2 Chronicles 8:3-4
Hamath Zobah <02578> [Hamath-zobah.]
built .............. built <01129> [he built.]
Tadmor <08412> [Tadmor.]
Tadmor, the Palmyra of the Greeks, as we learn from Josephus, a celebrated city of Syria, situated in an oasis, or fertile spot of land, surrounded on all sides by a vast sandy desert, like an island in the midst of the ocean; according to Pliny, 337 miles from Seleucia and Tigrim, 203 from the nearest part of the Mediterranean, and 176 from Damascus; according to Josephus, one day's journey west of the Euphrates, and six from Babylon; and according to Ptolemy, in lat. 34 degrees north, or that of Tripoli, and about 4 degrees more easterly; and it is described by Mr. Wood as "situated under a barren ridge of hills to the west, and open on the other sides to the desert:" "about six days' journey from Aleppo, and as much from Damascus, and about twenty leagues west of the Euphrates." Palmyra attained the height of its splendour when the royal city of Zenobia was conquered by the emperor Aurelian; became a Roman colony after the victories of Trajan; and was probably reduced to its present miserable state in the wars of the Saracens. Its magnificent ruins, however, scattered over an extent of several miles, sufficiently attest its former splendour and riches.
