Andrew Curry
for National Geographic News
Published July 18, 2012
Monumental ruins provide solid evidence of centuries of Roman rule at Syria's Palmyra.
Photograph by Annie Griffiths, National Geographic
Today it's a mirage-like expanse of monumental ruins. But under the Roman Empire, Palmyra was a trading metropolis, according to historical and archaeological evidence.
Despite nearly a century of research, though, a key question remains unanswered: How did this city of 200,000 thrive in the middle of an infertile Syrian desert?
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