North Palmyra - what is it? This is the second popular name of St. Petersburg. Where did it come from and how long has it come from? What parallels are drawn between the southern state that existed in the 10th century and the relatively young northern city?
Two beautiful capitals
Palmyra is translated from the ancient Greek and Arabian languages as a city of palm trees. There are no palm trees in the north, and yet there are several points to understand why the beautiful name of the southern city has taken root in Russia. Firstly, these cities are the capitals of large empires, because St. Petersburg was also called Northern Rome, but less often. Yes, and North Palmyra sounds prettier. St. Petersburg and its southern prototype are peculiar oases, only Palmyra is in the desert, and the capital of Russia from Peter I until 1917 is in swamps.
There are similarities
Common to them is such a moment. According to a beautiful legend, God ordered Jin to build a stone city for King Solomon. That is, from scratch in a relatively short period of time, as in the case of St. Petersburg, there is a village of amazing beauty. In addition, both cities, however, at different times, were large shopping centers located at the intersections of significant trade routes. Their columns are also related. In Palmyra, along the main trade traffic, there were 1, 400 columns, of which only 150 have survived to this day. There are photographs of the ruins of Palmyra and the Northern capital, taken from certain angles, in which the proximity of these cities is striking. But such common points of contact can be found with other cities.
Great women
Why did this name take root - North Palmyra? What it is? Poetic image or subtle courtly flattery of the Russian empress? Catherine II, ascending the throne, sought to surpass Peter I and his daughter Elizaveta Petrovna both in quantity and in the beauty of the buildings being erected. Under 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 belonged to the great women in the history of mankind. She had predecessors. And among them - Zenobia Septimius, Queen of Palmyra, a woman of extraordinary beauty, intelligence and nobility, highly moral, desperately brave and ambitious, who lived in the III century BC. In the short time of her reign, she managed to conquer Syria, part of Asia Minor and Egypt. Most importantly, she dared to confront Rome.
Rebirth
After its capture, Palmyra loses its greatness, and the city is gradually forgotten. Once again, they talked about him after the discovery of Palmyra in 1616 by the Italian Pietro della Vella. The world learns about the past greatness of this amazing city, Palmyra becomes fashionable, studies, novels, plays are dedicated to it. Comparison with her was worth a lot. For the first time, the parallel was drawn by G. Derzhavin, an enthusiastic admirer of Catherine - he compared her with a slender palm. Obviously, the Great Russian Empress was very impressed by this comparison with both a palm tree and Zenobia, because it was during her reign that St. Petersburg was firmly entrenched in its second name - Northern Palmyra. What it is? An accidentally accustomed parallel or precisely guessed essence of the city - beautiful and unique, concise and complete.
Fixed name
Obviously, a harmonious and significant (half the world) name was on everyone’s lips, but St. Petersburg heard the expression “Northern Palmyra” from Ryleev in 1820, in his poem “To Delia”. A.S. Pushkin in his works, for example, in the poem "Longing for the Heart …" also called the capital Northern Palmyra. That is, it was a generally accepted name, especially in literary works. The expression became commonplace and natural.
Rebirth now in the north
In a new story, when the original name Petersburg was returned to the city on the Neva, “Northern Palmyra” (middle name) was revived with it and became unusually popular and in demand - this is a brand of ice cream and a city literary prize, established in 1994, and much more.
Under this name, sporting events are held, there are several companies, even the popular folk fireplace is called "North Palmyra". What it is? This is a sonorous and popular name among residents of St. Petersburg. So popular that on one of the most popular railway routes leading to the Black Sea, a branded train runs under this name.
One of the most sought after routes
On the October Railway, the longest route is St. Petersburg - Adler.
"Northern Palmyra" consists of SV-wagons, compartments, reserved seats and a dining car. The train, which began to run in 1990 for difficult post-perestroika years, first lost the name of the branded train, and then completely ceased to exist. But in the summer of 2002, it was launched again and became 11th in a row the branded composition of the Railways. The very rank of St. Petersburg, the October Railway, the status of the train implies a high culture of service. The composition of the "Northern Palmyra" reviews has the most pleasant.
The cars are clean and tidy, the air conditioner runs smoothly, the train does not go out of the traffic schedule, the conductors are polite, attentive, the shape on them is well ironed.
A rather long stay on the train going south makes a good impression. The fact that the train running along the route Moscow - St. Petersburg - Moscow, also called the "Northern Palmyra", suggests that replacing it with something more sonorous, meaningful and native does not work.
