Tadmur

Tadmur, the ancient Palmyra, is an oasis in the Syrian Desert between the Mediterranean lands and the Euphrates. Its springs sustained gardens and a city that grew wealthy from caravan trade between the Roman world and the East. Colonnaded streets, elaborate tombs and the great sanctuary of Bel testified to its prosperity. In the third century Queen Zenobia challenged Roman authority and ruled a short-lived empire until the emperor Aurelian defeated her in 272.

The oasis remained inhabited after the ancient city's decline. A fortress on the hill west of the ruins was built by the Ayyubid ruler of Homs, Shirkuh, in the thirteenth century; its commanding position overlooked both the settlement and the desert approaches. Under the Ottomans the citadel was restored in 1568, and the Lebanese emir Fakhr al-Din II later held authority over Palmyra and renovated the castle that bears his name. The ruins also attracted travellers from distant lands. An English party from Aleppo reached Palmyra in 1691 after an earlier expedition had failed. Their accounts and drawings brought its temples and inscriptions to the attention of European scholars, while the inhabitants continued to live among the remains of the older city.