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agora
The agora was the hub of Palmyrene life, the city's most important meeting space, used for public discussion and as a market where caravans unloaded their wares and engaged in the trade that brought the desert oasis its wealth. What remains today is a clearly defined courtyard measuring 84m by 71m. Numerous pillars survive to indicate that the central area was once enclosed by porticoes on all four sides and that the pillars carried statues.
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banqueting hall
Adjoining the agora in the northwest corner are the remains of a small banqueting hall used by the rulers of Palmyra.
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cella
The cella was completed in AD 32, a date given in a dedication inscribed on a pedestal found inside the temple, and now exhibited in the Palmyra Museum. It's unusual that the entrance is in one of the sides rather than at an end, and is offset from the centre. Inside is a single chamber with adytons (large niches) at either end.
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Diocletian's Baths
On the north side of the great colonnaded way, four columns standing forward of the line of the portico announce the location of what was once a public bathhouse founded by Diocletian. These columns once carried a pediment over the entrance, but this has been lost. The baths survive only as trenches and as outlines scored in the baked earth.
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Diocletian's camp
Southwest of the funerary temple (at the end of the main street), reached via a porticoed way, is an extensive complex known as Diocletian's camp.
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funerary temple
Beyond the Tetrapylon the main street continues for another 500m. This stretch has seen much less excavation and reconstruction than elsewhere and is still littered with tumbled columns and assorted blocks of masonry. The road ends at the impressive portico of a funerary temple, dating from the 3rd century AD. The portico with its six columns stands as it was found but the walls are a relatively recent reconstruction.
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Great Colonnade
The spine of ancient Palmyra was a stately colonnaded avenue stretching between the city's main funerary temple in the west and the Temple of Bel in the east, and covering a distance of almost 1km. Unlike the typical Roman model, Palmyra's main avenue was far from straight, pivoting decisively at two points - a result of piecemeal growth and improvisation.
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Hypogeum of the Three Brothers
In addition to the funerary towers, Palmyra boasts a second, later type of tomb, the hypogeum, which was an underground burial chamber. As with the towers, this chamber was filled with loculi fitted with stone carved seals. The best of the 50 or more hypogea that have been discovered and excavated, apart from the Hypogeum of Yarhai, is the Hypogeum of the Three Brothers , which lies just southwest of the Palmyra Cham Palace hotel.
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Nabo Temple
The ruined area to the left immediately after passing through the arch of the Great Colonnade is a small trapezoidal temple built in the 1st century AD and dedicated to Nabo, the Palmyrene god of destinies. All that's left are the temple podium, lower courses of the outer walls and some re-erected columns.
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Palmyra Museum
Only the keenest of archaeologists would benefit from a visit to Palmyra's modest museum. With its poor labelling, it adds little to the experience of Palmyra. There are a few highlights, however, including a large-scale model of the Temple of Bel that gives a good impression of how the complex would have looked in its original state, and some fascinating friezes depicting camel trains and cargo ships, attesting to the importance trade played in the wealth of Palmyra.
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Qala'at ibn Maan
To the west of the ruins perched high on a hilltop, Qala'at ibn Maan is most notable as the prime viewing spot for overlooking the ruins of Palmyra. The castle is said to have been built in the 17th century by Fakhreddine (Fakhr ad-Din al-Maan II), the Lebanese warlord who challenged the Ottomans for control of the Syrian desert. However, it's also possible that some sort of fortifications existed up here well before then.
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Ruins
Set the alarm for an early start to beat the heat - from May through to September the sun can be merciless - and take plenty of water and a hat when you explore the ruins . Follow the road that runs south directly opposite the tourist office to reach the Temple of Bel and monumental arch, the latter being the best place to start exploring.
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Tariff Court
South of the agora is a large, walled rectangular space, known as the Tariff Court, because this is where the great tariff stele (now residing in the St Petersburg Hermitage) was found. The enormous stone tablet dates from AD 137 and bears the inscription 'Tariff of Palmyra', setting out the taxes payable on each commodity that passed through the city.
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Temple of Baal Shamin
Dating from AD 17 and dedicated to the Phoenician god of storms and fertilising rains, the Temple of Baal Shamin is all that remains of a much larger compound. This small shrine stands alone 200m north of the main colonnaded street, near the Zenobia Hotel, in what was a residential area of the ancient city. Baal Shamin was an import, like Bel, who only really gained popularity in Palmyra when Roman influence was at its height.
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Temple of Bel
The single most impressive part of the ruins and the most complete structure is this temple, also known as the Sanctuary of Bel. Although very little is known about Palmyra's deities, Bel is assumed to be the most important of the gods in the Palmyrene pantheon, the equivalent of the Greek Zeus or Roman Jupiter.
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Temple of the Standards
Dating from the late 3rd or early 4th century AD, Diocletian's camp comprises the remains of a monumental gateway, a tetrapylon and two temples, one of which, the Temple of the Standards, dominates from an elevated position at the head of a flight of worn steps. The 'camp' was erected after the destruction of the city by Aurelian.
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Tetrapylon
Perhaps the most striking construction at Palmyra, the Tetrapylon marks the second pivot in the route of the colonnaded street. It consists of a square platform bearing at each corner a tight grouping of four columns. Each of the four groups of pillars supports 150,000kg of solid cornice. A pedestal at the centre of each quartet originally carried a statue.
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Theatre
Palmyra's theatre, lies on the south side of the street accessed between two arches in the colonnade. Until the 1950s it was buried beneath sand but since then has been extensively restored.
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Tower of Elahbel
Further west of the Towers of Yemliko (a group of towers constructed as multistorey burial chambers), deeper into the hills, are plenty more funerary towers, some totally dilapidated, others relatively complete. By far the best preserved is the Tower of Elahbel, which is situated about 500m west of the Yemliko group. Built in AD 103, it has four storeys and could purportedly accommodate up to 300 sarcophagi. It's possible to ascend an internal staircase to visit the upper storey tomb chambers and to get out onto the roof.
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Towers of Yemliko
To the south of the city wall at the foot of low hills is a series of variously sized, freestanding, square-based towers. Known as the Towers of Yemliko, they were constructed as multistorey burial chambers, stacked high with coffins posted in pigeonhole-like niches. The niches, or loculi, were then sealed with a stone panel carved with a head and shoulders portrait of the deceased; you can see dozens of these stone portraits in the Palmyra Museum, and in the National Museum at Damascus.
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