BMCR 2025.02.06

The Oxford handbook of Palmyra

, The Oxford handbook of Palmyra. Oxford handbooks. New York: Oxford University Press, 2024. Pp. 632. ISBN 9780190858117.

Review by

Preview

[Authors and titles are listed at the end of the review]

 

Nicknames such as “The Pearl/Bride of the Desert” aptly convey the fascination Palmyra has exerted over scholars and laymen alike since its rediscovery by travelers and diplomats at the end of the 17th century. Since then, a staggering amount of scholarship has been produced, exploring various aspects of the site’s life. Yet, whether explicitly acknowledged or not, the entry point into Palmyra’s history for non-specialists is often significantly restricted in both time and scope: for several reasons (including the Syrian government’s attempts at exploiting the city’s allure for political purposes), the focus of research has for a long time been on the first three centuries AD, when Palmyra was subject to Roman authority.

Indeed, within this period, Zenobia’s reign tends to play an oversized role, as attention coalesces around the stunning—but fleeting—“imperial momentum” enjoyed by the town before its sacking by Aurelian’s troops in 272-273 AD. Furthermore, the often single-minded emphasis on Palmyra’s caravan trade culture, albeit obviously a critical aspect of its history, runs the risk of presenting a skewed (and at times overtly orientalizing) picture of a place—and a broader cultural environment—whose past is in fact much richer, more complex, and worth of considerably more attention. To put things into perspective, it is essential to recall that, prior to the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011 and despite decades of scholarly activity, only 20% of the site had been adequately excavated. Moreover, several of Palmyra’s most famous public monuments (such as the temple of Bēl) had been used as churches or mosques for much longer than their time as houses of pagan gods, even though very little knowledge is yet accessible on late antique or Islamic Palmyra. The same can be said concerning the time before Rome’s encroachment in the East. The Hellenistic layers are almost entirely unexcavated (although evidence gathered from surveys and test excavation offers tantalizing hints at the potential of further work). As for the time in which Palmyra was only known by its indigenous name (Tadmūr), little is known besides passing mentions of its inhabitants in texts from Mari and the Assyrian polity.

It follows from the above that a synthetic work capable of presenting an accessible and, at the same time, a well-informed overview of the entire history of Palmyra and its oases from its early settlement phases to the conquest of Syria by the Caliphal army was urgently needed. The unprecedented destruction leveled on the site (and the country as a whole) by the civil war and its spillover in the form of the Islamic State (Dā‘iš) only made the matter more pressing.

Carefully edited by Rubina Raja, one of the foremost experts on Palmyrene history and culture, The Oxford Handbook of Palmyra sets out precisely to tackle this challenge. In the introductory words of its editor (p. 3), its focus centers on “the archaeology and history of Palmyra—our hard evidence for what this location was before, during, and after the Roman period”. For the reasons highlighted above, such a longue durée approach singles out the volume as innovative in the field of Palmyrene scholarship. As of today, it can rightfully be regarded as “the most comprehensive and wide-ranging standard work on the site, its archaeology, and history” (p. 7).

The Handbook is divided into 35 chapters grouped into six parts. While the introduction offers a concise sketch of the history of scholarship (purposefully not covered through the volume, as other publications have recently addressed the topic in considerable detail), the closing contribution (ch. 37) is conceived as a Postludium addressing the future awaiting Palmyra and its study in post-revolutionary Syria. Considering the political and ethical implications of doing research in such a devastated environment, the chapter comes as a welcome, though profoundly saddening, reminder of the challenges ahead in engaging with Palmyra and its world (past and present).

Part One (ch. 2-3) sets the environmental and human scenery against which Palmyrene history unfolded over the centuries. On the one hand, the geographical, climatological, and ecological features of the oasis and the surrounding desert are presented, offering an instructive overview of local landscape affordances, its potentials, and its constraints. On the other hand, attention is paid to the Palmyrenes as human actors in and as factors of change of said landscape, zooming out into the wider hinterland and considering the impact of non-sedentary people in the shaping of the Palmyrene world as a complex yet coherent and sophisticated whole.

The Handbook’s second part encompasses nine chapters (4-12). This section presents the above-mentioned longue-durée perspective on Palmyra’s history, from its origins down to the Medieval period. As stressed by the editor, this approach is a rarity in scholarship on Palmyra, all the more so because one or more specialists cover each of the site’s historical periods on precisely the topic at hand in a given chapter. The result is perhaps the most up-to-date and bibliographically informed coverage yet available on Palmyra’s historical development over time.

Part Three consists of three chapters (13-15), which are devoted to Palmyrene linguistics and epigraphy. Attentive coverage is given to all the major languages represented at the site (the native Aramaic dialect, Greek, and Latin), with significant emphasis on the social context in which each was used and the relative implications in terms of the social makeup of the town. In light of its exceptional importance, the famous Palmyrene Tax Tariff enjoys a chapter of its own, enriched with an insightful discussion of the peculiarities of Palmyrene legal language.

The five chapters comprising the Handbook’s fourth part (ch. 16-20) address Palmyra’s contact with the world outside the oasis. The thriving Palmyrene diaspora is investigated at different geographical scales both East and West of the site, be it in the relatively close and familiar environment of Dura Europos or much further away, astride the Persian Gulf, at the heart of imperial power in Rome, or elsewhere in the provinces (from Egypt to the Danube) and even further beyond, wherever evidence of Palmyrene activity has been found. A special chapter (17) on the organization, financing, and social makeup of the Palmyrene commercial network details the practicalities of trade in and across the desert, thus providing a detailed snapshot of the logistics upholding Palmyra’s wealth and the ensuing astounding urban development.

Part Five (ch. 21-25) zooms in on the material outcome of Palmyra’s success, focusing on its monumentalization from the Roman period to Late Antiquity. Equal attention is paid to the  flashiest specimens of Palmyra’s built environment (from the religious and funerary architecture to its urban layout and the public spaces) and to more mundane features such as private houses and the town’s fortifications. Taken together, the chapters offer a comprehensive overview of the city’s layout as well as a detailed impression of how the space may have been experienced by its multicultural citizenry.

Finally, Part Six (ch. 26-36) addresses the site’s bewildering artistic legacy, especially during the Roman period, from which almost all our extant evidence comes. Separate treatment is reserved for Palmyra’s public sculpture, its renowned funerary art, as well as the stylistic choices behind the portraiture of different genders, social classes (such as the priesthood), and age-classes (particularly children). In another innovative approach characteristic of the Handbook, contributors consistently go beyond stylistic assessment of the evidence, trying on the contrary to unpack the cultural and social logics behind a given artistic choice. In doing so, temporality and historical development regain  center stage, and the chapters reveal how, if, and to what extent the artistic legacy of Palmyra can be used to gain more insights into its society evolving tastes, ambitions, and concerns. Paradigmatic of such an approach is ch. 33, focused on the so-called banqueting tesserae: a neglected and yet promising window into Palmyrene religion and socializing practices.

To sum up, The Oxford Handbook of Palmyra is an ambitious, well-crafted, and thoroughly researched introduction to one of the ancient world’s most famous and iconic sites. No typos or major mistakes were spotted. The only exception is p. 482, where the Aeneid is attributed to Ovid, an apparent slip of the pen.

 

Authors and Titles

  1. Palmyra-Tadmor in the Syrian Desert: An Introduction to the Handbook of Palmyra (Rubina Raja)

Part One Setting and Landscape

  1. Climate and Environment of Palmyra and the Syrian Desert (Eivind Heldaas Seland)
  2. The Palmyrene: Hinterland and Sedentarization (Jørgen Christian Meyer)

Part Two Tadmor-Palmyra in a Longue Durée Perspective

  1. Glimpses of Tadmur before Alexander: The Pre-Hellenistic Evidence (John Healey)
  2. Hellenistic Palmyra: A Fata Morgana? (Andreas Schmidt-Colinet)
  3. Palmyra: The Development of an Ancient City (Michal Gawlikowski)
  4. Palmyrene Identity and Community: Continuity and Change (Andrew Smith II)
  5. Palmyra and its “Dark Ages” (273–750): An Archaeological and Historical Reassessment (Emanuele E. Intagliata)
  6. Palmyra in Late Antique and Medieval Times (Slawomir Kowalski)
  7. Palmyra and the Third-Century Crisis (Udo Hartmann)
  8. Queen Zenobia: The Rise and Fall of Her Palmyra (Nathanael Andrade)
  9. Palmyra and the Military: From the Roman Period to the Islamic Conquest (Emanuele E. Intagliata)

Part Three Palmyra and Language

  1. A Bilingual World? Language and Epigraphy in Palmyra (Jean-Baptiste Yon)
  2. The Palmyrene Tax Tariff (John Healey)
  3. Aramaic Legal Language from Palmyrene Monumental Inscriptions (Eleonora Cussini)

Part Four Palmyra and its Contacts

  1. The Palmyrene Diaspora (Katia Schörle)
  2. Palmyrene Trading Networks (Eivind Heldaas Seland)
  3. Palmyrenes in Rome (Eugenia Schneider)
  4. Palmyra and the Parthians (Peter Edwell)
  5. Palmyra and Dura-Europos: Contact, Impact, and Differences (Lucinda Dirven)

Part Five Palmyra and its Monuments

  1. Urban Layout and Public Space: The Monuments of Palmyra in the Roman and Late Antique Periods (Emanuele E. Intagliata)
  2. Domestic Architecture in Palmyra (Gioia Zenoni)
  3. Religious Architecture: The Temples and Sanctuaries (Robyn Le Blanc)
  4. Built for Eternity: The Funerary Monuments of Palmyra (Agnes Henning)
  5. The Fortifications and Military Architecture in Palmyra (Karol Juchniewicz)

Part Six Palmyra and its Art

  1. Public Sculptures from Palmyra (Dagmara Wielgosz-Rondolino)
  2. The Palmyrene Funerary Sculpture (Rubina Raja)
  3. Palmyrene Women: Breaking the Glass Ceiling or Window Dressing? (Maura Heyn)
  4. Representations of Men in Palmyra (Maura Heyn)
  5. Religious Life and Priestly Representations in Palmyra (Rubina Raja)
  6. Children in Palmyra (Olympia Bobou)
  7. The Production Economy of Funerary Portraiture (Julia Steding)
  8. The Banqueting Tesserae from Palmyra: Tokens for Religious Events (Rubina Raja)
  9. Palmyrene Coinage (Nathalia Kristensen)
  10. Wall Paintings and Stucco Work in Palmyrene Funerary Hypogea (Hélène Eristov, Claude Vibert-Guigue, Nicole Blanc)
  11. A Note on Quarries and Textiles in Palmyra (Andreas Schmidt-Colinet)
  12. Postludium: Palmyra and the Civil War (Annie Sartre-Fauriat)