Polis: A New History of the Ancient Greek City-State from the Early Iron Age to the End of Antiquity
John Ma (Princeton University Press, £42)
OF ALL THE SPECTACULAR REMAINS OF the ancient world, few have so fired the modern imagination as Palmyra. Perched on an oasis in the Syrian steppe, this was not an obvious spot for one of the great cities of the ancient world. Under the rule of the Roman Empire, however, its enterprising citizens played a major role in financing and organising commerce between east and west. They poured their profits into monumental buildings and the patronage of the arts; the results survive in quantity, even after the best efforts of ISIS to destroy them.
It is the extraordinary architectural remains for which Palmyra is justly famous,…
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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, November 2024