Northern Palmyra - what is it? Northern Palmyra - St. Petersburg

Northern Palmyra - what is it? This is the second popular name of St. Petersburg. Where did it come from and how long did it appear? What parallels pass between the southern state that existed as far back as the 10th century, and the comparatively young northern city?

Two beautiful capital cities

Palmyra and from Ancient Greek, and from the Arabian language is translated as a city of palms. In the north there are no palm trees, and yet there are several points that make it possible to understand why the beautiful name of the southern city so caught on in Russia. First, these cities are the capitals of large empires, after all, St. Petersburg was also called Northern Rome, but less often. Yes, and it sounds more beautiful than the Northern Palmyra. St. Petersburg and its southern prototype are peculiar oases, only Palmyra - in the desert, and the Russian capital from Peter the Great and until 1917 - in the marshes.

The similarity is

Common to them is this moment. According to a beautiful legend, God ordered Jin to build a stone city for King Solomon. That is, from scratch for a relatively short period, as in the case of St. Petersburg, there is a populated point of amazing beauty. In addition, both cities, however, at different times, were large shopping centers, located at the intersections of significant trade routes. They are born and the columns. In Palmyra along the main traffic traffic there were 1,400 columns, of which only 150 have survived to this day. There are photos of the ruins of Palmyra and the Northern capital, shot in certain foreshortenings, on which the proximity of these cities is striking. But such common points of contact can also be found with other cities.

Great women

Why did it come to this name - Northern Palmyra? What it is? Poetic image or delicate court flattery to the Russian empress? Catherine II, ascended to the throne, sought to excel Peter I and his daughter Elizabeth Petrovna by the quantity and beauty of the erected buildings. With her the territory of the Russian Empire expanded, the empress waged successful wars, was a very educated person, unlike some nobles. In all respects, she was one of the great women in the history of mankind. She had her predecessors. And among them - Zenobia Septimia, queen of Palmyra, a woman of extraordinary beauty, intelligence and nobility, highly moral, desperately brave and ambitious, who lived in the III century BC. For a short time of her reign, she managed to conquer Syria, part of Asia Minor and Egypt. Most importantly, she dared to resist Rome.

Revival

After her captivity, Palmyra loses its greatness, and the city is gradually forgotten. Again, it was talked about after the discovery of Palmyra in 1616 by the Italian Pietro della Velle. The world learns about the former greatness of this amazing city, Palmyra is becoming fashionable, it is devoted to research, novels, plays. Comparison with her was worth a lot. For the first time the parallel was held by G. Derzhavin, an enthusiastic admirer of Catherine - he compared it to a harmonious palm tree. Obviously, the Great Russian Empress was very impressed by this comparison with the palm tree and with Zenobia, because it was during her reign over St. Petersburg that his second name, Severnaya Palmyra, was firmly entrenched. What it is? Accidentally accustomed parallel or precisely guessed the essence of the city - beautiful and unique, concise and complete.

Fixed name

Obviously, the euphonious and significant (half the world) name was on everyone's lips, but the expression "Northern Palmyra" St. Petersburg heard from Ryleyev in 1820, in his poem "To Delia." AS Pushkin in his works, for example, in the poem "Longing for the Heart Thy ..." also called the capital Northern Palmyra. That is, it was a generally accepted name, especially in literary works. The expression became popular and natural.

Revival, now in the north

In the new history, when the city on the Neva was returned to its original name Petersburg, the "Northern Palmyra" (second name) was revived with it and became extremely popular and in demand - a brand of ice cream and a citywide literary prize, established in 1994, and Much more. Under this name, sports competitions are held, there are several companies, even a popular folk fireplace called "North Palmira". What it is? This is a resonant and popular name for residents of St. Petersburg. It is so popular that on one of the most demanded rail routes leading to the Black Sea, a company train runs under this name.

One of the most popular routes

On the October Railway the longest route is St. Petersburg - Adler. "Northern Palmyra" consists of SV-cars, compartment, reserved seats and restaurant car. Beginning to cruise in 1990 for the difficult post-perestroika years, first lost the name of the brand train, and then completely ceased to exist. But in the summer of 2002 it was launched again and became the 11th by the account of OZD's corporate structure. The very rank of St. Petersburg, the October Railway, the status of the train implies a high culture of service. The composition of "North Palmira" reviews is the most pleasant.

The cars are clean and tidy, the air conditioning works smoothly, the train does not come out of the traffic schedule, the conductors are polite, attentive, the form is well ironed on them.
A fairly long stay in the train going to the south, makes a good impression. The fact that the train that runs on the route Moscow - St. Petersburg - Moscow, also called the "Northern Palmyra", says that it is impossible to replace it with something more sonorous, meaningful and native.

Ancient beauty

In the end, a few words need to be said about Palmira itself, a southern city that has become so popular in the north of Russia. Its ruins are in the center of the Syrian desert, located, of course, in Syria. One of the richest cities of the Ancient World, its late stage, was 240 km from Damascus and 140 km from the Euphrates River. Perfectly preserved, considering their more than venerable age (3rd century BC), the ruins are under the protection of UNESCO. It was one of the popular tourist sites that could disappear forever because of the war in Syria.