Palmyra (/ˌpɑːlˈmaɪrə/; Palmyrene: Tdmr.png Tadmor; Arabic: تدمر‎‎ Tadmor) is an ancient Semitic city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and the city was first documented in the early second millennium BC. Palmyra changed hands on a number of occasions between different empires before becoming a subject of the Roman Empire in the first century AD.