TADMOR

(Tadʹmor) [apparently from ta·marʹ, palm tree].

A wilderness location where Solomon did building work sometime after 1017 B.C.E. (2 Chron. 8:1, 4) Tadmor is commonly identified with the city known to the Greeks and Romans as Palmyra. Its ruins lie in an oasis on the northern edge of the Syrian Desert about 130 miles (209 kilometers) NE of Damascus. A nearby village is still called Tudmur by the Arabs. If correctly identified with Palmyra, Tadmor may have served as a garrison city for defending the distant northern border of Solomon’s kingdom and also as an important caravan stop.

The Tamar (“Tadmor,” marginal reading of the Masoretic text) mentioned at 1 Kings 9:18 as being “in the land” is perhaps the same as Tadmor. Its being “in the land” may simply mean that Tamar was part of Solomon’s dominion (1 Ki. 9:19) and, therefore, Tamar could be Palmyra. However, if the phrase “in the land” is more restricted, then the names “Tamar” and “Tadmor” may designate two different locations, Palmyra (Tadmor) in the N and a city of Judah in the S (Tamar); or both names could apply to a Judean Tamar.—Compare Ezekiel 47:19; 48:28.