularity, including accounts of a battle with Antonius (of Cleopatra fame).
Although in earlier years Palmyrian architecture and art was based more on Babylonian influence, with the granting of a "free city" status by Emperor Hadrian, around 129 AD, Palmyra began to take on a more Roman influence with its growth. During the golden period of Palmyra, from about 100 AD through about 300 AD, Palmyra became one of the great cities of the Orient.
Arguably the most famous resident of Palmyra was the Queen Zenobia, for which the town was later named. She was considered the most noble and beautirful of all of the women of the Orient. She was said to bhave pale skin, black eyes and beautiful teeth, as white as pearls.
In response to Queen Zenobia's declaration of her son as the new Roman Emperor, Augustus, the Roman army, under Aurelian overtook Zenobia in 272 AD. Queen Zenobia was escorted back to Rome, but apparently died enroute.
The city rose and fell somewhat throughout the ages, but never regained its former glory. It was apparently reduced to a village during the Ottoman empire. The high castle overlooking the city is supposedly from this time. Local history says the surrounding hills were covered in pines until the Ottomans burned them all in attempting the conquest of the city.
The desert, of course, reclaimed them all. The ruins we see today were completely buried in sand, with no one aware of their existence until the 1950's when a sandstorm uncovered them. |
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