PALMYRA, also called Tadmor, a ruined city in the desert, to the S.E. of Jerusalem, three days' journey from the Euphrates. We read in 1 Kings ix. 18, and 2 Chronicles viii. 4, that Solomon built Tadmor in the wilderness ; ' and Josephus as sures us that the city, which was subsequently known under the name of Palmyra by the Greeks and Romans, was one and the same place. It has again recovered its original appellation, being known to the wandering Arabs under that of Tadmor. The first mention of it in Roman history is under Mark Anthony (see Appian, De Bello Civil. lib. 5), at which time it appears the inhabit ants were noted for their riches and their com merce with the eastern nations. Pliny described Palmyra as remarkable on account of its situation, the richness of its soil, and its agreeable streams. It is now encompassed on every side by a vast desert of sand, which completely separates it from the rest of the world. It always maintained its independence between the two great empires of Rome and Parthia, whose constant endeavour it was, during their wars, to bring it over to their respective interests. It is distant 337 miles from Seleucia on the Tigris, 203 to the nearest part of the coast, and 176 from Damascus. The entire ruins of Palmyra, when seen at a certain distance, are infinitely more striking than those of Balbek ; but there is not any one spot so imposing as the interior view of the temple of Balbek. The temple of the sun at Tadmur is upon a grander scale than that of Balbek, but it is choked with Arab houses, which admit only a view of the building in detail. The architecture of Balbek is richer than that of Tadmor. From the time of Solomon till after the captivity of the Roman emperor Valerian by the Persians, but little is known of it. It rose to the highest opulence and splendour under Odenatus, whose dominions extended from the Euphrates to the Mediterranean. But its chief interest is con nected with the wife of Odenatus, Zenobia, queen of the east. Her increasing power attracted the
notice and jealously of Aurelian, who, having defeated her in two pitched battles, laid siege to Palmyra. Soon after the surrender of the city, the Palmyrenes revolted against the emperor, who in consequence entirely destroyed the city, and put the greater part of the inhabitants to death, though he afterwards restored the temple of the sun, and gave permission to the remnants of the Palmyrenes to rebuild and inhabit their city. The temple of the sun consists of an immense court, of which the ruins are spread over a space of 220 yards. It is surrounded by a stately wall, adorned with pilasters within and without. Two rows of ble columns, of which about sixty remain e, formed a colonnade within the court, which ow occupied by the Arab huts. The great nuade extends more than half a mile in length, probably was the main street in the city, from iich others branched out laterally; it was entered by an archway, and terminated by a large build ing, of which the portico alone remains. Innumer able columns and ruins of temples are scattered over the plain. Lord Lindsay says, ' An awful stillness—a lifelessness—pervades the ruins ; they stand as lonely and silent as when the last of the ' Palmyrenes departed and left the city of Zenobia to silence and decay.' Palmyra is a Sanskrit word corrupted, and affords the etymology of Solomon's city of the desert, Tadinor. The p, by the retrenchment of a single diacritical point, becomes t; and the 1 and d being permutable, Pal becomes Tad or Tar or Tal, the palmyra, which is the mor or chief of trees ; hence Tadmor from its date trees. In British India there are more than one ' city of palms' (Talpur) ; and the tribe last ruling in Ilyderabad, on the Indus, was called Talpuri, from the place whence they originated. —Robinson's Travels ; Tod's Rajasthan.