old all of Palmyra who by divers Torments obtain'd the Crown of Martyrdom It is true there is no mention of these Brave Women in the Old Roman Martyrology as Rosweyd accounts it nor in Ado of Vienna but the Acts of St. Febronia who suffer'd under Dioclesian at Sibapolis perhaps Scythopolis V. Mart. Jun. 25. or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Syria mention them as Persons who suffer'd in the same cruel Persecution It is plain from the Inscriptions found at Tadhmur that Dioclesian had been in that Country and from the Church-Historians that he rais'd a violent Persecution in Syria And that which gave Rise to it was in all likelihood that which Eusebius observes that a little while after the Christians of Nicodemia had felt the Fury of the Emperor several Confederacies were form'd in Melitene and other Parts of Syria to seize the Empire and to dethrone Dioclesian Now in every Insurrection or Tumult the Christians were sure to suffer as the Authors of Sedition though they were the most Peaceable and Loyal Men in the World both by Principle and Practice Thus Christianity subsisted in those days of Persecution when the Number of Martyrs encreas'd the Number of Confessors But then Peace and Plenty were by the Bounty of the Great Constantine and his Successors made the Churches Patrimony I question not but the Followers of our Blessed Saviour at Palmyra had their share of the Prosperity which their Brethren enjoy'd till the Viciousness of the Christian Morals and the execrable Opinions and Heresies that debaucht the Faith of the Orientals subjected those once Famous Churches to the Mahometan Yoke For as soon as Syria submitted to the Power and acknowledg'd the Dominion of the Successors of that False Prophet I presume Palmyra was by degrees reduc'd to the mean Condition in which it now is for perhaps no one City hath run so many risks of different Fortune as Palmyra though it hath hitherto preserv'd its ancient Name and Situation while of Ctesiphon and Persepolis Niniveh and Babylon with many other Cities in that part of Asia it may be averr'd what the Psalmist says of Sodom and the other Cities which God destroyed their Memorial is perisht with them CHAP. VI. IT is a very difficult Task to give a just and clear Account of the several Fates of Ancient Kingdoms and Governments especially when Nature hath seem'd to please it self by placing them in a remote Situation and at a distance both of Place and Communication from other Nations And this is the case of Tadhmur which was repair'd if not built by Solomon a Great a Wise and a Victorious Prince who beautify'd it with whatever might afford it Strength and Ornament lost I take it for granted in a little time after under his Son Rehoboam when through his Folly and God's just Judgment the greatest part of his Territories revolted from him I conjecture that as long as the Kingdom of Damascus kept up its Grandeur so long Palmyra was in Peace either under those Kings or under the Conduct of its own Senate 2 King 23.29 But when Pharoah Necoh went up against the King of Assyria to the River Euphrates and made himself Master of all Syria I doubt not but it was for a while subject to him till Nebuchadnezzar conquer'd all those Countries home to the Gates of Pelusium now Damiata The * Jo. Males par 2. pag. 152. Fabulous Historian of Antioch would have the World believe that when Nebuchadnezzar intended to Besiege Jerusalem it was in the hands of the Jews who had Mann'd it with a very stout Garrison and that Victorious Prince not thinking fit to leave a Place so well fortified behind him sate down before it and when he had taken it burnt it and then besieg'd and took Jerusalem After this it continued tributary to the Princes of the Babylonish and Persian Empires though perhaps govern'd by a Senate of its own Citizens and in the same State it remain'd under the Successors of the Great Alexander the Kings of Syria being united by Seleucus I doubt not to the rest of his Territories whence in like manner as the other Cities under his Government it receiv'd the Use of the Syrian Epocha the Aera Antiochena Dhilcarnain or Seleucidarum and the Names of the Macedonian Months which the Inscriptions undeniably prove CHAP. VII SYRIA says * Bell. Civ l. 5. p. 676. Appian was govern'd by the Posterity of Selencus Nicator to the days of Antiochus Pius and his Son but when Pompey the Great conquer'd it and made it a Province it was govern'd by a Roman President The first who bore that Office was Scaurus and after him though not immediately Gabinius Gabinius was succeeded by Crassus who being slain by the Parthians left his Government to Bibulus But whether in all this space of time while the Roman Eagle hover'd over the East Palmyra was a Sharer in in the Common Calamity and felt the Talons of that Bird of Prey we have no Accounts After the Death of Julius Caesar every City submitted to a Prince of their own the Parthians affording them their Assistance having upon the Invitation of those Tyrants penetrated Syria This incens'd Marc Antony who expell'd the Usurpers exacted heavy Taxes from other Cities and attempted Palmyra For when Cleopatra who waited on him in Cilicia was return'd home Antony who had given himself up to her Embraces and to the loss of his Honour obey'd all her Dictates commanded his Horse to Plunder Palmyra upon the light and trifling pretext that by reason of their Situation in the Confines of the Romans and Parthians the Palmyrenians were firm to neither Interest but minded their own Profit and the Encrease of their Trade and Merchandise but in truth that he might pay his Soldiers with the Spoils of that wealthy City The Inhabitants of Palmyra being aware of the Invasion carry'd all their rich Moveables to the other side of the River the Banks of which they lined with their Archers Upon which Antony's Troops finding the City empty of Inhabitants and of the Riches they so eagerly coveted having lost their labour return'd to their Camp This Invasion occasion'd the next Parthian War many of the petty Princes of Syria flying for Shelter to the Parthians while Marc Antony having been so scandalously foyl'd stay'd no longer in Syria to settle Affairs and quiet Disturbances but hasten'd into Egypt to attend Cleopatra to whom he had entirely devoted himself and his Fortunes CHAP. VIII IN this state of Freedom Ease and Plenty it continued under Augustus and the succeeding Emperors govern'd by their own Officers and Laws as Pliny expresly averrs till the Reign of Trajan when I conjecture it fell into the same Common Calamity with Edessa Nisibis Dio Cass Traj and other Frontier Towns of the East whose fate it is commonly to be harrast on both sides for Trajan having in his Sixth Consulate declar'd War against the Armenians and Parthians upon the
Conjecturer in such Cases is the best Critick It is plain from the Historians V. Tristan Tom. 3. p. 2â—8 c. that there were violent Contests between Herod and Zenobia while Odenathus was alive as it seldom happens that Mothers-in-Law look over-favourably on their Predecessor's Children but that those Disputes serv'd only to advance the Son in his Father's Favour who had declar'd him his Copartner a little while after himself had been made Emperor and consequently his Successor and accordingly the Coins mention the third Year of his Reign whereas Odenathus wore the Purple but four Years being then murthered and with him his Son Herod Upon whose Death I doubt not but Vaballathus immediately assum'd the Imperial Title and Dignity as in right he ought and probably was confirm'd in his Pretensions by Claudius and Aurelian otherwise his Name and Titles could never have appear'd on the reverse of the Coins of Aurelian for neither Zenobia's nor either of her Son's Name is found on any of the Imperial Coins of the Romans because in open Hostility with them which confirms me that Vaballathus was not the Son of that great Queen his Fourth Year being coincident with the First his Fifth with the Second of Aurelian which unquestionably proves him to have been Declared Augustus as soon as his Father was dead but being convinced that Zenobia had made the Army firm to her Interests and declar'd her own Sons Emperors he fled to the Romans for Protection who being well assured of the Justice of his Title his Grandfather Odenathus having been declar'd Emperor at Rome whose right Heir Vâ—ballathus was whereas Zenobia had no such Pretensions treated him with that Respect which those great Princes used to pay to distressed Monarchs and I doubt not but in Gratitude to his Patrons he assisted Aurelian not only with the Equity of his Cause but with what Forces he could bring into the Field In the Sixth Year of his Reign he had the Satisfaction to see his Competitors conquer'd and led Captive to Rome Goltz Thesaur p. 73. and the Coins tell us that he bore the Title of Emperor in the Fourth Year of Aurelian which was the Seventh of Vaballathus ΑΥΤ. Κ. ΟΥΑΒΑΛΛΑΘΟϹϹΕΒ Λ. Ζ which was the Year after Palmyra was ruin'd From whence it plainly appears to me that he was a Confederate of the Romans in that War his Effigies and Titles being stampt on the reverse of Aurelian's Coïns that very Year that he undertook his Expedition into the East as well as the Year after Zenobia was subdued for that was a Privilege never granted but to those Princes who were in League with and had done good Service to the Roman Commonwealth So Rhemetalces King of Thrace is joyn'd with Augustus and Abgarus the Toparch of Edessa with Marcus Aurelius to demonstrate their being in the Interests of those Princes but with some distinction in the Habit of the Head or Crown to denote their Subjection for when Vaballathus wears a Wreath or Diadem then Aurelian wears a Crown of Lawrel but when Vaballathus wears a Crown of Lawrel Aurelian wears a Crown radiated or as the Heralds call it rayoneé How long Vaballathus lived after the Eighth Year of his Reign or what his Fate was I know not but I am enclined to believe that he sunk by degrees in the Favour of Aurelian and being deprived of the Imperial Dignity was forced to content himself with the meaner Title of King or Viceroy and that this happen'd in the two last Years of that Emperor for to that Year I refer those Coins wherein he is styled VABALATHVS REX V. Fulv. Vrsin Not. ad Vopisc Aurel. Mezzob p. 407. Patin Jud. f. 29. VABAL LATHVS REX VCRIM P. P. VCRIMOR VCRIMP VCRIMDR VERIMP VABALATVS ITER IMP. R. all which are Latin and consequently seem to be coin'd not in the East but somewhere nearer Rome but all in the Reign of Aurelian and from them I conjecture that Aurelian after he had setled his Authority in Syria destroy'd Palmyra and put an end to the Pretensions of the Family of Odenathus oblig'd Vaballathus to decline the Title of Emperor and to use that of the Imperial Vicegerent in the East and that this is implyed in the Coins where he is said to be VCRIMOR wrongly in others VCRIMDR or VCRIMP not Vice Caesaris Rector Imperii Orientalis as F. Harduin very ingeniously because in Aurelian's Age and long before Caesar was a Title of Honour inferior to that of Imperator Spart p. 35. Capitolin p. 24. Aelius Verus being the first who was declar'd Caesar but never was Emperor the Title at that time and in future Ages being appropriated to the Heir Apparent of the Empire so that it should have been Vice Imperatoris as Nemesius is styled in * Clxviii 4. Gruter but Vir Clarissimus Rector Imperii Orientalis for so the Governors of Provinces were styled Grut. CL. 9. in the Language of the Law and in the old Inscriptions Fabius Maximus V. C. Rect. Prov. c. This Province Vaballathus managed more than once being said to be ITER IMP. R. i. e. iterum Imperii Rector a second time the Emperor's Vicegerent in the East for such were the Toparchs of that Country the Name demonstrates it Toparcha is Vicemgerens which was in some Ages fill'd with those Roytelets Such also were Phylarchs of the Arabians who held their Dignity at the pleasure of either the Romans or Persians to whom they were subject Thus Agrippa upon his Father's Death was made Prince of Chalcis but when he had continued in that Government four Years Joseph Antiq l. 20. c. 3 5. was displaced by Claudius but made Tetrarch of Iturea Batanaea Trachonitis and Abilene to which the same Emperor afterwards added a part of Galilee But though their Territory was small their Ambition commonly was very great and the Titles which they affected very pompous witness a Coin of Antiochus the Fourth V. Harduin Num. p. 587. one of the little Princes of Sebaste a corner of Cilicia erected into a Kingdom by Vespasian says * Ant. l. 18. c. 7. Josephus who styles himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great King and another of Abgarus on the reverse of Severus with the same Title it being very likely that Vaballathus prompted by the like Vanity styled himself Vaballathus Rex Vcrim P. P. Vaballathus the King and the Father of his Country as in a Latin Coin of Zenobia whom Theodorit who was of Cyrrhestica a Province not far from Palmyrene calls the Toparch of Palmyra she is said to be Queen or Governess of all the East Zenobia Aug. totius Orientis R. i. e. Rectrix or Regina as she styles her self in her Letter to Aurelian unless this Inscription intimates to us another change in his Fortune and Tenure that he was constituted the Prince of that part of Cyrrhestica whose chief City was Vrima in the Coins by mistake Vcrima and Verima situate on the
of the famous Mithradates marcht against Aretas the King of the Arabs Appian calls him King of the Nabataean Arabs ann V. C. 690. ante Christum 63. his Kingdom reacht from the River Euphrates to the Red Sea says Dio L. 36. in which compass Palmyra must be included this Aretas was doubtless one of the Al-Hariths of the Arabians who were Kings of Gessan and in later Ages Lords of Taahmur After which time I believe it acknowledg'd the Roman Power but was govern'd by its own Laws having under its immediate Jurisdiction besides the three Cities on the River already mentioned twelve more in the Inland of Syria When Trajan made his glorious Expedition into Persia I conjecture Palmyra was a Sufferer in the common Calamity of that Country for Pliny says it was sometime in the Roman at others in the Parthian Interest or else it would not have needed Hadrian's assistance to rebuild and beautify it while other Cities tasted of Trajan's Bounty for from Trajan's Expedition in the 8th year of his Reign of Christ 105. the Inhabitants of Bozra and Petra dated their Writings says the Author of the Alexandrian Chronicle L. 3. p. 105. and Zosimus affirms that at Zaragardia not far from the Euphrates on the Persian side in his time there stood a noble Throne built of stone which the Natives called Trajan's Throne erected I doubt not in memory of his illustrious Atchievements in that Country But whatever Palmyra might have suffered under Trajan was repair'd by his Successor who gave the City his own name and they in Gratitude made Vows for his Recovery not in the last the 19th of his Reign as thro' haste is said F. 35 36. he reigned almost 22 years but in the seventeenth from which Sickness he recover'd to dye afterwards in greater torment and this I mention here that I may correct the Mistake in the History To this City Septimius Severus may also be presumed a Benefactor to whom before his famous Expedition against the Parthians Spart vit Septim p. 67. when he routed Niger with whom the Arabs Parthians and the Inhabitants of Adiabene join'd their Forces the Re-publick gave their assistance against the Allies of the Empire and adopted his name into their most eminent Families after which time till the Reign of Zenobia I take them to have been in confederacy with and subject to the Emperors for they assisted both Alexander Severus and Gordian in their Expeditions into the East against the Persians as the Inscriptions testify only it looks probable that upon the Captivity of Valerian the Senate for a while dissembled their Interests and acknowledg'd the Power of Sapores In the Battel at Immae where Zenobia was routed S. Hierom affirms that Pompeianus the Frank settled at Antioch but the Family was unquestionably fixt in that Country long before Capitol Marcus for when Marcus the Philosopher undertook the German War he married his Daughter to Claudius Pompeianus who was of Antioch This also I mention to correct another Mistake After the Captivity of Zenobia the City was a Spectacle of pity but being a necessary Frontier was repair'd and in Dioclesian's time was the Seat of the Governor of the Province In the days of Constantius the Inhabitants were noted as now for great Robbers P. 8. says the old Geographer set out by Gothofred and govern'd by Women but that I take for granted is an Error as if when Zenobia had begun to wield a Scepter none but her own Sex in that Country durst pretend to command Malel part 2. p. 39. Theodosius the Great divided Libanesia from the Sea-coast of Phoenicia and made it a distinct Province Emesa being the Metropolis under whose Jurisdiction Palmyra was put and so continued when the Followers of Mahomet had made themselves Masters of that Country and for many Centuries after for in Abulfedas's time above 1300 after Christ Tadhmur acknowledg'd Hems Emesa its Metropolis and probably it was so after his time In the Reign of the same Theodosius if P. 28. ed. Gron. Ethicus or whoever goes under that name lived in those days or before for St. Hierome is said to have translated him Palmyra is reckoned among the famous Towns of the East as it is also by P. 8. Julius Honorius who lived before Theodoric for Cassiodore mentions him Palmira damascus read Palmyra Damascus and the Author of the Alexandrian Chronicon among the famous Cities of the fourth Climate reckons Palmyra with Apamea Emesa c. in Caele Syria In Justinian's time it became the Residence of the Governor of the East and subject to the Constantinopolitan Empire but 't is probable did not continue long in that State for about the year of Christ 640. when Heraclius was Emperor Jabalah the Son of Al Iham was King of Gassan and Lord of Tadhmur perhaps a Tributary to Heraclius who being overcome by Omar the Caliph one of Mahomet's Successors submitted and turn'd Mahometan but repenting he afterward went to Constantinople Pococ not in Specim hist Ar. p. 77 136. and became a Christian and at this time I believe Mahometanism settled it self at Tadhmur the Tribe of Gassan being before those days Christian I shall not particularly undertake to demonstrate the Usefulness of Coins and Inscriptions the Learned World hath been already fully convinc'd of that truth how many difficult and obscure Passages in Chronology have been set in their due light how many Series of Kings have been regularly deduc't what Rites and Customs both sacred and civil have been by those helps discover'd needs no further proof though were there nothing else at Palmyra to be seen but the noble Ruines of the Temples and Palaces built according to the best and boldest Rules of the ancient Architecture I should think a Journey thither on that Errand alone worth the Undertaking And though the oldest of the Palmyrene Inscriptions is a hundred years younger than our blessed Saviour's Incarnation as I have made appear in the Commentary yet they are not so contemptible as some have imagin'd but afford us some Memorials of those times which no where else occur And by the same Argument the use of the Greek Ε which appears not till about Domitian's time by which I postpone the oldest Inscription at Tadhmur a hundred years may we prove the Spuriousness of that Table preserv'd at Rome which is reported to contain the very Title which by Pilate's Order was affixt to the Cross of our Lord for therein 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is written with the same sort of Ε. It must be confest that in the Palmyrene Inscriptions are some peculiar words which occur not in the Lexica as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. of which sort there are more in other old Marbles nor is it any wonder that in a remote part of Syria where a different Language was spoken Pric in Apul. Apolog. p. 67. De foedere Hierapytniorum Priansens sciunt doctiores usquequo huc progredi licet scripta hoc genus non
old Syriac name kept its Interest among the Natives and has at this day recover'd an entire Possession as some other neighbouring Cities in that Country have done So Caesarea in Palestine is at present call'd as of old Paneas and Petra in Arabia is now named Bosra to omit other Instances For as Lib. 14. c. 8. Seleucus Nicator urbes construxit multis opibus firmas viribus quarum ad praesens plereque licet Graecis nominibus appellentur quae iisdem ad arbitrium imposita sunt conditoris primogenita tamen nomina non amittunt quae ex Assyriâ linguâ institutores veteres indiderunt Ammianus Marcellinus has well observ'd When Seleucus Nicator rebuilt many old Cities in Syria among whom we may reckon Palmyra and gave them Strength and Riches tho' many of them are still called by the Greek Names which their Founder Seleucus gave them yet they did at the same time among the Natives retain their old Syrian Appellations which their first Founders imposed Hence came it that the new name of Adrianople given to Palmyra was in a little time worn out and tho' the Greeks called the Island of Corsica Diod. Sic. l. 5. p. 205. Cyrnus the Natives still maintain'd the Interest of the true name and it continues to this day Steph. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and tho' Heraclea was for a while called Plistarchia in time it asserted its ancient Right and was called as formerly Heraclea And I heartily wish that the Learned Men who have visited those Oriental Countries had furnisht themselves with Instruments and spent some time in taking the exact Longitudes and Latitudes of the several Cities In the Chronological Accounts I have followed the commonly receiv'd Epochas and accordingly fixt my Series of Times without entring into an over-nice Examination of particular Disputes in Chronology which was not so consonant to my present Subject having fixt the year of the Creation according to the Computation of our most Learned Arch-bishop Vsher I have freely used the names of the Heathen Gods tho' for the most part with a distinguishing Epithet and besides the necessity of my Subject which obliged me to it I might plead the usual practise in other Languages that the Fathers did the same and some of the antient Christians who went larger lengths than I ever durst witness that Epitaph in Gruter 1050. Jovis optimi maximi beneficio hic in spe resurrectionis quiescit nor can I be perswaded that such Studies are disagreeable to my Profession if any passage of that kind appears in the History I here renounce it and may it be as if it had never been said or written while the Learned Synesius hath publisht the Life of Typhon and Osiris St. Ambrose as 't is said and Palladius the History of the Brachmanes and Nonnus besides his Paraphrase upon St. John was the Author of the Dionysiaca Tho' after all I must profess I expect to be treated rudely by some sowre Criticks but having no private design in these Papers I shall please my self to be corrected by a Man of Sense and Temper and for the rest of the Tribe they are beneath Consideration it must be acknowledg'd that a Treatise of this kind ought to have been written in the Learned Language as probably it may be hereafter but it was requisite to publish the Commentary in the same Language with the Text and that the Journals having been set forth in English the History ought to be written in the same Tongue and had not a good part of my Papers when finisht been unhappily lost past retrieving my Genius also nauseating the Drudgery of doing the same thing over again I might perhaps have managed the Subject with more Accuracy P. 258. I have affirmed that the Saturns and Jupiters of the Heathens were born after the days of Job and of Joshua and herein I have followed the Fathers particularly Theophilus of Antioch an excellent Chronologist and who by that unanswerable Argument hath ruined all that was then said for the Eternity of the World and of the Heathen Gods who in one place of his excellent Work against Autolycus which for this reason is justly stiled by Lactantius liber de temporibus affirms L. 2. p. 58. that Saturn Jupiter Neptune and Pluto were much younger than the Creation in a second L. 3. p. 258. that Jupiter was much younger than Moses and the Law but more expresly in a third P. 282. that Cronus and Belus i. e. Saturn as Thallus says in his History lived but 322 years before the Trojan War whereas Moses lived 630 years before that famous Epocha And the Chronologer Petavius proves that when Saturn fled into Italy driven out by his Son Jupiter Ehud was then a Judge in Israel about the year 1330 before Christ and that from the time of Janus to whom Saturn fled to Aeneas the whole was not 200 years The Arabick Authors as well as the common People of the Country are to this day possest with the Opinion that Tadmur was built by Solomon and that by the help of Spirits as was also Baalbec says Benjamin Tudelensis the superstitious Jews and Arabs thinking it impossible that Art should perfect a stupendous Building without the assistance of a familiar If the City were destroy'd by Nebuchadnezzar before he laid siege to Jerusalem as John Malela expresly affirms and in this account we may give him Credit because he was of that Country and may be presum'd not to be ignorant of the Affairs of Syria then it is not improbable that Seleucus Nicator the Founder of the Syrian Empire rebuilt Tadhmur as he did many other Cities and that then in honour to him and compliance with both their Benefactor and Conqueror they dated their publick Writings from the first year of his Empire the aera Seleucidarum as it is commonly stiled The Situation of the City fitted it for a publick Mart and the Cities Alalis Sura Ptol. l. 5. c. 15. and Alamata being parts of Palmyrene and built on the Banks of the Euphrates may be presumed the Ports where they brought their Goods either exported or imported on that noble River the Cities being subject to the Re-publick Of what Bigness and Capacity for carriage the River that did run by its Walls was we know not it having been many years since absorpt That there ran a River there in Ptolemy's time the Geogragrapher affirms expresly that many other Rivers have been lost in Earthquakes to which the Eastern Regions are very subject no Man doubts and some which yet continue to run are soon buried L. 1. c. 13. Mela avers that a great River arises near Corycus in Cilicia and having made a great noise is immediately swallow'd and disappears and the River that runs by Aleppo is in a few hours afterward buried in the Sands When the Romans began to enlarge their Conquests in Syria I question not but Palmyra was under the Jurisdiction of the Arabs for when Pompey the Great after the Death