Palmyra flourished specially under the leading of the Queen Zenobia. However, she committed a capital mistake= she challenged the power of Rome and was therefore destroyed. Palmyra barely survived the clash and entered a long period of decadence.
My visit to Palmyra was special. I traveled through Syria in difficult times, when just a few tourists dared to visit the country. As a consequence (or reward) I was in Palmyra for two days completely alone. I mean, with no other tourists whatsoever. The access to Palmyra ruins is completely free although a fee applies to some specific places (Temple of Bel, Amphitheater and some of the tombs).
The following text was taken from Wikipedia (
visit link) but a visit to the the provided link is advised as further information can be found there:
"Palmyra was an ancient city in Syria. In the age of antiquity, it was an important city of central Syria, located in an oasis 215 km northeast of Damascus and 180 km southwest of the Euphrates at Deir ez-Zor. It had long been a vital caravan city for travellers crossing the Syrian desert and was known as the Bride of the Desert. The earliest documented reference to the city by its Semitic name Tadmor, Tadmur or Tudmur (which means "the town that repels" in Amorite and "the indomitable town" in Aramaic) is recorded in Babylonian tablets found in Mari.
Though the ancient site fell into disuse after the 16th century, it is still known as Tadmor in Arabic (aka Tedmor), and there is a newer town next to the ruins of the same name. The Palmyrenes constructed a series of large-scale monuments containing funerary art such as limestone slabs with human busts representing the deceased."