02/04/2023
Ruins of the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria
Palmyra, also called Tadmur, Tadmor, or Tudmur, ancient city in south-central Syria, 130 miles (210 km) northeast of Damascus.
The name Palmyra, meaning “city of palm trees,” was conferred upon the city by its Roman rulers in the 1st century CE; Tadmur, Tadmor, or Tudmur, the pre-Semitic name of the site, is also still in use.
The city is mentioned in tablets dating from as early as the 19th century BCE. It attained prominence in the 3rd century BCE, when a road through it became one of the main routes of east-west trade.
Palmyra was built on an oasis lying approximately halfway between the Mediterranean Sea (west) and the Euphrates River (east), and it helped connect the Roman world with Mesopotamia and the East.
Although autonomous for much of its history, Palmyra came under Roman control by the time of the emperor Tiberius (reigned 14–37 CE).
After visiting the city (c. 129), the emperor Hadrian declared it a civitas libera (“free city”), and it was later granted by the emperor Caracalla the title of colonia, with exemption from taxes.
The city thus prospered, and the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE were the great age of Palmyra and its extensive trading activities, despite obstacles that interrupted caravan trade with the East, and also in the face of instability around the Roman-controlled Mediterranean.
