Palmyra

Etymology

Records of the name "Tadmor" date from the early second millennium BC; 18th-century BC tablets from Mari written in cuneiform record the name as "Ta-ad-mi-ir", while Assyrian inscriptions of the 11th century BC record it as "Ta-ad-mar". Palmyrene inscriptions themselves showed two variants of the name; TDMR (i.e., Tadmar) and TDMWR (i.e., Tadmor). The etymology of the name is unclear; the standard interpretation, supported by Albert Schultens, connects it to the Semitic word for "date palm", tamar (תמר), thus referring to the palm trees that surrounded the city.

The Greek name Παλμύρα (Latinized Palmyra) was first recorded by Pliny the Elder in the first century AD. It was used throughout the Greco-Roman world. It is generally believed that "Palmyra" derives from "Tadmor" and linguists have presented two possibilities; one view holds that Palmyra was an alteration of Tadmor. According to the suggestion by Schultens, "Palmyra" could have arisen as a corruption of "Tadmor", via an unattested form "Talmura", changed to "Palmura" by the influence of the Latin word palma (date "palm"), in reference to the city's palm trees, then the name reached its final form "Palmyra". The second view, supported by some philologists, such as Jean Starcky, holds that Palmyra is a translation of "Tadmor" (assuming that it meant palm), which had derived from the Greek word for palm, "palame".

An alternative suggestion connects the name to the Syriac tedmurtā (ܬܕܡܘܪܬܐ) "miracle", hence tedmurtā "object of wonder", from the root dmr "to wonder"; this possibility was mentioned favourably by Franz Altheim and Ruth Altheim-Stiehl (1973), but rejected by Jean Starcky (1960) and Michael Gawlikowski (1974). Michael Patrick O'Connor (1988) suggested that the names "Palmyra" and "Tadmor" originated in the Hurrian language. As evidence, he cited the inexplicability of alterations to the theorized roots of both names (represented in the addition of -d- to tamar and -ra- to palame). According to this theory, "Tadmor" derives from the Hurrian word tad ("to love") with the addition of the typical Hurrian mid vowel rising (mVr) formant mar. Similarly, according to this theory, "Palmyra" derives from the Hurrian word pal ("to know") using the same mVr formant (mar).

Region and city layout

The city of Palmyra lies 215 km (134 mi) northeast of the Syrian capital, Damascus; along with an expanded hinterland of several settlements, farms, and forts, the city forms part of the region known as Palmyrena or Palmyrene. The city is located in an oasis surrounded by palms (of which twenty varieties have been reported). Two mountain ranges overlook the city - the northern Palmyrene mountain belt from the north and the southern Palmyrene mountains from the southwest. In the south and the east Palmyra is exposed to the Syrian Desert. A small wadi, al-Qubur (Valley of the Tombs), crosses the area, flowing from the western hills past the city before disappearing in the eastern gardens of the oasis. South of the wadi is a spring, Efqa. Pliny the Elder described the town in the 70s AD as famous for its desert location, for the richness of its soil, and for the springs surrounding it, which made agriculture and herding possible.

Layout

Palmyra began as a small Neolithic settlement near the Efqa spring on the southern bank of Wadi al-Qubur. The much later Hellenistic settlement of Palmyra was also located near the Efqa spring on the southern bank of Wadi al-Qubur. It had its residences expanding to the wadi's northern bank during the first century. Although the city's walls at the time of Zenobia originally enclosed an extensive area on both banks of the wadi, the walls rebuilt during Aurelian's reign surrounded only the northern-bank section. Most of the city's monumental projects were built on the wadi's northern bank, among them is the Temple of Bel, on a tell which was the site of an earlier temple (known as the Hellenistic temple). However, excavation supports the theory that the tell was originally located on the southern bank, and the wadi was diverted south of the tell to incorporate the temple into Palmyra's late first and early second century urban organization on the north bank.

Also north of the wadi was the Great Colonnade, Palmyra's 1.1-kilometre-long (0.68 mi) main street, which extended from the Temple of Bel in the east, to the Funerary Temple no.86 in the city's western part. It had a monumental arch in its eastern section, and a tetrapylon stands in the center. The Baths of Diocletian were on the left side of the colonnade. Nearby were residences, the Temple of Baalshamin, and the Byzantine churches, which include "Basilica IV", Palmyra's largest church. The church is dated to the Justinian age, its columns are estimated to be 7 metres (23 ft) high, and its base measured 27.5 by 47.5 metres (90 by 156 ft).

The Temple of Nabu and the Roman theater were built on the colonnade's southern side. Behind the theater were a small senate building and the large agora, with the remains of a triclinium (banquet room) and the Tariff Court. A cross street at the western end of the colonnade leads to the Camp of Diocletian, built by Sosianus Hierocles (the Roman governor of Syria in the reign of Diocletian). Nearby are the Temple of Al-lāt and the Damascus Gate.

Society

Demographic history

The earliest known inhabitants were the Amorites in the early second millennium BC, and by the end of the millennium, Arameans were mentioned as inhabiting the area. Arabs arrived in the city in the late first millennium BC, as evidenced by the presence of Zabdibel on the side of the Seleucids in the battle of Raphia (217 BC). He was mentioned as the commander of "the Arabs and neighbouring tribes to the number of ten thousands"; Zabdibel and his men were not actually identified as Palmyrenes in the texts, but the name "Zabdibel" is a Palmyrene name leading to the conclusion that he hailed from Palmyra. The Arab newcomers were assimilated by the earlier inhabitants, used Palmyrene as a mother tongue, and formed a significant segment of the aristocracy.

The classical city also had a Jewish community; Palmyrene inscriptions from the Beit She'arim necropolis in Lower Galilee confirm the burial of Palmyrene Jews. Greeks existence in the city was limited during the Roman period. Occasionally and rarely, members of the Palmyrene families took Greek names while ethnic Greeks were few; the majority of people with Greek names, who did not belong to one of the city's families, were freed slaves. The Palmyrenes seem to have considered the Greeks foreigners, and restricted their settlement in the city.

At its height during the reign of Zenobia (around 270), Palmyra had more than 200,000 residents. The city's population shrank following the city's integration to the Roman Empire following the rebellion of Zenobia and during the succeeding Umayyad Caliphate, Palmyra was mainly inhabited by the Banu Kalb. Benjamin of Tudela recorded the existence of 2000 Jews in the city during the twelfth century. Palmyra declined after its destruction by Timur in 1400, and was a village of 6,000 inhabitants at the beginning of the 20th century.

Ethnic identity of classical Palmyra

Palmyra's population was a mixture of the different peoples inhabiting the city, which is seen in Aramaic, Arabic and Amorite names of Palmyrene clans, but the ethnicity of Palmyra is a matter of debate.

Some scholars, such as Andrew M. Smith II, consider ethnicity a concept related to modern nationalism, and prefer not to describe the Palmyrenes with ethnic designations they themselves did not know, concluding that there is a lack of evidence regarding what ethnicity the Palmyrenes perceived themselves. On the other hand, many scholars, such as Eivind Seland, contend that a distinctive Palmyrene ethnicity is apparent in the available contemporary evidence. The second century work De Munitionibus Castrorum mentioned the Palmyrenes as a natio, the Latin equivalent of the Greek ἔθνος (éthnos). Seland noted the epigraphic evidence left by the Palmyrenes outside the city.

Palmyrene inscriptions reveal the existence of a real diaspora satisfying the three criteria set by the sociologist Rogers Brubaker. Palmyrene diaspora members always made clear their Palmyrene origin and used the Palmyrene language, and maintained their distinct religion even when the host society's religion was close to that of Palmyra. Seland concluded that in the case of Palmyra, the people perceived themselves different from their neighbours and a real Palmyrene ethnicity existed. Aside from the existence of a Palmyrene ethnicity, Aramean or Arab are the two main ethnic designations debated by historians; Javier Teixidor stated, "Palmyra was an Aramaean city and it is a mistake to consider it as an Arab town", while Yasamin Zahran criticized this statement and argued that the inhabitants considered themselves Arabs. In practice, according to several scholars such as Udo Hartmann and Michael Sommer, the citizenry of Palmyra were mainly the result of Arab and Aramaean tribes merging into a unity with a corresponding consciousness; they thought and acted as Palmyrenes.

Language

Until the late third century, Palmyrenes spoke Palmyrene Aramaic and used the Palmyrene alphabet. The use of Latin was minimal, but Greek was used by wealthier members of society for commercial and diplomatic purposes, and it became the dominant language during the Byzantine era. There are several theories explaining the disappearance of the Palmyrene language shortly after the campaigns of Aurelian. The linguist Jean Cantineau assumed that Aurelian suppressed all aspects of Palmyrene culture, including the language, but the last Palmyrene inscription dates to 279/280, after the death of the Roman emperor in 275, thus refuting such a theory. Many scholars ascribe the disappearance of the language to a change in society resulting from the reorganization of the Eastern Roman frontier following the fall of Zenobia. The archaeologist Karol Juchniewicz ascribed it to a change in the ethnic composition of the city, resulting from the influx of people who did not speak Aramaic, probably a Roman legion. Hartmann suggested that it was a Palmyrene initiative by nobles allied to Rome attempting to express their loyalty to the emperor; Hartmann noted that Palmyrene disappeared in the written form, and that this does not mean its extinction as spoken language. After the Arab conquest, Greek was replaced by Arabic, from which, although the city was surrounded by Bedouins, a Palmyrene dialect evolved.

Social organization

Classical Palmyra was a tribal community, but due to the lack of sources, an understanding of the nature of Palmyrene tribal structure is not possible. Thirty clans have been documented; five of which were identified as tribes (Phylai Koine Greek: Φυλαί, pl. of Phyle Φυλή) comprising several sub-clans. By the time of Nero, Palmyra had four tribes, each residing in an area of the city bearing its name. Three of the tribes were the Komare, Mattabol and Ma'zin; the fourth tribe is uncertain, but was probably the Mita.

In time, the four tribes became highly civic and tribal lines blurred; by the second century clan identity lost its importance, and it disappeared during the third century. Even the four tribes ceased to be important by the third century as only one inscription mentions a tribe after the year 212; instead, aristocrats played the decisive role in the city's social organization. Women seem to have been active in Palmyra's social and public life. They commissioned inscriptions, buildings or tombs, and in certain cases, held administrative offices. Offerings to gods in the names of women are documented.

The last Palmyrene inscription of 279/280 refers to the honoring of a citizen by the Maththabolians, which indicates that the tribal system still carried weight after the fall of Zenobia. A noticeable change is the lack of development of aristocratic residences, and no important public buildings were constructed by locals, indicating that the elite diminished following the campaign of Aurelian. The social change and the reduction of the aristocratic elite is hard to explain. It could be a result of the aristocracy suffering many casualties in the war against Rome, or fleeing to the countryside. According to historian Emanuele Intagliata, the change can be ascribed to the Roman reorganization following Zenobia's fall, as Palmyra ceased to be a rich caravan city and became a frontier fortress, leading the inhabitants to focus on satisfying the needs of a garrison instead of providing the empire with luxurious oriental items. Such a change in functions would have made the city less attractive for an aristocratic elite.

Palmyra benefited from Umayyad rule, since its role as a frontier city ended and the East-West trade route was restored, leading to the re-emergence of a merchant class. Palmyra's loyalty to the Umayyads led to an aggressive military retaliation from their successors, the Abbasid Caliphate, and the city diminished in size, losing its merchant class. Following its destruction by Timur, Palmyra maintained the life of a small settlement until its relocation in 1932.

Culture

The scarce artifacts found in the city dating to the Bronze Age reveal that, culturally, Palmyra was most affiliated with western Syria. Classical Palmyra had a distinctive culture, based on a local Semitic tradition, and influenced by Greece and Rome. To appear better integrated into the Roman Empire, some Palmyrenes adopted Greco-Roman names, either alone or in addition to a second native name. The extent of Greek influence on Palmyra's culture is debated. Scholars interpreted the Palmyrenes' Greek practices differently; many see those characters as a superficial layer over a local essence. Palmyra's senate was an example; although Palmyrene texts written in Greek described it as a "boule" (a Greek institution), the senate was a gathering of non-elected tribal elders (a Near-Eastern assembly tradition). Others view Palmyra's culture as a fusion of local and Greco-Roman traditions.

The culture of Persia influenced Palmyrene military tactics, dress and court ceremonies. Palmyra had no large libraries or publishing facilities, and it lacked an intellectual movement characteristic of other Eastern cities such as Edessa or Antioch. Although Zenobia opened her court to academics, the only notable scholar documented was Cassius Longinus.

Palmyra had a large agora. However, unlike the Greek Agoras (public gathering places shared with public buildings), Palmyra's agora resembled an Eastern caravanserai more than a hub of public life. The Palmyrenes buried their dead in elaborate family mausoleums, most with interior walls forming rows of burial chambers (loculi) in which the dead, lying at full length, were placed. A relief of the person interred formed part of the wall's decoration, acting as a headstone. Sarcophagi appeared in the late second century and were used in some of the tombs. Many burial monuments contained mummies embalmed in a method similar to that used in Ancient Egypt.

Art and architecture

Although Palmyrene art was related to that of Greece, it had a distinctive style unique to the middle-Euphrates region. Palmyrene art is well represented by the bust reliefs which seal the openings of its burial chambers. The reliefs emphasized clothing, jewelry and a frontal representation of the person depicted, characteristics which can be seen as a forerunner of Byzantine art. According to Michael Rostovtzeff, Palmyra's art was influenced by Parthian art. However, the origin of frontality that characterized Palmyrene and Parthian arts is a controversial issue; while Parthian origin has been suggested (by Daniel Schlumberger), Michael Avi-Yonah contends that it was a local Syrian tradition that influenced Parthian art. Little painting, and none of the bronze statues of prominent citizens (which stood on brackets on the main columns of the Great Colonnade), have survived. A damaged frieze and other sculptures from the Temple of Bel, many removed to museums in Syria and abroad, suggest the city's public monumental sculpture.

Many surviving funerary busts reached Western museums during the 19th century. Palmyra provided the most convenient Eastern examples bolstering an art-history controversy at the turn of the 20th century: to what extent Eastern influence on Roman art replaced idealized classicism with frontal, hieratic and simplified figures (as believed by Josef Strzygowski and others). This transition is seen as a response to cultural changes in the Western Roman Empire, rather than artistic influence from the East. Palmyrene bust reliefs, unlike Roman sculptures, are rudimentary portraits; although many reflect high quality individuality, the majority vary little across figures of similar age and gender.

Like its art, Palmyra's architecture was influenced by the Greco-Roman style, while preserving local elements (best seen in the Temple of Bel). Enclosed by a massive wall flanked with traditional Roman columns, Bel's sanctuary plan was primarily Semitic. Similar to the Second Temple, the sanctuary consisted of a large courtyard with the deity's main shrine off-center against its entrance (a plan preserving elements of the temples of Ebla and Ugarit).

Site

Cemeteries

West of the ancient walls, the Palmyrenes built a number of large-scale funerary monuments which now form the Valley of Tombs, a one-kilometre-long (0.62 mi) necropolis. The more than 50 monuments were primarily tower-shaped and up to four stories high. Towers were replaced by funerary temples in the first half of the second century AD, as the most recent tower is dated to AD 128. The city had other cemeteries in the north, southwest and southeast, where the tombs are primarily hypogea (underground).

Notable structures

The senate building is largely ruined. It is a small building that consists of a peristyle courtyard and a chamber that has an apse at one end and rows of seats around it.

Much of the Baths of Diocletian are ruined and do not survive above the level of the foundations. The complex's entrance is marked by four massive Egyptian granite columns each 1.3 metres (4 ft 3 in) in diameter, 12.5 metres (41 ft) high and weigh 20 tonnes. Inside, the outline of a bathing pool surrounded by a colonnade of Corinthian columns is still visible in addition to an octagonal room that served as a dressing room containing a drain in its center. Sossianus Hierocles, a governor under Emperor Diocletian, claimed to have built the baths, but the building was probably erected in the late second century and Sossianus Hierocles renovated it.

The Agora of Palmyra is part of a complex that also includes the tariff court and the triclinium, built in the second half of the first century AD. The agora is a massive 71-by-84-metre (233 by 276 ft) structure with 11 entrances. Inside the agora, 200 columnar bases that used to hold statues of prominent citizens were found. The inscriptions on the bases allowed an understanding of the order by which the statues were grouped; the eastern side was reserved for senators, the northern side for Palmyrene officials, the western side for soldiers and the southern side for caravan chiefs.

The Tariff Court is a large rectangular enclosure south of the agora and sharing its northern wall with it. Originally, the entrance of the court was a massive vestibule in its southwestern wall. However, the entrance was blocked by the construction of a defensive wall and the court was entered through three doors from the Agora. The court gained its name by containing a 5-metre (16 ft) stone slab that had the Palmyrene tax law inscribed on it.

The Triclinium of the Agora is at the northwestern corner of the Agora and can host up to 40 people. It is a small 12-by-15-metre (39 by 49 ft) hall decorated with Greek key motifs that run in a continuous line halfway up the wall. The building was probably used by the rulers of the city; the French general director of antiquities in Syria, Henri Seyrig, proposed that it was a small temple before being turned into a triclinium or banqueting hall.

Destruction by IS

Ancient Palmyra and its monuments were severely damaged during the Syrian Civil War, which began in 2011. Fighting between the Syrian army and opposition forces took a toll on the site, particularly as several sections were used as military bases. In 2015, the underground Tomb of the Three Brothers and parts of the North Necropolis were used for military purposes, while in 2016 a Russian military camp was established at the site. The main damage was caused by militants of IS, which occupied Palmyra on two occasions: first from May 2015 to March 2016, and again from December 2016 to March 2017. The table below provides an overview of the most important monuments severely damaged or destroyed during the war.

On 21 October 2015, using images gathered and released into the public domain by the Syrian internet advocate Bassel Khartabil between 2005 and 2012, Creative Commons started the New Palmyra project, an online repository of three-dimensional models of the city's monuments. In 2017, two Palmyrene funerary busts restored by the ISCR were sent back to Syria. The restoration of the Lion of Al-lāt took two months and the statue was displayed on 1 October 2017; it will remain in the National Museum of Damascus.

Prior to the fall of Al-Assad regime in 2024, the Russians were the main foreign partner involved in the restoration of Palmyra. To gather data that can aid the restoration of the damaged monuments, the site was researched in September 2016 and September 2019 by teams of the RAC IHMC RAS. In autumn 2021 Russia and Syria agreed to launch a joint-project to restore the Monumental Arch under the scientific management of the RAC IHMC RAS, and the project was launched in 2022. The teams conducted several studies researching the construction of the arch as a first step in restoring it. Work on the arch was limited to data collection and inventarisation but no restoration took place. In 2022 the Efqa spring site was reopened after being rehabilitated by the Russian-Syrian teams. Following the fall of Al-Assad regime end of 2024 the UNESCO undertook steps to restore the site in cooperation with the Syrian government, ALIPH and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. As of June 2026, work was limited to surveys and damage assessments.

History

The area has a rich history of human habitation, with evidence of Paleolithic settlements. The site was inhabited during several periods in the Neolithic (10,000–4500 BC). In the area of Tell ez-Zor, an artificial hill in the vicinity of the Efqa Spring, traces of human settlement dates as far back as the Prepottery Neolithic A period, with a three-unit architectural complex dating to the Prepottery Neolithic B period. In the Efqa Spring site, a Neolithic settlement existed, with stone tools dated to 7500 BC.

Bronze Age

Archaeological sounding in the tell beneath the Temple of Bel uncovered a Bronze Age mud-brick structure built around 2500 BC, followed by different Bronze Age and Iron Age structures. The city entered the historical record around 2000 BC, when Puzur-Ishtar the Tadmorean (Palmyrene) agreed to a contract at an Assyrian trading colony in Kultepe. It was mentioned next in the Mari tablets as a stop for trade caravans and nomadic tribes, such as the Suteans, and was conquered along with its region by Yahdun-Lim of Mari. King Shamshi-Adad I of the Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia passed through the area on his way to the Mediterranean at the beginning of the 18th century BC; by then, Palmyra was the easternmost point of the kingdom of Qatna, and it was attacked by the Suteans who paralyzed the traffic along the trade routes. Palmyra was next mentioned in a 13th-century BC tablet discovered at Emar, which recorded the names of two "Tadmorean" witnesses.

Iron Age

At the beginning of the 11th century BC, King Tiglath-Pileser I of Assyria recorded his defeat of the "Arameans" of "Tadmar"; according to the king, Palmyra was part of the land of Amurru. The Hebrew Bible (Second Book of Chronicles 8:4) records a city by the name "Tadmor" as a desert city built (or fortified) by King Solomon of Israel; Flavius Josephus mentions the Greek name "Palmyra", attributing its founding to Solomon in Book VIII of his Antiquities of the Jews. Later Arabic traditions attribute the city's founding to Solomon's Jinn. The association of Palmyra with Solomon is a conflation of "Tadmor" and a city built by Solomon in Judea and known as "Tamar" in the Books of Kings (1 Kings 9:18). The biblical description of "Tadmor" and its buildings does not fit archaeological findings in Palmyra, which was a small settlement during Solomon's reign in the 10th century BC.

With the rise of Aramean power in the Levant, the city became the eastern border of Aram-Damascus which was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 732 BC. The Elephantine Jews, a diaspora community established between 650 and 550 BC in Egypt, might have come from Palmyra. Papyrus Amherst 63 indicates that the ancestors of the Elephantine Jews were Samarians. The historian Karel van der Toorn suggested that these ancestors took refuge in Judea after the destruction of their kingdom by Sargon II of Assyria in 721 BC, then had to leave Judea after Sennacherib devastated the land in 701 BC and headed to Palmyra. This scenario can explain the usage of Aramaic by the Elephantine Jews, and Papyrus Amherst 63, while not mentioning Palmyra, refers to a "fortress of palms" that is located near a spring on a trade route in the fringes of the desert, making Palmyra a plausible candidate.

Hellenistic and Roman periods

During the Hellenistic period under the Seleucids (between 312 and 64 BC), Palmyra became a prosperous settlement owing allegiance to the Seleucid king. Evidence for Palmyra's urbanisation in the Hellenistic period is rare; an important piece is the Laghman II inscription found in Laghman, modern Afghanistan, and commissioned by the Indian emperor Ashoka c. 250 BC. The reading is contested, but according to semitologist André Dupont-Sommer, the inscription records the distance to "Tdmr" (Palmyra). In 217 BC, a Palmyrene force led by Zabdibel joined the army of King Antiochus III in the Battle of Raphia which ended in a Seleucid defeat by Ptolemaic Egypt. In the middle of the Hellenistic era, Palmyra, formerly south of the al-Qubur wadi, began to expand beyond its northern bank. By the late second century BC, the tower tombs in the Palmyrene Valley of Tombs and the city temples (most notably, the temples of Baalshamin, Al-lāt and the Hellenistic temple) began to be built. A fragmentary inscription in Greek from the Temple of Bel's foundations mentions a king titled Epiphanes, a title used by the Seleucid kings.

In 64 BC, the Roman Republic conquered the Seleucid kingdom, and the Roman general Pompey established the province of Syria. Palmyra was left independent, trading with Rome and Parthia but belonging to neither. The earliest known inscription in Palmyrene is dated to around 44 BC; Palmyra was still a minor sheikhdom, offering water to caravans which occasionally took the desert route on which it was located. However, according to Appian, Palmyra was wealthy enough for Mark Antony to send a force to conquer it in 41 BC. The Palmyrenes evacuated to Parthian lands beyond the eastern bank of the Euphrates, which they prepared to defend.

Palmyra became part of the Roman Empire when it was conquered and paid tribute early in the reign of Tiberius, around 14 AD. The Romans included Palmyra in the province of Syria, and defined the region's boundaries. Pliny the Elder asserted that both the Palmyrene and Emesene regions were contiguous; a marker at the Palmyrene's southwestern border was found in 1936 by Daniel Schlumberger at Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi, dating from the reign of Hadrian or one of his successors, which marked the boundary between the two regions. This boundary probably ran northwards to Khirbet al-Bilaas on Jabal al-Bilas where another marker, laid by the Roman governor Silanus, has been found, 75 kilometres (47 mi) northwest of Palmyra, probably marking a boundary with the territory of Epiphania. Meanwhile, Palmyra's eastern border extended to the Euphrates valley. This region included numerous villages subordinate to the center, including large settlements such as al-Qaryatayn. The Roman imperial period brought great prosperity to the city, which enjoyed a privileged status under the empire—retaining much of its internal autonomy, being ruled by a council, and incorporating many Greek city-state (polis) institutions into its government.

Arab caliphates

Palmyra was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate after its 634 capture by the Muslim general Khalid ibn al-Walid, who took the city on his way to Damascus; an 18-day march by his army through the Syrian Desert from Mesopotamia. By then Palmyra was limited to the Diocletian camp. After the conquest, the city became part of Homs Province.

Palmyra prospered as part of the Umayyad Caliphate, and its population grew. It was a key stop on the East-West trade route, with a large souq (market), built by the Umayyads, who also commissioned part of the Temple of Bel as a mosque. During this period, Palmyra was a stronghold of the Banu Kalb tribe, which began to take abode in and around the city after the conquest. After being defeated by Marwan II during a civil war in the caliphate, Umayyad contender Sulayman ibn Hisham fled to the Banu Kalb in Palmyra, but eventually pledged allegiance to Marwan in 744; Palmyra continued to oppose Marwan until the surrender of the Banu Kalb chief al-Asbagh ibn Dhu'ala in 745. That year, Marwan ordered the city's walls demolished.

In 750 a revolt, led by Majza'a ibn al-Kawthar and Umayyad pretender Abu Muhammad al-Sufyani, against the new Abbasid Caliphate swept across Syria; the tribes in Palmyra supported the rebels. After his defeat Abu Muhammad took refuge in the city, which withstood an Abbasid assault long enough to allow him to escape.

Abbasid power dwindled during the 10th century, when the empire disintegrated and was divided among a number of vassals. Most of the new rulers acknowledged the caliph as their nominal sovereign, a situation which continued until the Mongol destruction of the Abbasid Caliphate in 1258.

The population of the city began to decline in the ninth century, a process that continued throughout the tenth century, by the end of which the inhabitants occupied only the enclosed area of the Temple of Bel. In 955 Sayf al-Dawla, the Hamdanid prince of Aleppo, defeated the nomads near the city, and built a kasbah (fortress) in response to campaigns by the Byzantine emperors Nikephoros II Phokas and John I Tzimiskes. With the advent of Fatimid rule in the late 10th century, Palmyra remained a stronghold of the Kalb and taxes on the oasis' crops was a major source of the tribe's income. Toward the end of the century, the Kalb around Palmyra migrated from the area. Earthquakes devastated Palmyra in 1068 and 1089. In the 1070s Syria was conquered by the Seljuk Empire, and in 1082, the district of Homs came under the control of the Arab lord Khalaf ibn Mula'ib. The latter was a brigand and was removed and imprisoned in 1090 by the Seljuq sultan Malik-Shah I. Khalaf's lands were given to Malik-Shah's brother, Tutush I, who gained his independence after his brother's 1092 death and established a cadet branch of the Seljuk dynasty in Syria.

Mamluk period

Palmyra was used as a refuge by Shirkuh II's grandson, al-Ashraf Musa, who allied himself with the Mongol king Hulagu Khan and fled after the Mongol defeat in the 1260 Battle of Ain Jalut against the Mamluks. Al-Ashraf Musa asked the Mamluk sultan Qutuz for pardon and was accepted as a vassal. Al-Ashraf Musa died in 1263 without an heir, bringing the Homs district under direct Mamluk rule.

The Al Fadl clan (a branch of the Tayy tribe) were loyal to the Mamluks, and in 1281, Prince Issa bin Muhanna of the Al Fadl was appointed lord of Palmyra by sultan Qalawun. Issa was succeeded in 1284 by his son Muhanna bin Issa who was imprisoned by sultan al-Ashraf Khalil in 1293, and restored two years later by sultan al-Adil Kitbugha. Muhanna declared his loyalty to Öljaitü of the Ilkhanate in 1312 and was dismissed and replaced with his brother Fadl by sultan an-Nasir Muhammad. Although Muhanna was forgiven by an-Nasir and restored in 1317, he and his tribe were expelled in 1320 for his continued relations with the Ilkhanate, and he was replaced by tribal chief Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr.

Muhanna was forgiven and restored by an-Nasir in 1330; he remained loyal to the sultan until his death in 1335, when he was succeeded by his son. Contemporary historian Ibn Fadlallah al-Omari described the city as having "vast gardens, flourishing trades and bizarre monuments". The Al Fadl clan protected the trade routes and villages from Bedouin raids, raiding other cities and fighting among themselves. The Mamluks intervened militarily several times, dismissing, imprisoning or expelling its leaders. In 1400 Palmyra was attacked by Timur; the Fadl prince Nu'air escaped the battle and later fought Jakam, the sultan of Aleppo. Nu'air was captured, taken to Aleppo and executed in 1406; this, according to Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, ended the Al Fadl clan's power.

Ottoman era

While most of Syria came under Ottoman rule in 1516, Palmyra (Tadmur) does not appear to have been incorporated into the Empire before the conquest of Iraq in 1534–1535. It first appears as the centre of an administrative district (sanjak) around 1560. The region was important to the Ottomans above all for its salt deposits. In 1568, the governor of the sancak restored the medieval citadel. After 1568 the Ottomans appointed the Lebanese emir Ali bin Musa Harfush as governor of Palmyra's sanjak, dismissing him in 1584 for insubordination. In 1630 Palmyra came under the tax authority of another Lebanese emir, Fakhr-al-Din II, who renovated Shirkuh II's castle (which became known as Fakhr-al-Din al-Maani Castle). The prince fell from grace with the Ottomans in 1633 and lost control of the village, which remained a separate sanjak until it was absorbed by Zor Sanjak in 1857. The Ottoman governor of Syria, Mehmed Rashid Pasha, established a garrison in the village to control the Bedouin in 1867.

20th century

In 1918, as World War I was ending, the Royal Air Force built an airfield for two planes, and in November the Ottomans retreated from Zor Sanjak without a fight. The Syrian Emirate's army entered Deir ez-Zor on 4 December, and Zor Sanjak became part of Syria. In 1919, as the British and French argued over the borders of the planned mandates, the British permanent military representative to the Supreme War Council Henry Wilson suggested adding Palmyra to the British mandate. However, the British general Edmund Allenby persuaded his government to abandon this plan. Syria (including Palmyra) became part of the French Mandate after Syria's defeat in the Battle of Maysalun on 24 July 1920.

With Palmyra gaining importance in the French efforts to pacify the Syrian Desert, a base was constructed in the village near the Temple of Bel in 1921. In 1929, Henri Seyrig, began excavating the ruins and convinced the villagers to move to a new, French-built village next to the site. The relocation was completed in 1932; ancient Palmyra was ready for excavation as its villagers settled into the new village of Tadmur. During World War II, the Mandate came under the authority of Vichy France, who gave permission to Nazi Germany to use the airfield at Palmyra; forces of Free France, backed by British forces, invaded Syria in June 1941, and on 3 July 1941, the British took control over the city in the aftermath of a battle.

Syrian civil war

During the war the Syrian Army positioned its troops within the archaeological site. On 13 May 2015, IS launched an attack on the modern town of Tadmur, sparking fears that the iconoclastic group would destroy the adjacent ancient site of Palmyra. The Syrian Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums removed more than 400 statues and hundreds of artifacts from the museum and several safe locations, transporting them to Damascus for safekeeping. A number of Greco-Roman busts, jewelry, and other objects looted from the museum have been later found on the international market. IS' forces entered Palmyra on 21 May in a sudden takeover, which abruptly ended the Directorate-General's efforts to evacuate the remaining artifacts consisting of large statues and pieces.

During IS' first occupation of the site, Palmyra's theatre was used as a place of public executions of their opponents and captives; videos were released by ISIL showing the killing of Syrian prisoners in front of crowds at the theatre. On 18 August, Palmyra's retired antiquities chief Khaled al-Asaad was beheaded by ISIL after being tortured for a month to extract information about the city and its treasures; al-Asaad refused to give any information to his captors.

The Syrian Army supported by Russian airstrikes recaptured Palmyra on 27 March 2016. According to initial reports, the damage to the archaeological site was less extensive than anticipated, with numerous structures still standing. Russian de-mining teams began clearing mines planted by IS prior to their retreat. Following heavy fighting, IS briefly reoccupied the city on 11 December 2016, prompting an offensive by the Syrian Army which retook the city on 2 March 2017. On 7 December 2024, Palmyra was captured by the Syrian Free Army, a day before the fall of the Assad regime. The Syrian transitional government stationed guards as to protect the area from further damage.

Government

From the beginning of its history to the first century AD Palmyra was a petty sheikhdom, and by the first century BC a Palmyrene identity began to develop. During the first half of the first century AD, Palmyra incorporated some of the institutions of a Greek city (polis); the notion of an existing citizenship first appears in an inscription, dated to AD 10, mentioning the "people of Palmyra". In AD 74, an inscription mentions the city's boule (senate). The tribal role in Palmyra is debated; during the first century, four treasurers representing the four tribes seems to have partially controlled the administration but their role became ceremonial by the second century and power rested in the hands of the council.

The Palmyrene council consisted of about six hundred members of the local elite (such as the elders or heads of wealthy families or clans), representing the city's four-quarters. The council, headed by a president, managed civic responsibilities; it supervised public works (including the construction of public buildings), approved expenditures, collected taxes, and appointed two archons (lords) each year. Palmyra's military was led by strategoi (generals) appointed by the council. Roman provincial authority set and approved Palmyra's tariff structure, but the provincial interference in local government was kept minimal as the empire sought to ensure the continuous success of Palmyrene trade most beneficial to Rome. An imposition of direct provincial administration would have jeopardized Palmyra's ability to conduct its trading activities in the East, especially in Parthia.

With the elevation of Palmyra to a colonia around 213–216, the city ceased being subject to Roman provincial governors and taxes. Palmyra incorporated Roman institutions into its system while keeping many of its former ones. The council remained, and the strategos designated one of two annually-elected magistrates. This duumviri implemented the new colonial constitution, replacing the archons. Palmyra's political scene changed with the rise of Odaenathus and his family; an inscription dated to 251 describes Odaenathus' son Hairan I as "Ras" (lord) of Palmyra (exarch in the Greek section of the inscription) and another inscription dated to 252 describes Odaenathus with the same title. Odaenathus was probably elected by the council as exarch, which was an unusual title in the Roman empire and was not part of the traditional Palmyrene governance institutions. Whether Odaenathus' title indicated a military or a priestly position is unknown, but the military role is more likely. By 257 Odaenathus was known as a consularis, possibly the legatus of the province of Phoenice. In 258 Odaenathus began extending his political influence, taking advantage of regional instability caused by Sasanian aggression; this culminated in the Battle of Edessa, Odaenathus' royal elevation and mobilization of troops, which made Palmyra a kingdom.

Military

Due to its military character and efficiency in battle, Palmyra was described by Irfan Shahîd as the "Sparta among the cities of the Orient, Arab and other, and even its gods were represented dressed in military uniforms." Palmyra's army protected the city and its economy, helping extend Palmyrene authority beyond the city walls and protecting the countryside's desert trade routes. The city had a substantial military; Zabdibel commanded a force of 10,000 in the third century BC, and Zenobia led an army of 70,000 in the Battle of Emesa. Soldiers were recruited from the city and its territories, spanning several thousand square kilometers from the outskirts of Homs to the Euphrates valley. Non-Palmyrene soldiers were also recruited; a Nabatean cavalryman is recorded in 132 as serving in a Palmyrene unit stationed at Anah. Palmyra's recruiting system is unknown; the city might have selected and equipped the troops and the strategoi led, trained and disciplined them.

The strategoi were appointed by the council with the approval of Rome. The royal army in the mid 3rd century AD was under the leadership of the monarch aided by generals, and was modeled on the Sasanians in arms and tactics. The Palmyrenes were noted archers. They used infantry while a heavily armored cavalry (clibanarii) constituted the main attacking force. Palmyra's infantry was armed with swords, lances and small round shields; the clibanarii were fully armored (including their horses), and used heavy spears (kontos) 3.65 metres (12.0 ft) long without shields.

Citing the Palmyrenes' combat skills in large, sparsely populated areas, the Romans formed a Palmyrene auxilia to serve in the Imperial Roman army. Vespasian reportedly had 8,000 Palmyrene archers in Judea, and Trajan established the first Palmyrene Auxilia in 116 (a camel cavalry unit, Ala I Ulpia dromedariorum Palmyrenorum). Palmyrene units were deployed throughout the Roman Empire, serving in Dacia late in Hadrian's reign, and at El Kantara in Numidia and Moesia under Antoninus Pius. During the late second century Rome formed the Cohors XX Palmyrenorum, which was stationed in Dura-Europos.

Religion

Palmyra's gods were primarily part of the northwestern Semitic pantheon, with the addition of gods from the Mesopotamian and Arab pantheons. The city's chief pre-Hellenistic deity was called Bol, an abbreviation of Baal (a northwestern Semitic honorific). The Babylonian cult of Bel-Marduk influenced the Palmyrene religion and by 217 BC the chief deity's name was changed to Bel. This did not indicate the replacing of the northwestern Semitic Bol with a Mesopotamian deity, but was a mere change in the name.

Second in importance, after the supreme deity, were over sixty ancestral gods of the Palmyrene clans. Palmyra had unique deities, such as the god of justice and Efqa's guardian Yarhibol, the sun god Malakbel, and the moon god Aglibol. Palmyrenes worshiped regional deities, including the greater Levantine gods Astarte, Baal-hamon, Baalshamin and Atargatis; the Babylonian gods Nabu and Nergal, and the Arab Azizos, Arsu, Šams and Al-lāt.

The deities worshiped in the countryside were depicted as camel or horse riders and bore Arab names. The nature of those deities is uncertain as only names are known, most importantly Abgal. The Palmyrene pantheon included ginnaye (some were given the designation "Gad"), a group of lesser deities popular in the countryside, who were similar to the Arab jinn and the Roman genius. Ginnaye were believed to have the appearance and behavior of humans, similar to Arab jinn. Unlike jinn, however, the ginnaye could not possess or injure humans. Their role was similar to the Roman genius: tutelary deities who guarded individuals and their caravans, cattle and villages.

Although the Palmyrenes worshiped their deities as individuals, some were associated with other gods. Bel had Astarte-Belti as his consort, and formed a triple deity with Aglibol and Yarhibol (who became a sun god in his association with Bel). Malakbel was part of many associations, pairing with Gad Taimi and Aglibol, and forming a triple deity with Baalshamin and Aglibol. Palmyra hosted an Akitu (spring festival) each Nisan. Each of the city's four-quarters had a sanctuary for a deity considered ancestral to the resident tribe; Malakbel and Aglibol's sanctuary was in the Komare quarter. The Baalshamin sanctuary was in the Ma'zin quarter, the Arsu sanctuary in the Mattabol quarter, and the Atargatis sanctuary in the fourth tribe's quarter.

The priests of Palmyra were selected from the city's leading families, and are recognized in busts through their headdresses which have the shape of a polos adorned with laurel wreath or other tree made of bronze among other elements. The high priest of Bel's temple was the highest religious authority and headed the clergy of priests who were organized into collegia each headed by a higher priest. The personnel of Efqa spring's sanctuary dedicated to Yarhibol belonged to a special class of priests as they were oracles. Palmyra's paganism was replaced with Christianity as the religion spread across the Roman Empire, and a bishop was reported in the city by 325. Although most temples became churches, the Temple of Al-lāt was destroyed in 385 at the order of Maternus Cynegius (the eastern praetorian prefect). After the Muslim conquest in 634 Islam gradually replaced Christianity, and the last known bishop of Palmyra was consecrated after 818.

Malakbel and the Roman Sol Invictus

In 274, following his victory over Palmyra, Aurelian dedicated a large temple of Sol Invictus in Rome; most scholars consider Aurelian's Sol Invictus to be of Syrian origin, either a continuation of emperor Elagabalus cult of Sol Invictus Elagabalus, or Malakbel of Palmyra. The Palmyrene deity was commonly identified with the Roman god Sol and he had a temple dedicated for him on the right bank of the Tiber since the second century. Also, he bore the epithet Invictus and was known with the name Sol "Sanctissimus", the latter was an epithet Aurelian bore on an inscription from Capena.

The position of the Palmyrene deity as Aurelian's Sol Invictus is inferred from a passage by Zosimus reading: "and the magnificent temple of the sun he (i.e. Aurelian) embellished with votive gifts from Palmyra, setting up statues of Helios and Bel". Three deities from Palmyra exemplified solar features: Malakbel, Yarhibol and Šams, hence the identification of the Palmyrene Helios appearing in Zosimus' work with Malakbel. Some scholars criticize the notion of Malakbel's identification with Sol Invictus; according to Gaston Halsberghe, the cult of Malakbel was too local for it to become an imperial Roman god and Aurelian's restoration of Bel's temple and sacrifices dedicated to Malakbel were a sign of his attachment to the sun god in general and his respect to the many ways in which the deity was worshiped. Richard Stoneman suggested another approach in which Aurelian simply borrowed the imagery of Malakbel to enhance his own solar deity. The relation between Malakbel and Sol Invictus can not be confirmed and will probably remain unresolved.

Economy

Palmyra's economy before and at the beginning of the Roman period was based on agriculture, pastoralism, and commerce; the city served as a rest station for the caravans which sporadically crossed the desert. By the end of the first century BC, the city had a mixed economy based on agriculture, pastoralism, taxation, and, most importantly, the caravan trade. Taxation was an important source of revenue for the Palmyrene government. Caravaneers paid taxes in the building known as the Tariff Court, where a tax law dating to AD 137 was exhibited. The law regulated the tariffs paid by the merchants for goods sold at the internal market or exported from the city.

After Palmyra's destruction in 273, it became a market for villagers and nomads from the surrounding area. The city regained some of its prosperity during the Umayyad era, indicated by the discovery of a large Umayyad souq in the colonnaded street. Palmyra was a minor trading center until its destruction in 1400; according to Sharaf ad-Din Ali Yazdi, Timur's men took 200,000 sheep, and the city was reduced into a settlement on the desert border whose inhabitants herded and cultivated small plots for vegetables and corn.

Agriculture and irrigation in classical Palmyra

The classicist Andrew M. Smith II suggested that most land in Palmyra was owned by the city, which collected grazing taxes. The oasis had about 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of irrigable land, which surrounded the city. The Palmyrenes constructed an extensive irrigation system in the northern mountains that consisted of reservoirs and channels to capture and store the occasional rainfall. The most notable irrigation work is Harbaqa Dam which was constructed in the late first century AD; it is located 48 km (30 mi) southwest of the city and can collect 140,000 cubic metres (4,900,000 cu ft) of water. Terebinth trees in the hinterland were an important source of charcoal, resin and oil; although evidence is lacking, it is possible that olive trees were also planted, and dairy products were produced in the villages; it is also apparent that barley was cultivated. However, agriculture could not support the population and food was imported.

Commerce in classical Palmyra

If the Laghman II inscription in Afghanistan (commissioned by Ashoka) is referring to Palmyra, then the city's role in Central Asian overland trade was prominent as early as the third century BC. During the first centuries AD, Palmyra's main trade route ran east to the Euphrates where it connected at the city of Hīt. The route then ran south along the river toward the port of Charax Spasinu on the Persian Gulf, where Palmyrene ships traveled back and forth to India. Goods were imported from India, China and Transoxiana, and exported west to Emesa (or Antioch) then the Mediterranean ports, from which they were distributed throughout the Roman Empire. In addition to the usual route some Palmyrene merchants used the Red Sea, probably as a result of the Roman–Parthian Wars. Goods were carried overland from the seaports to a Nile port, and then taken to the Egyptian Mediterranean ports for export. Inscriptions attesting a Palmyrene presence in Egypt date to the reign of Hadrian.

Since Palmyra was not on the main trading route (which followed the Euphrates), the Palmyrenes secured the desert route passing their city. They connected it to the Euphrates valley, providing water and shelter. The Palmyrene route connected the Silk Road with the Mediterranean, and was used almost exclusively by the city's merchants, who maintained a presence in many cities, including Dura-Europos in 33 BC, Babylon by AD 19, Seleucia by AD 24, Dendera, Coptos, Bahrain, the Indus River Delta, Merv and Rome.

The caravan trade depended on patrons and merchants. Patrons owned the land on which the caravan animals were raised, providing animals and guards for the merchants. The lands were located in the numerous villages of the Palmyrene countryside. Although merchants used the patrons to conduct business, their roles often overlapped and a patron would sometimes lead a caravan. Commerce made Palmyra and its merchants among the wealthiest in the region. Some caravans were financed by a single merchant, such as Male' Agrippa (who financed Hadrian's visit in 129 and the 139 rebuilding of the Temple of Bel). The primary income-generating trade good was silk, which was exported from the East to the West. Other exported goods included jade, muslin, spices, ebony, ivory and precious stones. For its domestic market Palmyra imported a variety of goods including slaves, prostitutes, olive oil, dyed goods, myrrh and perfume.

Research and excavations

Palmyra's first scholarly description appeared in a 1695 paper in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society by William Hallifax followed by a 1696 book by Abednego Seller. In 1751, an expedition led by Robert Wood and James Dawkins studied Palmyra's architecture. French artist and architect Louis-François Cassas conducted an extensive survey of the city's monuments in 1785, publishing over a hundred drawings of Palmyra's civic buildings and tombs. Palmyra was photographed for the first time in 1864 by Louis Vignes. In 1882, the Palmyra Tariff, an inscribed stone slab from AD 137 in Greek and Palmyrene detailing import and export taxation, was discovered by prince Semyon Semyonovich Abamelik-Lazarev in the Tariff Court. It has been described by the historian John F. Matthews as "one of the most important single items of evidence for the economic life of any part of the Roman Empire". In 1901, the slab was gifted by the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II to the Russian Tsar and is now in the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.

Palmyra's first excavations were conducted in 1902 by Otto Puchstein and in 1917 by Theodor Wiegand. In 1929, French general director of antiquities of Syria and Lebanon Henri Seyrig began large-scale excavation of the site; interrupted by World War II, it resumed soon after the war's end. Seyrig started with the Temple of Bel in 1929 and between 1939 and 1940 he excavated the Agora. Daniel Schlumberger conducted excavations in the Palmyrene northwest countryside in 1934 and 1935 where he studied different local sanctuaries in the Palmyrene villages. From 1954 to 1956, a Swiss expedition organized by UNESCO excavated the Temple of Baalshamin. Since 1958, the site has been excavated by the Syrian Directorate-General of Antiquities, and Polish expeditions of the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology University of Warsaw, led consequtively by Kazimierz Michałowski, Anna Sadurska, Michał Gawlikowski and Grzegorz Majcherek. The stratigraphic sounding beneath the Temple of Bel was conducted in 1967 by Robert du Mesnil du Buisson, who also discovered the Temple of Baal-hamon in the 1970s. In 1980, the historic site including the necropolis outside the walls was declared a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO.

The Polish expedition concentrated its work on the Camp of Diocletian while the Syrian Directorate-General of Antiquities excavated the Temple of Nabu. Most of the hypogea were excavated jointly by the Polish expedition and the Syrian Directorate, while the area of Efqa was excavated by Jean Starcky and Jafar al-Hassani. The Palmyrene irrigation system was discovered in 2008 by Jørgen Christian Meyer who researched the Palmyrene countryside through ground inspections and satellite images. Most of Palmyra still remains unexplored especially the residential quarters in the north and south while the necropolis has been thoroughly excavated by the Directorate and the Polish expedition. Since the initiation of archaeological research in Palmyra, many international teams worked on the site, including expeditions from Japan, France, Poland, The United States, Italy and Norway. Excavation expeditions left Palmyra in 2011 due to the Syrian Civil War.