Bible Questions and Answer

Second Chronicles 8:4 says Solomon "built up Tadmor in the desert." Tadmor is the ancient name of Palmyra, a great oasis in the Syrian desert, about 130 miles (210 km) northeast of Damascus. It sat on the caravan route between the Mediterranean coast and the Euphrates River, so controlling it meant controlling desert trade. The parallel verse in 1 Kings 9 has a slightly different name, Tamar, which some think was a different town in the south of Judah, so scholars debate whether Solomon really reached as far as Palmyra. In later centuries, Palmyra became extremely wealthy from trade. In the 200s AD, its Queen Zenobia even rebelled against Rome and briefly ruled much of the eastern empire before being defeated. Its ruins, with long colonnaded streets and temples, became one of the most famous ancient sites in the world. In 2015, ISIS fighters destroyed several of its monuments, including the great Temple of Bel.