Palmyra: History, Zenobia, Archaeology | Middle East And North Africa

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PALMYRA

Temple of Bel, Palmyra

Palmyra (90 miles east of Homs in present-day Syria) is magnificent ruined city built on a plateau above a beautiful palm-fringed oasis. Possessing virtually the only water found along a 250-mile stretch of desert between the Orontes and Euphrates river, this ancient city grew rich from taxes collected from caravans, loaded down with spices, perfumes, ivory and silk, on the way from Asia, the Persian Gulf and Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean Sea. So extensive was the trade that Palmyra grew into a wealthy metropolis that endured for over a 1,000 years.

Palmyra was mentioned in the Bible as Tadmor and is said to have been founded by Solomon. It is one of the most impressive sights in Syria and its remote locations means that is rarely overwhelmed by tourists. The ruins cover about 50 hecatres and have been extensively evacuated and restored. The town near the site has a population of 40,000.

The springs that feed the oasis in ancient times still yield water today. The blue slightly sulphurous water in the oasis provide nourishment for olive trees, date palms, cotton, vegetables and grains. Around the ruins are shady courtyards and restaurants where you can seek refuge from the midday heat.

According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art: “Palmyra was originally an oasis settlement, called Tadmor, in the northern Syrian Desert. Although the Roman province of Syria was created in 64 B.C., the inhabitants of Tadmor, primarily Aramaeans and Arabs, remained semi-independent for over half a century. They profited from their control of the caravan routes between Roman coastal Syria and Parthian territory east of the Euphrates, which allowed them to provide the Roman empire with goods coming from all directions. Palmyra was strategically located on two of the most important trade routes in the ancient world: one extended from the Far East and India to the head of the Persian Gulf, and the other—the Silk Road—stretched across the Eurasian continent to China. [Source: Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "Palmyra", Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 2000, metmuseum.org \^/]

History of Palmyra

Palmyra was mentioned in tablets dated to the 19th century B.C., when it was known at the city of dates not the “city of palms” as it is now known. Palmyra received its current name after Alexander the Great, who conquered the region. It was conquered by the Romans in A.D. 130, who turned it a front line against the Persians . By the A.D. 3rd century it was a metropolis of 30,000 people and the center of an independent kingdom. During this period, caravans loaded with perfumes from Arabia, spices and rare woods from India, and silk from China passed through Palmyra.

According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art: “Under the Roman emperor Tiberius (14–37 A.D.), Tadmor was incorporated into the province of Syria and assumed the name Palmyra, or "place of palms." After the Roman annexation of Nabataea in 106 A.D., Palmyra replaced Petra as the leading Arab city in the Near East and its most important trading center. About 129 A.D., during the reign of Hadrian, Palmyra rose to the rank of a free city, and in 212 A.D. to that of a Roman colony. [Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art]

With the foundation of the Sasanian empire of Iran in 224 A.D., Palmyra lost control over the trade routes, but the head of a prominent Arabian family who was an ally of the Roman empire, Septimius Odaenathus, led two campaigns against the Sasanians and drove them out of Syria. When Odaenathus was murdered in 267 A.D., his Arab queen, Zenobia, declared herself Augusta (empress) and ruled in the name of her son, Vaballathus. She established Palmyra as the capital of an independent and far-reaching Roman-style empire, expanding its borders beyond Syria to Egypt and much of Asia Minor. Her rule was short-lived, however; in 272 A.D., Emperor Aurelian reconquered Palmyra and captured Zenobia, whose subsequent transport to Rome bound in chains of gold is legendary.” \^/

Books: Ball, Warwick Rome in the East: The Transformation of an Empire. London: Routledge, 2000. Browning, Iain Palmyra. London: Chatto + Windus, 1979. Milleker, Elizabeth J., ed.

Zenobia

Zenobia

Palmyra reached its height under an extraordinary half-Arab, half-Greek queen named Zenobia (c. A.D. 240–c. 274), the second wife of King Septimius Daenathus, She took control of the kingdom after her husband, , and her son were assassinated under mysterious circumstances. From A.D. 266 to 273 CE. Palmyra was led by Zenobia, the "Queen of the East". She was a woman of courage and energy, who almost founded an Asian empire to the detriment of Rome. During her time, Palmyra was a thriving and powerful city situated upon an oasis in the Syrian desert. [Source: William Stearns Davis, ed., “Readings in Ancient History: Illustrative Extracts from the Sources,” 2 Vols. (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1912-13), Vol. II: Rome and the West]

According to Listverse: From royal ancestry herself Zenobia became queen of the Palmyrene Empire after King Daenathushis’s assassination. She took matters into her own hands, had his killer executed, and became a ruler and powerful military leader. Queen Zenobia took it to the Romans, attacking the Roman East and thereby expanding her empire. In a short few years, Zenobia and her forces had captured all of Syria, Palestine, Anatolia, and even Egypt (which was a fruitful part of the Roman Empire). She declared her independence from Rome with a sword in hand. [Source Bullybeefed, Listverse, March 29, 2024]

Claiming to be a descendant of Cleopatra, Zenobia thumbed her nose at Rome and conquered lower Egypt and sent her armies across Asia Minor to the Bosporus with aim of eventually taking Rome. Finally, Roman Emperor Aurelia decided that enough was enough. In A.D. 273 he marched an army across Asia Minor. Roman armies defeated Zenobia at Antioch, Emesa, and Palmyra and captured Zenobia as she attempted to flee. Some historians claim that Zenobia starved herself to death as a prisoner on the route to Rome. Others say she was exhibited in Rome—bound in golden chains. Afterwards the people of Palmyra rebelled and Palmyra was destroyed. After that the once proud capital of a kingdom was reduced to an outpost of the Roman empire.

Conquest of Palmyra by the Romans

William Stearns Davis wrote: “During the disasters of the middle of the third century A.D. the Asiatic provinces of the Empire were nearly torn away, first by the Persians, then by the rulers of Palmyra, a thriving and powerful city situated upon an oasis in the Syrian desert. From 266 to 273 CE. the sovereign of this city and the "Queen of the East" was Zenobia, a woman of courage and energy, who almost founded an Oriental empire to the detriment of Rome. From this dismemberment the Roman world was saved by the Emperor Aurelian, who among his other conquests overcame Zenobia and destroyed Palmyra (273 A.D.), after no puny struggle. [Source: William Stearns Davis, ed., “Readings in Ancient History: Illustrative Extracts from the Sources,” 2 Vols. (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1912-13), Vol. II: Rome and the West]

On the conquest of Palmyra by Aurelian (r.270-275 A.D.), Vopiscus wrote: “After taking Tyana and winning a small battle near Daphne, Aurelian took possession of Antioch, having promised to grant pardon to all the inhabitants, and — acting on the counsel of the venerable Apollonius — he showed himself most humane and merciful. Next, close by Emesa [Davis: a very sacred city, and the great seat of the worship of the Syrian sun god Elagabalus], he gave battle to Zenobia and to her ally Zaba — a great battle in which the very fate of the Empire hung in the issue. Already the cavalry of Aurelian were weary, wavering, and about to take flight, when, by divine assistance, a kind of celestial apparition renewed their courage, and the infantry coming to the aid of the cavalry, they rallied stoutly. Zenobia and Zaba were defeated, and the victory was complete. Aurelian, thus made master of the East, entered Emesa as conqueror. First of all he presented himself in the temple of Elagabalus, as if to discharge himself of an ordinary vow — but there he beheld the same divine figure which he had seen come to succor him during the battle. Therefore in that same place he consecrated some temples, with splendid presents; he also erected in Rome a temple to the Sun, and consecrated it with great pomp. [Source: Vopiscus, Aurelian's Conquest of Palmyra ( A.D. r.270-275), A.D. 273 William Stearns Davis, ed., “Readings in Ancient History: Illustrative Extracts from the Sources,” 2 Vols. (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1912-13), Vol. II: Rome and the West, pp. ?? [Introduction (adapted from Davis)]

“Afterward he marched on Palmyra, to end his labors by the taking of that city. The robber bands of Syria, however, made constant attacks while his army was on the march; aud during the siege he was in great danger by being wounded by an arrow. Finally, wearied and discouraged by his losses, Aurelian undertook to write to Zenobia, pledging her — if she would surrender, to preserve her life — in the following letter: "Aurelian, Emperor of Rome and Restorer of the Orient to Zenobia and those waging war on her side. You should have done what I commanded you in my [former] letter. I promise you life if you surrender. You, O Zenobia, can live with your family in the place which I will assign you upon the advice of the venerable Senate. You must deliver to the treasury of Rome your jewels, your silver, your gold, your robes of silk, your horses and your camels. The Palmyrenes, however, shall preserve their local rights."

Zenobia and Aurelian

Capture, Courage and Humiliation of Zenobia

Vopiscus wrote: Finally, wearied and discouraged by his losses, Aurelian undertook to write to Zenobia, pledging her — if she would surrender, to preserve her life — in the following letter: "Aurelian, Emperor of Rome and Restorer of the Orient to Zenobia and those waging war on her side. You should have done what I commanded you in my [former] letter. I promise you life if you surrender. You, O Zenobia, can live with your family in the place which I will assign you upon the advice of the venerable Senate. You must deliver to the treasury of Rome your jewels, your silver, your gold, your robes of silk, your horses and your camels. The Palmyrenes, however, shall preserve their local rights."

“Zenobia replied to this letter with a pride and boldness, not at all in accord with her fortune. For she imagined that she could intimidate him. "Zenobia, Queen of the East, to Aurelian Augustus. No one, saving you, has ever required of me what you have in your letter. One ought in war to harken only to the voice of courage. You demand that I surrender myself, as if you did not know that the Queen Cleopatra preferred to die rather than to live in any other save her station. The Persians do not abandon us, and we will wait their succors. The Saracens and the Armenians are on our side. The brigands of Syria have defeated your army, O Aurelian; what will it be when we have received the reinforcements which come to us from all sides? You will lower then that tone with which you — as if already full conqueror — now bid me to surrender."

“On the reading of this letter the Emperor did not blush, yet he was angered, and at once assembling his army with his generals, and surrounding Palmyra on all sides, the great Emperor devoted his attention to everything; for he cut off the succors from the Persians, and corrupted the hordes of Saracens and Armenians, winning them over sometimes by his severity, sometimes by his adroitness; in brief, after many attacks, the valiant Queen was vanquished. Although she fled on camels by which she strove to reach the Persians, the cavalrymen sent in pursuit captured her, and brought her to Aurelian.

“The tumult of the soldiers — requiring that Zenobia be given up for punishment — was very violent; but Aurelian conceived that it would be shameful to put to death a woman, so he contented himself with executing most of those men who had fomented, prepared, and conducted this war, reserving Zenobia to adorn his triumph and to feast the eye of the Roman People. It is grievous that he must need place in the number of those massacred the philosopher Longinus, who was — it is said — the master of Zenobia in the Greek tongue. It is alleged that Aurelian consented to his death because there was attributed to him that aforenamed letter so full of offensive pride.

“It is seldom and even difficult that Syrians remain faithful. The Palmyrenes, who had been defeated and conquered, seeing that Aurelian had gone away and was busy with the affairs of Europe, wished to give the power to one Achilleus, a kinsman of Zenobia, and stirred up a great revolt. They slew six hundred archers and Sandrion, whom Aurelian had left as governor in their region; but the Emperor, ever in arms, hastened back from Europe, and destroyed Palmyra, even as it deserved.

“In his magnificent triumph, celebrated in Rome after Aurelian had conquered Tetricius, the usurping "Emperor of Gaul," and other enemies, Zenobia was led in procession exposed to public view, adorned with jewels, and loaded with chains of gold so heavy that some of her guards had to hold them up for her. Later, however, she was treated with great humanity, granted a palace near Rome, and spent her last days in peace and luxury.

Palmyra Archaeological Site

The Palmyra archaeological site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. According to UNESCO: ““An oasis in the Syrian desert, north-east of Damascus, Palmyra contains the monumental ruins of a great city that was one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world. From the 1st to the 2nd century, the art and architecture of Palmyra, standing at the crossroads of several civilizations, married Graeco-Roman techniques with local traditions and Persian influences. [Source: UNESCO World Heritage Sites, =]

“First mentioned in the archives of Mari in the 2nd millennium BC, Palmyra was an established caravan oasis when it came under Roman control in the mid-first century AD as part of the Roman province of Syria. It grew steadily in importance as a city on the trade route linking Persia, India and China with the Roman Empire, marking the crossroads of several civilisations in the ancient world. A grand, colonnaded street of 1100 metres' length forms the monumental axis of the city, which together with secondary colonnaded cross streets links the major public monuments including the Temple of Ba'al, Diocletian's Camp, the Agora, Theatre, other temples and urban quarters. Architectural ornament including unique examples of funerary sculpture unites the forms of Greco-roman art with indigenous elements and Persian influences in a strongly original style. Outside the city's walls are remains of a Roman aqueduct and immense necropolises. =

Palmyra is an important site because: 1) The splendour of the ruins of Palmyra, rising out of the Syrian desert north-east of Damascus is testament to the unique aesthetic achievement of a wealthy caravan oasis intermittently under the rule of Rome from the Ier to the 3rd century AD. The grand colonnade constitutes a characteristic example of a type of structure which represents a major artistic development. 2) Recognition of the splendour of the ruins of Palmyra by travellers in the 17th and 18th centuries contributed greatly to the subsequent revival of classical architectural styles and urban design in the West. 3) The grand monumental colonnaded street, open in the centre with covered side passages, and subsidiary cross streets of similar design together with the major public buildings, form an outstanding illustration of architecture and urban layout at the peak of Rome's expansion in and engagement with the East. The great temple of Ba'al is considered one of the most important religious buildings of the 1st century AD in the East and of unique design. The carved sculptural treatment of the monumental archway through which the city is approached from the great temple is an outstanding example of Palmyrene art. The large scale funerary monuments outside the city walls in the area known as the Valley of the Tombs display distinctive decoration and construction methods. =

Places in Palmyra

Colonnade of Palmyra stretches for more than a 1000 meters. Forming the city’s main thoroughfare, it ran from the man entrance to the monumental arch, and boasts rows and rows of columns with wide Corinthian capitals. Only one of the scores of statues that once topped the columns now remains. There are also inscriptions of citizens who contributed to the building the avenue itself. On both sides of the colonnade are ruins of warehouses and public buildings.

Four granite columns on the right hand side mark the location of Diocletian period bath. On the left side after a monumental arch is a nymphaeum (sacred fountain), a temple dedicated to the Babylonian God Nabo; a square agora (market); a banqueting hall; a terapylon (four groups of four pillars), marking the city’s main intersection; and a well-preserved theater with an orchestra pit, a stage and changing rooms.

Temple of Bel is surrounded by huge walls. The bleak exterior gives no hint of the wonderful interior inside: a huge 200-meter-square courtyard, surfaced with smooth stones, rises gently towards a great alter and basin where sacrifices were performed. The interior of the cells consists of two open chapels facing each other with ceilings made from single slabs of stone. The one on the left is decorated with signs of the zodiac while the one on the right displays fine geometric designs. The Palmyrece Trinity (Bel, Yrhibol and Agribal) is also depicted.

Ancient Tombs on the hills to east of the city fall into four categories: tomb towers, house tombs, and hypogeum towers (a stairway linked to a network of underground chambers inside a tomb tower), and hypogeum tombs (built for all the family members that die in a two century period). The Valley of the Tombs contains some of the most remarkable tombs in Palmyra: the Marona house tomb, the jamblique tomb tower built in A.D. 83 and the tomb tower of the Elhabel family built in A.D. 103. Near the top of the hillside there is an entrance to the hypogeum of Atenatah, which was dug in A.D. 98. To visit the tombs you need make arrangments with a caretaker at the museum who has the keys to get in.

Other sites include the Fortress of Ibn Maan, a 17th century Arab castle that requires a 45 minute scramble to reach; the statue of the lion god, the Temple of Belshemen, the goddess of Athena, and the building that housed the Roman administrative offices

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons, The Louvre, The British Museum

Text Sources: Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Mesopotamia sourcebooks.fordham.edu , National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, especially Merle Severy, National Geographic, May 1991 and Marion Steinmann, Smithsonian, December 1988, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Discover magazine, Times of London, Natural History magazine, Archaeology magazine, The New Yorker, BBC, Encyclopædia Britannica, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Time, Newsweek, Wikipedia, Reuters, Associated Press, The Guardian, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, “World Religions” edited by Geoffrey Parrinder (Facts on File Publications, New York); “History of Warfare” by John Keegan (Vintage Books); “History of Art” by H.W. Janson Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.), Compton’s Encyclopedia and various books and other publications.

Last updated March 2024