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[[File: Palmyra_trade.png|300px250px|thumbnail|left|Map Showing Ancient Trade Routes with Palmyra in the Middle]]__NOTOC__Life in the ancient world often revolved around cities, which much like today, served as political capitals and economic centers. Some of the more notable ancient cities, such as Rome, Athens, and Jerusalem, are still in existence, although they would be scarcely recognizable if their original inhabitants were to see them today. Other ancient cities fell victim to natural or manmade disasters, or a combination of both, and can be seen today only as a ruins. Carthage, Hattusas, and Palmyra are all ancient cities that fall into this category. Among all of the ancient cities that were once important, but not longer exist, Palmyra may be the least understood by the majority of modern peoples. During the first two centuries of the common era, Palmyra rivaled Rome in importance and was arguably more economically powerful. It was Palmyra’s economic endeavors that made it one of the most important cities in the ancient world; but several factors contributed to make the city the premier economic center of its time. Palmyra was located in a desert oasis that proved to be an optimal location for trade, as it was the conduit for all trade routes that connected the Roman Empire in the west with the Parthian Empire in the east. More important than its location, though, was Palmyra’s culture that placed a premium on trade and merchant activities. By the late third century AD, when the Romans officially incorporated Palmyra into their empire, it was the wealthiest of all ancient cities.
===Background of Palmyra===
[[File: Ampitheatre_Palmyra_Syria.jpg|300px250px|thumbnail|rightleft|The Amphitheater of Palmyra]]
At first glance, Palmyra’s location and surrounding environment would seem to be factors that would inhibit its growth and productivity. Located approximately 143 miles northeast of the modern city of Damascus, Syria, Palmyra sprawled across a desert oasis that was the halfway point between the Levantine city of Emesa and Dura-Europos on the Euphrates River. <ref> Browning, Iain. <i>Palmyra.</i> (London: Chatto and Windus, 1979), p. 13</ref> Although surrounded by nothing but the vast Syrian Desert, which is unable to sustain much life, Palmyra’s immediate environment was a lush oasis that was capable of supporting a large population. By the late first century BC, public fountains and springs were common in Palmyra, which were supplied by an aqueduct. <ref>Mathews, J.F. “The Tax Law of Palmyra: Evidence for Economic History in a City of the Roman East.” <i>Journal of Roman Studies</i> 74 (1984) p. 171</ref>
Palmyra’s industrious and sometimes avaricious population is almost as important as its location. Essentially, the Palmyrenes, much like many people in the Levant throughout all periods of history, were a mixture of different ethnic groups who spoke a variety of languages. The people who originally settled in what would become Palmyra were ethnic Arabs, but once the city grew in size and stature it incorporated cultural influences and genetics from surrounding peoples, such as the Assyrians, Greeks, and Romans. Linguistically, the Palmyrenes spoke and wrote in the Aramaic language, which was the <i>lingua franca</i> of the region during the period, but modern scholars point out that there were Greek and Latin influences in their particular dialect of the language. <ref> Smith, Andrew M. <i>Roman Palmyra: Identity, Community, and State Formation.</i> (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), p. 16</ref> Although it was the Romans who would most profoundly influence the historical course of Palmyra in the first two centuries of the common era, before that time the city was more firmly in the realm of the ancient Near East.
Assyrian sources from the early first millennium BC mention Palmyra as a not very important city known as Tadmor and in the Old Testament book of II Chronicles (8:4), Tadmor is mentioned as a city built by Solomon, although most modern scholars believe this is legend more than anything. <ref> Matthews, p. 160</ref> Tadmor’s status did not seem to improve much during what is commonly known as the Hellenistic Period (300s BC until establishment of the Roman Empire at the beginning of the common era) because the textual and archaeological evidence shows that trade routes avoided the city at the time. <ref> Browning, p. 21</ref> Tadmor/Palmyra’s fortunes would change, though, when the Romans became the preeminent power in the Mediterranean basin.
===Palmyra As a Trade Center===
[[File: Agora_Palmyra.jpg|300px250px|thumbnail|left|The Ruins of the Agora(Marketplace) of Palmyra]]
Palmyra became one of the most important cities in the ancient world because its culture promoted trade. In particular, the Palmyrenes benefited from caravans that took exotic items from the east to the west and vice versa. The oldest inscription in Palmyra that refers to trade caravans has been dated to AD 10/11, <ref>Gawlikowski, M. “Palmyra as a Trading Center.” <i>Iraq</i> 56 (1994) p. 28</ref> but they more than likely began sometime before that date. As the trade caravans became more numerous and plied with greater and more expensive types of merchandise, the Romans decided to lend their services as the flow of free traded benefited them as well. Along with the efforts made by the Emperor Tiberius discussed earlier, the Emperor Trajan (reigned AD 98-117) had a paved road built that connected Palmyra to the Euphrates River. <ref> Smith, p. 22</ref> Another road was built that ran from Palmyra to city of Petra and river and sea routes were established that brought Palmyrene merchants down the Euphrates River to the Persian Gulf and east to Asia. <ref> Browning, pgs. 13, 26</ref>
===The Decline of Palmyra===
[[File: Aurial_victory.jpg|300px250px|thumbnail|left|Roman Coin Commemorating the Emperor Aurelian’s Victory over Zenobia]]
Although Palmyra’s rise to prominence in the ancient world was gradual, its demise was especially quick. As Palmyra grew in wealth and economic importance, some of the city’s leaders also wanted to taste greater geo-political power. Many Palmyrenes believed that they were little more than puppets of Rome, so when Queen Zenobia (ruled 267-272) embarked on an ambitious military campaign to conquer the Levant, Egypt, and most of Asia Minor, she was supported by the city’s leading merchants. But the merchant city was ill-prepared to confront the world’s greatest military power, so after several months of fighting the Palmyrenes were defeated by the Roman Emperor Aurelian (reigned 270-275) in 272. <ref> Vaughan, Agnes Carr. <i>Zenobia of Palmyra.</i> (New York: Doubleday, 1967), p. 175-184</ref> After the defeat, Palmyra was a shadow of itself and would never again be an important city.
===References===
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