This lecture evolves around the work done within the framework of the Palmyra Portrait Project. The project which is initiated and headed by Rubina Raja was begun before the civil war in Syria broke out. Within the framework of the project the largest corpus of Roman period portraits, namely the funerary portraits from Palmyra have been collected. The lecture contextualizes these portraits within their urban setting in Palmyra, a rich oasis city in the Syrian Desert. Moreover the lecture addresses the issues which have arisen when working with material stemming from a region where war has broken out and cultural heritage is being looted on a large scale.