The Origin of Freemasonry and Knights Templar ... - Lodge Prudentia

SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA*Tadmor A city founded by Solomon in the 1 >of Syria, on the borders of the Arabian Desert towards theEuphrates. It was remote from human habitation-- on anoasis in the midst of a dteary wilderness ;and it isprobablethat Solomon built it to facilitate his commerce with theEast, as it afforded a supply of water, a thingof utmostimportance in an Arabian desert. It was about 120 milesnortheast of Damascus, more than half the distance to theEuphrates. The original name was preservedtill the timeof Alexander, who extended his conquest to this city, whichthen exchanged its name Tadmor for that of Palmyra, bothsignifying that was it a "City of Palms." It submitted tothe Romans about the year 130, and continued in alliancewith them during a period of 150 years. In the third centuryof our era, Odonathus, a native of Palmyra, established anindependent Palmyrene kingdom, which was further extended,comprising the whole of Syria and parts of Mesopotamia,and brought to great prosperity by his widow. QueenZenobia. P>ut, when the queen refused to acknowledge theauthority of Aurelian, the Roman emperor, he defeated herarmy, dissolved her empire, captured her capital and carriedher away captive to Rome. When the Saracens triumphedin the East, they acquired possession of this city and restoredits ancient name. It is still called Tadmor. Of thetime of its lirst ruin there is no authentic record, but Masonictradition ascribes it as having been destroyed by theChaldeans and Babylonians about the year600 B. C. Itisthought, with some probability, that its last destructionoccurred during the period in which it was occupied by theSaracens.Tamarisk The sacred tree of the Egyptian Mysteries,classically called the Erica. An evergreen tree, similar tothe acacia.Temple of Solomon The foundations of this magnificentedifice were laid by Solomon in the year 1012 B. C.,about 480 years after the exodus and the building of the20 1