It is located in the eastern part of the Levant, and archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early second millennium BCE.

[66] In practice, according to several scholars such as Udo Hartmann and Michael Sommer, the citizenry of Palmyra were mainly the result of Arab and Aramaean tribes merging into a unity with a corresponding consciousness; they thought and acted as Palmyrenes.

According to historian Emanuele Intagliata, the change can be ascribed to the Roman reorganization following Zenobia's fall, as Palmyra ceased to be a rich caravan city and became a frontier fortress, leading the inhabitants to focus on satisfying the needs of a garrison instead of providing the empire with luxurious oriental items.

[84] Palmyra benefited from Umayyad rule, since its role as a frontier city ended and the East-West trade route was restored, leading to the re-emergence of a merchant class.

Palmyra's loyalty to the Umayyads led to an aggressive military retaliation from their successors, the Abbasid Caliphate, and the city diminished in size, losing its merchant class.

[113] Palmyrene bust reliefs, unlike Roman sculptures, are rudimentary portraits; although many reflect high quality individuality, the majority vary little across figures of similar age and gender.

[169] In October 2022, the Syrian Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums and the Institute for the History of Material Culture of Russian Academy of Sciences signed an agreement to start the second and third phase of the project for restoring Arch of Triumph.

[179] The city entered the historical record during the Bronze Age around 2000 BC, when Puzur-Ishtar the Tadmorean (Palmyrene) agreed to a contract at an Assyrian trading colony in Kultepe.

[180] King Shamshi-Adad I of Assyria passed through the area on his way to the Mediterranean at the beginning of the 18th century BC;[181] by then, Palmyra was the easternmost point of the kingdom of Qatna,[182] and it was attacked by the Suteans who paralyzed the traffic along the trade routes.

[note 13][192] In 217 BC, a Palmyrene force led by Zabdibel joined the army of King Antiochus III in the Battle of Raphia which ended in a Seleucid defeat by Ptolemaic Egypt.

[210] The Roman imperial period brought great prosperity to the city, which enjoyed a privileged status under the empire—retaining much of its internal autonomy,[44] being ruled by a council,[211] and incorporating many Greek city-state (polis) institutions into its government.

[239] The weakness of the Roman Empire and the constant Persian danger were probably the reasons behind the Palmyrene council's decision to elect a lord for the city in order for him to lead a strengthened army.

[246] As a reward, he received the title Imperator Totius Orientis ("Governor of the East") from Gallienus,[247] and ruled Syria, Mesopotamia, Arabia and Anatolia's eastern regions as the imperial representative.

[248][249] Palmyra itself remained officially part of the empire but Palmyrene inscriptions started to describe it as a "metrocolonia", indicating that the city's status was higher than normal Roman colonias.

[261] In a second campaign that took place in 266, the Palmyrene king reached Ctesiphon again; however, he had to leave the siege and move north, accompanied by Hairan I, to repel Gothic attacks on Asia Minor.

[283] According to one account, Roman general Marcus Aurelius Probus regained Egypt from Palmyra;[note 29][284] Aurelian entered Issus and headed to Antioch, where he defeated Zenobia in the Battle of Immae.

[293] In late 527, Justinian I further strengthened the city, ordering the restoration of Palmyra's churches and public buildings to protect the empire against raids by Lakhmid king Al-Mundhir III ibn al-Nu'man.

[294] Palmyra was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate after its 634 capture by the Muslim general Khalid ibn al-Walid, who took the city on his way to Damascus; an 18-day march by his army through the Syrian Desert from Mesopotamia.

[86][301] In 750 a revolt, led by Majza'a ibn al-Kawthar and Umayyad pretender Abu Muhammad al-Sufyani, against the new Abbasid Caliphate swept across Syria;[302] the tribes in Palmyra supported the rebels.

[306] In 955 Sayf al-Dawla, the Hamdanid prince of Aleppo, defeated the nomads near the city,[307] and built a kasbah (fortress) in response to campaigns by the Byzantine emperors Nikephoros II Phokas and John I Tzimiskes.

[314] By the twelfth century, the population moved into the courtyard of the Temple of Bel which was fortified;[306] Palmyra was then ruled by Toghtekin, the Burid atabeg of Damascus, who appointed his nephew governor.

[378] The Palmyrene council consisted of about six hundred members of the local elite (such as the elders or heads of wealthy families or clans),[note 33][211] representing the city's four-quarters.

[395][396] After the Roman destruction of the city, Palmyra was ruled directly by Rome,[397] and then by a succession of other rulers, including the Burids and Ayyubids,[315][323] and subordinate Bedouin chiefs—primarily the Fadl family, who governed for the Mamluks.

[219][410][411] Palmyrene units were deployed throughout the Roman Empire,[note 36] serving in Dacia late in Hadrian's reign,[413] and at El Kantara in Numidia and Moesia under Antoninus Pius.

[note 37][432] The priests of Palmyra were selected from the city's leading families,[435] and are recognized in busts through their headdresses which have the shape of a polos adorned with laurel wreath or other tree made of bronze among other elements.

[442] Palmyra's economy before and at the beginning of the Roman period was based on agriculture, pastoralism, and trade;[18] the city served as a rest station for the caravans which sporadically crossed the desert.

[454] The most notable irrigation work is Harbaqa Dam which was constructed in the late first century AD;[note 39][455] it is located 48 km (30 mi) southwest of the city and can collect 140,000 cubic metres (4,900,000 cu ft) of water.

[459] Palmyra was a minor trading center until its destruction in 1400;[460] according to Sharaf ad-Din Ali Yazdi, Timur's men took 200,000 sheep,[461] and the city was reduced into a settlement on the desert border whose inhabitants herded and cultivated small plots for vegetables and corn.

[462] If the Laghman II inscription in Afghanistan is referring to Palmyra, then the city's role in Central Asian overland trade was prominent as early as the third century BC.

[476] French artist and architect Louis-François Cassas conducted an extensive survey of the city's monuments in 1785, publishing over a hundred drawings of Palmyra's civic buildings and tombs.