Palmyra, Syria

Palmyra is one of the richest cities of late antiquity, located in one of the oases of the Syrian desert, between Damascus and the Euphrates. As a staging post for caravans crossing the Syrian desert, Palmyra has been dubbed "the bride of the desert." At present, on the site of the city there is a Syrian village and the ruins of majestic buildings, which are among the best examples of ancient Roman architecture and recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Several cities in the United States are named after Palmyra. St. Petersburg was poetically called northern Palmyra, and Odessa was called southern.