Palmyra after Zenobia AD 273-750: An Archaeological and Historical Reappraisal

169 Pages·2018·6.82 MB·English

by  Emanuele E. Intagliata

Emanuele E. Intagliata
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This book casts light on a much neglected phase of the UNESCO world heritage site of Palmyra, a
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namely the period between the fall of the Palmyrene ëEmpireí (AD 272) and the end of the
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The goal of the book is to fi ll a substantial hole in modern scholarship ñ the Late Antique and o
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Early Islamic history of the city still has to be written. i
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In Late Antiquity Palmyra remained a thriving provincial city whose existence was assured ar
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religious position as one of the earliest bishoprics in central Syria and in the Early Islamic h
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period as the political centre of the powerful Kalb tribe. to
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Post(cid:173) Roman Palmyra, city and setting, is the focus of this book. Analysis and publication of c
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evidence for post(cid:173) Roman housing enable a study of the cityís urban life, including the private l
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residential buildings in the sanctuary of Baíalshamin. A systematic survey is presented of the 2
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archaeological and literary evidence for the religious life of the city in Late Antiquity and 3
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the Early Islamic period. The cityís defences provide another focus. After a discussion of the a7
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garrison quartered in Palmyra, Diocletianís military fortress and the city walls are investigated,
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with photographic and archaeological evidence used to discuss chronology and building
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material, providing a comprehensive history of the settlement from its origins to the fall of
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Emanuele E. Intagliata has taught Roman and Byzantine Archaeology at the University of l
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Edinburgh. His research interests lie in frontier communities and the transformation of cities E
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www.oxbowbooks.com An archaeological and historical reappraisal
PALMYRA AFTER ZENOBIA
273–750
An archaeological and historical reappraisal
Emanuele E. Intagliata
Oxford & Philadelphia
Published in the United Kingdom in 2018 by
OXBOW BOOKS
The Old Music Hall, 106–108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JE
and in the United States by
OXBOW BOOKS
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© Oxbow Books and the individual contributors 2018
Hardback Edition: ISBN 978-1-78570-942-5
Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-78570-943-2 (epub)
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2018931550
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Front cover, Great Colonnade, Palmyra (Pal.M.A.I.S. photo archive. Courtesy of the Pal.M.A.I.S. archaeological team, Università degli
Studi di Milano).
Contents
Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................................................v
List of illustrations .................................................................................................................................................................vi
Introduction ..........................................................................................................................................................................viii
Framing the research. Secondary literature on Late Antique and Early Islamic Palmyra ...............................................ix
The evidence in use and its limits ...................................................................................................................................xii
1. The Palmyrene ...................................................................................................................................................................1
Palmyra’s hinterland............................................................................................................................................................1
A city ‘built in a neighbourless region by men of former times’? Remarks on the regional road system,
and evidence for travel and commerce ...............................................................................................................................2
The human occupation of the Palmyrene: the state of the evidence .................................................................................8
Conclusions .......................................................................................................................................................................19
2. A changing townscape .....................................................................................................................................................21
Palmyra: polis, colonia, phrourion, and madīna ..............................................................................................................21
Size and limits of the settlement .......................................................................................................................................22
Street network ...................................................................................................................................................................22
Water sources and water supply systems ..........................................................................................................................25
Large-scale urban changes: the formation of new specialised quarters ...........................................................................28
Small-scale urban changes: the transformation ‘from polis to medina’ ...........................................................................28
Conclusions .......................................................................................................................................................................31
3. Society and housing.........................................................................................................................................................33
Late Antique and Early Islamic Palmyrene society: facing the lack of evidence ...........................................................33
Housing: an overview of the evidence .............................................................................................................................34
Remarks on post-Roman Palmyrene housing ...................................................................................................................40
The post-Roman Palmyrene house as a ‘barometer of social change’ .............................................................................43
Conclusions .......................................................................................................................................................................45
4. Religious life and communities in Late Antique and Early Islamic Palmyra ..........................................................46
Framing post-Roman Palmyra’s religious history through written sources and epigraphic evidence .............................46
The archaeological evidence .............................................................................................................................................49
Conclusions .......................................................................................................................................................................68
5. The military .....................................................................................................................................................................69
The garrison at Palmyra ....................................................................................................................................................69
The Camp of Diocletian ....................................................................................................................................................71
Conclusions .......................................................................................................................................................................82
iv Contents
6. The city walls ...................................................................................................................................................................83
A still unresolved case: the chronology of the so-called ‘Wall of Diocletian’ ................................................................83
Written sources ..................................................................................................................................................................84
Description of the remains ................................................................................................................................................86
Building techniques ...........................................................................................................................................................89
Palmyra’s city wall and Late Antique military architecture .............................................................................................92
Conclusions .......................................................................................................................................................................96
7. Palmyra after Zenobia: a history ..................................................................................................................................97
Prologue: the destructions of 273 .....................................................................................................................................97
The immediate aftermath ..................................................................................................................................................98
T he 4th century .................................................................................................................................................................99
The 5th century ...............................................................................................................................................................100
The 6th and the fi rst three decades of the 7th century ...................................................................................................102
Early Islamic Palmyra .....................................................................................................................................................104
Epilogue: Palmyra after the fall of the Umayyad dynasty .............................................................................................107
8. Conclusions: Palmyra in perspective ..........................................................................................................................109
Late Antiquity .................................................................................................................................................................109
Early Islamic period ........................................................................................................................................................111
Conclusions: Palmyra in perspective ..............................................................................................................................112
Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................................................114
Appendix – Written sources .............................................................................................................................................133
Late Antiquity (273–633) ................................................................................................................................................133
Early Islamic period (634–750) ......................................................................................................................................135
Index ....................................................................................................................................................................................143
Acknowledgements
This book is the result of a Ph.D. conducted at the University of his topographic work of the site. Further support came
of Edinburgh under the supervision of Jim Crow and from the Pal.M.A.I.S. team (Palmira, Missione Archeologica
Andrew Marsham, whose useful advice greatly contributed Italo-Siriana), in particular the director, Maria Teresa Grassi.
to shape my research. Enrico Zanini, Antonio Iacobini, Izdihar Alodhami, Ahmed Hussien, Teba Tarek, Andrew
Alessandra Guiglia (Centro di Documentazione di Storia Marsham, and Jakko Hämeen-Antilla helped me greatly
dell’Arte Bizantina, Sapienza, Università di Roma), Patrick with the translation of Arabic texts; Calum Maciver provided
Michel, and Anne Bielman (Fonds d’Archives Paul Collart, invaluable assistance for the translation of Greek. Patient
Université de Lausanne) granted me access to their archives readers of early drafts of this book were Alessandro Gnasso,
and provided me with the necessary equipment to conduct Doreen and Anne Intagliata, James Pietro Zanzarelli,
the research in loco. The research trips to Lausanne and Eystein Thanish, Daniel O’Meara, Annamaria Diana, and
Rome would not have been possible without the fi nancial John Forsyth. Udo Hartmann read the fi nal manuscript and
support of the School of History, Classics, and Archaeology, provided very useful scientifi c advice. My parents shared
University of Edinburgh. with me all the joys and sorrows of this research during my
Other people contributed with their ideas to this volume, Ph.D. and Marta Carlotta Ravizza supported me patiently
including Bryan Ward-Perkins, Ine Jacobs, and Eberhard during the fi nal stage of writing this book. To all of them
Sauer. Klaus Schnädelbach kindly provided me the results goes my deepest gratitude.
List of illustrations
1. Main sites mentioned in the text 33. Church I, apse and interior
2. Plan of Palmyra 34. Church II and Courtyard G2
3. Aerial photograph of Palmyra looking southwest 35. The baptistery of Church II
4. The state of the ruins of Palmyra in 1931 36. Church III
5. Tabula Peutingeriana, seg. 10–11 37. Church III, interior
6. The road network of the Palmyrene 38. Church III, apse
7. Al-Bakhrāʾ 39. Atrium of Church III
8. Al-Sukkariyya and al-Bāzūriyya 40. Church IV
9. Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqī 41. Church IV from the west
10. Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqī, small enclosure 42. Church IV from the east
11. Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqī, large enclosure 43. Eight-spoked wheel painted on a potsherd from the
12. Plan of Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbī northern courtyard of the Sanctuary of Baalshamīn
13. Great Colonnade, Section A 44. A barely visible cross with forked ends carved on one
14. Great Colonnade, Section A of the still standing columns of the Peristyle Building
15. Via Praetoria, Camp of Diocletian 45. Right door jamb of the entrance to a presumed
16. The Umayyad Sūq martyrion from Church Street
17. Well in the Portique Rhodien of the Bâtiment Nord, 46. Congregational Mosque
Sanctuary of Baalshamīn, as sketched by Collart in 47. Byzantine Cemetery
1966 48. Camp of Diocletian. Letters indicate barrack blocks
18. Camp of Diocletian, Praetorium, final stage of 49. Porta Praetoria
occupation 50. The Groma, Camp of Diocletian
19. Grande Cour and Bâtiment Nord, Sanctuary of 51. The Horreum in its latest phase, Camp of Diocletian
Baalshamīn 52. Sanctuary of Allāth, Late Antique phase, Camp of
20. Western wing of Building B Diocletian
21. Sanctuary of Nabū, fi nal stage of occupation 53. The Principia, Camp of Diocletian
22. Annexe of the Agora 54. The eastern sector of the Principia in its latest phase,
23. House F Camp of Diocletian
24. Peristyle Building 55. Temple of the Standards
25. Suburban Market 56. Northern section of the city wall, location of towers
26. Semi-circular groove marking the position of the and gates
baldaquin in the cella of the Sanctuary of Bēl 57. Western section of the city wall, location of towers and
27. Southern adyton of the Temple of Bēl gates
28. Painting on the eastern wall of the church, next to the 58. Southern section of the city wall, location of towers
southern adyton and gates
29. The presumed early 5th century church installed in the 59. Curtain wall [A202]–[A201] in BT1 (dark grey) and
cella of the Sanctuary of Baalshamīn BT2 (white)
30. Churches along the Great Colonnade 60. Curtain wall [A201]–[A115x] in BT3
31. Church I 61. Northern section, tower [A209] in BT4
32. Church I, entrance from the Great Colonnade 62. Northern access to the Camp of Diocletian
List of illustrations vii
63. Curtain wall [A201]–[A115x] in BT3 68. Northern section, curtain wall in BT1 and BT2 [A205]–
64. Comparisons between structures in BT4 [A204]
65. Northern section, curtain wall in BT1 and BT2 [A208]– 69. Theatre Gate
[A201] 70. Southern section, Theatre Gate, arch
66. Southern section, tower [A408] in BT4 71. Southern section, Theatre Gate, east side
67. Western section, gate [A115] 72. Southern section, curtain wall [A406]–[A407]
Introduction
Dating back to the fi rst serious Western inquiries concerning does not do justice to the importance of the city in this
the site, the history of Palmyra, the ‘bride of the desert’, period. Despite having lost its commercial position in the
is split into two phases with the events of 272–273 at the east–west caravan trade, Palmyra maintained a strategic
centre.1 The fi rst three centuries were a period of prosperity role throughout Late Antiquity as a stronghold along the
for the city. Palmyra fl ourished as a crucial caravan centre eastern borderlands, hosting one legion in the 4th century
during the time. Its community was thriving; its art, and one of the two duces of Phoenicia Libanensis in the
architecture, and language (Palmyrene, a west Aramaic fi rst half of the 6th century. In the Early Islamic period,
dialect) are all proofs of the existence of a well-rooted, the city remained the political centre of the powerful Banū
autonomous identity that was the result of complex cross- Kalb and played a pivotal role in supporting the caliphate
cultural interrelations between the East and the West. Most until the collapse of the Umayyad dynasty. After this event,
of the archaeological remains still visible today in Palmyra Palmyra became a minor settlement, experiencing a process
are the direct expression of this culturally mixed community of major shrinkage that ended with the creation of a village
and it is mainly to these remains that the city owes its within the temenos of the Sanctuary of Bēl.
fame. As a matter of fact, the grandeur and splendour of The aim of this book is to propose an account of the
the unique architecture that developed between the 1st and history of the city during this ‘dark age’, from the second
the 3rd centuries was the fi rst criterion behind the choice Palmyrene revolt until the end of Umayyad rule (273–750).
of Palmyra as a UNESCO World Heritage Site (UNESCO For the sake of convenience, the period between 273 and
[n.d.]). The commercial prosperity of the settlement ceased 634, which also includes the short Persian occupation
abruptly after the attempt at usurpation by Zenobia and the of Syria (613–628), is here considered ‘Late Antiquity’.
reaction of the Roman emperor Aurelian (270–275) who ‘Early Islamic period’ will indicate the time span between
marched to the city and put an end to the ambitions of the the Muslim conquest of the city (634) and the end of the
queen in 272. Written sources report how Palmyra was Umayyad dynasty (750). In ʿAbbāsid time, life in the
utterly destroyed (or at least suffered considerable damage) settlement seems to have continued, albeit in a much
after Aurelian repressed a second revolt in 273 (Zos., Hist. reduced way, roughly until the mid-9th century. However,
Nov. 1.61; HA Aurelianus 31.5–9). little evidence is left to account for the history of the city
As early as the fi rst travels by Europeans to the city, during this period and, for this reason, this will mostly be
Palmyra has been associated with the Zenobian struggles excluded from this study. Before sketching an account of
for independence against oppressive Imperial authority and the city’s post-Roman history (Chapter 7), a number of
the monumental archaeological remains from Roman times. research themes or specifi c items of evidence for which
Aided by the position of the settlement at the fringe of the enough material is available to work with are explored in
desert, these factors have contributed to the creation of a each chapter. These are: Palmyra’s hinterland (Chapter 1),
romantic and picturesque image of this ruined city in which post-Classical urbanism (Chapter 2), Palmyrene society
the less impressive post-Roman remains have rarely found through the lens of archaeological evidence from private
space. Indeed, a generalised story of decline, greatly infl ated residential buildings (Chapter 3), religious life (Chapter 4),
by neoclassical scholars and travellers, has dominated the the military (Chapter 5), and the city’s defences (Chapter 6).
theory used in secondary literature to describe the fate of this This is believed to be indispensable in order to present for
settlement following the collapse of the Palmyrene power. the fi rst time the totality of the scattered data available in
The poor attention granted to Late Antique and Early a single, consistent contribution, revise old theories, and
Islamic Palmyra by the secondary literature, however, propose new. A concluding chapter (Chapter 8) will compare
Introduction ix
the archaeological evidence from Palmyra with that of other 1895, 169; similarly, Maudrel and Shaw 1758, 302). The
Late Antique sites in the Near East to look at the city through prevalence of decline in the common theory resulted in the
a much wider perspective. An appendix collates the written gradual construction of a scholarly ‘barrier’ that prevented
sources in translation used in the main text. the development of systematic studies devoted to the Late
Antique and Early Islamic phases.
In their assessment of the development of Palmyra during
Framing the research. Secondary literature
its latest phases, these pre-20th century works show two
on Late Antique and Early Islamic Palmyra main limitations. The fi rst is a complete lack of reference
This contribution stands at the end of a long history of to Arabic written sources. The work of Grimme, published
studies dating back to the fi rst Western expeditions to the in Latin in 1886, stands distinctively apart from this trend.
site in the late 17th century. The literature on Palmyra prior The volume, entitled Palmyrae sive Tadmur urbis fata quae
to 1960 commonly pays particular attention to the events fuerint tempore muslimico, presents a short history of the
of the late 3rd century. By contrast, the post-Roman phase city after 273, deliberately omitting the Roman period. Upon
is often regarded as an uneventful time of decline that is examining Arabic sources, Grimme reaches the conclusion
only partially halted by the urban renovation under Justinian that Palmyra was somehow prosperous in the Early Islamic
reported by Procopius (Aed., 2.11.10–12), Malalas (Chr., period and was relegated to a minor city only after the end
17.2), and Theophanes (Chr., 1.174). A small group of of the Umayyad rule, when the capital was transferred from
writers, among whom are Halley (1695) and Seller (1705), Damascus to Baghdad (Grimme 1886, 20). Despite having
makes the beginning of this decline coincide with the ‘wars introduced new elements of discussion, however, the work
of the Saracen Empire’ (Halley 1695, 167). This theory does not seem to have imparted new directions for the
frequently appears in the fi rst studies of the site, which see ensuing studies.
in the conquest of the city by Khālid b. al-Walīd the victory A second limitation of the early literature is the almost
of Islam over Christianity; it is also common in some of complete lack of any reference to archaeological material, as
the works written in the 1930s and 1940s, possibly under systematic excavation would not start before the beginning
the infl uence of Pirenne’s theory (e.g., Puchstein 1932, 17). of the 20th century. Two important milestones in the
The majority of the writers, however, associated the archaeological exploration of Palmyra are the German
decline of the city with the Aurelianic disruptions of 272– surveys directed by Wiegand between 1902 and 1917 and
273. The causes behind the formation of such a theory are the excavations of Gabriel in the 1920s, sponsored by the
many and include the apparent lack of inscriptions after this Académie des Inscriptions et Belle-Lettres (Gabriel 1926;
date, as well as the claims of decline by Procopius. Wood Wiegand 1932a). Although most of the efforts of these
can be said to have been the initiator of this trend. This scholars were concerned with the monumental remains from
scholar believes that the fate of the city after Diocletian’s Roman times, their works also present information on later
reign became rather obscure, stating that, well before the buildings. Gabriel’s article, for example, shows the plan of
Justinianic renovations, Palmyra had already ‘… lost its two churches in the northwest quarter and goes farther in
liberty, trade, property and inhabitants …’ (Wood 1753, 20). suggesting that one of them (Church IV) was the cathedral
In a paragraph tellingly entitled ‘why the decay of Palmyra of the city constructed as early as the fi rst half of the 4th
was so quick’ he claims that the main cause of Palmyra’s century. Yet, the scholar does not express his views on the
decline was the abrupt halt of commerce, which had been putative decline of the city. Puchstein (1932, 17), a member
the main source of subsistence for the city in Roman times of the German expedition directed by Wiegand, believes
(Wood 1753, 20). Similarly, in his seminal work, Gibbon that the city experienced important urban transformations
argues that, after the military operations led by Aurelian, in Late Antiquity and proposed that its collapse coincided
‘the seat of commerce, of arts and of Zenobia, gradually with the coming of Islam.
sunk into an obscure town, a trifl ing fortress, and at length a The 1930s marked a new surge of interest in Late
miserable village’ (Gibbon 1831, 117). In line with Wood’s Antique Palmyra. The clearance of the village set within
fi nding, the events relating to the fall of Zenobia are here the temenos of the Sanctuary of Bēl early in that decade
clearly seen as the main causes of a sudden transition and the dismantling of a mosque installed within its
from a phase of prosperity to one of decay. The words of cella made it possible to study the architecture of this
Woods and Gibbon seem to have inspired the works of religious compound for the fi rst time (Dussaud 1930; 1931;
contemporary and later travellers to the city, as suggested Mouterde 1930). The last private residential buildings ‘de
by the colourful account by Wright written in 1895. Having l’époque ottomane’ that surrounded the sanctuary were
devoted fi ve chapters to a description of Zenobia’s rise only dismantled in 1964 (Bounni and Saliby 1965, 121). In
and fall, Wright continues his narration by discussing the their volume dedicated to the sanctuary, Amy, Seyrig and
‘decadence of Palmyra’ in a period when ‘… the meteor- Will (1975, 157–60) document the presence of paintings
like glory of Tadmur became a thing of the past …’ (Wright on the eastern wall of the temple featuring Jesus among