Palermo (anc. Panormus). A fortified city of Sicily, situated on the north side of the island. Palermo is of Phœnician origin, and is first brought into notice in 480 B.C., when the Carthaginians under Hamilcar made it their headquarters against Himera. How it came into their hands we have no means of knowing; but it continued for a long time to be their principal naval station, and the capital of their possessions in Sicily. With the exception of a short time, about 276 B.C., when it was taken by the Greeks, it continued to be the headquarters of the Carthaginians, until it was taken by the Romans during the first Punic war (254 B.C.). When Sicily was conquered by the Goths, Palermo, along with the rest of the island, fell into their hands; but it was recovered by Belisarius, and the Byzantine empire retained possession of it till 855 A.D., when it was taken by the Saracens, and made the capital of their Sicilian possessions. The Vandals and afterwards the Arabs made it the capital of the island, and after the Norman conquest it continued to be the seat of the king of Sicily. It still remained the royal residence under the Aragonese kings; but the court was removed (1269) after Sicily became united to the kingdom of Naples. In 1860 the inhabitants flocked to the standard of Garibaldi, and in the same year the city was annexed to the new kingdom of Italy.
Palestine, or Holy Land. A country of Asia, lying along the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and occupying the southwestern part of Syria, which is included within the limits of the Turkish empire. It now forms the modern pashalic of Beirut or Beyrout, and part of the pashalic of Damascus. This is the country in which the principal events recorded in Scripture took place. When it was conquered by the Israelites, Joshua divided this and a portion of the country to the east of the Jordan among the twelve tribes. It was conquered, however, by the kings of Assyria, who carried captive, first Israel and then Judah, into the eastern provinces of their empire. After the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus, the Jews were allowed to return to their country, to rebuild their temple, and re-establish their ecclesiastical constitution. Judæa thus continued a province of Persia until Asia was invaded by Alexander the Great, to whom it submitted without resistance. The Jews were again exposed to oppression from some of the Ptolemies, who attempted to enforce the adoption of the idolatrous worship of the Greeks on the Jewish people. The Jews, however, under the guidance of the Maccabees, offered a most determined resistance to the Egyptian monarch who sought to deprive them of the exercise of their own religion, and Judæa once more became an independent country. It subsequently fell under the dominion of Rome, which established the Herods as tributary kings. It was at this crisis that Judæa became the theatre of those great events which form the foundation of the Christian faith. The Jews, however, having repeatedly rebelled against the authority of the Romans, Titus entered Judæa with a large force in 70, and after a long siege, during which the Jews endured terrible hardships and privations, he took Jerusalem, and razed it to the ground. The temple which had been twice rebuilt, after having been burnt by Nebuchadnezzar and plundered by Antiochus, was again destroyed. More than 1,100,000 Jews perished in the siege and destruction of the city, and about sixty-five years after the Jewish people were banished from Judæa by a decree of the emperor Hadrian. The country continued to form a part of the Roman empire until it was divided into the Eastern and Western empires, when Palestine became a province of the former. Although it was frequently invaded by the Parthians, Persians, and Saracens, it was held by the emperors of Constantinople until it was wrested from them by the last-named people in 638. It then fell under the sway of the Mohammedans, in whose power the land remained until 1099, when the Holy Land was recovered by the Crusaders, and erected into a Latin kingdom under Godfrey de Bouillon. This kingdom lasted till 1187, when it was conquered by Saladin, on the decline of whose kingdom it passed through various hands, till, in 1517, it was finally swallowed up in the Turkish empire.
Palestrina (anc. Præneste). An episcopal city of the present kingdom of Italy, built upon the site of one of the most ancient as well as powerful cities of Latium. We first hear of Præneste as member of the Latin League; but in 499 B.C. it quitted the confederacy and joined the cause of the Romans. In 380 B.C. the Prænestines, having rejoined their ancient allies, waged war against Rome; but were completely routed on the Allia by T. Quintus Cincinnatus, and beaten back to their own gates. They took a prominent part in the famous Latin war, 340 B.C. Having given shelter to the younger Marius in the year 82 B.C., this city was besieged by the forces of Sulla, and on its being taken, all the inhabitants were put to the sword. A military colony was then established in their place, and soon the city began to flourish anew. The town became the stronghold of the family of Colonna in the Middle Ages; but was given to the Barberini family by Urban VIII.
Palestro. A village of Piedmont, 12 miles southwest from Novara. It is famous as the scene of a battle between the Sardinians and Austrians in May, 1859. On May 30 the Piedmontese drove the Austrians from this village, and on May 31 defended it with great bravery against an Austrian attack. The Piedmontese in the battle of May 31 were assisted by 3000 French Zouaves, and on that occasion the Austrians lost 2100 men killed and wounded, 950 prisoners, and 6 pieces of cannon. On July 1 the allies entered Novara.
Palgaut. A city of India, in the south of Hindostan, captured by the British in 1790.
Palisade. To surround, inclose, or fortify with stakes or posts.
Palisades. Are strong palings 6 or 7 inches broad on each side, having about one foot of their summits sharpened in a pyramidal form. They are frequently placed at the foot of slopes as an obstacle to the enemy. A large beam or lintel, sunk about 2 or 3 feet, is often used to unite them more firmly. Their tops should be a foot above the crest of the parapet behind which they stand, and in field fortifications they form a very good obstruction, if protected from artillery. An expeditious mode of planting them is to sink a small ditch, about 2 feet 6 inches deep and the same breadth, and to nail the ends of the palisades to a piece of timber, or the trunk of a tree laid on the bottom of it, and then fill in the earth, and ram it well. The palisades should be 9 or 10 feet long, so that when finished, the ends shall be at least 7 feet above the ground. They may be made out of the stems of young trees of 6 or 8 inches diameter; but stout rails, gates with the ends knocked off, planks split in half, cart-shafts, ladders, and a variety of such things will come into play, where more regular palisades are not to be had. If the materials are weak, a cross-piece must be nailed to them near the top, to prevent their being broken down, and they must not be placed so close together as to cover an enemy.
Palliser Gun. See [Ordnance, Construction of].
Palmyra. The name given by the Greeks to an ancient city of Upper Syria. It occupied a fertile oasis, 140 miles east-northeast from Damascus. Palmyra was, in the time of Solomon, a bulwark of the Hebrew kingdom against the wandering hordes of Bedouins. After the fall of Seleucia, it became a great commercial centre, and greatly increased both in wealth and magnificence after the time of Trajan, who subjected the whole country to the Roman empire. In the 3d century, Odonathus, a Syrian, founded here an empire, which, after his murder, rose to great prosperity under his wife, Zenobia, and included both Syria and Mesopotamia; but this was not of long duration, for the Roman emperor Aurelian conquered it in the year 275, and the city was soon after almost entirely destroyed in revenge for the slaughter of a Roman garrison. It never recovered from this blow, although Justinian fortified it anew. The Saracens destroyed it in 774, and in 1400 it was plundered by Tamerlane. A village called Tedmor, inhabited by a few Arab families, now occupies its site.
Palo Alto. A noted battle-field, situated near the southern extremity of Texas, between Point Isabel and Matamoras, about 9 miles northeast of the latter. Here, on May 8, 1846, the Americans, numbering 2111, under Gen. Taylor, defeated 6000 Mexicans, commanded by Gen. Arista. The loss of the former was 32 killed (among whom was the brave Maj. Ringgold), and 47 wounded; that of the latter, 252 killed.