Meaning of PALMYRA

City built in the desert by Solomon (2 Chron. 8:4). Josephus states that it was the same one that the Greeks called Palmyra (Ant. 8:6, 1), and that it had been built so far away because it was there where there were sources of water, totally absent in the rest of the region.

It was located halfway between Damascus and Tifsa or Tapsacus on the Euphrates. It continues to be called Tadmur, and is located at 34º 40' N, 38º 15' E.

In Roman times it was a large and splendid city, of which columns and notable ruins remain standing.

In the previous versions of the King James Version Tadmor appears in 1 Kings 9:18, but the Hebrew text says Tamar (Tadmor is the reading of the Keri).

Although it is true that it was built by Solomon in the desert, "in the land" is added, since Tadmor was outside the proper land.

Furthermore, the other cities mentioned in this passage are in the south, so it is evidently a different city, and may be the same as Tamar of Ez. 47:19; 48:28. In the 1977 Revision of the Reina-Valera this deficiency is corrected.