MEMORIES

text FERINA NATASYA ABDUL AZIZ

Turkey Sylvain Grandadam/Getty Images

The ancient ruins of Palmyra

Often described as the ‘bride of the desert’ in Syria, the city of Palmyra was one of the
Lebanon
Syria most important cultural centres of the ancient world. A small settlement developed at a
Abu
Kamal natural water spring there almost 4,000 years ago, and thanks to its ideal location along
Palmyra
Hims the Silk Road (and the inhospitable Syrian desert), Palmyra grew incredibly wealthy from
✪ Damascus taxing passing traders and charging them for water.
Iraq
By the first century AD, Palmyra was not just trading silk from east to west – it had
become the independent centre of desert routes radiating in all directions to Damascus,
Homs, Hama, Antioch, Resafeh, Seleucia (on the Tigris), Dura Europos, Ctesiphon and
even Petra. Palmyra had become a destination and financial centre in its own right.
The city’s monumental ruins remain as a reminder of its past glory, and tell of its
ancient past during the reign of King Odenathus and Queen Zenobia. After the death of
the king, Queen Zenobia sent her armies to conquer Egypt territory and proclaimed herself
queen of Egypt in 269 BC. The city’s fate mirrored her rise to power and eventual defeat by
the Roman Emperor Aurelian around 273 BC; with its queen captured in Rome, Palmyra’s
fortunes declined rapidly.
Today, this long-abandoned city remains as one of the most enigmatic and historical
sites along the Silk Road in the Middle East, capturing the imagination of historians,
archaeologists and travellers alike. #

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