Tuesday 31 March 2009

Palmyra – a spot of history

We felt obliged to do a spot of culture. The ruins here are on a par with those at Efesus in Turkey. Columns and pillars mark out millennia of history.


One of the main stories is about Zenobia (that’s were one of the ibis names comes from), a Queen of Palmyra, and beautiful woman, who fought the Romans. Her army defeated them then moved onto take what is now Saudi Arabia. They were beaten back to Palmyra, where the Queen tried to flee to Persia on a camel, but was caught and taken to Rome, where she was paraded in gold chains.