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Palmyra
Palmyra is a very old city in the desert of Syria. Long ago, traders with camels stopped there. It has long rows of stone columns and an old theater.
Palmyra is an ancient city built on an oasis in the Syrian desert. About 2,000 years ago it grew rich from caravans carrying goods between the Roman Empire and lands to the east. Its ruins, with a colonnaded street 1,100 meters long, are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Palmyra, an oasis city about 210 km northeast of Damascus, flourished in the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE as a caravan hub between Rome, Mesopotamia and the East, blending Greco-Roman, local and Persian art. Inscribed by UNESCO in 1980, the site suffered deliberate destruction of major monuments in 2015 and 2017 during the Syrian civil war.
Photo: Jerzy Strzelecki, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Discover Palmyra
Palmyra is in Syria, in the middle of a dry desert.
It was built beside an oasis, a place in the desert with water and palm trees. The name Palmyra means city of palm trees. Today, people visit its old stone ruins.
Palmyra stands in the Syrian desert, about 210 kilometers northeast of Damascus. It grew up around an oasis, where water lets palm trees grow. Its Roman rulers gave it the name Palmyra, "city of palm trees," but in Arabic it is still called by its ancient name, Tadmur.
The ruins are huge. A grand street lined with columns runs 1,100 meters through the city, linking temples, a marketplace and a theater. Outside the walls are tall stone tombs. UNESCO made Palmyra a World Heritage Site in 1980, and today experts are working to protect it.
Palmyra lies on an oasis roughly halfway between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates, about 210 km northeast of Damascus. Britannica notes the site was inhabited from the Neolithic until the 1930s, when French mandate authorities moved its remaining residents to a new town just east of the ruins. The Roman name means "city of palm trees"; the ancient name Tadmur, or Tadmor, survives in Arabic.
UNESCO inscribed the site in 1980, recognizing it as one of the most important cultural centers of the ancient world. Its 1,100 m colonnaded street, open in the center with covered side passages, and its cross streets form, in UNESCO's words, an outstanding illustration of architecture and urban layout at the peak of Rome's engagement with the East.
- Where
- Syrian desert, about 210 km northeast of Damascus
- Great age
- 2nd and 3rd centuries CE
- Grand colonnaded street
- 1,100 m long
- UNESCO World Heritage
- since 1980
A caravan city between empires
Long ago, traders crossed the desert with camels.
They stopped at Palmyra for water and rest. They brought things to buy and sell from far away. The city grew rich and beautiful.
Palmyra is mentioned in writing on clay tablets almost 4,000 years old. It became important when a trade road through the desert ran through it. Caravans, long lines of traders and animals, stopped here on the way between the Roman Empire and lands as far away as India and China.
Palmyra came under Roman control in the first century CE and grew rich, especially in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. In 270, led by Queen Zenobia, Palmyra broke away from Rome. The Roman emperor Aurelian won back the lands it had taken, and in 273 he destroyed the city. Later, as trade changed, Palmyra slowly became less important.
Tablets mention the city as early as the 19th century BCE, and UNESCO notes it in the archives of Mari in the 2nd millennium BCE. Palmyra rose to prominence when a road through it became a main east-west trade route, and it came under Roman control by the reign of Tiberius (14 to 37 CE). Hadrian declared it a free city around 129, and Caracalla made it a colonia, exempt from taxes.
The 2nd and 3rd centuries were its great age, as caravans linked Rome with Mesopotamia, the Persian Gulf and India. After the Sasanians closed the Gulf road, Rome entrusted the city to Septimius Odaenathus; his widow Zenobia then led Palmyra's armies into Anatolia in 270 and declared independence. The emperor Aurelian retook Anatolia in 272 and razed Palmyra in 273. Taken in 634 in the name of the caliph Abu Bakr, it slowly declined as a trading center. Its language was Aramaic, written in two scripts.
How the city was built
Palmyra was built from pale stone.
Builders made long streets with columns on both sides. They built temples, a market and a theater. Their carvings mixed styles from many lands.
The city was planned around one great street, called the Grand Colonnade, with smaller colonnaded streets crossing it. The main street was open in the middle, with covered walkways at the sides. It linked the big public buildings: temples, the agora (a marketplace and meeting place), the Senate House and the theater.
Palmyra's builders mixed Greek and Roman ways of building with local traditions and ideas from Persia. Almost all the buildings use one style of column, called Corinthian. Outside the walls stood an aqueduct to carry water and huge burial grounds with tall tower tombs.
Archaeologists call the principal east-west street the Grand Colonnade: a double portico ornamented with three nymphaea (monumental fountains), running 1,100 m, with a monumental arch near the great temple and, at the opposite end, the Tetrapylon, four groups of four columns. To the south lie the agora, the Senate House and the theater; other remains include the vast complex called Diocletian's Camp and several early Christian churches.
The Corinthian order marks almost all the monuments, while Mesopotamian and Iranian influence is also evident; UNESCO describes architectural ornament and funerary sculpture that unite Greco-Roman forms with local elements and Persian influences in a strongly original style. Beyond the walls are the remains of a Roman aqueduct and immense necropolises, including the tower tombs of the Valley of the Tombs, noted for distinctive decoration and construction methods.
The theater and the Grand Colonnade
Palmyra has an old theater shaped like half a circle.
People sat on stone steps to watch shows. In the picture, a tall wall with columns and doorways stands behind the stage. There are also tombs shaped like tall towers.
Palmyra's theater is shaped like a half circle. Rows of stone seats curve around a flat, half-round floor. In the photo, a tall wall decorated with columns and doorways stands behind the stage. It lies just south of the Grand Colonnade, near the agora.
Traders' stories are carved in stone too. A big inscription called the Tariff of Palmyra, written in two languages, and carvings under statues of caravan leaders tell how the trade was organized. These help historians learn how Palmyra became so rich.
The theater stands south of the Grand Colonnade with the agora and the Senate House. Its semicircular tiers of seats face a stage backed by a columned stage wall pierced by doorways, the classic Roman arrangement visible in the photograph.
Written evidence explains the city's wealth. The great bilingual inscription known as the Tariff of Palmyra and the inscriptions beneath statues of caravan leaders record the organization of trade with India via the Persian Gulf, with Coptos on the Nile, Rome and Dura-Europos. UNESCO adds that the rediscovery of the ruins by 17th- and 18th-century travelers contributed greatly to the revival of classical architecture and urban design in the West.
- Name
- "City of palm trees" (Roman); Tadmur in Arabic
- Column style
- mostly Corinthian
- Language
- Aramaic, in two scripts
- Protected area
- 1,640 ha
Protecting Palmyra
Palmyra's stones are very old.
Today, experts from Syria and around the world are working together to protect them. They want people to enjoy Palmyra for a very long time.
For many years, Palmyra's ruins were a treasure of Syria's heritage and drew many tourists. UNESCO says that the old city's ruins, the desert and the oasis belong together, and it has warned that the modern town next door was spreading toward the ancient site.
Today, Syria's Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums looks after Palmyra, working with UNESCO and experts from other countries. They record what is there, repair what they can and plan how to keep the site safe for the future.
In 2015, during the Syrian civil war, fighters of the Islamic State group took control of Palmyra and deliberately demolished several of its most famous monuments, including two great temples and the monumental arch; the museum's large statues were also badly damaged. Britannica reports that more ruins, including the theater and the Tetrapylon, were destroyed in early 2017. A UNESCO mission in April 2016 judged that, despite the losses, the site retained a large part of its integrity and authenticity.
Syria's Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums manages the site under the national antiquities law, working with UNESCO; in 2016 work began to match and document the fragments of broken statues. Britannica notes that after December 2024 experts pressed for rehabilitation, while the region remained unstable.
Amazing facts
-
The name Palmyra means city of palm trees.
The Romans named the city Palmyra, "city of palm trees," but its old name, Tadmur, is still used in Arabic.
The name Palmyra, "city of palm trees," was given by its Roman rulers in the 1st century CE; Tadmur, or Tadmor, continues in Arabic.
-
People lived among the ruins until about 100 years ago.
People lived inside the ancient city until the 1930s. Then they moved to a new town right next to the ruins.
The ancient site was inhabited from the Neolithic until the 1930s, when residents were moved to a new town of the same name just east of the ruins.
-
Palmyra's ruins inspired buildings far away.
Travelers who saw Palmyra's ruins in the 1600s and 1700s helped make old Greek and Roman styles popular again in Western buildings.
UNESCO credits 17th- and 18th-century travelers' accounts of Palmyra with contributing greatly to the revival of classical architecture and urban design in the West.
-
Palmyra's people wrote in two different ways.
The people of Palmyra spoke Aramaic and wrote it in two different scripts, one for big carved inscriptions and one for everyday writing.
Palmyrene Aramaic used a monumental script and a Mesopotamian cursive, reflecting the city's position between East and West.
Words to know
- oasis
- a place in a desert where there is water and plants can grow
- caravan
- a group of traders traveling together, often with camels or other animals
- colonnade
- a long row of columns, often along a street or walkway
- agora
- an open marketplace and meeting place in an ancient city
- orchestra
- in an ancient theater, the flat half-round space in front of the stage
- inscription
- words carved into stone or metal
Discovery challenge
-
Which country is Palmyra in?
In which country are the ruins of Palmyra?
In which country does Palmyra lie, about 210 km northeast of the capital?
- Syria
- Egypt
- Greece
Show the answer
Syria
Syria! Palmyra is in the Syrian desert.
Palmyra is in the desert of Syria, northeast of Damascus.
Syria: Palmyra lies about 210 km northeast of Damascus.
-
What does the name Palmyra mean?
What does the name Palmyra mean?
What does the Roman name Palmyra mean?
- City of lions
- City of palm trees
- City of gold
Show the answer
City of palm trees
City of palm trees! Palm trees grow at the oasis.
It means "city of palm trees," a name given by its Roman rulers.
"City of palm trees," conferred by the Romans in the 1st century CE; Tadmur remains the Arabic name.
-
What made Palmyra rich?
What made Palmyra rich in Roman times?
What was the main source of Palmyra's wealth in the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE?
- Gold mines
- Caravan trade
- Fishing
Show the answer
Caravan trade
Trade! Traders with animals stopped there to buy and sell.
Caravans carrying goods between the Roman world and the East stopped at Palmyra, and its merchants grew rich.
The caravan trade linking Rome with Mesopotamia, the Persian Gulf and India, documented by the Tariff of Palmyra.
-
How long is Palmyra's main street of columns?
How long is the Grand Colonnade, Palmyra's main street?
According to UNESCO, how long is the colonnaded street that forms the city's main axis?
- 11 meters
- 1,100 meters
- 110 kilometers
Show the answer
1,100 meters
1,100 meters! That is a very long street.
The Grand Colonnade runs 1,100 meters, with covered walkways on both sides.
1,100 m, open in the center with covered side passages, linking the main public monuments.
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Locate Palmyra in the Syrian desert and explain why an oasis became a trading city.
- Describe how Palmyra's builders mixed Greco-Roman, local and Persian styles.
- Name the parts of a Roman theater and of a colonnaded street.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Why would traders crossing a desert need a city like Palmyra?
- Palmyra's builders mixed styles from many places. Can you find buildings near you that mix styles?
- Why do you think people around the world care about protecting ancient places in other countries?
Try at home or in class
- Make a model colonnade from paper tubes standing in two rows along a cardboard street; add a paper roof over each side walkway.
- Plan a caravan journey on a map: mark where you would need water stops, and how far apart they could be.
Key vocabulary: oasis, caravan, colonnade, agora, orchestra, inscription
Where these facts come from
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Site of Palmyra (World Heritage List 23) , UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Palmyra , Encyclopaedia Britannica
- UNESCO experts take preliminary stock of destruction in World Heritage site of Palmyra (April 27, 2016) , UNESCO
- UNESCO World Heritage List , UNESCO World Heritage Centre (Linked as a reference; site facts come from Wikidata)
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file (public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA); see each media record)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated October 27, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.