A brief survey of the city's history, a description of its principal architectural landmarks and the history of the discovery and research on the Palmyra Customs Tariff, including a translation of its Aramaic and Greek texts. The book also includes the text of Jacob Khouri's journal of the 1901 expedition to Palmyra and a catalogue of Palmyrene antiquities in the Hermitage Museum: funerary sculpture and fragments, ceramic tesserae with images and inscriptions.