DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4569#0022
i4 T H E A N T I E N T S T A T E
known fincc Its various fortunes from the time of Mahomet's appearance are very
^p«rTncc. obfcure. That it has been made ufe of as a place of ftrength, appears
from the alterations made to anfwer that purpofe in the temple of the
fun, which, as well as the caftle on the hill, cannot be above five or fix
hundred years old.
byTntmin Benjamin Tudulenfis, an ignorant and fuperftitious Jew, who pafled
^ulff»n through it in the twelfth century, fays, there were 2000 of his religion
there about there at that time.
117Z.
So^dln ^ tne ^raD^an writers, fome take no notice of Palmyra, and of thofe
1121. "who do, Abulfeda prince of Hamah, a city in its neighbourhood, who
wrote about the year 1321, feems to be the only one worth quoting.
He mentions very fhortly its fituation, foil, palm and fig-trees; its many
antient columns, and that it had a wall and caftle. He was very probably
ignorant, both of its Greek name and hiftory, and only calls it Tedmor.
to"Sra0-wn ^n tne otner hand, fome of the beft writers on antient geography,
phe». who were in general acquainted with the hiftory of Palmyra, leem quite
ignorant of its ruins. Caftaldus, Ortelius and others, do not take it for the
Tedmor of Abulfeda, but give it other modern names.
In fhort, fo little were thofe ruins known before the latter end of the
laft century, that had their materials been employed in fortifying the place,
which might have been a very natural confequence of a war between the
Turks and Perfians, Pa!myra would fcarce have been mill: a very ftrong
inftance of the precarious fate, that the greateft monuments of human
art and power are liable to!
TheEngiito But about that time, fome Engliili merchants from Aleppo vifited thcfe
XlTiT ruins, who were plundered by the Arabs, and obliged to return without
iatisfying their curiofity .* but made a fecond attempt thirteen years after
Andini69'the firft, and flayed there four days.
Their account is publiftied in the Philofophical Tranfa£tions, and is the
only one I have ever feen of this place. It is wrote with fo much can-
dour and regard to truth, that fome errors occationed by hafte, and
their not being much acquainted with architecture and fculpture, defervein-
our journey diligence. We hope, at leaft, our additional authority will refcuethem from
JjJ.™ an unjuft imputation, which was the more dangerous as it had the fan£tion
of fome men of fenfe and letters, who found it eafier to doubta the ve-
racity of their relation, than to account for fuch vaft ruins, in fo odd a
place.
If our journey thither in the year 1751 has produced any thing which
may be more fatisfactory to the curious, it is entirely owing to our having
undertook it with advantages which they wanted; and however we may
claim the merit of a more inquifitive examination into the ruins of Pal-
myra, the difcovery of them is entirely due to the Englifh factory at
Aleppo.
' Nunc rudera fuperfunt, magnas olim urbis indicia, ut referunt ii. quorum tamen nolim fidem prseftare. Perc Hardouin.
Vide Plin. lib. v. Hill. Nat.
The
known fincc Its various fortunes from the time of Mahomet's appearance are very
^p«rTncc. obfcure. That it has been made ufe of as a place of ftrength, appears
from the alterations made to anfwer that purpofe in the temple of the
fun, which, as well as the caftle on the hill, cannot be above five or fix
hundred years old.
byTntmin Benjamin Tudulenfis, an ignorant and fuperftitious Jew, who pafled
^ulff»n through it in the twelfth century, fays, there were 2000 of his religion
there about there at that time.
117Z.
So^dln ^ tne ^raD^an writers, fome take no notice of Palmyra, and of thofe
1121. "who do, Abulfeda prince of Hamah, a city in its neighbourhood, who
wrote about the year 1321, feems to be the only one worth quoting.
He mentions very fhortly its fituation, foil, palm and fig-trees; its many
antient columns, and that it had a wall and caftle. He was very probably
ignorant, both of its Greek name and hiftory, and only calls it Tedmor.
to"Sra0-wn ^n tne otner hand, fome of the beft writers on antient geography,
phe». who were in general acquainted with the hiftory of Palmyra, leem quite
ignorant of its ruins. Caftaldus, Ortelius and others, do not take it for the
Tedmor of Abulfeda, but give it other modern names.
In fhort, fo little were thofe ruins known before the latter end of the
laft century, that had their materials been employed in fortifying the place,
which might have been a very natural confequence of a war between the
Turks and Perfians, Pa!myra would fcarce have been mill: a very ftrong
inftance of the precarious fate, that the greateft monuments of human
art and power are liable to!
TheEngiito But about that time, fome Engliili merchants from Aleppo vifited thcfe
XlTiT ruins, who were plundered by the Arabs, and obliged to return without
iatisfying their curiofity .* but made a fecond attempt thirteen years after
Andini69'the firft, and flayed there four days.
Their account is publiftied in the Philofophical Tranfa£tions, and is the
only one I have ever feen of this place. It is wrote with fo much can-
dour and regard to truth, that fome errors occationed by hafte, and
their not being much acquainted with architecture and fculpture, defervein-
our journey diligence. We hope, at leaft, our additional authority will refcuethem from
JjJ.™ an unjuft imputation, which was the more dangerous as it had the fan£tion
of fome men of fenfe and letters, who found it eafier to doubta the ve-
racity of their relation, than to account for fuch vaft ruins, in fo odd a
place.
If our journey thither in the year 1751 has produced any thing which
may be more fatisfactory to the curious, it is entirely owing to our having
undertook it with advantages which they wanted; and however we may
claim the merit of a more inquifitive examination into the ruins of Pal-
myra, the difcovery of them is entirely due to the Englifh factory at
Aleppo.
' Nunc rudera fuperfunt, magnas olim urbis indicia, ut referunt ii. quorum tamen nolim fidem prseftare. Perc Hardouin.
Vide Plin. lib. v. Hill. Nat.
The