Caravan Cities steppe for purposes of trade, with merchants and ‘‘chief merchants’’ and ‘‘cara-
van leaders’’ taking steps to protect themselves against the nomads, either by
negotiation or by suitable payments or by actual physical force. Even Pal-
myra did not live only by or for long-distance trade. But it is precisely the
distinctive nature of the services for which its leading citizens might be hon-
oured which makes it impossible to deny that Palmyra at least was indeed a
‘‘caravan city.’’