Syria

Palmyra

WHS Score 3.98 Votes 33 Average 4.36

The Site of Palmyra consists of the ruins of a wealthy caravan oasis further developed under Roman rule.

Palmyra was located on a major trade route and was known as the city of palm trees. After it became a Roman colony, Emperor Caracalla turned it into one of the greatest cities of the Roman Empire with new constructions of streets, arches, temples and statues. Major artistic works include the Grand Colonnade and the Great Temple of Ba'al. Due to reports on its splendour by travellers in the 17th and 18th centuries, Palmyra also was influential in the evolution of neoclassical architecture.

Community Perspective: Solivagant visited in 1999, admired the fine Temple of Baal, and recommended the viewpoint from a hill fort a few miles away. Squiffy did so in 2009: “a bewitching sight, a lattice of soaring ruins sketched out in the sands of the Syrian Desert. It carries all the exoticism of Egypt.” Triath, describing his 2023 visit, was the first to report on the situation after IS severely damaged the site in 2015.

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Site Info

Official Information
Full Name
Site of Palmyra (ID: 23)
Country
Syria
Status
Inscribed 1980 Site history
History of Palmyra
WHS Type
Cultural
Criteria
  • i
  • ii
  • iv
Links
UNESCO
whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
Related Resources
News Article
  • Feb. 15, 2025 phys.org — Report documents devastation of ancient city of Palmyra
  • Nov. 1, 2022 apnews.com — Mass grave of IS victims found in Syria’s Palmyra
  • Nov. 25, 2021 theartnewspaper.com — Three looted Palmyra sculptures seized in Geneva freeport return to Syria
  • Aug. 25, 2018 theartnewspaper.com — Syria's Palmyra to be ready for tourists by summer 2019
  • Dec. 15, 2017 foxnews.com — The tragedy of Palmyra
  • Oct. 6, 2017 whc.unesco.org — Conservation completed on Lion of Al-lāt statue from ancient city of Palmyra, damaged by ISIL
  • March 4, 2017 sputniknews.com — Palmyra’s World Heritage Site May Not Be as Damaged as Feared
  • Jan. 20, 2017 yahoo.com — IS destroys part of Roman theater in Palmyra
  • Dec. 12, 2016 theguardian.com — Islamic State retakes historic city of Palmyra
  • July 13, 2016 dailysabah.com — World Heritage Committee sceptical about Palmyra's 3D replicas
  • June 2, 2016 theguardian.com — Syrian troops looting ancient city Palmyra
  • May 18, 2016 thenewstribune.com — Russia builds military camp near ancient site in Palmyra
  • May 9, 2016 theguardian.com — Palmyra hosts Russian concert after recapture by Syrian forces
  • April 14, 2016 rt.com — UNESCO unanimously approves Russian resolution on Palmyra restoration
  • March 25, 2016 un.org — UNESCO chief welcomes the liberation of Syria's Palmyra world heritage site
  • Oct. 7, 2015 bbc.com — Islamic State 'blows up Palmyra arch'
  • Sept. 24, 2015 middleeasteye.net — Palmyra citadel damaged by Syrian government bombing, says expert
  • Sept. 5, 2015 theguardian.com — Islamic State has destroyed three tower tombs in Palmyra
  • Aug. 31, 2015 dailymail.co.uk — ISIS blow up 2,000-year-old Temple of Bel in Palmyra
  • Aug. 24, 2015 bbc.com — Palmyra's Baalshamin temple 'blown up by IS'
  • Aug. 19, 2015 telegraph.co.uk — Isil 'beheads top archaeologist in Palmyra' after refusing to give up secrets of its treasures
  • June 22, 2015 businessinsider.com — IS 'lays mines' in ruins of Syria's ancient Palmyra
  • May 21, 2015 un.org — UNESCO chief urges ‘immediate’ cessation of hostilities at Palmyra
  • May 15, 2015 economictimes.indiatimes.com — Palmyra under threat as IS jihadists battle Syrian troops
  • Sept. 25, 2012 dailytimes.com.pk — Palmyra museum looted and large-scale theft at the site reported
  • Jan. 13, 2010 english.globalarabnetwork.com — Important Archaeological Findings in Ancient Palmyra

Community Information

  • Community Category
  • Archaeological site: Near Eastern
Travel Information
No travel information
Recent Connections
View all (34) .
Connections of Palmyra
Individual People
  • King Solomon
    Its Aramaic name was "Tadmor". Various references assign its creation to Solomon. 2 biblical :- 2 Chronicles 8:4 "And Solomon built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the store cities, which he built in Hamath." 1 Kings 9:17/18 "And Solomon built Gezer, and Bethhoron the nether, and Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land," And also the historian Flavius Josephus (1st century Jewish Roman citizen):- "When he had therefore built this city, and encompassed it with very strong walls, he gave it the name of Tadmor; and that is the name it is still called by at this day among the Syrians; but the Greeks name it Palmyra." (Josephus. Antiquities of the Jews. 8.6.153-154)
  • Johann Ludwig Burckhardt
    (Tadmor) July 1810

    See ebooks.adelaide.edu.au

  • James Bruce
    Bruce travelled through Syria, visiting Palmyra and Baalbek. (wiki)
  • Gertrude Bell
    Photo taken May 1900
  • Emperor Hadrian
    Visited in 129 AD
Geography
  • Tigris - Euphrates Basin
    “the region of Palmyra is considered to be within the broader Euphrates River Basin. The ancient city relied on underground water resources and the flow from local wadis (seasonal streams) that would eventually drain towards the Euphrates system”
  • Under control of ISIS
    On 21 May 2015, some artifacts were removed from the Palmyra museum by the Syrian curators and transported in 2 trucks to Damascus. ... The same day, ISIL forces entered the World Heritage Site (wiki) - On 27 March 2016 the site was recaptured by Syrian government troops.
  • Kings Highway
Trivia
History
  • Silk Roads
    Classic Land Route; "As such, Palmyra came to occupy a no-man's land criss-crossed with caravan routes. The city profited from its location, for there was a demand from Rome for the luxuries of the East — silks and spices — and Parthia, with its growing interest in Hellenistic culture, wanted the goods of the West. " (Silk Roads Programme)

    See en.unesco.org

  • Canaanite cultures
    Some temples
  • Women Explorers
    Reached by Lady Hester Stanhope in 1812. She later claimed to have been crowned "Queen of Palmyra" under the Triumphal Arch!

    See www.saudiaramcoworld.com

  • Located in a Former Capital
    Palmyrene Empire of Zenobia (260-273)
  • Queens and Empresses
    Queen Zenobia (240 - c270) of Palmyra. There is an inscription, "the illustrious consul our lord" at Palmyra, dedicated to Odaenathus by Zenobia

    See en.wikipedia.org

  • Places of Execution
    IS 'executes' 20 in Palmyra Roman theatre (May 2015)

    See news.yahoo.com

Damaged
  • Damaged in War since WWII
    Syrian Civil War "Imagery analysis has revealed how the site and its surrounding area - including its Roman theatre - have suffered from the effects of shelling, activity by snipers as well as the presence of rocket launchers and tanks. There are also persistent reports of looting." New roads can be seen across the northern area of the site as well excavated fortifications (pink arrows), providing cover for military vehicles (yellow arrows).

    See www.bbc.co.uk

  • Destroyed or damaged by Earthquake
    (1089, led to abandonment)
World Heritage Process
Religion and Belief
Human Activity
  • Multilingual inscriptions
    The Temple of Baal Shamin has a column from AD131 "In Greek and Palmyrene (Aramaic) that praises the Secretary of the city for his generosity during the visit of the "Divine Hadrian" and for footing the bill for the temple's construction" also "The inscriptions which remain are bilingual, in Aramaic and Greek; a few with Latin also survive but only from the later years of the city (As'ad and Delplace 2002)."
  • Historical Graffiti
    Graffiti in Arabic, including the phrase “This is an inscription that I wrote with my own hand. My hand will wear out but the inscription will remain.”

    See iqsaweb.wordpress.com

Constructions
Timeline
  • Built in the 1st century
    under Roman control in the mid-first century AD and grew in importance from then; The great temple of Ba'al is considered one of the most important religious buildings of the 1st century AD (AB ev)
Science and Technology
Visiting conditions
News
phys.org 02/15/2025
Report documents devastation of an…
apnews.com 11/01/2022
Mass grave of IS victims found in …
theartnewspaper.com 11/25/2021
Three looted Palmyra sculptures se…
Recent Visitors
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Community Reviews

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First published: 29/12/24.

Triath

Palmyra

Palmyra (Inscribed)

Palmyra by triath

Visited on a group tour to Syria in May 2023.
Our Syrian guide was most nervous about visiting Palmyra, and he was very anxious to get us out of there while it was still light. ISIS has been pushed back to the mountainous regions of Syria, but it is precisely in this region that jihadists still make their forays from time to time, although tourism is slowly but reviving.
Palmyra was once the largest trading center between Rome and Parthia, and this oasis literally bathed in money. But the inhabitants of the city managed to remain in history in a non-trivial way, through the creation of many necropolises of the local elite with a unique culture of posthumous portraits, which became the main witnesses of the phenomenal prosperity of this city for the whole world.
Palmyra was ruined by political ambitions, the legendary queen Zenobia began to seize neighboring lands and mint her own coins. The Romans could no longer stand this, and under the emperor Marcus Aurelius Palmyra was captured by the Roman army and looted. The ruins of the once majestic city were also destroyed by Islamic fundamentalists from ISIS, another unexpected tragedy.
A vivid reminder to us that barbarism has not gone anywhere in the contemporary era. Militants of the Islamic State captured the ancient capital of the trading kingdom twice, and they purposefully destroyed the monuments of the past.
They blew up the temple of Bel, the triumphal arch, the massive tetrapylon, looted and destroyed the …

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First published: 30/07/19.

Squiffy

Palmyra

Palmyra (Inscribed)

Palmyra by Squiffy

The sun was already setting. In all likelihood I had arrived too late. But I climbed, regardless. The road wound around the hill and up it I ran. Loose stones skittered beneath my boots. But then, breath catching in my chest, I emerged from the shadows of the peak. From here, the watery blood-orange sun hung just over the horizon. I stepped around the corner of the towering Arab castle and looked down over the oasis. There, far below on the ash grey plain, bracketed by a hinge of palms, millennia old stonework glowed in the fading light. A long colonnaded processional route marched away from my vantage point for over a kilometre towards a squared-off area of temples. Their walls and columns still stood proud of the sands and trees that surrounded them. Behind me the sun sank away and I watched the shadows of night fold down over Palmyra.

Palmyra is a bewitching sight, a lattice of soaring ruins sketched out in the sands of the Syrian Desert. It carries all the exoticism of Egypt. But the history of Palmyra at its 3rd century peak – the Palmyra that I visited – is well-documented. And its story is as interesting as any myth.

Palmyra sat on the fringes of the Roman empire, a wealthy waystation on the trade routes to the east and a bulwark against encroaching threats. The high-water mark of its influence and power occurred during what is known as ‘The Crisis of the …

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First published: 01/05/05.

Solivagant

Palmyra

Palmyra (Inscribed)

Palmyra by Solivagant

Lonely Planet talks of Syria and Jordan’s “Unflattering media profile” as putting off tourists. I can’t see how that can apply to Jordan but it is certainly the case with Syria. In fact we found the country very pleasant to travel round in 1999 – hopefully more recent events in a neighbouring country won’t have altered this! The trip had many highlights some of which are described in my reviews of the 3 other WHS. (In fact Syria also has 15 Tentative List sites - many of which in my opinion fully justify inscription). I hesitate to state that the ruined desert city of Palmyra is the best, since the others are very good too, but it certainly merits a visit by anyone who enjoys atmospheric historical sites.

The journey to it across the desert sets the scene whether you come from East or West - its earlier name was Tadmor meaning “City of Dates” and both its old and new titles seem fully justified as you reach the oasis with its large palm groves.

The city was Roman in the sense that it reached its peak when the area was part of the Roman Empire. However the colony had a degree of independence as a buffer state between Rome and Persia and had its own monarch. One of these, a Queen Zenobia, rather unwisely declared independence and finished up being carted off to Rome in chains. She is the “romantic figure” which Palmyra plays heavily upon (with …

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