PALMYRA, or Tadmor, a noble city of ancient Syria, now in ruins. The origin of this name is uncertain, neither is it well known by whom the city was built; for though, from the identity of the names, it is thought by many to have been the Tadmor in the wilderness built by Solomon,^[1. See 1 Kings, ix. 18; and 2 Chion. viii. 4; and Josephus, Αnli<p Jud. lib. i. ] yet this point is much controverted by many learned men.
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For the world have long and justly been astonished to find in the desert of Syria, at a distance from the sea, with a very precarious and scanty supply of water, and without a particular connection with any great monarchy, ruins of a city more extensive and splendid than Rome itself, the depositary of all the arts which Greece in its most flourishing periods could display. The problem is an intricate one; yet when we divest it of many of its difficulties, we shall perhaps reduce this stupendous prodigy to no very uncommon magnitude. The coast of Syria was in early times rich and populous; and, either from the convenience of procuring water, or from the vicinity of India and Egypt, the population, instead of increasing on the mountains, extended to Judea, and thence through its plains only to the internal parts. Traces of this numerous people, and the ruins of their habitations, still remain; but as their edifices were not uncommonly splendid, or as the causes of their destruction were powerful, they have not attracted much attention. Yet the ruins of more than thirty towns are discoverable to the south-east of the Dead Sea, and thence towards Tadmor or Palmyra; we know the cause of the destruction of these towns, and we know that it did not reach Palmyra. This splendid city was not, therefore, insulated in a mass of sand; it was probably a link of a continued chain of population, or perhaps its termination. The situations of towns in the sandy desert must necessarily be determined by local advantages. Tadmor is situated on a spot where two hills converge, and beyond the point where they approach. These hills afforded water; and the aqueducts through which it was brought from them were discovered and described by Mr Wood. Though the other towns now in ruins exhibit some remains of luxury and opulence, yet in these respects they are much inferior to Palmyra; and this deserves to be here explained. Palmyra was undoubtedly very ancient. “The two springs of fresh water it possesses,” says Volney, “were, above all, a powerful inducement in a desert everywhere else so parched and barren. These, doubtless, were the two principal motives which drew the attention of Solomon, and induced that commercial prince to carry his arms so remote from the limits of Judea.”^[2. Travels through Syria and Egypt. ] “He built strong'walls there,” says the historian Josephus, “to secure himself in the possession, and named it Tadmor i which signifies the Place of Palm-trees.” Hence it has been inferred that Solomon was its first founder; but from this passage we should be rather led to conclude that it was already a place of known importance. The palm-trees he found there are not the trees of uninhabited countries. Prior to the days of Moses, the journeys of Abraham and Jacob from Mesopotamia into Syria sufficiently prove that a communication existed between these countries, which must soon have rendered Palmyra flourishing. The cinnamon and pearls mentioned in the time of the Hebrew legislator demonstrate a trade with India and the Persian Gulf, which must have been carried on by the Euphrates and Palmyra. At this distance of time, when the greater part of the monuments of those early ages have perished, we are liable to form very false opinions concerning the state of these countries in remote times, and are the more easily deceived, sometimes admitting as historical facts antecedent events of an entirely different character. Observing, however, that men in all ages are united by the same interests and the same desires, we cannot help concluding, that a commercial intercourse must early have taken place between one nation and another, and that this intercourse must have been nearly the same with that of more modern times. Without, therefore, going higher than the reign of Solomon, the invasion of Tadmor by that prince is sufficienï alone to throw light upon the history of this city. The king of Je rusalem would never have directed his attention to so distant and detached a spot, without some powerful motive of interest; and this interest could be no other than that of an extensive commerce, of which this place was already the emporium. This commerce extended itself to India; and the Persian Gulf was the principal point of union.

From the nature of the commodities, from the requisite assistance of the Tyrians, and other forcible arguments, Volney shows that the Persian Gulf was the centre of the most ancient commerce of the eastern world; and that it was with a view of obtaining a shorter route, by means of the Euphrates, that Solomon turned his attention to Tadmor, distant only three days’ journey. “We may even reasonably conjecture,” says Volney, “when we reflect on the revolutions of the following ages, that this commerce became a principal cause of those various wars in Lower Asia, for which the barren chronicles of those early times assign no motives. If, after the reign of Solomon, the Assyrians of Nineveh turned their ambitious views towards Chaldea and the lower part of the Euphrates, it was with the intention to approach that great source of opulence, the Persian Gulf. If Babylon, from being the vassal of Nineveh,, in a short time became her rival, and the seat of a new empire, it was because her situation rendered her the emporium of this lucrative trade; in short, if the kings of this great city waged perpetual wars with Jerusalem and Tyre, their object was not only to despoil these cities of their riches, but to prevent their invading their trade by the way of the Red Sea. An historian who has informed us that Nebuchadonosor, before he laid siege to Jerusalem, took possession of Tadmor, clearly indicates that the latter city acted in concert with the two neighbouring capitals. Their gradual decline became, under the Persian empire, and the successors of Alexander, the efficient cause of the sudden greatness of Palmyra in the time of the Parthians and the Romans; she then enjoyed a long peace for many centuries, which allowed her inhabitants to erect those monuments of opulence whose ruins we still admire.” If the former observations showed the connection of this remote spot with a more populous country, these remarks explain the cause of the renovation and magnificence of this city. Cairo, in another, probably a subordinate route, never attained the splendour of Palmyra; but the genius of the Egyptians, and perhaps the laws of Egypt, prevented it.

There is, however, no authentic history of Palmyra till after the capture of the Emperor Valerian by the Persians. It is first mentioned by the Roman historians as a place which Marcus Antonius attempted to plunder, upon pretence that it had not observed a just neutrality between the Romans and Parthians. Pliny takes notice of it as being situated in a rich soil, amongst pleasant streams, and totally separated from the rest of the world by a vast sandy desert, which had preserved its independence between Parthia and Rome. There is still a considerable spot of good soil next the town and on the hills; and even in the wilderness there were palm and fig trees, some of which remained till the latter end of the seventeenth century, though not one is now to be found.

After the captivity of Valerian, it became an opulent city, to which its situation in the vicinity of the Roman and Parthian empires greatly contributed; since the caravans, in going to or returning from the East, frequented the place, and thus rendered it a considerable seat of merchandise. It enjoyed independence till the time of Trajan, who, having made himself master of almost all the Parthian empire, likewise reduced Palmyra, which was afterwards accounted part of the Roman dominions. But when the defeat and captivity of Valerian had so much [7:16:775]weakened the empire that the Persians seemed to be in a fair way of becoming masters of all the eastern provinces, the Palmyrans began to entertain thoughts of recovering their liberty. Odenathus, prince of Palmyra, sent a respectful letter to Sapor on his return, accompanied with considerable presents; but by that haughty conqueror his letter and embassy were treated with contempt. The presents were thrown into the Euphrates; and to the letter Sapor replied, that the insolence of the prince in presuming to write to his lord was inexcusable; but if he could atone for it in any way, it would be by presenting himself before the throne, bound hand and foot, in token of consciousness of his crime, and the punishment he deserved. This injurious treatment so provoked Odenathus, that he swore either to humble the pride of the haughty conqueror, or to die in the attempt. Accordingly, having assembled all the forces he could muster, he fell upon the Persians, destroyed a number of them, and took a great part of their baggage, with some of the king’s concubines. Of the war of Odenathus with the Persians, however, very little is known, except that, though the latter were often vanquished, and the independence of Palmyra established for the present, yet Valerian was never released from his captivity, though Odenathus earnestly wished to have the honour of rescuing him from his enemies.

Odenathus enjoyed his sovereignty but a very short time, being murdered by his nephew, who was soon afterwards put to death by Zenobia, the wife of Odenathus. This lady is said to have been possessed of extraordinary endowments both of body and mind; having, according to Mr Gibbon, been almost the only Asiatic woman who is recorded to have overcome the obstacles arising from the confined situation of the fair sex in that part of the world. Immediately on taking vengeance for the murder of her husband, she assumed the government, and soon strengthened herself so much, that she resolved to submit neither to the Roman nor the Persian rule. The neighbouring states of Arabia, Armenia, and Persia, dreaded her enmity, and solicited her alliance. To the dominions of Odenathus, which extended from the Euphrates to the frontiers of Bithynia, his widow added the inheritance of her ancestors, the populous and fertile kingdom of Egypt. The Emperor Claudius acknowledged her merit, and was content, that whilst he pursued the Gothic war, she should assert the dignity of the empire in the East. The conduct of Zenobia, however, was attended with some ambiguity; nor is it unlikely that she had conceived the design of erecting an independent and hostile monarchy. She blended with the popular manners of Roman princes the stately pomp of the courts of Asia, and exacted from her subjects the same adoration that was paid to the successors of Cyrus. She bestowed on her three sons a Latin education, and often showed them to the troops, adorned with the imperial purple. For herself she reserved the diadem, with the splendid but doubtful title of Queen of the East.

When Aurelian passed over into Asia against this singular adversary, his presence restored to obedience the province of Bithynia, already shaken by the arms and intrigues of Zenobia. Advancing at the head of his legions, he accepted the submission of Ancyra, and was admitted into Tyana, after an obstinate siege, by the help of a perfidious citizen. The generous although fierce temper of Aurelian abandoned the traitor to the rage of the soldiers; but a superstitious reverence induced him to treat with lenity the countrymen of Apollonius the philosopher. Antioch was deserted on his approach, till the emperor, by his salutary edicts, recalled the fugitives, and granted a general pardon to all who, from necessity rather than choice, had been engaged in the service of the queen of Palmyra. The unexpected mildness of such a conduct reconciled the minds of the Syrians, and, as far as the gates of Emesa, the wishes of the people seconded the terror of his arms.

Zenobia would have ill deserved her reputation had she indolently permitted the emperor of the west to approach within a hundred miles of her capital. The fate of the East was decided in two great battles, so similar in almost every circumstance, that we can scarcely distinguish them from each other, except by observing that the first was fought near Antioch, and the second near Emesa. In both, the queen of Palmyra animated the armies by her presence, and devolved the execution of her orders on Zabdas, who had already signalized his military talents by the conquest of Egypt. Thè numerous forces of Zenobia consisted for the most part of light archers, and of heavy cavalry clothed in complete steel. The Moorish and Illyrian horse of Aurelian were unable to sustain the ponderous charge of their antagonists. They fled in real or affected disorder, engaged the Palmyrans in a laborious pursuit, harassed them by a desultory combat, and at length discomfited this impenetrable but unwieldy body of cavalry. The light infantry, in the mean time, when they had exhausted their quivers, remaining without protection against a closer onset, exposed their naked sides tα the swords of the legions. Aurelian had chosen the veteran troops, who were usually stationed on the Upper Danube, and whose valour had been severely tried in the Alleman-nie war. After the discomfiture of Emesa, Zenobia found it impossible to collect a third army. As far as the frontier of Egypt, the nations subject to her empire had joined the standard of the conqueror, who now detached Probus, one of the bravest of his generals, to take possession of the Egyptian provinces. Palmyra was the last resource of the widow of Odenathus. She retired within the walls of her capital, made every preparation for a vigorous resistance, and declared, with the intrepidity of a heroine, that the last moment of her reign and of her life should be the same.

In his march over the sandy desert between Emesa and Palmyra, the Emperor Aurelian was perpetually harassed by the Arabs; nor could he always defend his army, and especially his baggage, from those flying troops of active and daring robbers, who watched the moment of surprise, and derided the slow pursuit of the legions. The siege of Palmyra was an object far more difficult and important; and the emperor, who with incessant vigour pressed the attacks in person, was himself wounded with a dart. “The Roman people,” says Aurelian, in an original letter, “speak with contempt of the war which 1 am waging against a woman. They are ignorant both of the character and of the power of Zenobia. It is impossible to enumerate her warlike preparations, of stones, of arrows, and of every species of missile weapons. Every part of the walls is provided with two or three balistae, and artificial fires are thrown from her military engines. The fear of punishment has armed her with a desperate courage. Yet I trust still in the protecting deities of Rome, who have hitherto been favourable to all my undertakings.” Doubtful, however, of the protection of the gods, and of the event of the siege, Aurelian judged it more prudent to offer termsofanadvantageous capitulation; to the queen a splendid retreat, to the citizens their ancient privileges. His proposals were obstinately rejected, and the refusal was accompanied with insult.

The firmness of Zenobia was supported by the hope that in a very short time famine would compel the Roman army to repass the desert; and by the reasonable expectation that the kings of the East, and particularly the Persian monarch, would arm in defence of their most natural ally. But fortune, and the perseverance of Aurelian, overcame every obstacle. The death of Sapor, which happened[7:16:776] about this time, distracted the councils of Persia; and the inconsiderable succours which attempted to relieve Palmyra were easily intercepted either by the arms or the liberality of the emperor. From every part of Syria a regular succession of convoys safely arrived in the camp, which was increased by the return of Probus with his victorious troops from the conquest of Egypt. It was then that Zenobia resolved to fly. She mounted the fleetest of her dromedaries; and had already reached the banks of the Euphrates, about sixty miles from Palmyra, when she was overtaken by Aurelian’s light horse, seized, and brought back a captive to the feet of the emperor. Her capital soon afterwards surrendered, and was treated with unexpected lenity. The arms, horses, and camels, with an immense treasure of gold, silver, silk, and precious stones, were all delivered to the conqueror; who, leaving only a garrison of six hundred archers, returned to Emesa, and employed some time in the distribution of rewards and punishments at the end of a war which restored to Rome those provinces which had renounced their allegiance since the captivity of Valerian.

When the Syrian queen was brought into the presence of Aurelian, he sternly asked her, how she had presumed to rise in arms against the emperors of Rome. The answer of Zenobia displayed a prudent mixture of respect and firmness: “Because I disdained to consider as Roman emperors an Aureolus or a Gallienus. You alone I acknowledge as my conqueror and my sovereign.” But as female fortitude is commonly artificial, so it is seldom steady or consistent. The courage of Zenobia deserted her in the hour of trial. She trembled at the angry clamours of the soldiers, who called aloud for her immediate execution; forgot the generous despair of Cleopatra, which she had proposed as her model; and ignominiously purchased life by the sacrifice of her fame and her friends. It was to their counsels, which governed the weakness of her sex, that she imputed the guilt of her obstinate resistance; it was upon their heads that she directed the vengeance of the cruel Aurelian. The fame of Longinus, who was included amongst the numerous and perhaps innocent victims of her terror, will survive that of the queen who betrayed or the tyrant who condemned him. Genius and learning were incapable of moving a fierce unlettered soldier; but they had served to elevate and harmonise the soul of Longinus. Without uttering a complaint, he calmly followed the executioner, pitying his unhappy mistress, and bestowing comfort on his afflicted friends.

Returning from the conquest of the East, Aurelian had crossed the straits which divided Europe from Asia, when he was provoked by the intelligence that the Palmyrans had massacred the governor and garrison which he had left amongst them, and again erected the standard of revolt. Without a moment’s deliberation, he once more turned his face towards Syria. Antioch was alarmed by his rapid approach, and the helpless city of Palmyra felt the irresistible weight of his resentment. We have a letter of Aurelian himself, in which he acknowledges that old men, women, children, and peasants, had been involved in that dreadful execution, which should have been confined to armed rebellion; and although his principal concern seems directed to the re-establishment of a temple of the Sun, he discovers some pity for the remnant of the Palmyrans, to whom he grants the permission of rebuilding and inhabiting their city. But it is easier to destroy than to restore. The seat of commerce, of arts, and of Zenobia, gradually sunk into an obscure town, a trifling fortress, and at length a miserable village.

Little is known concerning the fortunes of Palmyra since the time of Mahommed, except that it was considered as a place of strength, and that in the twelfth century there were two thousand Jews in it. With respect to the ruins, they appear to be of two different and distinct periods: the oldest are so far decayed as not to admit of mensuration, and look as if they had been reduced to that state by the hand of time; the others appear to have been broken into fragments by violence. Of the inscriptions none is earlier than the birth of Christ, and none is later than the destruction of the city by Aurelian, excepting one, which mentions Dioclesian.

Mr Wood is of opinion, that the face of the country which surrounds Palmyra was always the same; but though Palmyra was ever believed to be situated in a wilderness, it does not follow that the wilderness was always of the same extent. It is perhaps more probable, that when Palmyra was first settled, the rich soil mentioned by Pliny extended much farther; for whatever were the reasons for making a settlement there, Palmyra can scarcely be supposed to have invited a greater number of people than it could feed. The palms and fig-trees that were formerly found upon the hills, and in the borders of the desert, that are now totally barren, confirm this opinion. Mr Wood observes, that whilst he was there a whirlwind happened, which raised such quantities of sand as quite darkened the sky: this sand, therefore, might by degrees encroach upon the fertile environs of Palmyra, and reduce the number of inhabitants as it reduced their sustenance, till the few wretched families only were left, who found it difficult to furnish food for Mr Wood and his company, although they did not continue longer than a fortnight among them. It will also appear from history, that what is supposed to have happened here has happened at other places, where such an event was much less probable. On the sea-coast in the neighbourhood of St Pol de Léon, in Lower Bretagne, there is a considerable tract of land, which before the year 1666 was inhabited, but which was rendered uninhabitable by a sand, which, encroaching every year, covered it to the depth of above twenty feet. In the year 1718 it had advanced more than six leagues, and within one league of St Pol; so that it was then thought probable that the town would of necessity be abandoned. This sand is raised by the east or north-east wind, which drives it in clouds with great swiftness, and in a prodigious quantity.^[3. J Memoirs of the French Academy for 1718. ] It was also attested by the captain of a ship, and all on board, that in the year 1719 there fell in the Atlantic Ocean, at fifteen degrees of north latitude, and at the distance of more than eight leagues from any land, a shower of sand, some of which they produced, and deposited in the academy at Paris.^[4. History of the Academy, 1772. ]

The company with whom Mr Wood travelled arrived at length at the end of the plain, where a ridge of barren hills, by which it was divided on the right and left, seemed to meet; between them there was a vale, through which an aqueduct formerly conveyed water to Palmyra. On each side of this vale they remarked several sepulchres of the ancient Palmyrans, which they had scarcely passed, when the hills opening on a sudden, they discovered such piles of ruins as they had never seen. They were all of white marble; and beyond them, towards the Euphrates, was a wide level, stretching farther than the eye could reach, totally desolate, without variety, and without bounds. After having gazed some time upon this prospect, which rather exceeded than fell short of their expectations, they were conducted to one of the huts of the Arabs, of which there are about thirty in the court of the great temple. The inhabitants of both sexes were well shaped, and the women, though very swarthy, had good features. They were veiled, but did not so scrupulously conceal their faces [7:16:777]as the eastern women generally do. They stain the ends of their fingers red, their lips blue, and their eyebrows and eyelashes black. They had large rings of gold or brass in their ears and nostrils, and appeared to be healthy and robust. The walls of the city are flanked by square towers, into which some ancient funeral monuments have been converted; but the walls are in most places level with the ground, and sometimes not to be trace :h It is, however, probable, by their general direction, that they included the great temple, and were three miles in circumference. The Arabs showed a tract which was near ten miles in circumference, the soil of which was raised a little above the level of the desert: they said that this was the extent of the old city; and that by digging in any part of it, ruins were discovered.'

These ruins consist of temples, palaces, and portico of Grecian architecture, and he scattered over an extent of several miles. They were accidentally discovered by some English travellers from Aleppo, somewhat more than a century ago. By far the most remarkable of them is the Temple of the Sun, of which the ruins are spread over a square of two hundred and twenty yards. It was encompassed with a stately wall, built of large square stones, and adorned with pilasters within and without, to the number of sixty-two on a side. Within the court are the remains oftworowsof very noble marble pillars thirty-seven feet in height, with their capitals of most exquisite workmanship. Of these only fifty-eight remain entire; but there must have been many more, for they appear to have gone round the whole court, and to have supported a double piazza. The walks on that side of the piazza which is opposite to the front of the castle seem to have been the most spacious and beautiful. At each end of this line are two niches for statues, with the pedestals, borders, supporters, and canopies, carved with the utmost propriety and elegance. The space within this enclosure, which is now filled with the dirty huts of the inhabitants, seems to have been an open court, in the middle of which stood the temple, encompassed with another row of pillars of a different order, and much taller, being fifty feet in height; but of these, sixteen only remain. The whole space contained within diese pillars is fifty-nine yards in length, and near twenty-eight in breadth. The temple is no more than thirty-three yards in length, and thirteen or fourteen in breadth. It points north and south; and exactly at the middle of the building, on the west side, there is a most magnificent entry, on the remains of which are some vines and clusters of grapes carved in the most bold and masterly imitation of nature that can be conceived. Just over the door are discerned a pair of wings, which extend along its whole breadth; the bodyto which theybelonged is totally destroyed; and it cannot now certainly be known whether it was that of an eagle or a cherub, several representations of both being visible on other fragments of the building. It is observed of the windows of this building, which were not large, that they were narrower at the top than below. The north end of the building is adorned with the most curious fret-work and bas-relief; and in the middle there is a dome or cupola about ten feet in diameter, which appears to have been either hewn out of the rock, or moulded to some composition which by time is grown equally hard. North of this place is an obelisk, consisting of seven large stones, besides its capital and the wreathed work about it. It is about fifty feet in height, and, just above the pedestal, is twelve feet in circumference. There was probably a statue upon it, which the Turks, in their zeal against idolatry, destroyed. At about the distance of a quarter of a mile from this pillar, to the east and west, there are two others, besides the fragment of a third; so that perhaps they were originally a continued row.

About a hundred paces from the middle obelisk, straight forward, there is a magnificent entry to a piazza, which is forty feet in breadth, and more than half a mile in length, enclosed with two rows of marble pillars twenty-six feet in height and eight or nine feet in compass. Of these there still remain one hundred and twenty-nine; and, by a moderate computation, there could not originally have been less than five hundred and sixty. The upper end of the piazza was shut in by a row of pillars, standing somewhat closer than those on each side. A little to the left are the ruins of a stately building, which appears to have been a banqueting-house. It is built of better marble, and is finished with yet greater elegance, than the piazza. The pillars which supported it were of one entire stone, which is so strong, that one of them which has fallen down has received no injury. It measures twenty-two feet in length, and in compass eight feet nine inches. In the west side of the piazza are several apertures for gates into the court of the palace. Each of these was adorned with four porphyry pillars, not standing in a line with those of the wall, but placed by couples in the front of the gate facing the palace, two upon each side. Two of these only remain entire, and but one standing in its place. They are thirty feet in length, and nine in circumference. On the eastern side of the piazza stands a great number of marble pillars, some of them perfect, but the greater part mutilated. In one place eleven are ranged together in a square. The space which they enclose is paved with broad flat stones, but there are no remains of a roof. At a little distance are the remains of a small temple, which is also without a roof, and has the walls very much defaced. Before the entry which looks to the south is a piazza, supported by six pillars, two upon each side of the door, and one at each end. The pedestals of those in front have been filled with inscriptions both in the Greek and Palmyran languages, which are become totally illegible. Amongst these ruins are many sepulchres; they are ranged upon each side of a hollow way, toward the north part of the city, and extend more than a mile. They are all square towers, four or five stories in height. But though they are alike in form, yet they differ greatly in magnitude and splendour. The outside is of common stone, but the floors and partitions of each story are marble. There is a walk across the whole building, just in the middle; and the space on each hand is subdivided into six partitions by thick walls. The space between the partitions is wide enough to receive the largest corpse; and in these niches there are six or seven piled upon one another.

Many inscriptions have been found at Palmyra which have occupied much of the attention of the learned; and if any thing certain could be derived from them, there is no doubt that they would tend very considerably to elucidate ancient history. See Barthélemy’s Reflections on the Palmyran Alphabet, published at Paris in 1754. See also Phil.· Trans. (No. 217 and 218); the first volume of the Ancient Universal History ; and, above all, the Rιιins of Palmyra, or Tadmor in the Desert, published by Mr R. Wood, who, with Μ. Bouverie and Mr Dawkins, travelled thither in 1751. More recent travellers have added but little to the information contained in the works here referred to.

Respecting the latitude and longitude there are still various opinions. The estimate which appears to be nearest the truth fixes its situation in long. 38. 50. E. and lat. 33. 20. N. It stands about fifty leagues south-east of Aleppo, as much from Damascus, and twenty leagues west of the Euphrates.