Tad'mor. (city of palms). Tadmor called "Tadmor in the
wilderness", is the same as the city known to the Greeks and Romansm
under the name of Palmyra. It lay between the Euphrates and Hamath, to the
southeast of that city, in a fertile tract or oasis of the desert. Being
situated at a convenient distance from both the Mediterranean Sea and the
Persian Gulf, it had great advantages for caravan traffic. It was built by
Solomon, after his conquest of Hamath-zobah. 1Ki_9:18;
2Ch_8:4.
As the city is nowhere else mentioned in the Bible, it would be out of
place to enter into a detailed history of it. In the second century A.D. , it
seems to have been beautified by the emperor, Hadrian. In the beginning of the
third century -- 211-217 A.D. -- it became a Roman colony under Caracalla.
Subsequently, in the reign of Gallienus, the Roman senate invested Odenathus, a
senator of Palmyra, with the regal dignity, on account of his services in
defeating Sapor, king of Persia.
On the assassination of Odenathus, his wife, Zenobia, seems to have
conceived the design of erecting Palmyra into an independent monarchy; and in
prosecution of this object, she, for a while, successfully resisted the Roman
arms. She was, at length, defeated and taken captive by the emperor Aurelian,
A.D. 273, who left a Roman garrison in Palmyra.
This garrison was massacred in a revolt; and Aurelian punished the city,
by the execution not only of those who were taken in arms, but likewise of
common peasants, of old men, women and children. From this blow, Palmyra never
recovered, though there are proofs of its having continued to be inhabited,
until the downfall of the Roman empire. The grandeur and magnificence of the
ruins of Palmyra cannot be exceeded, and attest its former greatness. Among the
most remarkable are the Tombs, the Temple of the Sun, and the Street of
Columns.
Source:
Smith’s Bible Dictionary
Tadmor
tad´mor, tad´mōr (תּדמר, tadhmōr): A city built by Solomon in the
wilderness (2Ch_8:4), the Roman
Palmyra. Tadmor is the native name and is found on inscriptions. It occurs also
in the Ḳerē of 1Ki_9:18,
where the Kethībh or consonants read “Tamar” (compare Eze_47:19; Eze_48:28).
It is famous in Arabian as well as in Hebrew literature, and enters Roman
history in connection with Zenobia and Longinus. The inscriptions, which belong
for the most part to the latter period (266-73 AD), have been published by
Dawkins and Wood and also by M. Waddington and the Duc de Luynes. Popular works
on the subject are An Account of Palmyra and Zenobia by W. Wright, and The
Last Days and Fall of Palmyra by W. Ware. See TAMAR.
Source: International
Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Tadmor
Palm, a city built by Solomon “in the wilderness” (2Ch_8:4). In 1Ki_9:18,
where the word occurs in the Authorized Version, the Hebrew text and the
Revised Version read “Tamar,” which is properly a city on the southern border
of Palestine and toward the wilderness (compare Eze_47:19;
Eze_48:28). In 2Ch_8:14 Tadmor is mentioned in connection with
Hamath-zobah. It is called Palmyra by the Greeks and Romans. It stood in the
great Syrian wilderness, 176 miles from Damascus and 130 from the Mediterranean
and was the centre of a vast commercial traffic with Western Asia. It was also
an important military station. (See SOLOMON.) “Remains of ancient temples and
palaces, surrounded by splendid colonnades of white marble, many of which are
yet standing, and thousands of prostrate pillars, scattered over a large extent
of space, attest the ancient magnificence of this city of palms, surpassing
that of the renowned cities of Greece and Rome.”
Source:
Easton’s Bible Dictionary