Rubina Raja is Professor of Classical Archaeology at Aarhus University, Denmark, and director of the Danish National Research Foundation's Centre for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet). She is also the director of the Palmyra Portrait Project, which she initiated in 2012.

• IntroductionChapter 1: Pearl of the Desert Chapter 2: The archaeological beginnings Chapter 3: A Flourishing World Chapter 4: What crisis? The event of the 3rd century CEChapter 5: Queen Zenobia and the Palmyrene EmpireChapter 6: Palmyra after the 273 CE sack until modern timesChapter 7: The Syrian Civil War and its consequences for PalmyraChapter 8: Conclusion Bibliography

Raja's account of Palmyrene history studies the city's glorious civilization of the first three centuries of our era in the context of the site's earlier settlement and especially of its later reception and also of the tragic events which occurred in Syria over the last decennium. The book is a vital contribution to the ongoing debates about Palmyra's place within multiple social, cultural, and political networks of the ancient world.

Rubina Raja is Professor of Classical Archaeology at Aarhus University, Denmark, and director of the Danish National Research Foundation's Centre for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet). She is also the director of the Palmyra Portrait Project, which she initiated in 2012.

• IntroductionChapter 1: Pearl of the Desert Chapter 2: The archaeological beginnings Chapter 3: A Flourishing World Chapter 4: What crisis? The event of the 3rd century CEChapter 5: Queen Zenobia and the Palmyrene EmpireChapter 6: Palmyra after the 273 CE sack until modern timesChapter 7: The Syrian Civil War and its consequences for PalmyraChapter 8: Conclusion Bibliography

Raja's account of Palmyrene history studies the city's glorious civilization of the first three centuries of our era in the context of the site's earlier settlement and especially of its later reception and also of the tragic events which occurred in Syria over the last decennium. The book is a vital contribution to the ongoing debates about Palmyra's place within multiple social, cultural, and political networks of the ancient world.

Rubina Raja is Professor of Classical Archaeology at Aarhus University, Denmark, and director of the Danish National Research Foundation's Centre for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet). She is also the director of the Palmyra Portrait Project, which she initiated in 2012.

• IntroductionChapter 1: Pearl of the Desert Chapter 2: The archaeological beginnings Chapter 3: A Flourishing World Chapter 4: What crisis? The event of the 3rd century CEChapter 5: Queen Zenobia and the Palmyrene EmpireChapter 6: Palmyra after the 273 CE sack until modern timesChapter 7: The Syrian Civil War and its consequences for PalmyraChapter 8: Conclusion Bibliography

Raja's account of Palmyrene history studies the city's glorious civilization of the first three centuries of our era in the context of the site's earlier settlement and especially of its later reception and also of the tragic events which occurred in Syria over the last decennium. The book is a vital contribution to the ongoing debates about Palmyra's place within multiple social, cultural, and political networks of the ancient world.