PALMYRA. AND ZENOBIA.* DURING the present century much attention—we are

very far indeed from saying too much—has been given to the study of archwology, and many important facts have been ascertained calculated to throw light on the condition of humanity in prehistoric times, especially in those ill-fated lands which, sunk in barbarism and trampled down by oppres- sion for nearly two thousand years, have produced no historical or even traditional literature. This study has been mach advanced by the increased facilities of foreign travel, by the influence of European nations on the less civilised communi- ties, by the roving and adventurous character of the Teutonic race, by the discovery—we may call it excavation—of some manuscripts and many ruined cities, and by the efforts of societies formed for this purpose, among which a prominent and honourable place must be assigned to the Palestine Exploration Society, under whose auspices, though apparently also in connection with missionary work, we infer that Dr. Wright entered upon his arduous and frequently dangerous researches.

The first seven chapters of this work are devoted to the author's journey from Damascus to Palmyra, which lies to the north-east of the ancient capital of Syria. This journey, though really requiring but four days, is generally unduly protracted by domineering dragomans, incompetent guides, and Oriental laziness, by all which Dr. Wright's patience, with which he seems well supplied, was sorely tried. This district, though intersected in some places by elevated ridges and rocky defiles, is, like a large portion of Syria, generally level, fertile, and fairly well-watered, to which its Scriptural appellation Padam-Aram, i.e., the fertile table-land, bears ample testimony. The great number of overthrown cities, villages, and fortifications found here, as well as in Palestine proper and the adjacent districts, show that they must have been occupied by a large and prosperous population, and fully refute the sarcasms of Voltaire, who could not—or said he could not—believe that the realm of David and Solomon had ever been so affluent and powerful as the Bible directs us to believe. We should not think highly of the logical acumen of a historian of the present day who would disbelieve the narrative of the Spanish Armada on the ground that Spain cannot now send forth such an armament, or should deny that Omar conquered Gaul because an Italian army could not now annex a single department of that country. Yet the population of Syria is at present but scanty, and very frequently in a state of semi- starvation, though dwelling in a land which once nourished the all but innumerable subjects of the Seleucid dynasty. The extraordinary depression of the Syrian race can be attributed only to Turkish oppression and the devastations of the Bedouins, and these cannot be accounted for by religious fanaticism, since the Islamite portion of the inhabitants suffer as severely as the Christians. We might say that the tax- collector and the robber of the desert are to the Syrian what the Pasha and the Kurd have been, and, as we believe, still are, to the Armenian, were it not that the Bedouin never sheds blood save when resisted, and is not anxious to proselytise by violence or rapine. Our readers will hardly believe that if a Syrian landholder should emigrate, as many do, and his farm should remain unoccupied for several months or even years, the incoming holder is made responsible for the taxes of the entire period during which the land has re- mained vacant and unproductive, and to this grievance is added the enforcing of payment by physical torture, and the fact, patent to even the most obstinate Turcophile, that though government and its inevitable adjunct, taxation, have no raison d'gtre save the protection of life and property,—this * Palmyra and Zenobia; with Travels and Adventures in Bashen and the Desert. By Dr. William Wright. London: Nelson and Box a. duty is by no means fulfilled, or even attempted, in any part of the Turkish dominions. Well, then, can we realise the signi- ficance of the Oriental proverb that,— "Where the Spahi's hoof hath trod,

The verdure flies the blood-stained sod,' and believe that the Ottoman system of government, which may or may not proceed logically from their religious belief, is a fatal impediment to any species of progress or even safety in a large portion of the Asiatic continent.

On his journey Dr. Wright encountered and examined the curious sepulchral towers of Palmyra and the vicinity, many of which are over a hundred feet high, and are still in a fair state of preservation. These structures were most probably intended for the embalmed bodies of the wealthy, and con- tain five or six stories, each of which is surrounded by recesses for the reception of the departed. Some of them have vaults beneath in which not only are human bones, but those of animals, and this may lead to the inference that funeral sacrifices were in use among the Palmyrenes, or perhaps the Arab element in the population may have observed the practise so long adhered to by the American Indians, of burying with the deceased his favourite animal In one of these towers the author found a specimen of the emblem so sacred in the Egyptian ritual, a seatrabmus, with an inscription referring unmistakably to the renowned Ethiopian monarch, Tirhakah, before whose advance Senna-

cherib retreated beyond the Euphrates. This relic may not unreasonably lead to the belief that the African host had penetrated as far as Palmyra; but perhaps it will be safer to attribute it to the existence of an Egyptian element in the population of this city and territory, the illustrious Zenobia herself being deemed by some to have been of Coptic race and birth. As these sepuchral towers would be beyond the means of the middle class, they erected small houses not unlike the villas of our own modern day, as receptacles for their kindred, while the poor excavated vaults over which they piled mounds of earth, in exploring one of which the author encountered an accident which might have deprived us of the pleasure we have experienced in the perusal of his work,— but this adventure it is but fair that he should narrate for himself.

It would seem that this country must at one time have been highly volcanic, most of the fountains and streams being im- pregnated with sulphur, the taste of which, however, is much diminished by the water flowing over a gravelly bed. The most remarkable specimen of them is the spring called Ephca, which some have thought supplied the city ; this view, how-

ever, is erroneous, as two aqueducts have been traced, one supported on arches, to a great extent dilapidated, the other subterranean, and calculated to convey a large body of water. But the citizens availed themselves also of rain-water cisterns. Like their precursors, the Carthaginians, and the Venetians in more recent times, the Palmyrenes cultivated architecture, and deemed the erection of a temple, a palace, or a colonnade a most meritorious service to the community ; but tbis taste seems to have run more in the direction of great size and massiveness than of grace or ornamentation. In statuary they seem to have failed, the few heads and busts found being expressionless and conventional, though Dr. Wright's acumen has discriminated the nationality of some heads he excavated. Their great architectural passion was for columns, and, to judge from the number of these, some erect, but the majority prostrate and too often shattered, we may conclude that the dwellings even of persons of comparatively limited means were thus decorated. Some attempts at ornament are visible in the entablatures of the enormous " Temple of the Sun," and with much better success, particularly in the ceiling of the Inner Sanctuary. In the centre, we see a head and bust representing the San-god, Baal or Mithras, around which are six similar figures, each in its own compartment, which appear to be the planets, and in the outer circle are the signs of the Zodiac. This edifice is a full mile round on the exterior, and is now occupied by the hovels of the natives, and, as might be expected, squalidly unclean :— " There in the ruin, heedless of the dead,

The shelter-seeking peasant builds his shed."

The "Temple of the King's Mother," though smaller than that of the San, has been described to us as almost a perfect architectural gem, and, like most of the other Palmyrene buildings, is adorned with pillars of the Corinthian order, to which brackets• were attached for the reception of statues.

" For whom his ivory load Behemoth bore And fax Sofala teemed with golden ore."

It is, however, by no means improbable that the Tadmorene Oasis, situated about half-way between the Euphrates and Damascus, and abounding with water and herbage, may have attracted the notice of a band of roving Arabs at an earlier period, and as security is the fosterer of tranquillity and industry, a permanent village may thus have been formed. Obviously, the Jewish monarch would have discerned the necessity of guarding the outposts of his Kingdom, and the specially favourable position of this site. From this period for several centuries, we learn nothing of Tadmor; the Hebrews were not inclined to the founding of colonies, to which, indeed, their land-laws were opposed, though it seems probable that, after the Return from the Captivity, its population may have been increased by some of the "Jews of the Dispersion." The decay of the rock-hewn city of Petra must have turned much Oriental com- merce to Tadmor, and thus increased its wealth and population, but no authentic or even legendary facts are related until we come to the attempted capture of the city by Marcus Antonius exactly twelve years before Cwsar's invasion of our own land. This design was frustrated by the over- throw of his cavalry by the Palmyrene archers, and it is also said that the inhabitants removed their families and wealth beyond the Euphrates. From this date for nearly a century and a half no definite facts have come down to us, but incidentally it can be ascertained that Tadmor increased in wealth and population so as eventually to exert an important influence in the wars between the Roman and Parthian Empires. Gradually it came " within the sphere of Roman influence," an anomalous and dangerous position at any time. This connection with the Imperial State was, however, generally beneficial to Tadmor, as it became a civitas fxderata, and we have no proof of its being subject to taxation for Imperial purposes, or of its furnishing any contingent to the Roman armies. It enjoyed Home-rale, and therefore Inscriptions show that this temple was completed and dedi- cated in the same year of the Emperor Hadrian in which he founded the Roman colony of (Elia Capitolina on the ruins of Jerusalem; and be evidently received divine honours from the Palmyrenians. The Great Colonnade, of which we regret Dr. Wright has not given us as full a description as we should have wished, is one of the most noteworthy objects in this old and wonderful city, and, like the Temple of the Sun, must have been erected at the public expense, though it can be proved that private citizens aided munificently in the decora- tion of their city. Like other democracies in more recent times, especially those of commercial pursuits, the Palmyrenes were very ambitious of personal distinction, and what decora- tions and official titles are now, statues bestowed by the State were in ancient times. As the Syrian and Arabic races de- spised agriculture, but highly respected commercial enterprise, statues were often granted to adventurous merchants who had successfully guided valuable caravans across the desert,—a parallel to our own Athelstan's decree, that every merchant who had personally made three voyages on his own account should be elevated to the rank of a thane. But these honours were also bestowed on men who had advanced money to the State for public purposes ; and our author has calculated that any Palmyrene could obtain a statue by the gift of a sum not exceeding £500 ; thus the gratification of vanity became a purchaseable commodity.

The Venetian Government, it is true, granted nobility to such wealthy citizens as aided their country's necessities; but this occurred only when the State was on the verge of destruction in the fearful war of Chioggia, but our own Stuart dynasty sold hereditary titles lavishly when the financial affairs of the country were fairly prosperous.

If the maxim that the nation is happy which has no history be true, the Palmyrene community must have arrived within a measurable distance of temporal felicity, for their annals are singularly bare of important events; indeed, may be termed non-existent until within a few years of the final collapse. The inspired historian informs us that this city was built by Solomon and originally named Tadmor ; and though some Biblical critics have, on the strength of a various reading, expressed some doubts, yet local tradition also leads us to accept the view that it owes its development and fortifications to the royal sage,— fared in the end as might have been expected. The most conspicuous, though by no means the happiest, period of Tadmorene history extends from the reign of Hadrian, to its capture by Aurelian ; during the latter part of which it was ruled by the able Odainathus and his illustrious widow Zenobia. Dr. Wright has given us such a well-written and even picturesque account of these two eminent characters that we cannot hope to add to or even qualify his narrative ; but it appears plainly that with the craft and selfishness of a com- mercial democracy they played fast and loose between the Romans and Parthians, and availed themselves of the anarchical state of Asia Minor and Egypt to annex largely territories to which they had no claim. The disrepute in which agriculture was held by the Arabs, and their devotion to commercial pursuits, must have impeded their military progress and resources ; the best nursery for a really efficient army being the indomiti, agricobe. The name and renown of Longinus form, we think, the most brilliant feature in the annals of Tadmor ; but as a politician his advice was simply ruinous, and furnishes one of the many instances of the calamities wrought by doctrinaire statesmanship, and of the justice of the saying of a greater than Longinus, "If an Empire were made of brass, the philosophers would destroy it."

Two defeats in pitched battles, the capture of the Queen in her attempt to take refuge beyond the Euphrates, the sur- render of the city, and its subsequent revolt, suppressed with just but perhaps too stern severity, bring to a close the annals of Tadmor, for though it was occupied for a considerable time by a Roman garrison as a military position of some im- portance towards the Parthian border, while Diocletian, and afterwards Justinian, erected fortifications of a limited compass, yet the spirit of liberty was extinguished, that of commercial energy soon faded out, and the domination of that "pale disastrous planet," the Islamite crescent, wrought for Tadmor the same ruin it has accomplished wherever it has appeared.

Thehaughtiness which was a prominent feature of theRoman character, manifested itself by a contemptuous indifference to the history and manners of foreign nations, and even ex- tended to mispronouncing and misspelling the names of persons and places, it should therefore be noticed that the proper name of the great Tadmorene Queen is Zeinab Bath- Zabbai= Zeinab, the daughter of Zabbai ; but how far Odainathus has been mangled by Latin writers, we must leave to more profound Orientalists.

Dr. Wright also explored the district of Bashan, especially the rock-encircled Lijah or refuge,—a well-merited name, as, from the day when Absalom found an asylum there, down to our own times, it has furnished a fastness for law-breakers, if indeed there be any law worthy of the name in any part of the Turkish dominions. This region is one of extinct vol- canoes, and the lava before assuming too great hardness was cat into proper dimensions for building purposes, the very roof-beams being of this material. Doors and window- shutters are also made of these stone-slabs, which seem to resemble the tufa litoide of ancient Latium, which the Latins utilised in the execution of their thirty cities, and which appears in the so-called Cyclopean holds-

" Piled by the hands of giants For god-like kings of old."

The basaltic table-land of the Lijah projects like an iron- bound coast over the fertile plains of Bashan, and formed the natural fortress from which the giant monarch Og and his warriors sallied in their career of conquest, and our author's judicious and painstaking explorations fully prove that this region not only supported in early times a numerous population and a powerful State, but still possesses many of the natural qualities conducive to material prosperity, if only protection to life and property can be secured.

Dr. Wright has not given us a very favourable char- acter of the Druses who have been driven by Turkish oppression from their ancestral abode in the valleys of Lebanon, to take refuge in Bashan and the adjacent Hauran, yet this singular people seem to possess some laudable qualities, and are extremely partial to us, considering them- selves under the protection of the British Government. Their secret language, mysterious religion, and the obscurity in which their origin and history are involved, provoke curiosity and investigation, and perhaps through them an entrance into Asia for Christianity and civilisation may be effected.

This book is accurate without undue minuteness, and learned without pedantry. The author writes in a hearty and genial tone, and appears to have a Hibernian relish for a good joke, while his style is vivid and attractive. We can therefore cordially recommend the work not only to the professed antiquarian or historical student, but to all cultivated readers.