Palmyra Amphitheatre

Syria.

Palmyra was in the ancient times an important city of central Syria, located in an oasis 215 km northeast of Damascus and 120 km southwest of the Euphrates. It has long been a vital caravan city for travellers crossing the Syrian desert and was known as the Bride of the Desert. The Greek name for the city, Palmyra (Παλμυρα), is a translation of its original Aramaic name, Tadmor, which means 'palm tree'. Tadmor (in Arabic تدمر) is today the name of a small city next to the ruins, heavily dependent on tourism.

In the mid-first century A.D., Palmyra, a wealthy and elegant Syrian city located along the caravan routes linking the Parthian Iran with the Mediterranean ports of Roman Syria and Phoenicia, came under Roman control. During the following period of great prosperity, the Aramaean citizens of Palmyra adopted customs and modes of dress from both the Iranian Parthian world to the east and the Graeco-Roman west.

Infor and reading more at:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmyra