Glory Of Palmira

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When I was younger, I heard many times Leningrad (S.Petersburg today) was called Nothern Palmira. Sincerely I've never thought about these words. Yesterday I could listen to it's story, of Palmira, told by Valerio Massimo Manfredi, historian and very successful writer (probably you've read his book "The Last Legion" -my translation of the title- and I know that they told about a movie)

There were reconstruction of the city in the documentary. It was a city of incredible beauty and very very big. Enormous. Manfredi said, there were different millions of residents there! And it was so antient that even the Bible tells about it!

In the times when Roman Empire had great problems, there was a young and beautiful queen Zenobia in Palmyra that was so courageous to rebell against Romans. She was not very happy in her ribellion. One of the Roman Emperors (the name originaly means "head of the military troups"), Aurelian, captured her and brought in Rome...

I thought, he, Aurelian, loved Zenobia, so as Giulius Cesare loved Cleopatra, because Manfredi said, Aurelius had something special in mind for her...
...but the truth is absolutely not romantic. He wanted her to walk in chains (golden chains) through the streets of Rome for his triumphal return home.

The plant on the photo has the name of queen Zenobia. It is Zenobia pulverulenta (Honeycup) and the residents of Carolina and Virginia (US) maybe know it.

So, if you plan to go in Syria, don't forget to visit Palmira and remember this rebelle woman...

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