“Bless you the god who installed us here”: Religious Memory of The Palmyrene Diaspora

• Applicant: Dr. Antonietta Castiello, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Ancient History
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 510272479

Between the 1st and 3rd centuries CE, the Syrian city of Palmyra reached its peak as a trading centre and military outpost at the Roman-Parthian frontier. While Palmyra rose to become an important political and economic centre as well as a multicultural city, its inhabitants began to leave their homeland. The high degree of mobility of the Palmyrenes led to their dispersal across Africa, Asia, and Europe giving rise to a phenomenon which can be described as a Palmyrene ‘diaspora’. Despite their attempt to adapt to their new environments, when moving away from their motherland the Palmyrenes often maintained some of their own cultural traits, such as the Palmyrene language, genealogy, or religion.So far, the scope of research has been mostly limited to epigraphic studies. There is no comprehensive investigation in the Palmyrene diaspora nor indeed in the cultural identity of those Palmyrenes who decided to settle far from their homeland. My aim is therefore to present a socio-anthropological approach with a focus on the cultural changes Palmyrenes underwent when going abroad, torn between maintaining and abandoning their ancestral cultural heritage.How did the Palmyrenes present themselves to other societies? On what terms were they with their neighbours in Dura-Europos, Dacia or Rome? If we want to get an understanding of the reality of Palmyrene diaspora, a new reading of the inscriptions the Palmyrenes left behind is required. My project aims at such a new reading, applying religious, diaspora and migration studies to the world of the Palmyrenes abroad.

• DFG Programme: WBP Fellowship
• International Connection: United Kingdom
• Host: Professor Dr. Jonathan Ralph Warburg Prag, Ph.D.