L'agora de Palmyre

This volume is based on the archaeological excavations directed by H. Seyrig and R. Duru in 1939 and 1940 on the agora of Palmyra. Although additional work was undertaken in the sixties by the Syrian Department of Antiquities and Museums on a neighbouring building, called the "salle annexe", this research remained largely unpublished.

The authors examined all the documents dispersed between Damascus, Beyrouth, Strasbourg and Bordeaux. They propose a new chronology and interpretation for this monumental complex (agora-forum, between basilica and curia), founded on studies of inscriptions (started in the seventies by Ed; Frézouls), column-brackets, architectural decoration and sculpture in the round. The results are then discussed within the broader context of Palmyrene archaeology and culture.

The study of this monumental civic complex also suggests that the development of urbanism at Palmyra should be reconsidered. It thus appears that a strong imperial authority imposed a Roman architectural model on these territories, situated close to the eastern borders of the Empire yet immersed in Parthian culture.