Palmyra: A Greco-Roman City
UNESCO World Heritage Site
While living and teaching in Jordan, we often crossed the Jordan/Syrian border to drive to Palmyra, the Greco-Roman city ruins in northern Syria. As we drove, the sight of beautiful columns and arches in the distance indicated we were getting close to the ancient city again.
Palmyra started as a settlement on a fertile oasis in the third millennium B. C. The Mesopotamian settlement called Tadmore was controlled by the Arameans with the Arabs arriving and blending in during the first millennium. Its location helped it become one of the major trading posts on the Silk Road which brought influences from China and India through Messopotannia and on to Rome.
In 64 BC, the Romans conquered the area including Palmyra. At that time it was mainly a trading partner with Rome. It was fully conquered and put under Roman rule in A.D. 14. In the third century, Queen Zenobia rebelled against the Romans and lost. In retaliation, the Romans destroyed the city.
I never cease to be amazed to walk down ancient stone streets lined with columns. The streets were wide enough for camel caravans to walk through. The grand, colonnaded street, 1.3 km in length, formed the axis of the city. It was lined with 750 columns on each side. This road, together with secondary colonnaded cross streets, linked the…
