SR 8: Palmyra (city of current Syria)

Intro: Here we see that Palmyra (city of current Syria) was a dynamic part of the SR because it is in
the Middle East. It was for long directed by the Roman empire and therefore very Hellenized, but,
being connected to Frankincense road (French: route des encens), it was inspired from many other
cultures and its inhabitants were ambitious enough to have an impact on trade. This place was very
influenced by syncretism and was disputed among leaders. This was a central cluster of the Silk Road
(SR).

I/ Palmyra on the Silk Road

A) The origins of the trade: Roman demand on East Asian goods, crossing Palmyra

Palmyra was a crossroad for people and merchants on their way to Africa, Asia and Europe
welcoming mostly People on the move: travelers, caravans, nomadic tribes, standing armies,
conquerors, pilgrims. Multicultural past: Pre-Islamic, Roman Empire, Islamic Empire.

Part of the flow of people was due to the luxury demand in the Roman Empire, asking for goods
coming from far away in the East and crossing the Persian Gulf and Red sea ports.

Example of products:
● Spices came from all parts of the East: (I selected 3 ‘cause I don’t have Sophie’s
memory)
● Cinnamon came from Indonesia;
● Ginger and cloves from China;
● Sesame, pepper and sandalwood from northern India.

Sources for the dissertation: Geography (150 CE) where Ptolemy recorded information on
Arabian
peninsula: the people and the geography with names and maps. But it is simply a presentation of
Arabia and its relation to the Roman empire (Western view, no details).
● Lack geographical details: describes south of Arabia, the only region of Arabia that could be
considered as urbanized. > the rest of South Arabians were tribes, they had no word for city
but used the term hagar for a fort.
● Other source: Claudius Aelius Galenus (129-216) a Greek physician who used Indian plants
crossing Palmyra

Archaeology that permitted to understand the importance of Palmyra:

● Under Ottoman rule: Russian archaeologists
● From 1920s Europeans: French, then German and Swiss. > IT permits satellite survey.
● 1980: UNESCO heritage list
● 2015-2016: destruction during Syrian conflicts. > archaeology try to reconstruct it.

B) A connexion with the Frankincense road (French: encens)

Frankincense and myrrh were luxury goods. They were coming from southern Arabia and Somalia
and traded in Europe, Egypt and Mesopotamia, India and China. They had importance in Palmyra SR
importance:
 For individuals: air purification or for pleasure.
Religious: Ceremonial purification in rituals and for sacrifices
References: The Bible, Greek poems, Roman sources (Nero on Poppaea's wake)

The Efqa is the city’s main water source. You can’t drink it but it is considered holy. Water was
provided from elsewhere by cisterns. > water added to geo location make Palmyra strategical (source:
Natural History, 70 CE, Pliny the Elder). > Indeed, nomadic stops there since the Stone Age. After the
conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great, Palmyra came under Greek rule. Seleucid monarchs (323
BCE>) developed the city. Caravans were numerous and needed protection. The city became a famous
trading place with Hellenized inhabitants under Greek political institutions and buildings (market,
theatre, temples...). As a cluster, Palmyrenes became a cosmopolite culture. For instance while
directed by the
Roman empire they were trading with Parthians. Still Romans made the urban projects (Hadrian
117-138)? Roman army has a Palmyrene unit of dromedary riders counting around 1000 camels
(Sophie’s dream)

Optimal road: The roads ran first along the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. They passed through cities
and kingdoms, rich from tolls and tariffs from travelers. Reaching Palmyra goods were sent on to the
Mediterranean coast and then shipped to the rest of the Roman Empire. The Palmyrene traders were
business men with ambitions. They developed a merchant fleet to send their own ships to India and
Arabia.

Sources: The caravan leader was elected by the traders who trusted their capital invested in them.
They were considered badass local heros who lead for long and robbers are a threat. In case of a
successful and profitable expedition, the traders would erect a bronze statue in the city square, and had
inscriptions made honoring the caravaneers leaders who assisted them in their trade.

With money, circulating Palmyra became an important financial center. Palmyrians were fed by the
villages located north of the city. The Palmyrenes were of nomadic origin, they dealt with desert
people and nomadic groups. They could get from them knowledge for the journeys, fit animals,
workforce, and they could also hire protection from potential raiders.

Sources to illustrate the psychology of the city: The Greek and Aramaic ‘Tax law’ from the time of
Antonine emperor Hadrian (117 - 131). It presented tariffs and fees on a wall, to been seen by
everyone. Similar regulations existed in important cities in the Roman Empire, but Palmyra’s tax law
steles is one that was preserved in good and in almost complete condition.
There is a price to pay to the community for water for garden use
There is one on the right to use pastures and to take water from public wells.
A tax is levied from butchers on animals for slaughter.
For traders camels, donkeys, mules, horses or wagons were taxed by the load.
BUT The local population were exempt from paying these taxes on foreigners.
Special goods like bronze statues, wool, perfumes or slaves were taxed at a specific rate as
luxury “products.”
Peddlers, musicians and dancers or acrobats and prostitutes also had to pay taxes.
II/ Palmyra’s heritage

A) The cultural heritage: Syncretism

Definition: the combining of different beliefs and various schools of thought.

There were many tombs around Palmyra, and all are mixing mythological elements from several
cultures going through Palmyra: Nabu, God of wisdom, rational arts, and wisdom, patron of the
scribes, from Sumer with Apollo’s influence.. He writes down everyone’s fate at the beginning of new
year. A temple was dedicated to him in Palmyra.

The temple had a banqueting hall with kitchen facilities and room to host more than a hundred guests.
Smaller temples had similar rooms for cult celebrations. The tiny clay tokens (tesserae) served as
invitations and entrance tickets to banquet. Some lead ones were found too (Roman era). Many tokens
depict a deity in whose honour the banquet. The iconography is diverse. Priests who hosted these
banquets played an important role in Palmyrene society.

Christianity also reached Palmyra. Palmyrene traders may have been among those bringing
Christianity further east to the Sasanian Empire.

Traders and even soldiers serving in the Roman army made sacrifices to their ancestral Palmyrene
gods. Palmyrene altars and inscriptions have been found in Egypt, on Kos, in Rome. The Palmyrene
cult was spread through Palmyrenes settling in other cities, as displayed by findings from
Dura-Europos on the Euphrates.

B) The leaders of Palmyra

1/ Septimius Odaenathus (220-267) and Zenobia (240-274 ?)

In the III century the Roman Empire entered a period of turmoil. Palmyra had thriven under Roman
rule, the military ensured stability and security.
A new Persian dynasty arose in 224. The Sasanian first two kings, Ardashir and Shapur,
pursued the Parthian policy towards Rome with decisive victories over the Romans, Roman
emperor Gordian III was killed in 243 and Valerian captured in 260.
Persians conquered the Roman province of Syria, sacked Antioch.
Cities fell: Hatra in 242, Ana in 252, and Dura-Europos in 256.
In 250, Odaenathus was referred to as “leader of Palmyra’ and “consularis.”
In 261, following the defeat of emperor Valerian, he loyally prevented a rebellion against the
Roman emperor, then gathered an army of Palmyrene and Roman troops and defeated the
Persians in 262.
He led a victorious campaign in 267 to the Persian capital of Ctesiphon. King of kings. He
was granted senatorial status by the emperor.
Odaenathus was murdered - leaving young son Vaballathus to power along with queen
Zenobia his mother.
In 270 - 271 she took control of Syria, Palestine, Egypt and parts of Asia Minor, granting herself
imperial titles. She gathered artists and intellectuals at the court in Palmyra, had philosophers for
councilors.

Roman emperor Aurelian regained control in the west, in the year 270, and turned against Zenobia.
She was defeated, Palmyra fell after a siege. The queen was about to cross the Euphrates when she
was captured. Palmyra was spared.

Her fate is discussed: She escaped? Or more probably died on her way to Rome or even was led to
Rome to be part of Aurelian’s triumphal procession.

In 278, the population rebelled a last time. Roman soldiers entered the city and sacked it.
There are inscriptions on monuments even after the Roman destruction of 272/73 as temples were
repaired. Public baths were built. The city came under direct Roman rule.

Emperor Diocletian (284–305) placed a military camp where troops stationed. Walls are still to be
seen today. This led to the disappearance of Palmyrene inscriptions after 280 - 300CE.
Traders and armies, a place for travellers Palmyra is on the Peutingerian Map showing the Roman
Empire road network with major cities, cursus publicum, from the V century CE. In the VI century
emperor Justinian had new walls built around the city. The Arab armies reached Palmyra in 634.

2/ Umayyad caliphs (658-750)

Syria flourished under the rule of the Umayyad caliphs (658–750), who established their capital in
Damascus after the Muslim Arab conquests of 635-636. Damascus became the center of a Muslim
empire from the Atlantic coast to India and from Central Asia to Yemen.

Trade networks were established throughout this empire. Syria's importance diminished when the
empire’s capital was moved to Baghdad by the Abbasid dynasty in 750. Palmyra remained a regional
centre of some importance because of its localization. Shops were built into the monumental
colonnade market or suq/souk. Close to the shops, a Roman building was transformed into Palmyra’s
first mosque.

Palmyra’s importance diminished slowly. In the first years of the XIV century, the invasion of
Timur brought new destructions of the remaining buildings.

3/ Epigraphy > Resurrecting the Venice of the sands...

In September 19 CE and in August 19 CE, two steles were erected to adorn statues :

One to Azizu Yedi’Bel - from his son out of filial piety - and one to the dedicant himself.
They were written in Greek and Aramaic scripts.
They were discovered in the Bel temple precinct in 1882 by Prince Abamelek Lazarev.
The two characters were wealthy Palmyrenes, two prominent citizens praised for their
contribution to the building and maintaining of the temple. Geert Hofstede van Essen, View
over the ruins of Palmyra, 1693. Based on the sketch made during the expedition of 1691.
A mission led by chaplain William Halifax;
Permission from the sheikh to visit the Palmyrene oasis.
Steles were copied – The Palmyrene had to be deciphered !
 The Greek and Aramaic epigraphy being translated into Latin.
A legend: Syrian desert, biblical places, a foundation by King Solomon...

Palmyra was captured in May 2015 by the Islamic state of Iraq and Syria > March 2016.