Great Colonnade at Palmyra The western colonnade was the first section to be built. Inscriptions found on some columns confirm that works started before 158 CE. The straight avenue ran in northwest-southeast direction and stretched for , the longest of the three sectors. The main avenue's width was while the side streets were in width. The colonnade's western terminus, the West Gate, was built in the late second-century CE. The avenue also connected in a right angle to the Transverse Colonnade which stretched to the Damascus Gate in the south. The eastern sector of the Great Colonnade started at the Monumental Arch and stretched
The Three Graces (Indianapolis) with a free-standing colonnade (reminiscent of that at the Canopus of Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli) and other architectural features. The simple design implemented using only the Graces may have been a cost-saving measure or a rejection of the grandiosity of the architectural plans, but it did not compensate for the relative size, and the sculpture was probably then considered unsatisfactorily small for its location. It seems likely that as the trees grew the sculpture became less adequate and needed to become more prominent. The chosen solution was to bring in a tall pedestal to elevate and effectively enlarge the sculpture.