a mile and a half westward of the temple of the Sun, with a
wilderness of columns in every state, from the most finished
specimens' of art to that of complete destruction. A closer examination
is not, however, free from disappointment, in consequence
of the mixed nature of the architecture, and the columns
being of different ages and various sizes.
The castle, once no doubt the acropolis, occupies a prominent
situation near the S. S.-eastern extremity of the ruins,
where its massive walls rise to about 100 feet in the form of a
parallelogram 600 yards long by 400 yards wide. It is surrounded
by a ditch ; and the entrance, over which there is an
inscription, is through a double gateway on the south side ; the
interior contains a spacious quadrangle constructed with immense
blocks of stone, within, which was the celebrated temple
dedicated to the tutelary deity of Syria. The present entrance
is through a low door in a miller’s hut, and this being passed,
the interior presents a square enclosure of 679 feet each way,
with two rows of columns all round the inside. The temple
itself is 124 feet long by 47 feet wide; it is in a good style of
architecture, having a peristyle of 140 columns, and the
remains of enclosures forming suites of apartments, which, as
Heeren justly remarks, are similar to those of a splendid khan,
suited for the accommodation of the brother merchants of
ancient Tyre, at this stage of their journeyings to and from
Babylon. The entrance gate nearly faced the setting sun, and
its soffit presents a zodiac similar to ours.1
About 200 yards W.S.W. of this building, there is a richly-
ornamented archway and 12 Corinthian columns, in the best
style; and some little distance onward, at the intersection of a
cross street, are four very large pedestals, on each of which
there probably was a statue. Parallel to this, on the southern
side, are the remains of an extensive colonnade, also a large
cistern; from which, at about 30 feet below the surface, a
conduit appears to have conveyed water to the temple and
acropolis. Amongst the masses of ruins prolonged towards
the N.W. may be distinguished numerous columns of smaller
size, many of them still erect, and marking the lines of the
cross streets. The Corinthian columns belonging to the grand
colonnade, especially those near the archway, are of fine proportions
and large size; and on many of them there are Greek
inscriptions; there are also some in Latin, and one in Hebrew.1
These monuments appear to relate almost exclusively to commercial
prosperity, being public acknowledgments of the benefits
bestowed by Aurelian and others on the merchants and
city of Palmyra.2 In other places are the remains of small
colonnades of inferior architecture; whilst dilapidated masses
of ruins extending along the southern side of the great avenue,
almost to the foot of the mountain, display architraves, friezes,
pediments, &c., belonging to a later and less interesting period
of the arts.
The sepulchral towers of the necropolis are not the least
remarkable remains of Tadmor, of which they may be considered
as forming the western extremity. As already noticed,
these singular tenements of the dead occupy the gorge, and
indeed part of the slope of the hill below the Saracenic castle;
some are tolerably perfect, but the greater part are quite in ruins.
The towers are square, with two, three, and sometimes even
four stories. In the centre of each was a space about 30 feet
long by 10 feet wide, with some busts in basso-relievo at the
farther end of the chamber; and sometimes on the ceiling are
half-length heathen deities painted on a blue ground. From
the floor to the ceiling on both sides are a number of recesses
divided by shelves into compartments more than 6 feet long
by 2 feet wide, but rather less in depth, so as to give the
requisite space in each for a mummy ;3 and when tenanted, the
aperture was closed by means of a stone or marble door.
These towers generally have flat roofs, but in some few
instances they terminate with a stone pyramid. The buildings
are of red sandstone; apertures like windows light each
1 Found in a small building adjoining, the avenue.—Irby and Mangles’
Travels, p. 273.
7 Heeren’s Researches in Asia, pp. 440, 442, 446.
* Mummies and mummy-cloths were likewise in use in the dependant city,
Zelebi, the city of Zenobia, see p. 418.