In the mid-fifth century B.C. Herodotus (1:131; 3.8) mentioned the importance of the cult of Al-Ilât, i.e. Allat, in ancient Arabia. Her sanctuary at Palmyra (Pl. XVII), excavated in the 1970s by the Polish mission, is in the neighborhood of the temple of Baal Shamin and lends a special character to the city's western quarter, in which Arab tribes settled during the second century B.C.

The chief man in Palmyra had been charged by Rome to police the trade routes, paying for his militia from his own well-stuffed coffers as befitted a rich man with a civic conscience.

Edessa lies just under 300 kilometres north of Palmyra as the crow flies, and its Aramaic dialect, known today as Syriac, is closely related to that of Palmyra.

Palmyra

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