The Oxford Handbook of Palmyra

Rubina Raja is Professor of Classical Art and Archaeology at Aarhus University, Denmark and Director of the Danish National Research Foundation's Centre of Excellence for Urban Network Evolutions and the Palmyra Portrait Project. She has published extensively on culture and societies in the Eastern Roman Empire. Her monographs include Pearl of the Desert: A History of Palmyra (2022), Urban Development and Regional Identity in the Eastern Roman Provinces, 50 BC--AD 250: Aphrodisias, Athens, Ephesos, Gerasa (2012), and The Ingholt Archive (2023), published in four volumes and co-authored with Olympia Bobou, Amy Miranda, and Jean-Baptiste Yon.

The Oxford Handbook of Palmyra is an ambitious, well-crafted, and thoroughly researched introduction to one of the ancient world's most famous and iconic sites.

• Contributors 1. Palmyra-Tadmor in the Syrian Desert: An Introduction to the Handbook of Palmyra Rubina Raja Part One Setting and Landscape 2. Climate and Environment of Palmyra and the Syrian Desert Eivind Heldaas Seland3. The Palmyrene: Hinterland and Sedentarization Jørgen Christian Meyer Part Two Tadmor-Palmyra in a Longue Durée Perspective 4. Glimpses of Tadmur before Alexander: The Pre-Hellenistic Evidence John Healey5. Hellenistic Palmyra: A Fata Morgana? Andreas Schmidt-Colinet6. Palmyra: The Development of an Ancient City Michal Gawlikowski7. Palmyrene Identity and Community: Continuity and Change Andrew Smith II8. Palmyra and its "Dark Ages" (273--750): An Archaeological and Historical Reassessment Emanuele E. Intagliata9. Palmyra in Late Antique and Medieval Times Slawomir Kowalski10. Palmyra and the Third-Century Crisis Udo Hartmann11. Queen Zenobia: The Rise and Fall of Her Palmyra Nathanael Andrade12. Palmyra and the Military: From the Roman Period to the Islamic ConquestEmanuele E. Intagliata Part Three Palmyra and Language13. A Bilingual World? Language and Epigraphy in Palmyra Jean-Baptiste Yon14. The Palmyrene Tax Tariff John Healey15. Aramaic Legal Language from Palmyrene Monumental Inscriptions Eleonora Cussini Part Four Palmyra and its Contacts16. The Palmyrene Diaspora Katia Schörle17. Palmyrene Trading Networks Eivind Heldaas Seland18. Palmyrenes in Rome Eugenia Schneider19. Palmyra and the Parthians Peter Edwell20. Palmyra and Dura-Europos: Contact, Impact, and Differences Lucinda Dirven Part Five Palmyra and its Monuments21. Urban Layout and Public Space: The Monuments of Palmyra in the Roman and Late Antique Periods Emanuele E. Intagliata22. Domestic Architecture in Palmyra Gioia Zenoni23. Religious Architecture: The Temples and Sanctuaries Robyn Le Blanc24. Built for Eternity: The Funerary Monuments of Palmyra Agnes Henning25. The Fortifications and Military Architecture in Palmyra Karol Juchniewicz Part Six Palmyra and its Art26. Public Sculptures from Palmyra Dagmara Wielgosz-Rondolino27. The Palmyrene Funerary Sculpture Rubina Raja28. Palmyrene Women: Breaking the Glass Ceiling or Window Dressing? Maura Heyn29. Representations of Men in Palmyra Maura Heyn30. Religious Life and Priestly Representations in Palmyra Rubina Raja31. Children in Palmyra Olympia Bobou32. The Production Economy of Funerary Portraiture Julia Steding33. The Banqueting Tesserae from Palmyra: Tokens for Religious Events Rubina Raja34. Palmyrene Coinage Nathalia Kristensen35. Wall Paintings and Stucco Work in Palmyrene Funerary Hypogea Hélène Eristov, Claude Vibert-Guigue, Nicole Blanc36. A Note on Quarries and Textiles in Palmyra Andreas Schmidt-Colinet37. Postludium: Palmyra and the Civil War Annie Sartre-Fauriat