Whatever view be held as to Tamar, Tadmor is undouliledly the Palmyra of history, a city whose ruins have excited the admiration of all travellers, and whose history under the rule of tidenatus and Zenobia can never be read without feelings of high interest. The city rose from an oasis in the Syrian desert due to springs welling up through the sands, or from rivulets descending from the neighbouring hills, giving rise to vegeta- tion and groves of palms.* At a later period it was supplied with water by means of an atjueduct Ipuilt by Justinian. The position of the city is about 1.">U miles N.E. of Dania-scus, half-way between the valleys of the Orontes and the Euphrates; and the caravan routes in ancient times as well as in the beginning of our era, connecting the Persian Gulf with the Mediterranean, and between Northern Syria, Petra, and Central Arabia, pa.ssed through Palmyra. Ouring the wars between Rome and Parthia, Palmyra endeavoured to maintain a position of neutrality ; and, about the year A.D. 130, Hiulrian took the city under his special favour, givin" it the name of Adri.anopolis. At a later period Palmyra received the Ju.i Itnlicum and became a Roman colony ; and in the early period of the Persian wars the city became an important military post, and the inhabitants thus gained a knowledge of military tactics which they aftcr- wanls turned to use against their instructors.
Odr.niitus and Zenobia. — Unto this time Palmyra was governed by a senate ; but on the defeat of the Roman army under Valerian by Sapor, king of Persia, and the rejection of the olVer of alliance made by Odenatus, who hiul attained the jmsition of king or i)rince of Palmyra, the Palmyrenc army hovereil round tlie Persian host as it was retreating across the Euphrates with the captive Roman emiieror and enormous booty, and inllictcd such loss on the Persians that they were glad to put the river between them and their mir.suers.t By this exploit Odenatus laid the foundation of his future fame and fortunes. With tlie consent of the emperor Gallienus the Roman senate conferred the title of Augti^tus on the brave Palmyrene, and
• Oilibon, Decline and Fall, I. 896.
( Peter Palricius, p. 26, quoted by Qlbbon, Deciine and FmU tif the lloman Empire, i. 362. VOL. IV.— 43
seemed to entrust to him the government of the East, which he in ellect already possessed.*
On the death of Odenatus, by assassination, Zenobia his widow, who had shared with hini the government of the kingdom, became his sole suc- ces.sor, with the title of ' Queen of Palmyra and the East.' Of this remarkable personage Gibbon says : ' Modern Europe has produced several illustrious women who have sustained with glory the weight of empire ; nor is our own age destitute of such distinguished characters. But if we except the doulitiul achievements of Semiramis, Zenobia ia perhaps the only woman whose superior genius broke through the servile indolence imposed on her sex by the climate and manners of Asia. She claimed her descent from the Macedonian kings of Egypt, equalled in beauty her ancestor Cleopatra, and far surp;issed that princess in chastity and valour.' t On a-scending the throne (A.D. 267) Zenobia maintained the same policy of hostility, both to Persia and Rome, which hail been adopted by her husband, and defeated a Roman army com- manded by Heraclianus. She also invited the celebrated Platonic philosopher Longinus to her capital to be her instructor in Greek literature and her counsellor in allairs of state. But Aurelian, wlio had ascended the throne of the Western empire, had resolved to endure no longer the authority of a rival in the East; and in A.D. 272 he inarclied to attack Zenobia with all the forces of the empire. Zenobia, being but weakly sup- ported in the unequal contest by Varahr.an, successor to Sapor, was defeated in battle, and attempted to escape by flight towards the Eu- l)lirates,J but was caiitured on the banks of that river and brought before her conqueror, who carried her to Rome to grace his triumph. While crossing the straits which divide Europe from Asia, Aurelian received intelligence that the Palmyrenes had risen in revolt and massacred the governor and garrison he had left behind. Enraged at this con- duct he at once retraced his steps, and the helpless city felt the full weight of his resentment. A letter of Aurelian himself admits that old men, women, children, and peasants were involved in indiscriminate slaughter ; but, taking pity on the miserable remnant of the inhabitants, he granted them permission to rebuild and inhabit the city. ' But (as Gibbon observes) it is easier to destroy than to restore. The seat of commerce, of arts, and of Zenobia gradually sank into an oljscure town, a trifling fortress, and at lenf^th a miserable village. The present citizens of Pidmyra, consist- ing of thirty or forty families, have erected their [mud] cottages within the spacious court of a magnificent temple.' §
Jiuins. — The ruins of Palmyra attest its fonner magnilicence. The principal tmilding is the great Temple of the Sun (]5aal), with its lofty arch and grand rows of columns, originally about 390 in number; but besides this there are remains of the walls of Justinian which enclosed the city, and outside the wall towards the north several ruined sepulchral towers, together with the remains of the aqueduct. II For an account of the Gr. ami Aram, inscriptions see de Vogii6, Si/>-ie centrale, pp. 1-8. Cf. also the interesting ' Zolltarif (A.D. 155) published by Reckendorf in ZDMG (1888), p. 37Utr. (text ana com.) ; text in Lidzbarski.