Tadmor

Tadmor (later known in Greek as Palmyra, "city of palms") was a strategic oasis city in the Syrian desert, approximately 150 miles northeast of Damascus. Solomon built Tadmor as a store-city and military outpost on the trade routes between the Mediterranean coast and Mesopotamia (1 Kgs. 9:18; 2 Chr. 8:4). The site's identification with Palmyra is well established archaeologically. Palmyra grew to great commercial and political prominence in the Roman period, controlling caravan trade across the Syrian desert, before being destroyed by the emperor Aurelian in A.D. 273. Today the ruins of Palmyra (a UNESCO World Heritage site) remain one of the most spectacular ancient sites in the Middle East.