1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910131920603321

Autore

Yon Jean-Baptiste

Titolo

Les notables de Palmyre / / Jean-Baptiste Yon

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Presses de l’Ifpo, 2002

France : , : Presses de l'Ifpo, , 2002

ISBN

2-35159-459-2

2-8218-1993-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (vi, 378 pages) : illustrations; digital, PDF file(s)

Collana

Bibliothèque archéologique et historique ; ; 163

Soggetti

Regions & Countries - Asia & the Middle East

History & Archaeology

Middle East

Tadmur (Syria) Antiquities

Tadmur (Syria) History

Tadmur (Syria) Civilization

Lingua di pubblicazione

Francese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Sommario/riassunto

This essay uses Greek and Latin epigraphy (thus preparing a corpus), Palmyrene Semitic epigraphy and the archaeological studies concerning the site to show the originality of Palmyra, which was a tribal society and became more and more influenced by the Roman Empire. The city shares some characteristics with the Roman province, despite its marginal position and its contacts with less hellenized areas, but is under a strong influence of oriental "cultures" (Aramaic, as well as Arabic, Iranian, Babylonian). The identity of the city can be defined and its leading inhabitants, notables who were part of the Greek city of Palmyra, are sometimes well-known. One can reconstruct their civic careers and note the prevailing role of some families. This rather classical aspect is only a part of the whole, with the permanence of local culture (language, art, religion, onomastic) being the other part. Caravan trade, one of the glories of Palmyra, is another area where the role of the notables, their influence, is to be seen, outside of the city



and in the Empire. In Palmyra itself, it is possible to draw a map of their social position, thanks to their monuments built following the special ways of evergetism existing there. Around the leading citizens was an entourage of people less apparent in the epigraphic evidence (women and freedmen), but they are not to be underestimated as shown by the example of Zenobia. Notables, beyond their own life, used to put on stage the power of their family, by the construction of tombs. Those monuments are also signs of the penetration of ways that originated in the Roman Empire, which does not mean that the local traditions were disappearing, as shown by the constant use of Aramaic.