Beate Dignas & Engelbert Winter - Kaveh Farrokh

156 5 Arabia between the great powers
greatest empires of the Romans and the Parthians, thus in a conflict always the
first point of interest on both sides. The distance between Palmyra and Parthian
Seleucia, which is called ‘(Seleucia) on the Tigris’, 27 is 337 miles, between Palmyra
and the nearest Syrian coast 203 miles and between Palmyra and Damascus 27 miles
less than that. 28
Pliny the Elder wrote a comprehensive natural history, which was an encyclopaedic
work comprising several hundred Roman and Greek technical
authors and composed according to subject groups. We learn from his
passage on Palmyra that the city, just like Hatra, owed its wealth and significance
to its geographical situation. Its prominent location between Rome
and Iran (map 9) attracted the attention of both powers, in particular during
military confrontations. 29
As contacts between Rome and the Parthian kingdom developed,
Palmyra, which had always played a key role with regard to the trade in
the Near and Middle East, gained more and more importance. Especially
during periods of peace Palmyra thrived and developed into a flourishing
trading metropolis in the East of the ancient world. Modern travellers are
still impressed by its numerous magnificent monuments, among these the
famous temple of Bel, the main Palmyran deity, 30 which reveal not only a
rich religious life but also the prosperity of the city. 31 Undoubtedly, the city
was a crucial mediator for the trade between the great powers Rome and
Iran 32 because the Roman East was the main recipient of the goods traded
in Palmyra, above all the luxury goods that came from China and Arabia
and travelled along the Silk Road, but also goods from India (28). 33
From a Roman perspective Palmyra was also attractive because of the
strategic role it could play. The city was supposed to represent an outpost
27 Around 300 bc Seleucus I founded the city to become the capital of the Seleucid Empire. Although
the city, which is located 40 miles north-east of Babylon on the right bank of the Tigris, had to cede
this privileged status to Antioch on the Orontes in 293 bc, it developed and flourished as an Asian
trade centre. In 165 Seleucia was burnt down during the Parthian War of Lucius Verus. Ktēsiphōn,
which was situated across the river and is mentioned by Polybius (v.45.4) for 221 bc for the first
time, was heavily fortified after the Parthian War of Septimius Severus and became the new capital
of the Sasanians.
28 These distances are somewhat exaggerated; the units are stadia that have been converted into miles.
29 On the significance and history of Palmyra see Février 1931; Michalowski and Gawlikowski 1966–85;
Frézouls 1976; Drijvers 1977: 837–63; Browning 1979; Teixidor 1984; Bounni and Al-Asad 1988;
Laurenti 1995; for further references see Kaizer 2002.
30 On the religious life of Palmyra see Drijvers 1976; Teixidor 1979; Gawlikowski 1990: 2605–58 and
Kaizer 2002.
31 On the topography and architecture of Palmyra see Schlumberger 1935; Gawlikowski 1973; Will
1983: 69–81.
32 On Palmyra’s role as a trading centre in general see Drijvers 1977: 837–63; Drexhage 1982: 17–34;
Teixidor 1984; Gawlikowski 1994: 27–33 and 1996: 139–45; Young 2001: 136–86; Luther 2004: 327–51.
33 Cf. App. Civ. v.9.