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Tadmor

Tadmor (or Tamar), a city built by Solomon in the wilderness, possibly the later site of Palmyra (1Kgs. 9:18; 2Chr. 8:4).

Also known as Tamar

Tadmor, also known as Tamar, was a city built by King Solomon in the wilderness. It is mentioned in 1Ki.9.18 and 2Ch.8.4. The name "Tadmor" is derived from the Semitic word for "palm tree," while "Tamar" means "date palm." The city's location in the wilderness suggests that it was situated in an oasis, possibly to serve as a trade center or a fortified outpost. Many scholars identify Tadmor with the later city of Palmyra, a prominent trading hub in the Syrian Desert during the Roman period. However, this identification remains uncertain. The construction of Tadmor demonstrates Solomon's efforts to expand his kingdom and control trade routes.

Approximate location: 34.554, 38.266 · view on a map · on the Bible atlas

Bible dictionary

Tadmor Easton Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897)

Palm, a city built by Solomon “in the wilderness” (2 Chr. 8:4). In 1 Kings 9:18, where the word occurs in the Authorized Version, the Hebrew text and the Revised Version read “Tamar,” which is properly a city on the southern border of Palestine and toward the wilderness (comp. Ezek. 47:19; 48:28). In 2 Chr. 8:14 Tadmor is mentioned in connection with Hamath-zobah. It is called Palmyra by the Greeks and Romans. It stood in the great Syrian wilderness, 176 miles from Damascus and 130 from the Mediterranean and was the centre of a vast commercial traffic with Western Asia. It was also an important military station. (See SOLOMON.) “Remains of ancient temples and palaces, surrounded by splendid colonnades of white marble, many of which are yet standing, and thousands of prostrate pillars, scattered over a large extent of space, attest the ancient magnificence of this city of palms, surpassing that of the renowned cities of Greece and Rome.”

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Tadmor Smith Smith’s Bible Dictionary (1863)

(city of palms), called “Tadmor in the wilderness,” is the same as the city known to the Greeks and Romans under the name of Palmyra. It lay between the Euphrates and Hamath, to the southeast of that city, in a fertile tract or oasis of the desert. Being situated at a convenient distance from both the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf, it had great advantages for caravan traffic. It was built by Solomon after his conquest of Hamath-zobah. (1 Kings 9:18; 2 Chronicles 8:4) As the city is-nowhere else mentioned in the Bible, it would be out of place to enter into a detailed history of it. In the second century A.D. it seems to have been beautified by the emperor Hadrian. In the beginning of the third century—211-217 A.D.— it became a Roman colony under Caracalla. Subsequently, in the reign of Gallienus, the Roman senate invested Odenathus, a senator of Palmyra, with the regal dignity, on account of his services in defeating Sapor, king of Persia. On the assassination of Odenathus, his wife, Zenobia, seems to have conceived the design of erecting Palmyra into an independent monarchy; and in prosecution of this object, she for a while successfully resisted the Roman arms. She was at length defeated and taken captive by the emperor Aurelian, A.D. 273, who left a Roman garrison in Palmyra. This garrison was massacred in a revolt; and Aurelian punished the city by the execution not only of those who were taken in arms, but likewise of common peasants, of old men, women and children. From this blow Palmyra never recovered, though there are proofs of its having continued to be inhabited until the downfall of the Roman empire. The grandeur and magnificence of the ruins of Palmyra cannot be exceeded, and attest its former greatness. Among the most remarkable are the Tombs…

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Tadmor Hitchcock Hitchcock’s Bible Names Dictionary (1869)

the palm-tree; bitterness

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Tadmor Hastings Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible (1898)

TAD'MOR(Heb. Tamar-,"palms"), a city in the wilderness, built by Solomon. 1 Kgs 9:18; 2 Chr 8:4. There is no Temple of the Sun. Tadmor (Palmyra). Street of Columns. other Scripture mention of this city, and hence no other clue to its site or after-history. It has usually been identified with the famous city of Palmyra. Some critics, indeed, assert that there is little authority for the insertion of the letter d in the name mentioned in these passages, and would make the place built rather Tamar, on the south of the confines of Judah. Eze 47:19. Palmyra was within the extensive empire of Solomon, and it is most natural to identify Tadmor with it. Situation. - Palmyra occupied the most favorable position on the great caravan-route between the rich cities of the East and the ports of the Mediterranean. A spring of good water makes it a natural halting-place. It was 120 miles northeast of Damascus and 60 miles from the Euphrates, according to the Biblical Educator, but Baedeker's Handbook makes it a five days' journey with camels, in long. 38┬░ 30' E. and lat. 33┬░ 58' N. History. - Palmyra has no Scripture history, and hence only a brief sketch of it need be given here. It was mentioned by Pliny, Josephus, Jerome, and other early writers. About a.d. 200 it became famous in Roman history from Zenobia, "the Queen of the East," a woman of extraordinary ability. After the assassination of her husband, Odenathus, she ruled the realm, and under her Palmyra reached the height of its glory, extending its supremacy over Syria, Mesopotamia, and even parts of Egypt. She was subdued by the Roman emperor Aurelian, and led through the streets of Rome to grace the emperor's triumphal procession. The inhabitants of Palmyra afterward revolted, and were slain in great numbers by the…

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Tadmor Schaff Schaff’s Dictionary of the Bible

TAD'MOR(Heb. Tamar-,"palms"), a city in the wilderness, built by Solomon. 1 Kgs 9:18; 2 Chr 8:4. There is no Temple of the Sun. Tadmor (Palmyra). Street of Columns. other Scripture mention of this city, and hence no other clue to its site or after-history. It has usually been identified with the famous city of Palmyra. Some critics, indeed, assert that there is little authority for the insertion of the letter d in the name mentioned in these passages, and would make the place built rather Tamar, on the south of the confines of Judah. Eze 47:19. Palmyra was within the extensive empire of Solomon, and it is most natural to identify Tadmor with it. Situation. - Palmyra occupied the most favorable position on the great caravan-route between the rich cities of the East and the ports of the Mediterranean. A spring of good water makes it a natural halting-place. It was 120 miles northeast of Damascus and 60 miles from the Euphrates, according to the Biblical Educator, but Baedeker's Handbook makes it a five days' journey with camels, in long. 38┬░ 30' E. and lat. 33┬░ 58' N. History. - Palmyra has no Scripture history, and hence only a brief sketch of it need be given here. It was mentioned by Pliny, Josephus, Jerome, and other early writers. About a.d. 200 it became famous in Roman history from

Zenobia, "the Queen of the East," a woman of extraordinary ability. After the assassination of her husband, Odenathus, she ruled the realm, and under her Palmyra reached the height of its glory, extending its supremacy over Syria, Mesopotamia, and even parts of Egypt. She was subdued by the Roman emperor Aurelian, and led through the streets of Rome to grace the emperor's triumphal procession. The inhabitants of Palmyra afterward revolted, and were slain in great numbers by the…

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Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.

Where Tadmor appears

2 verses in 2 books · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H8412

1 Kings1
2 Chronicles1

Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.