This noble city of ancient Syria, also called Tadmor, is of uncertain
date and origin, but is thought by some to have been the “Tadmor in the
wilderness” built by Solomon. The first view of the city is exceedingly
magnificent, the snow-white appearance of the innumerable columns and
buildings, contrasting strikingly with the yellow sand of the desert.
Its ruins are not to be compared, as to the size of the gates, columns
and temples, with those of Balbec or Thebes; but they are more
remarkable for their vast extent, and are less encumbered with modern
fabrics than most ancient remains. They consist of temples, palaces,
gateways and porticos of Grecian architecture, scattered over an extent
of several miles. One of the most remarkable of them is the _temple of
the Sun_, the ruins of which extend over a square of more than two
hundred yards. The temple itself, which points north and south, is
thirty-three yards in length and about fourteen in width. At its center,
on the west side, is a magnificent entry, on the remains of which vines
and clusters of grapes are carved in a bold and masterly imitation of
nature. Over the door is a pair of wings, extending the whole breadth.
Its north extremity is adorned with curious fret-work and bass-relief,
and in the center is a dome, or cupola, about ten feet in diameter, of
solid stone. To the north of this is an obelisk of seven large stones,
which probably once supported a statue; and about a quarter of a mile
distant are others similar to it, as if forming originally part of a
continued row.
About one hundred paces from the middle obelisk, straight forward, is a
magnificent entry to a piazza, forty feet in breadth and more than half
a mile in length, inclosed with two rows of marble pillars twenty-six
feet high, and eight or nine feet in compass. Of these there still
remain one hundred and twenty-nine; and by a moderate computation, there
could not have been originally less than five hundred and sixty. At the
west side of this piazza are several apertures for gates into the court
of the palace, each of them ornamented with four porphyry pillars, not
standing in a line with those of the wall, but placed by couples in the
front of the gate facing the palace, two on each side. Two of these only
remain entire, and one only standing in its place. They are thirty feet
in length, and nine in circumference. On the east side of the piazza
stand a great number of marble pillars, some perfect, but the greater
part mutilated. In one place eleven of them are ranged in a square, the
space they inclose being paved with broad flat stones, but without any
remains of a roof. At a little distance are the remains of a small
temple, also without a roof, and having its walls much defaced. Before
the entry, which faces the south, is a piazza supported by six pillars,
two on each side of the door, and one at each end. The pedestals of
those in front have been filled with inscriptions, both in the Greek and
Palmyrene languages, which are become totally illegible. Among these
ruins are many sepulchers, ranged on each side of a hollow way toward
the north part of the city, and extending more than a mile; some being
mere heaps of rubbish; others half fallen, exposing their shattered
chambers; while one or two remain almost entire. They are built in the
shape of square towers, from three to four stories in hight, each
forming a sepulchral chamber, with recesses divided into compartments
for the reception of the bodies. Some of the chambers are beautifully
ornamented with Corinthian pilasters and sculptures, almost in perfect
preservation, executed in bold relief; the walls are of white stucco,
and the ceilings are divided into diamond-shaped compartments,
delicately ornamented with white stars on a blue ground; while over the
doorways are inscriptions both in the Greek and Palmyrene languages. The
outsides are of common stone; but the floors and partitions of each
story are of marble. A walk crosses the center of this range of
buildings, and the space on each side is subdivided by thick walls, into
six partitions, the space between which is wide enough to receive the
largest corpse. In these niches six or seven are piled on one another.