title: Gopichand (actor)

text: , his upcoming sports action film "Seetimaarr," directed by Sampath Nandi is under production. The film star co-stars Tamannaah, Digangana Suryavanshi, Bhumika Chawla. He is also working on another movie, Pakka Commercial which is being directed by Maruthi and produced by UV Creations and GA2 Pictures starring Rashi Khanna as the lead heroine.


title: Gopichand (actor)

text: He was born and raised in Tangutur, Andra Pradesh. He married Reshma, niece of Telugu actor Srikanth in 2013. The couple has two sons.


title: Azure Dragon

text: The Azure Dragon (Chinese: "Qīnglóng"), also known as Qinglong in Chinese, is one of the Dragon Gods who represent the mount or chthonic forces of the Five Regions' Highest Deities ( "Wǔfāng Shàngdì"). He is also one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations, which are the astral representations of the Wufang Shangdi. The Azure Dragon represents the east and the spring season. It is also sometimes referred to as the Blue-green Dragon, Green Dragon, or the Blue Dragon ( Cānglóng).


title: Azure Dragon

text: The Dragon is frequently referred to in the media, feng shui, other cultures, and in various venues as the Green Dragon and the Avalon Dragon. His cardinal direction's epithet is "Bluegreen Dragon of the East" ( "Dōngfāng Qīnglóng" or "Dōngfāng Cānglóng").


title: Azure Dragon

text: As with the other three Symbols, there are seven astrological "Mansions" (positions of the Moon) within the Azure Dragon. The names and determinative stars are:


title: Azure Dragon

text: In the "", the White Tiger's star is reincarnated as fictionalized General Luo Cheng, who serves Li Shimin. The Azure Dragon's Star is reincarnated as General Shan Xiongxin, who serves Wang Shichong. The two generals are sworn brothers of Qin Shubao, Cheng Zhijie and Yuchi Gong. After death, their souls are said to possess heroes of the Tang dynasty and Goguryeo, such as Xue Rengui and Yeon Gaesomun.


title: Azure Dragon

text: The Azure Dragon appears as a door god at Taoist temples. He was represented on the tomb of Wang Hui (stone coffin, east side) at Xikang in Lushan. A rubbing of this was collected by David Crockett Graham and is in the Field Museum of Natural History. The dragon featured on the Chinese national flag in 1862-1912, and on the Twelve Symbols national emblem from 1913-1928.


title: Azure Dragon

text: The Azure Dragon also appears as an opponent in the Nintendo DS fighting game "Animal Boxing", going by the name Seiryu.


title: Azure Dragon

text: In Japan, the Azure Dragon is one of the four guardian spirits of cities and is believed to protect the city of Kyoto on the east. The west is protected by the White Tiger, the north is protected by the Black Tortoise, the south is protected by the Vermilion Bird, and the center is protected by the Yellow Dragon. In Kyoto, there are temples dedicated to each of these guardian spirits. The Azure Dragon is represented in the Kiyomizu Temple in eastern Kyoto. Before the entrance of the temple there is a statue of the dragon, which is said to drink from the waterfall within the temple complex at nighttime. Therefore, each year a ceremony is held to worship the dragon of the east. In 1983, the Kitora Tomb was found in the village of Asuka. All four guardians were painted on the walls (in the corresponding directions) and a system of the constellations was painted on the ceiling. This is one of the few ancient records of the four guardians.


title: Azure Dragon

text: In Korea, the murals of the Goguryeo tombs found at Uhyon-ni in South Pyongan province features the Azure Dragon and the other mythological creatures of the four symbols.


title: Hermit crab

text: Hermit crabs are anomuran decapod crustaceans of the superfamily Paguroidea that have adapted to occupy empty scavenged mollusc shells to protect their fragile exoskeletons. There are over 800 species of hermit crab, most of which possess an asymmetric abdomen concealed by a snug-fitting shell. Hermit crabs' soft (non-calcified) abdominal exoskeleton means they must occupy shelter produced by other organisms or risk being defenseless.


title: Hermit crab

text: The strong association between hermit crabs and their shelters has significantly influenced their biology. Almost 800 species carry mobile shelters (most often calcified snail shells); this protective mobility contributes to the diversity and multitude of crustaceans found in almost all marine environments. In most species, development involves metamorphosis from symmetric, free-swimming larvae to morphologically asymmetric, benthic-dwelling, shell-seeking crabs. Such physiological and behavioral extremes facilitate a transition to a sheltered lifestyle, revealing the extensive evolutionary lengths that led to their superfamily success.


title: Hermit crab

text: Most species have long, spirally curved abdomens, which are soft, unlike the hard, calcified abdomens seen in related crustaceans. The vulnerable abdomen is protected from predators by a salvaged empty seashell carried by the hermit crab, into which its whole body can retract. Most frequently, hermit crabs use the shells of sea snails (although the shells of bivalves and scaphopods and even hollow pieces of wood and stone are used by some species). The tip of the hermit crab's abdomen is adapted to clasp strongly onto the columella of the snail shell. Most hermit crabs are nocturnal.


title: Hermit crab

text: As hermit crabs grow, they require larger shells. Since suitable intact gastropod shells are sometimes a limited resource, vigorous competition often occurs among hermit crabs for shells. The availability of empty shells at any given place depends on the relative abundance of gastropods and hermit crabs, matched for size. An equally important issue is the population of organisms that prey upon gastropods and leave the shells intact. Hermit crabs kept together may fight or kill a competitor to gain access to the shell they favour. However, if the crabs vary significantly in size, the occurrence of fights over empty shells will decrease or remain nonexistent. Hermit crabs with undersized shells cannot grow as fast as those with well-fitting shells, and are more likely to be eaten if they cannot retract completely into the shell.


title: Hermit crab

text: As the hermit crab grows in size, it must find a larger shell and abandon the previous one. Several hermit crab species, both terrestrial and marine, have been observed forming a vacancy chain to exchange shells. When an individual crab finds a new empty shell it will leave its own shell and inspect the vacant shell for size. If the shell is found to be too large, the crab goes back to its own shell and then waits by the vacant shell for up to 8 hours. As new crabs arrive they also inspect the shell and, if it is too big, wait with the others, forming a group of up to 20 individuals, holding onto each other in a line from the largest to the smallest crab. As soon as a crab that is the right size for the vacant shell arrives and claims it—leaving its old shell vacant—all the crabs in the queue swiftly exchange shells in sequence, each one moving up to the next size. Hermit crabs often "gang up" on one of their species with what they perceive to be a better shell, and pry its shell away from it before competing for it until one takes it over.


title: Hermit crab

text: There are cases when seashells are not available and hermit crabs will use alternatives such as tin cans, custom-made shells, or any other types of debris, which often proves fatal to the hermit crabs (as they can climb into, but not out of, slippery plastic debris). This can even create a chain reaction of fatality, because a dead hermit crab will release a signal to tell others that a shell is available, luring more hermit crabs to their deaths.


title: Hermit crab

text: For some larger marine species, supporting one or more sea anemones on the shell can scare away predators. The sea anemone benefits, because it is in position to consume fragments of the hermit crab's meals. Other very close symbiotic relationships are known from encrusting bryozoans and hermit crabs forming


title: Hermit crab

text: Hermit crab species range in size and shape, from species with a carapace only a few millimetres long to "Coenobita brevimanus", which can live 12–70 years and can approach the size of a coconut. The shell-less hermit crab "Birgus latro" (coconut crab) is the world's largest terrestrial invertebrate.


title: Hermit crab

text: The young develop in stages, with the first two (the nauplius and protozoea) occurring inside the egg. Most hermit crab larvae hatch at the third stage, the zoea. In this larval stage, the crab has several long spines, a long, narrow abdomen, and large fringed antennae. Several zoeal moults are followed by the final larval stage, the megalopa.


title: Hermit crab

text: Hermit crabs are often seen as a ‘throwaway pet’ that would live only a few months, but species such as "Coenobita clypeatus" have a 20-year lifespan if properly cared for, and some have lived longer than 32 years.


title: Hermit crab

text: Hermit crabs are more closely related to squat lobsters and porcelain crabs than they are to true crabs (Brachyura). However, the relationship of king crabs to the rest of Paguroidea has been a highly contentious topic. Many studies based on their physical characteristics, genetic information, and combined data demonstrate the longstanding hypothesis that the king crabs in the family Lithodidae are derived hermit crabs descended from pagurids and should be classified as a family within Paguroidea. The molecular data has disproven an alternate view based on morphological arguments that the Lithodidae (king crabs) nest with the Hapalogastridae in a separate superfamily, Lithodoidea. Eight families are formally recognized in the superfamily Paguroidea, containing around 1100 species in total in 120 genera.


title: Hermit crab

text: The fossil record of "in situ" hermit crabs using gastropod shells stretches back to the Late Cretaceous. Before that time, at least some hermit crabs used ammonites' shells instead, as shown by a specimen of "Palaeopagurus vandenengeli" from the Speeton Clay, Yorkshire, UK from the Lower Cretaceous, as well as from the Upper Jurassic of Russia. The oldest record of the superfamily extends back to the earliest part of the Jurassic, with the oldest species being "Schobertella hoelderi" from the late Hettangian of Germany.


title: Polybius (urban legend)

text: Polybius is an urban legend concerning a fictitious 1981 arcade game. The legend describes the game as part of a government-run crowdsourced psychology experiment based in Portland, Oregon. Gameplay supposedly produced intense psychoactive and addictive effects in the player. These few publicly staged arcade machines were said to have been visited periodically by men in black for the purpose of data-mining the machines and analyzing these effects. Allegedly, all of these "Polybius" arcade machines disappeared from the arcade market.


title: Polybius (urban legend)

text: The urban legend has persisted in video game journalism and through continued interest, it inspired video games by its name.


title: Polybius (urban legend)

text: The urban legend says that in 1981, when new arcade games were uncommon, an unheard-of new arcade game appeared in several suburbs of Portland, Oregon. The game was popular to the point of addiction, with lines forming around the machines and often resulting in fights over who would play next. The machines were visited by men in black, who collected unknown data from the machines, allegedly testing responses to the game's psychoactive effects. Players supposedly suffered from a series of unpleasant side effects, including seizures, amnesia, insomnia, night terrors, and hallucinations. Approximately one month after its supposed release in 1981, "Polybius" is said to have disappeared without a trace.


title: Polybius (urban legend)

text: The company named in most accounts of the game is "Sinneslöschen". The word is described by writer Brian Dunning as "not-quite-idiomatic German" (a word constructed outside the norms of German-language usage and grammar) meaning "sense delete" or "sensory deprivation". If it was a German term of actual use, "Sinneslöschen" would be pronounced like . The word's meanings are derived from the German words "Sinne" ("senses") and "löschen" ("to extinguish" or "to delete"), though the way they are combined is not standard German.


title: Polybius (urban legend)

text: Due to the viral and anecdotal nature of the legend, an exact origin is unclear. Some anecdotal accounts claim that the legend originated on Usenet circa 1994, or earlier through offline word of mouth. The earliest confirmed record of the legend is an entry for the title added to arcade game resource coinop.org on February 6, 2000; although coinop.org lists the page as originating in 1998, journalist Stuart Brown states that it appears to have defaulted to that time due to a database error caused by a lack of input. The entry mentions the name "Polybius" and a copyright date of 1981. The author of the entry claims in the description to be in possession of a ROM image of the game, and to have extracted fragments of text from it, including "1981 Sinneslöschen". The remainder of the information about the game is listed as "unknown", and its "About the game" section describes the "bizarre rumors" that make up the legend.


title: Polybius (urban legend)

text: Some time prior to September 2003, Kurt Koller, owner of coinop.org, submitted a message to the American video game magazine "GamePro" about "Polybius". "Polybius" then appeared in the September 2003 issue of "GamePro", as part of a feature story on video games called "Secrets and Lies". This is the first known printed mention of the game, exposing the legend to a mass-market audience. The article declared the existence of the game to be "inconclusive", helping to both spark curiosity and spread the story.


title: Polybius (urban legend)

text: Following the appearance in "GamePro" magazine, several people claimed to have some involvement with "Polybius". In 2006, a man named Steven Roach claimed he had been one of its original programmers and that his company developed a game with very intense and cutting-edge graphics. However, according to Roach, a boy experienced an epileptic seizure while playing, and the cabinets were withdrawn by the company in a panic. Although Roach offered no proof for his claims, his story added details on gameplay that later inspired Rogue Synapse's game based on the legend.


title: Polybius (urban legend)

text: The alleged original "Polybius" arcade game does not exist. Snopes.com, which catalogs urban legends, concludes the game is a modern-day version of 1980s rumors of "men in black". This led to the hypothesis that the government was hosting some sort of experiment and sending subliminal messages to the players. Magazines and mainstream news of the early 1980s make no mention of "Polybius". Aside from the mockup cabinets and games inspired by the myth, no authentic cabinets or ROM dumps have ever been documented. Ben Silverman of Yahoo! Games remarked: "Unfortunately, there is no evidence that the game ever existed, no less turned its users into babbling lunatics ... Still, "Polybius" has enjoyed cult-like status as a throwback to a more technologically paranoid era."


title: Polybius (urban legend)

text: Skeptics and researchers have differing ideas on how and why the story of "Polybius" originated. American producer and author Brian Dunning believes "Polybius" to be an urban legend that grew out of a mixture of influences in the 1980s. He notes that two players fell ill in Portland on the same day in 1981, one collapsing with a migraine headache after playing "Tempest", and another suffering from stomach pain after playing "Asteroids" for 28 hours in a filmed attempt to break a world record at the same arcade. Dunning records that the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided several video arcades in the area just ten days later, where the owners were suspected of using the machines for gambling, and the lead-up to the raid involved FBI agents monitoring arcade cabinets for signs of tampering and recording high scores. Dunning suggests that these two events were combined in an urban legend about government-monitored arcade machines making players ill. He believes that such a myth must have been established by 1984, and that it influenced the plot of the film "The Last Starfighter", in which a teenager is recruited by aliens who monitor him playing a covertly-developed arcade game. Dunning considers "Sinneslöschen" to be the kind of name that a non-German speaker would generate if they tried to create a compound word using an English-to-German dictionary.


title: Polybius (urban legend)

text: Internet writer Patrick Kellogg believes that players claiming to remember having played or seen "Polybius" as early as the 1980s may actually be recalling the video game "Cube Quest". "Cube Quest", released in arcades in 1983, is a shooting game which played from a laserdisc. Kellogg describes its visuals as "revolutionary" and far ahead of typical games of the time. He states that the game would be frequently visited for maintenance (because of frequent breakdowns of laserdisc players in arcade games) and was often removed from arcades after a short time for the same reason.


title: Polybius (urban legend)

text: British filmmaker and video game journalist Stuart Brown concludes that the "Polybius" legend began no earlier than 2000, arguing against the purported 1980s origin for the myth. In his review of the legend's history, Brown states his conclusion that the "Polybius" story began as an intentional hoax in 2000 by Kurt Koller, owner of coinop.org, in order to drive traffic to his site. Brown states that he did not find any evidence of the "Polybius" myth existing until the year 2000, the same year Brown concludes marked the first appearance of the "Polybius" article on Koller's site. In Brown's view, the frequently-cited 1980s origin of the myth was an invented aspect written into the coinop.org description of the "legend" to make Koller's hoax more convincing. Brown further theorizes that people recalling discussion of "Polybius" on Usenet in 1994 were misremembering articles on the Pink Floyd-related Publius Enigma puzzle. Per Brown, the "Polybius" hoax capitalized on the popularity of conspiracy theories and the highly viral nature of other Internet hoaxes in, or just before, the year 2000.


title: Polybius (urban legend)

text: Brown also notes striking similarities between the fonts used on the supposed title screen, provided by the image on coinop.org in 2000, and those used for two Williams Electronics arcade video games: "Bubbles" and "". He concludes that the 5-pixel text used for the credit counter is similar to that of "Robotron: 2084" and that the font that reads "Sinneslöschen" is almost identical to that of "Bubbles", with the only differences the appearance of the "O" and the mirror-image reversal of the "H" along a central vertical axis. Brown states that this could be the work of a copycat fan of Williams Electronics; both "Bubbles" and "Robotron: 2084" were made by Williams and both were released only a year later than when "Polybius" was said to first appear.


title: Polybius (urban legend)

text: In 2007, freeware developers and arcade constructors Rogue Synapse registered the domain "sinnesloschen.com" and offered a free downloadable game titled "Polybius" for Microsoft Windows. The game's design is partly based on a contested description of the "Polybius" arcade machine posted on a forum by an individual named Steven Roach who had claimed to have worked on the original. Rogue Synapse's "Polybius" is a 2D shooter resembling "Star Castle".


title: Polybius (urban legend)

text: To complete the illusion, Rogue Synapse's owner Dr. Estil Vance founded a Texas-based corporation bearing the name "Sinnesloschen" (without umlaut) in 2007. He transferred to it the "Rogue Synapse" trademark and a newly registered trademark on "Polybius". Its website says that it is an "attempt to recreate the "Polybius" game as it might have existed in 1981".


title: Polybius (urban legend)

text: In 2016, Llamasoft announced a game called "Polybius" for the PlayStation 4 with support for the PlayStation VR, released on the PlayStation store on Tuesday, May 9, 2017. In early marketing, co-author Jeff Minter claimed to have been permitted to play the original "Polybius" arcade machine in a warehouse in Basingstoke, England. He later acknowledged that the game was inspired by the urban legend but does not attempt to reproduce its alleged gameplay.


title: Polybius (urban legend)

text: "Polybius" is featured in the episode "Journey into Mystery" of the 2021 Disney+ series "Loki", which is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.


title: Polybius (urban legend)

text: The video for the 2017 Nine Inch Nails song "Less Than" features visuals from Llamasoft's PlayStation 4 game "Polybius".


title: Lebensborn

text: Lebensborn e.V. (literally: "Fount of Life") was an SS-initiated, state-supported, registered association in Nazi Germany with the stated goal of increasing the number of children born who met the Nazi standards of "racially pure" and "healthy" Aryans, based on Nazi eugenics (also called "racial hygiene" by some eugenicists). Lebensborn was established by Heinrich Himmler, and provided welfare to its mostly unmarried mothers, encouraged anonymous births by unmarried women at their maternity homes, and mediated adoption of children by likewise "racially pure" and "healthy" parents, particularly SS members and their families. The Cross of Honour of the German Mother was given to the women who bore the most Aryan children. Abortion was legalised (and, more commonly, endorsed) by the Nazis for disabled and non-Germanic children, but strictly punished otherwise.


title: Lebensborn

text: Initially set up in Germany in 1935, "Lebensborn" expanded into several occupied European countries with Germanic populations during the Second World War. It included the selection of "racially worthy" orphans for adoption and care for children born from Aryan women who had been in relationships with SS members. It originally excluded children born from unions between common soldiers and foreign women, because there was no proof of 'racial purity' on both sides. During the war, many children were kidnapped from their parents and judged by Aryan criteria for their suitability to be raised in Lebensborn homes, and fostered by German families.


title: Lebensborn

text: At the Nuremberg Trials, much direct evidence was found of the kidnapping of children by Nazi Germany, across Greater Germany during the period 1939–1945.


title: Lebensborn

text: The "Lebensborn e.V." (e.V. stands for "eingetragener Verein" or registered association), meaning "fount of life", was founded on 12 December 1935, to counteract falling birth rates in Germany, and to promote Nazi eugenics. Located in Munich, the organization was partly an office within the "Schutzstaffel" (SS) responsible for certain family welfare programs, and partly a society for Nazi leaders.


title: Lebensborn

text: The "Lebensborn" office was part of "SS Rasse und Siedlungshauptamt" (SS Race and Settlement Main Office) until 1938, when it was transferred to "Hauptamt Persönlicher Stab Reichsführer-SS" (Personal Staff of the "Reichführer"-SS), i.e. directly overseen by Himmler. Leaders of "Lebensborn e. V." were "SS-Standartenführer" and "SS-Oberführer" Dr. Gregor Ebner.


title: Lebensborn

text: Initially the programme served as a welfare institution for wives of SS officers; the organization ran facilitiesprimarily maternity homeswhere women could give birth or get help with family matters. The programme also accepted unmarried women who were either pregnant or had already given birth and were in need of aid, provided that both the woman and the father of the child were classified as "racially valuable". About 60% of the mothers were unmarried. The program allowed them to give birth secretly away from home without social stigma. In case the mothers wanted to give up the children, the program also had orphanages and an adoption service. When dealing with non-SS members, parents and children were usually examined by SS doctors before admission.


title: Lebensborn

text: The first "Lebensborn" home (known as "Heim Hochland") opened in 1936, in Steinhöring, a tiny village not far from Munich. The first home outside of Germany opened in Norway in 1941. Many of these facilities were established in confiscated houses and former nursing homes owned by Jews. Leaders of the League of German Girls were instructed to recruit young women with the potential to become good breeding partners for SS officers.


title: Lebensborn

text: While "Lebensborn e. V." established facilities in several occupied countries, its activities were concentrated around Germany, Norway and occupied northeastern Europe, mainly Poland. The main focus in occupied Norway was aiding children born to Norwegian women and fathered by German soldiers. In northeastern Europe the organisation, in addition to services provided to SS members, engaged in the transfer of children, mostly orphans, to families in Germany.


title: Lebensborn

text: "Lebensborn e. V." had or planned to have facilities in the following countries (some were merely field offices):


title: Lebensborn

text: About 8,000 children were born in "Lebensborn" homes in Germany, and between 8,000 and 12,000 children in Norway. Elsewhere the total number of births was much lower. For more information about "Lebensborn" in Norway, see war children.


title: Lebensborn

text: In Norway the "Lebensborn" organisation handled approximately 250 adoptions. In most of these cases the mothers had agreed to the adoption, but not all were informed that their children would be sent to Germany for adoption. The Norwegian government recovered only 170 of these children after the war.


title: Lebensborn

text: In 1939, the Nazis started to kidnap children from foreign countriesmainly from Yugoslavia and Poland, but also including Russia, Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Estonia, Latvia, and Norway for the "Lebensborn" program. They started to do this because "It is our duty to take [the children] with us to remove them from their environment ... either we win over any good blood that we can use for ourselves and give it a place in our people or we destroy this blood," Himmler reportedly said.


title: Lebensborn

text: The Nazis would seize children in full view of the parents. The kidnapped children were administered several tests and were categorised into three groups:


title: Lebensborn

text: The children classified as unwanted were taken to concentration camps to work or were killed. The children from the other groups, if between the ages of 2 and 6, were placed with families in the programme to be brought up by them in a kind of foster child status. Children of ages 6 to 12 were placed in German boarding schools. The schools assigned the children new German names and taught them to be proud to be part of Germany. They forced the children to forget their birth parents and erased any records of their ancestry. Those who resisted Germanisation were beaten and, if a child continued to rebel, he or she would be sent to a concentration camp.


title: Lebensborn

text: In the final stages of the war, the files of all children kidnapped for the programme were destroyed. As a result, researchers have found it nearly impossible to learn how many children were taken. The Polish government has claimed that 10,000 children were kidnapped, and less than 15% were returned to their biological parents. Other estimates include numbers as high as 200,000, although according to Dirk Moses a more likely number is around 20,000.


title: Lebensborn

text: After the war, the branch of the "Lebensborn" organisation operating in north-eastern Europe was accused of kidnapping children deemed "racially valuable" in order to resettle them with German families. However, of approximately 10,000 foreign-born children located after the war in the American-controlled area of Germany, in the trial of the leaders of the "Lebensborn" organisation ("United States of America v. Ulrich Greifelt, et al."), the court found that 340 had been handled by "Lebensborn e. V." The accused were acquitted on charges of kidnapping.


title: Lebensborn

text: The court found ample evidence of an existing programme of the kidnapping or forced movement of children in north-eastern Europe, but concluded that these activities were carried out by individuals who were not members of "Lebensborn". Exactly how many children were moved by "Lebensborn" or other organisations remains unknown due to the destruction of archives by SS members prior to fleeing the advancing Allied forces.


title: Lebensborn

text: The prosecution has failed to prove with the requisite certainty the participation of "Lebensborn", and the defendants connected there with in the kidnapping programme conducted by the Nazis. While the evidence has disclosed that thousands upon thousands of children were unquestionably kidnapped by other agencies or organisations and brought into Germany, the evidence has further disclosed that only a small percentage of the total number ever found their way into "Lebensborn". And of this number only in isolated instances did "Lebensborn" take children who had a living parent. The majority of those children in any way connected with "Lebensborn" were orphans of ethnic Germans.


title: Lebensborn

text: Upon the evidence submitted, the defendant Sollmann is found not guilty on counts one and two of the indictment.


title: Lebensborn

text: After Germany's surrender, the press reported on the unusually good weight and health of the "super babies". They spent time outdoors in sunlight and received two baths a day. Everything that came into contact with the babies was disinfected first. Nurses ensured that the children ate everything given to them. Until the last days of the war, the mothers and the children at maternity homes got the best treatment available, including food, although others in the area were starving. Once the war ended, local communities often took revenge on the women, beating them, cutting off their hair, and running them out of the community. Many "Lebensborn" children were born to unwed mothers. After the war, "Lebensborn" survivors were often subjected to ostracization.


title: Lebensborn

text: Himmler's effort to secure a "racially pure" Greater Germany, sloppy journalism on the subject, as well as Nazi ideology retained by some, led to persistent false assumptions about the programme. The main misconception was that the programme involved coercive breeding. The first stories reporting that "Lebensborn" was a coercive breeding programme can be found in the German magazine "Revue", which ran a series on the subject in the 1950s.


title: Lebensborn

text: The programme did intend to promote the growth of Aryan populations, through encouraging relationships between German soldiers and Nordic women in occupied countries. Access to "Lebensborn" was restricted in accordance with the Nordicist eugenic and racial policies of Nazism, which could be referred to as supervised selective breeding. Recently discovered records and ongoing testimony of "Lebensborn" childrenand some of their parentsshows that some SS men did sire children in Himmler's "Lebensborn" program. This was widely rumored within Germany during the period of the programme.


title: Lebensborn

text: In Norway, children born to Norwegian mothers by German fathers were allegedly often bullied, raped, abused, and persecuted by the government after the war, and placed in mental institutions. The Norwegian government attempted to deport "Lebensborn" children to Germany, Brazil, and Australia but did not succeed. A group of "Lebensborn" children sought compensation from the Norwegian government, who they saw as being complicit in their mistreatment. In 2008, their case before the European Court of Human Rights was dismissed as the events had happened too long ago, but they were each offered an £8,000 payment from the Norwegian government.


title: Lebensborn

text: In November 2006, in the German town of Wernigerode, an open meeting took place among several "Lebensborn" children, with the intention of dispelling myths and encouraging those affected to investigate their origins.


title: Lebensborn

text: General documents on "Lebensborn" activities are administered by International Tracing Service and by German Federal Archives. The association "Verein kriegskind.de" is among those that published search efforts ("Suchbitten") to identify "Lebensborn" children.


title: Lebensborn

text: The British movie "The Divided Heart" (1954) was inspired by the true story of a Slovenian child whose father was executed by Nazis and whose mother was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp. The boy was sent to Germany and adopted by a German couple. Years later he is returned to his biological mother.


title: Lebensborn

text: The Czech TV film "Spring of Life" (2000) tells the story of a Sudeten German teenager recruited as a future mother into a Lebensborn in Poland.


title: Lebensborn

text: The 1986 U.S. television film, "Of Pure Blood" is about these breeding facilities during the Third Reich and the discovery of them by Lee Remick's "Alicia Browning" character as herself being one of these children.


title: Lebensborn

text: In the television series, "The Man in the High Castle", Joe Blake and Nicole Dörmer are among several characters who were Lebensborn children.


title: Lebensborn

text: The video game My Child Lebensborn, which won the BAFTA Games Awards in 2018 for "Game Beyond Entertainment", lets players experience the bullying Lebensborn children went through after the war.


title: Lebensborn

text: In the novel and film "Sophie's Choice", Sophie unsuccessfully attempts to place her son in the Lebensborn program.


title: Lebensborn

text: The movie "Jojo Rabbit" satirizes eugenics efforts by depicting a group of lookalike blonde children in Deutsches Jungvolk organization and referring to them as clones.


title: Lebensborn

text: The manga "Elfen Lied" includes a program to exterminate the human race and replace it with a superhuman species known as the Diclonii. This program is called the Lebensborn.


title: Scion (automobile)

text: Scion was a marque of Toyota that debuted in 2003. Intended to appeal to younger customers, the Scion brand emphasized inexpensive, stylish, and distinctive sport compact vehicles, and used a simplified "pure price" sales concept that eschewed traditional trim levels and dealer haggling; each vehicle was offered in a single trim with a non-negotiable base price, while a range of dealer-installed options was offered to buyers for personalizing their vehicles. The "Scion" name, meaning the descendant of a family or heir, refers both to the brand's cars and their owners. In an effort to target millennials, Scion primarily relied on guerrilla and viral marketing techniques.


title: Scion (automobile)

text: The brand first soft launched in the United States at selected Toyota dealers in the state of California in June 2003, before expanding nationwide by February 2004. Sales peaked in 2006 with 173,034 units sold. In 2010, Scion expanded into Canada. However, Toyota's initial propositions of short product cycles and aggressive pricing based on low dealer margins became increasingly unsustainable as sales fell after the financial crisis of 2007–2008. Toyota abolished the Scion brand at the start of the 2017 model year in August 2016; the vehicles were either rebranded as Toyotas or discontinued.


title: Scion (automobile)

text: In 1999, Toyota launched Project Genesis, an effort to bring younger buyers to the Toyota marque in the United States. This project aimed to create a "marque within a marque" in sales and advertising strategy for compact and coupe models sold by Toyota. The effort, which included the introduction of the Toyota Echo economy car, along with late generation Toyota MR-2 and Toyota Celica models, was judged unsuccessful and cancelled in 2001. In response, Toyota chose to launch a separate marque, an effort called Project Exodus. A Los Angeles-based digital design company, Fresh Machine, was retained by Toyota to develop the brand, logo, and website. This project became known as Scion. Toyota had previously participated in a project in Japan with other Japanese companies who attempted to market products to younger buyers. Toyota manufactured three vehicles under the WiLL brandname, which were exclusive to "Toyota Netz Store" Japanese dealerships.


title: Scion (automobile)

text: Scion was marketed as a youth brand and was first introduced in March 2002, at the New York Auto Show. There were just two concept vehicles, the bbX (which became the xB), and the ccX (which became the tC). The 2004 xA and xB were unveiled at the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show on January 2, 2003. They were available only in 105 Toyota dealerships in California at their initial launch on June 9, 2003. The subsequent rollout of the brand to the South, the Southeast, and the East Coast occurred in February 2004. Scion vehicles were available nationwide in June 2004, coinciding with the release of the 2005 tC. On December 16, 2006, Scion unveiled the next-generation xB, based on the t2B concept, and the new xD, successor of the xA, at an invitation-only, no-camera event in Miami. Both cars were then publicly unveiled on February 8, 2007, at the Chicago Auto Show. The xD, a five-door subcompact car that is sold in Japan as the second generation Toyota Ist, was based on the Yaris platform with the tenth-generation Corolla's engine.


title: Scion (automobile)

text: In September 2010, Scion expanded into Canada, with vehicles offered at 45 selected dealers starting in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, followed by other cities. Launch models included the tC, xD, and xB. The first new Scions were shown in Canada at the 2009 Montreal International Auto Show.


title: Scion (automobile)

text: Sales of the Scion brand were down to a low of 45,678 for the 2010 model year, compared to over 170,000 for 2006. The management tried to resuscitate the brand, hoping to sell 35,000 to 45,000 tC in a year after the model was redesigned for 2011. In October 2011, the iQ, an ultra-compact city car, debuted as a 2012 model. In April 2012, Jack Hollis (Vice President of Scion) announced that the xB and xD would be dropped after 2012, supposedly in favor of all new models from Toyota's hatchback division, Daihatsu; the same month, the FR-S sports car went on sale as a 2013 model. Later in 2012—despite the announcement of its imminent discontinuation—a facelifted version of the xB was unveiled.


title: Scion (automobile)

text: In late 2013, the xD and second-generation xB were in their seventh year without a substantial redesign, and Scion sales were still far short of their 2006 peak. Toyota began allowing dealers to drop the Scion marque without penalty. The recently introduced FR-S had strong initial sales, but combined sales of the new FR-S and redesigned tC did not equal sales of the tC alone during 2005 through 2008, and industry observers concluded that the FR-S was cannibalizing sales of the similar tC. iQ sales never met expectations, and by 2014, observers were characterizing it as a "disappointment." A primary goal of the Scion brand was to introduce young first-time buyers to Toyota products, but analysts found that relatively few Scion buyers were making follow-on purchases from the more profitable Toyota and Lexus lines, and Gen Y buyers were generally making more pragmatic car-buying choices than their predecessors due to economic factors.


title: Scion (automobile)

text: For the 2015 model year, Scion released the iM hatchback, based on the international Toyota Auris, and the iQ, xB, and xD were discontinued. Scion also introduced the iA sedan, a rebadged version of the Mazda2; however, Toyota opted to sell the iA as the Toyota Yaris sedan in Canada.


title: Scion (automobile)

text: On February 3, 2016, Toyota announced that the Scion brand would be phased out in August after the 2016 model year, arguing that the company no longer required a specific marque to target younger demographics. The FR-S, iA, and iM models were amalgamated into the Toyota marque for the 2017 model year, as the Toyota 86, Toyota Yaris iA, and Toyota Corolla iM respectively, while the tC was discontinued. The then-upcoming C-HR was also moved to the Toyota marque after originally being unveiled as a Scion. The change was not expected to cause disruption to service options, as Scion models were sold and serviced at Toyota dealerships.


title: Scion (automobile)

text: Scion used sales tools such as "Pure Price" and monospec trim levels with a wide selection of factory and TRD accessories. Extensive market research and testing with Generation Y consumers formed the basis of the Scion badge.


title: Scion (automobile)

text: "Pure Price" means that the price posted, whether on the vehicle, in an advertisement, or on a menu display board in the dealership, was the price customers would pay. This included the vehicle, accessories, finance and insurance products. Pure Price was designed to ensure a shorter and simpler process, eliminating all negotiation, though it was common for dealers to add aftermarket accessories and mark vehicles up to increase profits. The concept aimed to be open and consistent to all customers. The concept was not new to the U.S. market, having been introduced in the early 1990s by the Geo and Saturn marques of General Motors.


title: Scion (automobile)

text: Scion's sales approach differed greatly from that of the Toyota brand. In the United States, for instance, the Toyota Camry was offered with four different trim levels intended for different crowds (budget-conscious, mainstream, sports-oriented and luxury); all Scions, in contrast, had only one standard trim level (monospec) and were designed to be uniquely customized for the driver.


title: Scion (automobile)

text: Scion offered about 150 different accessories; other after-market companies through the Optōmize Scion program offer to add other accessories, as well. For example, one can add a subwoofer as well as different types of decals. The tC had offered an optional supercharger to increase power from 161 to 200 hp (120 to 150 kW), but this option was since discontinued in 2007 due to early failure of the bearings inside the centrifugal blower. All accessories are sold individually, and do not require special packages. However, some options, such as Ground Effects, do prevent other accessories (such as mud flaps) from being installed.


title: Scion (automobile)

text: Companies that participated in the Optōmize Scion program include GReddy, OBX, RÄZO, a few car detailing companies, and others.


title: Scion (automobile)

text: Beginning in the second quarter of 2004 with the launch of the 2004 Scion xB RS 1.0 (Release Series 1.0), followed by the Scion xA RS 1.0, Scion decided to create limited edition vehicles pre-packaged with exclusive accessories in limited quantities. Limited Edition vehicles from a marketing standpoint were used to create a buzz for the brand name, with their exterior colors tending to be loud or bright hues (e.g. orange, yellow, red, blue, green). Because of the growing popularity of the Scion product line and the scarce production runs (most dealers only get 2-3 of each RS model), these limited edition vehicles quickly sold out. Pre-ordering is available at each dealership on a first-come, first-served basis. To the customer's benefit, Scion's "Pure Price" MSRP bounds dealerships against market-demand vehicle mark-up. Naturally, resale values of Release Series vehicles command a premium because of their packaged options and scarcity.


title: Scion (automobile)

text: In 2007, the median age of a Toyota consumer was 54 years old. Comparatively, Scion's average buyer age at that time was lowest in the industry, at 39.


title: Scion (automobile)

text: Initially, Scion's first two cars (the xA and xB), while unusual for American roads, were well received among consumers not interested in standard entry-level vehicles. The tC was also well received with brisk sales.


title: Scion (automobile)

text: The marque's best-selling year was 2006, with 173,000 vehicles sold. Sales dropped in the ensuing years, to 57,961 vehicles in 2009. By 2010, the tC was the mainstay of the brand, accounting for over 40% of all Scions sold since the brand was established. However, some sales of the second-generation tC were cannibalized by the similar FR-S. In the U.S., sales of the xB declined after the introduction of the second generation, from a peak of over 60,000 to 17,017 in 2011; sales of the xD fell to 9,573 in 2011 from 32,603 in 2006.


title: Scion (automobile)

text: By the time it was discontinued, over a million Scion-branded cars were sold. Over 70% were sold to people new to Toyota and just over 50% of the cars sold were to people under the age of 35; tC buyers had an average age of 29, the lowest in the industry.


title: Scion (automobile)

text: To advertise Scion, Toyota began a promotional campaign using a form of guerrilla marketing, using posters and ads in movie theaters and TV to direct consumers to its various "want2bsquare" web sites. Scion's marketing endeavors extended to sponsorships, such as that of VBS.tv's show, "Thumbs Up!", which featured David Choe hitchhiking across the United States. Scion sponsored two commercials featuring Concours race car driver Matt Verbin during the Castle Hill Concours d'Elegance, showing him racing a custom painted yellow and orange xB on Cambridge streets. Scion also teamed with Gaia Online, providing the xB, xD, and tC as a choice for user cars, as well as other things across the site.


title: Scion (automobile)

text: Scion also used smaller, regional viral campaigns to reach niche demographics. Online campaigns such as "Scion xPressionism" allowed a user to modify and design their own Scion with graphics, decals, and aftermarket car parts. Online advertising, much of it quirky and offbeat, was part of Scion's marketing mix for both these campaigns and for the launch of new models. Shows like "Slick's Picks" went around the country interviewing artists, stores, and events and put short videos on the site. "Scion Radio 17" was an internet-radio initiative that features 17 non-mainstream channels, ranging from rock and hip hop to electro and soul. Scion AV served as the brand's lifestyle marketing initiative, funding projects in music, art, and film.


title: Scion (automobile)

text: In August 2008, Scion released the "United by Individuality" ad campaign, featuring over 300 Scion owners' vehicles in various magazine articles, commercials, and billboards. The latest commercial video showed a convoy of Scions parading through the desert in Boulder City, Nevada. These videos and ads could be seen on Scion's website.


title: Palmyra

text: Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () "Tadmor"; "Tadmur") is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early second millennium BC. Palmyra changed hands on a number of occasions between different empires before becoming a subject of the Roman Empire in the first century AD.


title: Palmyra

text: The city grew wealthy from trade caravans; the Palmyrenes became renowned as merchants who established colonies along the Silk Road and operated throughout the Roman Empire. Palmyra's wealth enabled the construction of monumental projects, such as the Great Colonnade, the Temple of Bel, and the distinctive tower tombs. Ethnically, the Palmyrenes combined elements of Amorites, Arameans, and Arabs. The city's social structure was tribal, and its inhabitants spoke Palmyrene Aramaic, a variety of Western Middle Aramaic, while using Koine Greek for commercial and diplomatic purposes. Greco-Roman culture influenced the culture of Palmyra, which produced distinctive art and architecture that combined eastern and western traditions. The city's inhabitants worshiped local Semitic, Mesopotamian, and Arab deities.


title: Palmyra

text: By the third century, Palmyra had become a prosperous regional center. It reached the apex of its power in the 260s, when the Palmyrene King Odaenathus defeated the Sasanian emperor Shapur I. The king was succeeded by queen regent Zenobia, who rebelled against Rome and established the Palmyrene Empire. In 273, Roman emperor Aurelian destroyed the city, which was later restored by Diocletian at a reduced size. The Palmyrenes converted to Christianity during the fourth century and to Islam in the centuries following the conquest by the 7th-century Rashidun Caliphate, after which the Palmyrene and Greek languages were replaced by Arabic.


title: Palmyra

text: Before AD 273, Palmyra enjoyed autonomy and was attached to the Roman province of Syria, having its political organization influenced by the Greek city-state model during the first two centuries AD. The city became a Roman colonia during the third century, leading to the incorporation of Roman governing institutions, before becoming a monarchy in 260. Following its destruction in 273, Palmyra became a minor center under the Byzantines and later empires. Its destruction by the Timurids in 1400 reduced it to a small village. Under French Mandatory rule in 1932, the inhabitants were moved into the new village of Tadmur, and the ancient site became available for excavations. During the Syrian civil war in 2015, the Islamic State (IS) destroyed large parts of the ancient city, which was recaptured by the Syrian Army on 2 March 2017.


title: Palmyra

text: Records of the name "Tadmor" date from the early second millennium BC; eighteenth century BC tablets from Mari written in cuneiform record the name as "Ta-ad-mi-ir", while Assyrian inscriptions of the eleventh century BC record it as "Ta-ad-mar". Aramaic Palmyrene inscriptions themselves showed two variants of the name; "TDMR" ("i.e.", Tadmar) and "TDMWR" ("i.e.", Tadmor). The etymology of the name is unclear; the standard interpretation, supported by Albert Schultens, connects it to the Semitic word for "date palm", "tamar" (), thus referring to the palm trees that surrounded the city.


title: Palmyra

text: The Greek name (Latinized "Palmyra") was first recorded by Pliny the Elder in the 1st century AD. It was used throughout the Greco-Roman world. It is generally believed that "Palmyra" derives from "Tadmor" and linguists have presented two possibilities; one view holds that Palmyra was an alteration of Tadmor. According to the suggestion by Schultens, "Palmyra" could have arisen as a corruption of "Tadmor", via an unattested form "Talmura", changed to "Palmura" by the influence of the Latin word "palma" (date "palm"), in reference to the city's palm trees, then the name reached its final form "Palmyra". The second view, supported by some philologists, such as Jean Starcky, holds that Palmyra is a translation of "Tadmor" (assuming that it meant palm), which had derived from the Greek word for palm, ""palame"".


title: Palmyra

text: An alternative suggestion connects the name to the Syriac "tedmurtā" (ܬܕܡܘܪܬܐ) "miracle", hence "tedmurtā" "object of wonder", from the root "dmr" "to wonder"; this possibility was mentioned favourably by Franz Altheim and Ruth Altheim-Stiehl (1973), but rejected by Jean Starcky (1960) and Michael Gawlikowski (1974). Michael Patrick O'Connor (1988) suggested that the names "Palmyra" and "Tadmor" originated in the Hurrian language. As evidence, he cited the inexplicability of alterations to the theorized roots of both names (represented in the addition of "-d-" to "tamar" and "-ra-" to "palame"). According to this theory, "Tadmor" derives from the Hurrian word "tad" ("to love") with the addition of the typical Hurrian mid vowel rising (mVr) formant "mar". Similarly, according to this theory, "Palmyra" derives from the Hurrian word "pal" ("to know") using the same mVr formant ("mar").


title: Palmyra

text: The city of Palmyra lies northeast of the Syrian capital, Damascus; along with an expanded hinterland of several settlements, farms and forts, the city forms part of the region known as the Palmyrene. The city is located in an oasis surrounded by palms (of which twenty varieties have been reported). Two mountain ranges overlook the city: the northern Palmyrene mountain belt from the north and the southern Palmyrene mountains from the southwest. In the south and the east Palmyra is exposed to the Syrian Desert. A small wadi, al-Qubur, crosses the area, flowing from the western hills past the city before disappearing in the eastern gardens of the oasis. South of the wadi is a spring, Efqa. Pliny the Elder described the town in the 70s AD as famous for its desert location, for the richness of its soil, and for the springs surrounding it, which made agriculture and herding possible.


title: Palmyra

text: While the site, located near the Efqa Spring on the southern bank of Wadi al-Qubur, was occupied by at least the neolithic, early buildings only remain from later occupation. Remains of the Assyrian city are found beneath the Hellenistic settlement. The latter was located near the Efqa Spring on the southern bank of Wadi al-Qubur; it had its residences expanding to the wadi's northern bank during the first century. Although the city's walls originally enclosed an extensive area on both banks of the wadi, the walls rebuilt during Aurelian's reign surrounded only the northern-bank section. Most of the city's monumental projects were built on the wadi's northern bank, among them is the Temple of Bel, on a tell which was the site of an earlier temple (known as the Hellenistic temple). However, excavation supports the theory that the tell was originally located on the southern bank, and the wadi was diverted south of the tell to incorporate the temple into Palmyra's late first and early second century urban organization on the north bank.


title: Palmyra

text: Also north of the wadi was the Great Colonnade, Palmyra's main street, which extended from the Temple of Bel in the east, to the Funerary Temple no.86 in the city's western part. It had a monumental arch in its eastern section, and a tetrapylon stands in the center. The Baths of Diocletian were on the left side of the colonnade. Nearby were residences, the Temple of Baalshamin, and the Byzantine churches, which include "Basilica IV", Palmyra's largest church. The church is dated to the Justinian age, its columns are estimated to be high, and its base measured .


title: Palmyra

text: The Temple of Nabu and the Roman theater were built on the colonnade's southern side. Behind the theater were a small senate building and the large agora, with the remains of a "triclinium" (banquet room) and the Tariff Court. A cross street at the western end of the colonnade leads to the Camp of Diocletian, built by Sosianus Hierocles (the Roman governor of Syria in the reign of Diocletian). Nearby are the Temple of Al-lāt and the Damascus Gate.


title: Palmyra

text: At its height during the reign of Zenobia, Palmyra had more than 200,000 residents. The earliest known inhabitants were the Amorites in the early second millennium BC, and by the end of the millennium Arameans were mentioned as inhabiting the area. Arabs arrived in the city in the late first millennium BC. Sheikh Zabdibel, who aided the Seleucids in the battle of Raphia (217 BC), was mentioned as the commander of "the arabs and neighbouring tribes to the number of ten thousands"; Zabdibel and his men were not actually identified as Palmyrenes in the texts, but the name "Zabdibel" is a Palmyrene name leading to the conclusion that the sheikh hailed from Palmyra. The Arab newcomers were assimilated by the earlier inhabitants, used Palmyrene as a mother tongue, and formed a significant segment of the aristocracy. The classical city also had a Jewish community; inscriptions in Palmyrene from the necropolis of Beit She'arim in Lower Galilee confirm the burial of Palmyrene Jews. During the Roman period, occasionally and rarely, members of the Palmyrene families took Greek names while ethnic Greeks were few; the majority of people with Greek names, who did not belong to one of the city's families, were freed slaves. The Palmyrenes seem to have disliked the Greeks, considered them foreigners, and restricted their settlement in the city. During the Umayyad Caliphate, Palmyra was mainly inhabited by the Banu Kalb. Benjamin of Tudela recorded the existence of 2000 Jews in the city during the twelfth century. Palmyra declined after its destruction by Timur in 1400, and was a village of 6,000 inhabitants at the beginning of the 20th century.


title: Palmyra

text: Palmyra's population was a mixture of the different peoples inhabiting the city, which is seen in Aramaic, Arabic and Amorite names of Palmyrene clans, but the ethnicity of Palmyra is a matter of debate. Some scholars, such as Andrew M. Smith II, consider ethnicity a concept related to modern nationalism, and prefer not to describe the Palmyrenes with ethnic designations they themselves did not know, concluding that there is a lack of evidence regarding what ethnicity the Palmyrenes perceived themselves. On the other hand, many scholars, such as Eivind Seland, contend that a distinctive Palmyrene ethnicity is apparent in the available contemporary evidence. The second century work "De Munitionibus Castrorum" mentioned the Palmyrenes as a "natio", the Latin equivalent of the Greek ἔθνος (éthnos). Seland noted the epigraphic evidence left by the Palmyrenes outside the city. The inscriptions reveal the existence of a real diaspora satisfying the three criteria set by the sociologist Rogers Brubaker. Palmyrene diaspora members always made clear their Palmyrene origin and used the Palmyrene language, and maintained their distinct religion even when the host society's religion was close to that of Palmyra. Seland concluded that in the case of Palmyra, the people perceived themselves different from their neighbours and a real Palmyrene ethnicity existed. Aside from the existence of a Palmyrene ethnicity, Aramean or Arab are the two main ethnic designations debated by historians; Javier Teixidor stated that "Palmyra was an Aramaean city and it is a mistake to consider it as an Arab town", while Yasamin Zahran criticized this statement and argued that the inhabitants considered themselves Arabs. In practice, according to several scholars such as Udo Hartmann and Michael Sommer, the citizenry of Palmyra were mainly the result of Arab and Aramaean tribes merging into a unity with a corresponding consciousness; they thought and acted as Palmyrenes.


title: Palmyra

text: Until the late third century AD, Palmyrenes spoke Palmyrene Aramaic and used the Palmyrene alphabet. The use of Latin was minimal, but Greek was used by wealthier members of society for commercial and diplomatic purposes, and it became the dominant language during the Byzantine era. There are several theories explaining the disappearance of the Palmyrene language shortly after the campaigns of Aurelian. The linguist Jean Cantineau assumed that Aurelian suppressed all aspects of Palmyrene culture, including the language, but the last Palmyrene inscription dates to 279/280, after the death of the Roman emperor in 275, thus refuting such a theory. Many scholars ascribe the disappearance of the language to a change in society resulting from the reorganization of the Eastern Roman frontier following the fall of Zenobia. The archaeologist Karol Juchniewicz ascribed it to a change in the ethnic composition of the city, resulting from the influx of people who did not speak Aramaic, probably a Roman legion. Hartmann suggested that it was a Palmyrene initiative by nobles allied to Rome attempting to express their loyalty to the emperor; Hartmann noted that Palmyrene disappeared in the written form, and that this does not mean its extinction as spoken language. After the Arab conquest, Greek was replaced by Arabic, from which, although the city was surrounded by Bedouins, a Palmyrene dialect evolved.


title: Palmyra

text: Classical Palmyra was a tribal community, but due to the lack of sources, an understanding of the nature of Palmyrene tribal structure is not possible. Thirty clans have been documented; five of which were identified as tribes ("Phylai" Φυλαί; pl. of "Phyle" Φυλή) comprising several sub-clans. By the time of Nero Palmyra had four tribes, each residing in an area of the city bearing its name. Three of the tribes were the Komare, Mattabol and Ma'zin; the fourth tribe is uncertain, but was probably the Mita. In time, the four tribes became highly civic and tribal lines blurred; by the second century clan identity lost its importance, and it disappeared during the third century. Even the four tribes ceased to be important by the third century as only one inscription mentions a tribe after the year 212; instead, aristocrats played the decisive role in the city's social organization. Women seem to have been active in Palmyra's social and public life. They commissioned inscriptions, buildings or tombs, and in certain cases, held administrative offices. Offerings to gods in the names of women are documented.


title: Palmyra

text: The last Palmyrene inscription of 279/280 refers to the honouring of a citizen by the Maththabolians, which indicates that the tribal system still carried weight after the fall of Zenobia. A noticeable change is the lack of development of aristocratic residences, and no important public buildings were constructed by locals, indicating that the elite diminished following the campaign of Aurelian. The social change and the reduction of the aristocratic elite is hard to explain. It could be a result of the aristocracy suffering many casualties in the war against Rome, or fleeing to the countryside. According to the historians Emanuele Intagliata, the change can be ascribed to the Roman reorganization following Zenobia's fall, as Palmyra ceased to be a rich caravan city and became a frontier fortress, leading the inhabitants to focus on satisfying the needs of a garrison instead of providing the empire with luxurious oriental items. Such a change in functions would have made the city less attractive for an aristocratic elite. Palmyra benefited from the Umayyad rule since its role as a frontier city ended and the East-West trade route was restored, leading to the re-emergence of a merchant class. Palmyra's loyalty to the Umayyads led to an aggressive military retaliation from their successors, the Abbassids, and the city diminished in size, losing its merchant class. Following its destruction by Timur, Palmyra maintained the life of a small settlement until its relocation in 1932.


title: Palmyra

text: The scarce artifacts found in the city dating to the Bronze Age reveal that, culturally, Palmyra was most affiliated with western Syria. Classical Palmyra had a distinctive culture, based on a local Semitic tradition, and influenced by Greece and Rome. To appear better integrated into the Roman Empire, some Palmyrenes adopted Greco-Roman names, either alone or in addition to a second native name. The extent of Greek influence on Palmyra's culture is debated. Scholars interpreted the Palmyrenes' Greek practices differently; many see those characters as a superficial layer over a local essence. Palmyra's senate was an example; although Palmyrene texts written in Greek described it as a "boule" (a Greek institution), the senate was a gathering of non-elected tribal elders (a Near-Eastern assembly tradition). Others view Palmyra's culture as a fusion of local and Greco-Roman traditions.


title: Palmyra

text: The culture of Persia influenced Palmyrene military tactics, dress and court ceremonies. Palmyra had no large libraries or publishing facilities, and it lacked an intellectual movement characteristic of other Eastern cities such as Edessa or Antioch. Although Zenobia opened her court to academics, the only notable scholar documented was Cassius Longinus.


title: Palmyra

text: Palmyra had a large agora. However, unlike the Greek Agoras (public gathering places shared with public buildings), Palmyra's agora resembled an Eastern caravanserai more than a hub of public life. The Palmyrenes buried their dead in elaborate family mausoleums, most with interior walls forming rows of burial chambers (loculi) in which the dead, lying at full length, were placed. A relief of the person interred formed part of the wall's decoration, acting as a headstone. Sarcophagi appeared in the late second century and were used in some of the tombs. Many burial monuments contained mummies embalmed in a method similar to that used in Ancient Egypt.


title: Palmyra

text: Although Palmyrene art was related to that of Greece, it had a distinctive style unique to the middle-Euphrates region. Palmyrene art is well represented by the bust reliefs which seal the openings of its burial chambers. The reliefs emphasized clothing, jewelry and a frontal representation of the person depicted, characteristics which can be seen as a forerunner of Byzantine art. According to Michael Rostovtzeff, Palmyra's art was influenced by Parthian art. However, the origin of frontality that characterized Palmyrene and Parthian arts is a controversial issue; while Parthian origin has been suggested (by Daniel Schlumberger), Michael Avi-Yonah contends that it was a local Syrian tradition that influenced Parthian art. Little painting, and none of the bronze statues of prominent citizens (which stood on brackets on the main columns of the Great Colonnade), have survived. A damaged frieze and other sculptures from the Temple of Bel, many removed to museums in Syria and abroad, suggest the city's public monumental sculpture.


title: Palmyra

text: Many surviving funerary busts reached Western museums during the 19th century. Palmyra provided the most convenient Eastern examples bolstering an art-history controversy at the turn of the 20th century: to what extent Eastern influence on Roman art replaced idealized classicism with frontal, hieratic and simplified figures (as believed by Josef Strzygowski and others). This transition is seen as a response to cultural changes in the Western Roman Empire, rather than artistic influence from the East. Palmyrene bust reliefs, unlike Roman sculptures, are rudimentary portraits; although many reflect high quality individuality, the majority vary little across figures of similar age and gender.


title: Palmyra

text: Like its art, Palmyra's architecture was influenced by the Greco-Roman style, while preserving local elements (best seen in the Temple of Bel). Enclosed by a massive wall flanked with traditional Roman columns, Bel's sanctuary plan was primarily Semitic. Similar to the Second Temple, the sanctuary consisted of a large courtyard with the deity's main shrine off-center against its entrance (a plan preserving elements of the temples of Ebla and Ugarit).


title: Palmyra

text: West of the ancient walls, the Palmyrenes built a number of large-scale funerary monuments which now form the Valley of Tombs, a necropolis. The more than 50 monuments were primarily tower-shaped and up to four stories high. Towers were replaced by funerary temples in the first half of the second century AD, as the most recent tower is dated to AD 128. The city had other cemeteries in the north, southwest and southeast, where the tombs are primarily hypogea (underground).


title: Palmyra

text: According to eyewitnesses, on 23 May 2015 Islamic State militants destroyed the Lion of Al-lāt and other statues; this came days after the militants had gathered the citizens and promised not to destroy the city's monuments. IS destroyed the Temple of Baalshamin on 23 August 2015. On 30 August 2015, IS destroyed the cella of the Temple of Bel. On 31 August 2015, the United Nations confirmed the temple was destroyed; the temple's exterior walls and entrance arch remain.


title: Palmyra

text: It became known on 4 September 2015 that IS had destroyed three of the best preserved tower tombs including the Tower of Elahbel. On 5 October 2015, news media reported that IS was destroying buildings with no religious meaning, including the monumental arch. On 20 January 2017, news emerged that the militants had destroyed the tetrapylon and part of the theater. Following the March 2017 capture of Palmyra by the Syrian Army, Maamoun Abdulkarim, director of antiquities and museums at the Syrian Ministry of Culture, stated that the damage to ancient monuments may be lesser than earlier believed and preliminary pictures showed almost no further damage than what was already known. Antiquities official Wael Hafyan stated that the Tetrapylon was badly damaged while the damage to the facade of the Roman theatre was less serious.


title: Palmyra

text: In response to the destruction, on 21 October 2015, Creative Commons started the New Palmyra project, an online repository of three-dimensional models representing the city's monuments; the models were generated from images gathered, and released into the public domain, by the Syrian internet advocate Bassel Khartabil between 2005 and 2012. Minor restorations took place; two Palmyrene funerary busts, damaged and defaced by IS, were sent off to Rome where they were restored and sent back to Syria. The restoration of the Lion of Al-lāt took two months and the statue was displayed on 1 October 2017; it will remain in the National Museum of Damascus.


title: Palmyra

text: Regarding the restoration, the discoverer of Ebla, Paolo Matthiae, stated that: "The archaeological site of Palmyra is a vast field of ruins and only 20–30% of it is seriously damaged. Unfortunately these included important parts, such as the Temple of Bel, while the Arc of Triumph can be rebuilt." He added: "In any case, by using both traditional methods and advanced technologies, it might be possible to restore 98% of the site".


title: Palmyra

text: The area had paleolithic settlements. In the Efqa Spring site, a Neolithic settlement existed, with stone tools dated to 7500 BC. Archaeological sounding in the tell beneath the Temple of Bel uncovered a mud-brick structure built around 2500 BC, followed by structures built during the Middle Bronze Age and Iron Age.


title: Palmyra

text: The city entered the historical record during the Bronze Age around 2000 BC, when Puzur-Ishtar the Tadmorean (Palmyrene) agreed to a contract at an Assyrian trading colony in Kultepe. It was mentioned next in the Mari tablets as a stop for trade caravans and nomadic tribes, such as the Suteans, and was conquered along with its region by Yahdun-Lim of Mari. King Shamshi-Adad I of Assyria passed through the area on his way to the Mediterranean at the beginning of the 18th century BC; by then, Palmyra was the easternmost point of the kingdom of Qatna, and it was attacked by the Suteans who paralyzed the traffic along the trade routes. Palmyra was mentioned in a 13th-century BC tablet discovered at Emar, which recorded the names of two "Tadmorean" witnesses. At the beginning of the 11th century BC, King Tiglath-Pileser I of Assyria recorded his defeat of the "Arameans" of "Tadmar"; according to the king, Palmyra was part of the land of Amurru. The city became the eastern border of Aram-Damascus which was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 732 BC.


title: Palmyra

text: The Hebrew Bible (Second Book of Chronicles 8:4) records a city by the name "Tadmor" as a desert city built (or fortified) by King Solomon of Israel; Flavius Josephus mentions the Greek name "Palmyra", attributing its founding to Solomon in Book VIII of his "Antiquities of the Jews". Later Arabic traditions attribute the city's founding to Solomon's Jinn. The association of Palmyra with Solomon is a conflation of "Tadmor" and a city built by Solomon in Judea and known as "Tamar" in the Books of Kings (1 Kings 9:18). The biblical description of "Tadmor" and its buildings does not fit archaeological findings in Palmyra, which was a small settlement during Solomon's reign in the 10th century BC. The Elephantine Jews, a diaspora community established between 650-550 BC in Egypt, might have come from Palmyra. Papyrus Amherst 63 indicates that the ancestors of the Elephantine Jews were Samarians. The historian Karel van der Toorn suggested that these ancestors took refuge in Judea after the destruction of their kingdom by Sargon II of Assyria in 721 BC, then had to leave Judea after Sennacherib devastated the land in 701 BC and headed to Palmyra. This scenario can explain the usage of Aramaic by the Elephantine Jews, and Papyrus Amherst 63, while not mentioning Palmyra, refers to a "fortress of palms" that is located near a spring on a trade route in the fringes of the desert, making Palmyra a plausible candidate.


title: Palmyra

text: During the Hellenistic period under the Seleucids (between 312 and 64 BC), Palmyra became a prosperous settlement owing allegiance to the Seleucid king. Evidence for Palmyra's urbanisation in the Hellenistic period is rare; an important piece is the Laghman II inscription found in Laghman, modern Afghanistan, and commissioned by the Indian emperor Ashoka c. 250 BC. The reading is contested, but according to semitologist André Dupont-Sommer, the inscription records the distance to "Tdmr" (Palmyra). In 217 BC, a Palmyrene force led by Zabdibel joined the army of King Antiochus III in the Battle of Raphia which ended in a Seleucid defeat by Ptolemaic Egypt. In the middle of the Hellenistic era, Palmyra, formerly south of the al-Qubur wadi, began to expand beyond its northern bank. By the late second century BC, the tower tombs in the Palmyrene Valley of Tombs and the city temples (most notably, the temples of Baalshamin, Al-lāt and the Hellenistic temple) began to be built. A fragmentary inscription in Greek from the Temple of Bel's foundations mentions a king titled Epiphanes, a title used by the Seleucid kings.


title: Palmyra

text: In 64 BC, the Roman Republic conquered the Seleucid kingdom, and the Roman general Pompey established the province of Syria. Palmyra was left independent, trading with Rome and Parthia but belonging to neither. The earliest known inscription in Palmyrene is dated to around 44 BC; Palmyra was still a minor sheikhdom, offering water to caravans which occasionally took the desert route on which it was located. However, according to Appian Palmyra was wealthy enough for Mark Antony to send a force to conquer it in 41 BC. The Palmyrenes evacuated to Parthian lands beyond the eastern bank of the Euphrates, which they prepared to defend.


title: Palmyra

text: Palmyra became part of the Roman Empire when it was conquered and paid tribute early in the reign of Tiberius, around 14 AD. The Romans included Palmyra in the province of Syria, and defined the region's boundaries. Pliny the Elder asserted that both the Palmyrene and Emesene regions were contiguous; a marker at the Palmyrene's southwestern border was found in 1936 by Daniel Schlumberger at Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi, dating from the reign of Hadrian or one of his successors, which marked the boundary between the two regions. This boundary probably ran northwards to Khirbet al-Bilaas on Jabal al-Bilas where another marker, laid by the Roman governor Silanus, has been found, northwest of Palmyra, probably marking a boundary with the territory of Epiphania. Meanwhile, Palmyra's eastern border extended to the Euphrates valley. This region included numerous villages subordinate to the center, including large settlements such as al-Qaryatayn. The Roman imperial period brought great prosperity to the city, which enjoyed a privileged status under the empire—retaining much of its internal autonomy, being ruled by a council, and incorporating many Greek city-state (polis) institutions into its government.


title: Palmyra

text: The earliest Palmyrene text attesting a Roman presence in the city dates to 18 AD, when the Roman general Germanicus tried to develop a friendly relationship with Parthia; he sent the Palmyrene Alexandros to Mesene, a Parthian vassal kingdom. This was followed by the arrival of the Roman legion Legio X Fretensis the following year. Roman authority was minimal during the first century AD, although tax collectors were resident, and a road connecting Palmyra and Sura was built in AD 75. The Romans used Palmyrene soldiers, but (unlike typical Roman cities) no local magistrates or prefects are recorded in the city. Palmyra saw intensive construction during the first century, including the city's first walled fortifications, and the Temple of Bel (completed and dedicated in 32 AD). During the first century Palmyra developed from a minor desert caravan station into a leading trading center, with Palmyrene merchants establishing colonies in surrounding trade centers.


title: Palmyra

text: Palmyrene trade reached its acme during the second century, aided by two factors; the first was a trade route built by Palmyrenes, and protected by garrisons at major locations, including a garrison in Dura-Europos manned in 117 AD. The second was the Roman conquest of the Nabataean capital Petra in 106, shifting control over southern trade routes of the Arabian Peninsula from the Nabataeans to Palmyra. In 129 Palmyra was visited by Hadrian, who named it "Hadriane Palmyra" and made it a free city. Hadrian promoted Hellenism throughout the empire, and Palmyra's urban expansion was modeled on that of Greece. This led to new projects, including the theatre, the colonnade and the Temple of Nabu. Roman garrisons are first attested in Palmyra in 167, when the cavalry Ala I Thracum Herculiana was moved to the city. By the end of the second century, urban development diminished after the city's building projects peaked.


title: Palmyra

text: In the 190s, Palmyra was assigned to the province of Phoenice, newly created by the Severan dynasty. Toward the end of the second century, Palmyra began a steady transition from a traditional Greek city-state to a monarchy due to the increasing militarization of the city and the deteriorating economic situation; the Severan ascension to the imperial throne in Rome played a major role in Palmyra's transition:


title: Palmyra

text: The rise of the Sasanian Empire in Persia considerably damaged Palmyrene trade. The Sasanians disbanded Palmyrene colonies in their lands, and began a war against the Roman Empire. In an inscription dated to 252 Odaenathus appears bearing the title of exarchos (lord) of Palmyra. The weakness of the Roman Empire and the constant Persian danger were probably the reasons behind the Palmyrene council's decision to elect a lord for the city in order for him to lead a strengthened army. Odaenathus approached Shapur I of Persia to request him to guarantee Palmyrene interests in Persia, but was rebuffed. In 260 the Emperor Valerian fought Shapur at the Battle of Edessa, but was defeated and captured. One of Valerian's officers, Macrianus Major, his sons Quietus and Macrianus, and the prefect Balista rebelled against Valerian's son Gallienus, usurping imperial power in Syria.


title: Palmyra

text: Odaenathus formed an army of Palmyrenes and Syrian peasants against Shapur. According to the "Augustan History", Odaenathus declared himself king prior to the battle. The Palmyrene leader won a decisive victory near the banks of the Euphrates later in 260 forcing the Persians to retreat. In 261 Odaenathus marched against the remaining usurpers in Syria, defeating and killing Quietus and Balista. As a reward, he received the title "Imperator Totius Orientis" ("Governor of the East") from Gallienus, and ruled Syria, Mesopotamia, Arabia and Anatolia's eastern regions as the imperial representative. Palmyra itself remained officially part of the empire but Palmyrene inscriptions started to describe it as a "metrocolonia", indicating that the city's status was higher than normal Roman colonias. In practice, Palmyra shifted from a provincial city to a de facto allied kingdom.


title: Palmyra

text: In 262 Odaenathus launched a new campaign against Shapur, reclaiming the rest of Roman Mesopotamia (most importantly, the cities of Nisibis and Carrhae), sacking the Jewish city of Nehardea, and besieging the Persian capital Ctesiphon. Following his victory, the Palmyrene monarch assumed the title King of Kings. Later, Odaenathus crowned his son Hairan I as co-King of Kings near Antioch in 263. Although he did not take the Persian capital, Odaenathus drove the Persians out of all Roman lands conquered since the beginning of Shapur's wars in 252. In a second campaign that took place in 266, the Palmyrene king reached Ctesiphon again; however, he had to leave the siege and move north, accompanied by Hairan I, to repel Gothic attacks on Asia Minor. The king and his son were assassinated during their return in 267; according to the "Augustan History" and Joannes Zonaras, Odaenathus was killed by a cousin (Zonaras says nephew) named in the "History" as Maeonius. The "Augustan History" also says that Maeonius was proclaimed emperor for a brief period before being killed by the soldiers. However, no inscriptions or other evidence exist for Maeonius' reign.


title: Palmyra

text: Odaenathus was succeeded by his son; the ten-year-old Vaballathus. Zenobia, the mother of the new king, was the "de facto" ruler and Vaballathus remained in her shadow while she consolidated her power. Gallienus dispatched his prefect Heraclian to command military operations against the Persians, but he was marginalized by Zenobia and returned to the West. The queen was careful not to provoke Rome, claiming for herself and her son the titles held by her husband while guaranteeing the safety of the borders with Persia and pacifying the Tanukhids in Hauran. To protect the borders with Persia, Zenobia fortified different settlements on the Euphrates including the citadels of Halabiye and Zalabiye. Circumstantial evidence exist for confrontations with the Sasanians; probably in 269 Vaballathus took the title "Persicus Maximus" ("The great victor in Persia") and the title might be linked with an unrecorded battle against a Persian army trying to regain control of Northern Mesopotamia.


title: Palmyra

text: Zenobia began her military career in the spring of 270, during the reign of Claudius Gothicus. Under the pretext of attacking the Tanukhids, she conquered Roman Arabia. This was followed in October by an invasion of Egypt, ending with a Palmyrene victory and Zenobia's proclamation as queen of Egypt. Palmyra invaded Anatolia the following year, reaching Ankara and the pinnacle of its expansion. The conquests were made behind a mask of subordination to Rome. Zenobia issued coins in the name of Claudius' successor Aurelian, with Vaballathus depicted as king; since Aurelian was occupied with repelling insurgencies in Europe, he tolerated the Palmyrene coinage and encroachments. In late 271, Vaballathus and his mother assumed the titles of Augustus (emperor) and Augusta.


title: Palmyra

text: The following year, Aurelian crossed the Bosphorus and advanced quickly through Anatolia. According to one account, Roman general Marcus Aurelius Probus regained Egypt from Palmyra; Aurelian entered Issus and headed to Antioch, where he defeated Zenobia in the Battle of Immae. Zenobia was defeated again at the Battle of Emesa, taking refuge in Homs before quickly returning to her capital. When the Romans besieged Palmyra, Zenobia refused their order to surrender in person to the emperor. She escaped east to ask the Persians for help, but was captured by the Romans; the city capitulated soon afterwards.


title: Palmyra

text: Aurelian spared the city and stationed a garrison of 600 archers, led by Sandarion, as a peacekeeping force. In 273 Palmyra rebelled under the leadership of Septimius Apsaios, declaring Antiochus (a relative of Zenobia) as Augustus. Aurelian marched against Palmyra, razing it to the ground and seizing the most valuable monuments to decorate his Temple of Sol. Palmyrene buildings were smashed, residents massacred and the Temple of Bel pillaged.


title: Palmyra

text: Palmyra was reduced to a village and it largely disappeared from historical records of that period. Aurelian repaired the Temple of Bel, and the Legio I Illyricorum was stationed in the city. Shortly before 303 the Camp of Diocletian, a "castrum" in the western part of the city, was built. The camp was a base for the Legio I Illyricorum, which guarded the trade routes around the city. Palmyra became a Christian city in the decades following its destruction by Aurelian. In late 527, Justinian I ordered the restoration of Palmyra's churches and public buildings to protect the empire against raids by Lakhmid king Al-Mundhir III ibn al-Nu'man.


title: Palmyra

text: Palmyra was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate after its 634 capture by the Muslim general Khalid ibn al-Walid, who took the city on his way to Damascus; an 18-day march by his army through the Syrian Desert from Mesopotamia. By then Palmyra was limited to the Diocletian camp. After the conquest, the city became part of Homs Province.


title: Palmyra

text: Palmyra prospered as part of the Umayyad Caliphate, and its population grew. It was a key stop on the East-West trade route, with a large "souq" (market), built by the Umayyads, who also commissioned part of the Temple of Bel as a mosque. During this period, Palmyra was a stronghold of the Banu Kalb tribe. After being defeated by Marwan II during a civil war in the caliphate, Umayyad contender Sulayman ibn Hisham fled to the Banu Kalb in Palmyra, but eventually pledged allegiance to Marwan in 744; Palmyra continued to oppose Marwan until the surrender of the Banu Kalb leader al-Abrash al-Kalbi in 745. That year, Marwan ordered the city's walls demolished.


title: Palmyra

text: In 750 a revolt, led by Majza'a ibn al-Kawthar and Umayyad pretender Abu Muhammad al-Sufyani, against the new Abbasid Caliphate swept across Syria; the tribes in Palmyra supported the rebels. After his defeat Abu Muhammad took refuge in the city, which withstood an Abbasid assault long enough to allow him to escape.


title: Palmyra

text: Abbasid power dwindled during the 10th century, when the empire disintegrated and was divided among a number of vassals. Most of the new rulers acknowledged the caliph as their nominal sovereign, a situation which continued until the Mongol destruction of the Abbasid Caliphate in 1258.


title: Palmyra

text: The population of the city started to decrease in the ninth century and the process continued in the tenth century. In 955 Sayf al-Dawla, the Hamdanid prince of Aleppo, defeated the nomads near the city, and built a kasbah (fortress) in response to campaigns by the Byzantine emperors Nikephoros II Phokas and John I Tzimiskes. After the early-11th-century Hamdanid collapse, the region of Homs was controlled by the successor Mirdasid dynasty. Earthquakes devastated Palmyra in 1068 and 1089. In the 1070s Syria was conquered by the Seljuk Empire, and in 1082, the district of Homs came under the control of the Arab lord Khalaf ibn Mula'ib. The latter was a brigand and was removed and imprisoned in 1090 by the Seljuq sultan Malik-Shah I. Khalaf's lands were given to Malik-Shah's brother, Tutush I, who gained his independence after his brother's 1092 death and established a cadet branch of the Seljuk dynasty in Syria.


title: Palmyra

text: By the twelfth century, the population moved into the courtyard of the Temple of Bel which was fortified; Palmyra was then ruled by Toghtekin, the Burid atabeg of Damascus, who appointed his nephew governor. Toghtekin's nephew was killed by rebels, and the atabeg retook the city in 1126. Palmyra was given to Toghtekin's grandson, Shihab-ud-din Mahmud, who was replaced by governor Yusuf ibn Firuz when Shihab-ud-din Mahmud returned to Damascus after his father Taj al-Muluk Buri succeeded Toghtekin. The Burids transformed the Temple of Bel into a citadel in 1132, fortifying the city, and transferring it to the Bin Qaraja family three years later in exchange for Homs.


title: Palmyra

text: During the mid-twelfth century, Palmyra was ruled by the Zengid king Nur ad-Din Mahmud. It became part of the district of Homs, which was given as a fiefdom to the Ayyubid general Shirkuh in 1168 and confiscated after his death in 1169. Homs region was conquered by the Ayyubid sultanate in 1174; the following year, Saladin gave Homs (including Palmyra) to his cousin Nasir al-Din Muhammad as a fiefdom. After Saladin's death, the Ayyubid realm was divided and Palmyra was given to Nasir al-Din Muhammad's son Al-Mujahid Shirkuh II (who built the castle of Palmyra known as Fakhr-al-Din al-Maani Castle around 1230). Five years earlier, Syrian geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi described Palmyra's residents as living in "a castle surrounded by a stone wall".


title: Palmyra

text: Palmyra was used as a refuge by Shirkuh II's grandson, al-Ashraf Musa, who allied himself with the Mongol king Hulagu Khan and fled after the Mongol defeat in the 1260 Battle of Ain Jalut against the Mamluks. Al-Ashraf Musa asked the Mamluk sultan Qutuz for pardon and was accepted as a vassal. Al-Ashraf Musa died in 1263 without an heir, bringing the Homs district under direct Mamluk rule.


title: Palmyra

text: The Al Fadl clan (a branch of the Tayy tribe) were loyal to the Mamluks, and in 1281, Prince Issa bin Muhanna of the Al Fadl was appointed lord of Palmyra by sultan Qalawun. Issa was succeeded in 1284 by his son Muhanna bin Issa who was imprisoned by sultan al-Ashraf Khalil in 1293, and restored two years later by sultan al-Adil Kitbugha. Muhanna declared his loyalty to Öljaitü of the Ilkhanate in 1312 and was dismissed and replaced with his brother Fadl by sultan an-Nasir Muhammad. Although Muhanna was forgiven by an-Nasir and restored in 1317, he and his tribe were expelled in 1320 for his continued relations with the Ilkhanate, and he was replaced by tribal chief Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr.


title: Palmyra

text: Muhanna was forgiven and restored by an-Nasir in 1330; he remained loyal to the sultan until his death in 1335, when he was succeeded by his son. Contemporary historian Ibn Fadlallah al-Omari described the city as having "vast gardens, flourishing trades and bizarre monuments". The Al Fadl clan protected the trade routes and villages from Bedouin raids, raiding other cities and fighting among themselves. The Mamluks intervened militarily several times, dismissing, imprisoning or expelling its leaders. In 1400 Palmyra was attacked by Timur; the Fadl prince Nu'air escaped the battle and later fought Jakam, the sultan of Aleppo. Nu'air was captured, taken to Aleppo and executed in 1406; this, according to Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, ended the Al Fadl clan's power.


title: Palmyra

text: While most of Syria came under Ottoman rule in 1516, Palmyra (Tadmur) does not appear to have been incorporated into the Empire before the conquest of Iraq in 1534-1535. It first appears as the centre of an administrative district (sanjak) around 1560. The region was important to the Ottomans above all for its salt deposits. In 1568, the governor of the sancak restored the medieval citadel. After 1568 the Ottomans appointed the Lebanese emir Ali bin Musa Harfush as governor of Palmyra's sanjak, dismissing him in 1584 for insubordination. In 1630 Palmyra came under the tax authority of another Lebanese emir, Fakhr-al-Din II, who renovated Shirkuh II's castle (which became known as Fakhr-al-Din al-Maani Castle). The prince fell from grace with the Ottomans in 1633 and lost control of the village, which remained a separate sanjak until it was absorbed by Zor Sanjak in 1857. The Ottoman governor of Syria, Mehmed Rashid Pasha, established a garrison in the village to control the Bedouin in 1867.


title: Palmyra

text: In 1918, as World War I was ending, the Royal Air Force built an airfield for two planes, and in November the Ottomans retreated from Zor Sanjak without a fight. The Syrian Emirate's army entered Deir ez-Zor on 4 December, and Zor Sanjak became part of Syria. In 1919, as the British and French argued over the borders of the planned mandates, the British permanent military representative to the Supreme War Council Henry Wilson suggested adding Palmyra to the British mandate. However, the British general Edmund Allenby persuaded his government to abandon this plan. Syria (including Palmyra) became part of the French Mandate after Syria's defeat in the Battle of Maysalun on 24 July 1920.


title: Palmyra

text: With Palmyra gaining importance in the French efforts to pacify the Syrian Desert, a base was constructed in the village near the Temple of Bel in 1921. In 1929, Henri Seyrig, began excavating the ruins and convinced the villagers to move to a new, French-built village next to the site. The relocation was completed in 1932; ancient Palmyra was ready for excavation as its villagers settled into the new village of Tadmur. During World War II, the Mandate came under the authority of Vichy France, who gave permission to Nazi Germany to use the airfield at Palmyra; forces of Free France, backed by British forces, invaded Syria in June 1941, and on 3 July 1941, the British took control over the city in the aftermath of a battle.


title: Palmyra

text: As a result of the Syrian civil war, Palmyra experienced widespread looting and damage by combatants. In 2013, the façade of the Temple of Bel sustained a large hole from mortar fire, and colonnade columns have been damaged by shrapnel. According to Maamoun Abdulkarim, the Syrian Army positioned its troops in some archaeological-site areas, while Syrian opposition fighters positioned themselves in gardens around the city.


title: Palmyra

text: On 13 May 2015, ISIL launched an attack on the modern town of Tadmur, sparking fears that the iconoclastic group would destroy the adjacent ancient site of Palmyra. On 21 May, some artifacts were transported from the Palmyra museum to Damascus for safekeeping; a number of Greco-Roman busts, jewelry, and other objects looted from the museum have been found on the international market. ISIL forces entered Palmyra the same day. Local residents reported that the Syrian Air Force bombed the site on 13 June, damaging the northern wall close to the Temple of Baalshamin. During ISIL's occupation of the site, Palmyra's theatre was used as a place of public executions of their opponents and captives; videos were released by ISIL showing the killing of Syrian prisoners in front of crowds at the theatre. On 18 August, Palmyra's retired antiquities chief Khaled al-Asaad was beheaded by ISIL after being tortured for a month to extract information about the city and its treasures; al-Asaad refused to give any information to his captors.


title: Palmyra

text: Syrian government forces supported by Russian airstrikes recaptured Palmyra on 27 March 2016 after intense fighting against ISIL fighters. According to initial reports, the damage to the archaeological site was less extensive than anticipated, with numerous structures still standing. Following the recapture of the city, Russian de-mining teams began clearing mines planted by ISIL prior to their retreat. Following heavy fighting, ISIL briefly reoccupied the city on 11 December 2016, prompting an offensive by the Syrian Army which retook the city on 2 March 2017.


title: Palmyra

text: From the beginning of its history to the first century AD Palmyra was a petty sheikhdom, and by the first century BC a Palmyrene identity began to develop. During the first half of the first century AD, Palmyra incorporated some of the institutions of a Greek city (polis); the notion of an existing citizenship first appears in an inscription, dated to AD 10, mentioning the "people of Palmyra". In AD 74, an inscription mentions the city's boule (senate). The tribal role in Palmyra is debated; during the first century, four treasurers representing the four tribes seems to have partially controlled the administration but their role became ceremonial by the second century and power rested in the hands of the council.


title: Palmyra

text: The Palmyrene council consisted of about six hundred members of the local elite (such as the elders or heads of wealthy families or clans), representing the city's four-quarters. The council, headed by a president, managed civic responsibilities; it supervised public works (including the construction of public buildings), approved expenditures, collected taxes, and appointed two archons (lords) each year. Palmyra's military was led by "strategoi" (generals) appointed by the council. Roman provincial authority set and approved Palmyra's tariff structure, but the provincial interference in local government was kept minimal as the empire sought to ensure the continuous success of Palmyrene trade most beneficial to Rome. An imposition of direct provincial administration would have jeopardized Palmyra's ability to conduct its trading activities in the East, especially in Parthia.


title: Palmyra

text: With the elevation of Palmyra to a colonia around 213–216, the city ceased being subject to Roman provincial governors and taxes. Palmyra incorporated Roman institutions into its system while keeping many of its former ones. The council remained, and the "strategos" designated one of two annually-elected magistrates. This "duumviri" implemented the new colonial constitution, replacing the archons. Palmyra's political scene changed with the rise of Odaenathus and his family; an inscription dated to 251 describes Odaenathus' son Hairan I as "Ras" (lord) of Palmyra (exarch in the Greek section of the inscription) and another inscription dated to 252 describes Odaenathus with the same title. Odaenathus was probably elected by the council as exarch, which was an unusual title in the Roman empire and was not part of the traditional Palmyrene governance institutions. Whether Odaenathus' title indicated a military or a priestly position is unknown, but the military role is more likely. By 257 Odaenathus was known as a "consularis", possibly the "legatus" of the province of Phoenice. In 258 Odaenathus began extending his political influence, taking advantage of regional instability caused by Sasanian aggression; this culminated in the Battle of Edessa, Odaenathus' royal elevation and mobilization of troops, which made Palmyra a kingdom.