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Palmyran civilization
(64 BC to 273 AD)
Strengths:
- Free tribute
- Gold per trade trip doubled
- Villagers cost 50% more, have armor, and work 20% faster
- Camel riders 25% faster
Following the collapse of the Seleucid empire in 64 BC (one of the vestiges of Alexander's empire), a no-man's land existed in the Middle East between the Roman empire to the west and the Parthian empire to the east. The people of Tadmor, a desert city located at an oasis on the east-west trade route, established a desert police force which protected the trade between Damascus and the Euphrates River. They grew rich on this trade and their city became known to the Romans as Palmyra (place of palms). Around 17 AD Palmyra became part of Roman Syria while retaining much independence and its desert army. In 129 Palmyra was granted the status of a free city and later was made a Roman colony.
After the Persians defeated and captured Emperor Valerian in 260, a Palmyran nobleman was made Dux Orientis (duke, or warlord, of the East-almost a co-emperor) and given Roman support. The Palmyran army defeated the Persians (capturing their capital at Ctesiphon on two occasions) and reconquered Mesopotamia. Following the suspicious murder of the duke in 267, his wife Zenobia took the throne and claimed the title of Augustus for her infant son. The Romans were suspicious of these changes but an army they sent east was defeated by Zenobia, who was a competent war leader. The Palmyrans then occupied Egypt and pushed the Goths back out of Asia Minor. By this time the Palmyran empire stretched from Asia Minor to Mesopotamia to Egypt. Its army consisted mainly of archers, horse archers, and heavy cavalry (cataphracts).
The Romans could not ignore the revolt of the Palmyrans and the loss of the grain supplies from Egypt. One army was dispatched to Egypt to reestablish control there. The Emperor Aurelius (an ex-cavalry officer) led a second army into Syria and defeated the Palmyrans twice, at Antioch and Emesa. Roman light cavalry bested the Palmyran cataphracts. Palmyra was besieged and surrendered. Queen Zenobia was caught trying to flee but was allowed to retire into exile after being paraded through the streets of Rome. Palmyra revolted once more after the emperor departed, massacring the Roman garrison. The legions returned quickly and sacked the city. It continued to exist for many more centuries but never returned to prominence.
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