But it was during the Roman Empire – beginning in the first century BC and lasting another 400 years – that Palmyra rose to prominence.
Active prominences erupt quickly and have lifetimes lasting from several minutes to a few hours.
Facebook's current prominence may not last forever.
In each case, that prominence was not to last.
The Canucks rose to prominence last season, when they compiled an 8-5-1 record on a 14-game, six-week trip, the longest in N.H.L. history, while their rink was being prepared for the Olympics.
When the Freedom party last rose to prominence, entering government under its late leader, Jörg Haider, in 2000, it was still firmly rooted in Carinthia, in the deep rural south.
The label, whose creative director is the actress Chloe Sevigny, came to prominence last season with a presentation in a funeral parlour, which, combined with their name, attracted accusations of blasphemy.
Some might say the company's last brush with prominence was a century ago, when it fitted the first British speedometer to the Mercedes of King Edward VII.
Founded during the first civil war (1989-96), Afell grew in prominence during the second conflict, which lasted from 1999 to 2003.
