3. P?-esent Remains. — Tadmor was situated between the Euphrates and Hamath, to the south-east of that city, in a fertile tract or oasis of the desert. Palm- trees are still found in the gardens around the town, but not in such immbers as would warrant, as they once did. the impos'ition of the name. The present Tadmor consists of numbers of peasants' mud-huts, clustered to- gether around the relics of the great Temple of the Sun.
The ruins cover a sandy plain stretching along the bases of a range of mountains called Jebel Belaes, run- ning nearlj' north and south, dividing the great desert from the desert plains extending westward towards Da- mascus and the north of Syria. The lower eminences of these mountains, bordering the ruins, are covered with numerous solitary square towers, the tombs of the an- cient Palmyrenes, in which are found memorials similar to those of Egypt They are seen to a great distance, and have a striking effect in this desert solitude. Be-
yond the valley which leads throiigli these hills the ruined city first opens upon the view. The thousands of Corinthian columns of white marble, erect and fallen, and covering an extent of about a mile and a half, pre- sent an appearance which travellers compare to that of a forest. The site on which the city stands is slightly elevated above the level of the surrounding desert for a circumference of about ten miles, which the Arabs be- lieve to coincide with the extent of the ancient city, as they find ancient remains whenever they dig within this space. There are, indeed, traces of an old wall, not more than three miles in circumference; but this was probably built by Justinian, at a time when Palmyra had lost its ancient importance and become a desolate place, and when it was consequently desirable to con- tract its bounds, so as to include only the more valuable portion. Volney well describes the general aspect which these ruins present: ''In the space covered by these ruins we sometimes find a jialace of which nothing re- mains but the court and walls; sometimes a temple whose peristyle is half thrown down ; and now a por- tico, a gallery, or triumphal arch. Here stand groups of columns, whose symmetry is destroyed by the fall of many of them ; there we see them ranged in rows of such length that, similar to rows of trees, they deceive the sight, and assume the appearance of continued walls. If from this striking scene we cast our eyes upon the ground, another, almost as varied, presents itself — on all sides we behold nothing but subverted shafts; some whole, others shattered to pieces or dislocated in their joints; and on which side soever we look, the earth is strewn with vast stones, half buried ; with broken entablatures, mutilated friezes, disfigured reliefs, effaced sculptures, violated tombs, and altars defiled by dust." The colonnade and individual temples are inferior in beauty and majesty to those which may be seen else- where— such, for example, as the Parthenon and the remains of the temple of Jupiter at Atheijs; and there is evidently no one temple equal to the Temple of the Sun at Baalbec, which, as built both at about the same period of time and in the same order of architecture, suggests itself most naturally as an object of compari- son. But the long lines of Corinthian columns at Pal- myra, as seen at a distance, are peculiarly imposing; and in their general effect and apparent vastness, they
X.— L
General View of the Ruins of Palmyra.
TADMOR
162
TAGGART
seem to surpass all other ruins of the same kind. The examinations of travellers show that the ruins are of two kinds. The one class nuist liave orit;inate(l in very remote times, and consists of rude, unsliapen hillocks of ruin and rubbish, covered wilh soil and herbage, such as now alone mark the site of tlie most ancient cities of INIesopotamia and IJabylonia, and amonif which it would be reasonable to seek some traces of the more an- cient city of Solomon. The other, to which the most gorgeous monuments belong, bears the impress of later ages. It is clear from the style of architecture that the later buildings belong to the three centuries prece- ding Diocletian, in which the Corinthian order of pil- lars was preferred to any other. All the buildings to which these columns belonged were probably erected in the '2d and 3d centuries of our Kra. IMany inscriptions are of later date ; but no inscription earlier than the 2d century seems yet to have been discovered.
The Tem|)le of the Sun is the most remarkable and magnificent ruin of Palmyra. The court by which it was enclosed was 179 feet scpiare, within which a double row of columns was continued all round. They were 390 in number, of which about sixty still remain stand- ing. In the middle of the court stood the temple, an oblong quadrangular building surrounded with columns, of which about twenty still exist, though without capi- tals, of which they have been pliuulered, probably be- cause they were composed of metal. In the interior, at the south end, is now the humble mosque of the village.
A little beyond the temple begins the great colon- nade, which runs nearly from east to west; it is of great length, and very beautiful. The columns are in good proportion and excellent preservation ; each shaft con- sisting of three courses of stone admirably jointed, with a bracket for a bust or statue interposed between the second and third. In their present naked condition, these brackets are unsightly; yet when they were sur- mounted by statues the effect must have been extreme- ly grand.