ABSTRACT
Under Roman hegemony over the Near East, the oasis city of Palmyra in the Syrian desert rose quickly from obscurity to opulence and established itself a ‘caravan’ city, a vital hub for long-distance trade between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea. As epigraphic and archaeological evidence from Palmyra shows, the city’s fortunes were tied up with long-distance trade, and its elite found ingenious ways to establish Palmyra as an indispensable node on a vital trade route. This is reflected also in the extraordinary presence of high-quality Chinese silk.
