The City of Palms

Palmyra is known as both the “bride” and the “pearl” of the desert. This monumental 2000 year old multicultural merchant city was long considered the crossroads of civilizations, and one of the most important ancient cities in the world.

It is located in the eastern part of the Levant, now in the centre of modern Syria. The name Palmyra is believed to be the Latinized form of the original Arabic name of Tadmur, which is related to the word for date palm.

The City of Palms was built around a lush oasis in the Syrian desert, lying approximately halfway between the Mediterranean Sea and the Euphrates River. It stood along the silk routes, where merchants traveled between Europe and Asia. Archaeological finds from Palmyra date back to the Neolithic period, and it is mentioned in tablets dating from as early as the 19th century BCE.

Palmyra began as a Mesopotamian settlement, and was controlled by the Arameans from the second millennium BCE, before the Arabic people arrived in the first millennium BCE. The Arabs assimilated with the city’s existing population and are said to have spoken the local dialect of Palmyrene. There was also a significant Jewish population in Palmyra.

Amphitheatre | Palmyra, Syria
Amphitheatre | Palmyra, Syria

Roman Control and Later

Although autonomous for much of its history, Palmyra came under Roman control by the time of the emperor Tiberius. The city connected the Roman world with Mesopotamia and the East. The distinctive local culture of Palmyra was blended into the Roman Empire in the first century CE. By the late third century CE, when the Romans officially incorporated Palmyra into their empire, it was the wealthiest of all ancient cities.

More than two centuries after Palmyra’s inception, it gained independence from Rome in 270 CE, under Queen Septimia Zenobia (Aramaic – Znwbyā Bat Zabbai). She established the Palmyrene Empire which annexed much of the eastern part of the Roman Empire.

Palmyra was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980 and has an important place in the Syrian historic consciousness. Syrians take enormous pride in the magnificent merchant city that greatly influenced, and ultimately defied, the power of Rome.

The art, language and architecture of Palmyra are a superb example of the fertile crescent, with its blend of cultures and traditions. The Palmyrene people maintained a dynamic culture and a land of inherent pluralism owing to their Assyrian (Mesopotamian), Levantine, Semitic, Greco-Roman, Persian, and Islamic heritage.

The Ruins of Palmyra

The Palmyrene Tombs

The affluent residents of ancient Palmyra built elaborate tombs outside the city walls, adorned with portraits of citizens. These bust sculptures demonstrate the complexity and richness of Palmyrene identity. They combine a combination of multicultural sculptural elements and local stylistic elements. Some of these portraits were accompanied by inscriptions in the distinct Palmyrene dialect of Aramaic.

The Faces of Palmyra

More than 3,000 of these funerary portraits from ancient Palmyra survive in museums around the world.  Archaeologists Rubina Raja, founder of the Palmyra Portrait Project, and Fred Alberston, an expert on Roman sculpture speak about their project in the video below.

This video by the Getty Museum complements the online exhibition “The Legacy of Ancient Palmyra” from the Getty Research Institute: Ancient Palmyra Online. Learn more about the Palmyra Portrait Project here: Palmyra Portrait

Destruction of Palmyra

After seizing the ancient city of Palmyra in 2015, Islamic State (IS) militants launched a campaign of destruction, committing barbaric assaults on the people, cultural monuments, and artifacts of the city. The destruction of Palmyra’s magnificent monuments provoked an international outcry and prompted media attention.

In May 2016, when the IS was first driven from Palmyra, there were numerous calls, led by UNESCO, to begin the work of restoring the ancient city. It would not be until later in 2017 that the site was finally relatively safe from IS control.

The photos below were taken in 2016 by photographer Joseph Eid (Getty Images). In some of these images Eid holds photos taken in 2014, just two years earlier, in front of the remains of the ancient Syrian city after it was destroyed by the Islamic State in 2015.

Potential Restoration

In 2017 the restoration of the ancient city of Palmyra began. Experts from Russia, Italy and Poland are among those who have been helping salvage relics from the site, and UNESCO has also contributed to conservation efforts. Syrian archaeologists, with assistance from experts at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, have started piecing together statues and sculptures from the site.

Unfortunately, the restoration of Palmyra has been held up by security issues, leftover IS land mines and severe lack of funding. Other archaeological sites throughout Syria face similar problems. These regions were not only damaged by the war, but also by the deadly earthquake that struck Syria in 2023.

Millions of Syrians are still suffering from the consequences of the bloody war, and more recently, the earthquake. Among them are the people of Palmyra, who continue to experience grave risks including detention by the government, and destruction of their homes and heritage.

Celebration (1982) | Ahmad Madoun

Celebration (1982) | Ancient Palmyra | Oil on Canvas | Public Collections National Museum Damascus
Celebration (1982) | 150cm x 100cm | Oil on Canvas | National Museum Damascus

Palmyra, the historically significant city of Ahmad Madoun’s birth, greatly influenced his paintings. Artifacts such as the Faces of Palmyra inspired him to integrate this ancient symbolic style into his art. The above work entitled Celebration serves as a prominent illustration of this cultural influence. For further insights into Ahmad Madoun’s life and work, please refer to his biography.

“For me, Palmyra is the main source of nature, good taste, and the original Palmyrene arts, especially at its peak. It enriches my artistic sensibilities.” Ahmad Madoun

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