TAMAR ran), a town built by King Solomon (1 Kings ix. 18 ; 2 Chron. viii. 4). The name Tamar signifies a palm-tree, and hence the Greek and Ro man designation of PALmvita, city of palms ;' but this name never superseded the other among the natives, who even to this day give it the name of Thadmor. The form Tamar seems more ancient than that of Tadmor. It is found in the text (kethib) of Kings ix. 18, while the latter stands in the margin (keri): but in the later historical book Tadmor,' having become the usual designa tion, stands in the text without any various reading. Palm trees are still found in the gardens around the town, but not in such numbers as would war rant, as they once did, the imposition of the name. Tadmor was situated between the Euphrates and IIamath, to the south-east of that city, in a fertile tract or oasis of the desert. It was built by Solo mon probably with the view of securing an interest in and command over the great caravan traffic from the east, similar to that which he had established in respect of the trade between Syria and Egypt. Sec this idea developed in the Pictorial Bible, note on 2 Chron. viii. 4 ; where it is shown at some length that the presence of water in this small oasis must early have made this a station for the caravans coming west through the desert ; and this circum stance probably dictated to Solomon the import ance of founding here a garrison town, which would entitle him—in return for the protection he could give from the depredations of the Arabs, and for offering an intermediate station where the factors of the west might meet the merchants of the east— to a certain regulating power, and perhaps to some dues, to which they would find it more convenient to submit than to change the line of route. It is even possible that the Plmenicians, who took much interest in this important trade, pointed out to Solomon the advantage which he and hiS subjects might derive from the regulation and protection of it, by building a fortified town in the quarter where it was exposed to the greatest danger. A most important indication in favour of these conjectures is found in the fact that all our information con cerning Palmyra from heathen writers describes it as a city of merchants, who sold to the western natives the products of India and Arabia, and who were so enriched by the traffic that the place be came proverbial for luxury and wealth, and for the expensive habits of its citizens.
We do not again read of Tadmor in Scripture, nor is it likely that the Hebrews retained posses sion of it long after the death of Solomon. No other source acquaints us with the subsequent his tory of the place, till it reappears in the account of Pliny (Hist. Nat. v. 24) as a considerable town, which, along with its territom formed an inde pendent state between the Roman and Parthian empires. In the time of Tmjan, however, it was lying..waste ; but it was rebuilt by his successor Adrian, and from him took the name of Adriano polls. From Caracalla it received the privileges of a Roman colony. During the weak administration of the emperors Gallienus and Valerian, in the 3d century, while independent governments were rising in several provinces of the Roman empire, Odenatus became master of Palmyra and the whole of Mesopotamia, and assuming the regal title him self, also bestowed it upon his consort Zenobia, and his eldest son Herod. After his death, Zeno bia, styling herself Queen of the East, ruled over most of the eastern provinces of tbe Roman empire, as well as over her own territories, with so much firmness and policy, that Aurelian, who vanquished her and led ber in triumph to Rome, could not withhold his admiration. On the revolt of Palmyra shortly after, Aurelian, having recovered possession of it, caused it to be levelled with the ground, and the greater part of the inhabitants to be put to death. He, however, ordered the temple of tbe sun to be restored, placed a garrison in the town, and appointed a deputy over the district attached to it. Diocletian adorned the city with additional
buildings ; and under the emperor Honorius it still had a garrison, and was the seat of a bishop. Justinian strengthened the fortifications, and also constructed a very costly aqueduct, the remains of which still exist. When the successors of Mo hammed extended their conquests beyond the con fines of Arabia, Palmyra was one of the first places which became subject to the khalifs. In the year 659, a battle was here fought between the khalifs Ali and Moawiyah, and won by the former. In 744 it was still so strongly fortified that it took the khalif Merwan seven months to reduce it, the rebel Solyman having shut himself up in it. From this period it seems to have gradually fallen into decay. Benjamin of Tudela, who was there towards the end of the i2th century, speaks of it as Thadmor in the desert, built by Solomon of equally large stones (with Baalbec). This city is surrounded by a wail, and stands in the desert, far from any in habited place. It is four days' journey from Baal ath (Baalbec), and contains 2000 warlike Jews, who are at war with the Christians and with the Arabian subjects of Noureddin, and aid their neigh bours the Mohammedans.' In connection with this statement, it may be remarked that the exist ing inscriptions of Palmyra attest the presence of Jews there in its most flourishing period, and that they, in common with its other citizens, shared in the general trade, and were even objects of public honour. One inscription intimates the erection of a statue to Julius Schalmalat, a Jew, for having at his own expense conducted a caravan to Palmyra. This was in A.D. 258, not long before the time of Zenobia, who, according to some writers, was of Jewish extraction. Irby and Mangles (Travels, p. 273) also noticed a Hebrew inscription on the architrave of the grcat colonnade, but give no copy of it, nor say what it expressed. The latest histo rical notice of Tadmor which we have been able to find is, that it was plundered in 1.i.00 by the army of Timur Beg (Tamerlane), when 200,000 sheep were taken (Rankin, Wars of the Mongols). And Abulfeda, at the beginning of the 14th century G4rab. Descript. p. 93), speaks of Tadmor as merely a village, but celebrated for its ruins of old and magnificent edifices. These relics of ancient art and mag,nificence were scarcely known in Eu rope till towards the close of the 17th century. In the year 1678, some English merchants at Aleppo resolved to verify, by actual inspection, the reports concerning these ruins vvhich existed in that place. The expedition was unfortunate ; for they were plundered of everything hy the Arabs, and re turned with their object unaccomplished. A second expedition, in 169r, had better succcss ; but the accounts which were brought back received little credit : as it seemed unlikely that a city which, ac cording to their report, must have been so magnifi cent, should hal e been erected in the midst of deserts. When, however, in the year 1753, Ro bert Wood published the views and plans, which had been taken with great accuracy on the spot two years before, by Dawkins, the truth of the earlier accounts could no longer be doubted ; and it appeared that neither Greece nor Italy could exhibit antiquities which in point of splendour could rival those of Palmyra. The examinations of these travellers show that the ruins are of two kinds. The one class must have originated in very remote times, and consists of rude, unshapen hil locks of ruin and rubbish, covered with soil and herbage, such a's now alone mark the site of the most ancient cities of Mesopotamia and Babylonia, and among which it would be reasonable to seek any traces of the more ancient 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 build ings belong to the three centuries preceding Dio cletian, in which the Corinthian order of pillars was preferred to any other.