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{{Short description|Empress of Palmyra in 272}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Featured article}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2022}}
{{Infobox royalty
|name         = Zenobia<br/>{{lang|sem-x-palmyren|{{script|Palm|𐡡𐡶𐡦𐡡𐡩}}}}
|title        = [[Augusta (honorific)|Augusta]]
|image        = Antoninianus of Zenobia (obverse).png
|caption      = Zenobia as [[List of Augustae|empress]] on the obverse of an ''[[antoninianus]]'' (272 AD)
|succession   = [[Palmyrene Empire|Empress of Palmyra]]
|reign        = 272 AD
|regent       = [[Vaballathus]]
|reg_type     = Co-monarch
|succession1  = [[Palmyrene invasion of Egypt|Queen of Egypt]]
|reign1       = 270–272
|succession2  = [[List of Palmyrene monarchs|Queen mother (regent) of Palmyra]]
|reign2       = 267–272
|reign_type2  = Regency
|predecessor2 = [[Vaballathus]]
|pre_type2    = Monarch
|succession3  = Queen consort of Palmyra
|reign3       = 260–267
|reign_type3  = Tenure
|birth_name   = Septimia Btzby (Bat-Zabbai)
|birth_date   = {{Circa|240}}
|birth_place  = [[Palmyra]], Syria
|death_date   = After 274
|spouse       = [[Odaenathus]]
|issue        = {{Unbulleted list
 |[[Vaballathus]]
 |[[Hairan II]]
 |[[Septimius Antiochus]]
}}
|full_name    = Septimia Zenobia (Bat-Zabbai)
|regnal_name  = Septimia Zenobia Augusta
|house        = [[List of Palmyrene monarchs#House of Odaenathus|House of Odaenathus]]
}}

'''Septimia Zenobia''' ({{langx|sem-x-palmyren|{{script|Palm|𐡡𐡶𐡦𐡡𐡩}}|translit=Bat-Zabbai}}; {{c.|240|274}}) was a third-century queen of the [[Palmyrene Empire]] in [[Syria (region)|Syria]]. Many legends surround her ancestry; she was probably not a commoner. She married [[Odaenathus]], who became king of the city of [[Palmyra]] in 260, elevating it to supreme power in the [[Near East]] by defeating the [[Sasanian Empire]] of Persia and [[History of the Roman Empire#235–284: Crisis of the Third Century|stabilizing the Roman East]]. After Odaenathus' assassination in 267, Zenobia became the [[regent]] of her son [[Vaballathus]] and held ''de facto'' power throughout his reign (267 to 272).

In 270, Zenobia launched an invasion that brought most of the Roman East under her sway and culminated with the annexation of [[Roman Egypt|Egypt]]. By mid-271 her realm extended from [[Ancyra]], central [[Anatolia]], to [[Upper Egypt]], although she remained nominally subordinate to [[History of Rome#Roman Empire|Rome]]. However, in reaction to the campaign of the [[Roman emperor]] [[Aurelian]] in 272, Zenobia declared her son emperor and assumed the title of empress, thus declaring Palmyra's independence from Rome. The Romans were victorious after heavy fighting; the empress was besieged in her capital and captured in late 272 by Aurelian, who exiled her to Rome, where she spent the remainder of her life.

Zenobia was a cultured monarch and fostered an intellectual environment in her court, which was open to scholars and philosophers. She was tolerant toward her subjects and protected religious minorities. The empress maintained a stable administration, which governed a multicultural, multiethnic empire. Zenobia died after 274, and many tales have been recorded about her fate. Her rise and fall have inspired historians, artists and novelists, and she is a patriotic symbol in Syria.

==Name, appearance and sources==
Zenobia was born c. 240–241,{{sfn|Southern|2008|pp= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 3], [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA173 173]}} and bore the [[Roman naming conventions#Nomen|gentilicium]] (surname) Septimia.{{#tag:ref|"Septimius" was also Odaenathus' family's [[Roman naming conventions#Nomen|gentilicium]] (surname) adopted as an expression of loyalty to the Roman [[Severan dynasty]],{{sfn|Shahîd|1995|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=BEvEV9OVzacC&pg=PA296 296]}} whose emperor [[Septimius Severus]] granted the family [[Roman citizenship]] in the late second century.{{sfn|Matyszak|Berry|2008|p=244}}|group=note}}{{sfn|Sartre|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=9y7nTpFcN3AC&pg=PA551 551]}} Her native Palmyrene name was Bat-Zabbai (written "Btzby" in the [[Palmyrene alphabet]]),{{sfn|Edwell|2007|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DQgmOZlsEWcC&pg=PA230 230]}} an [[Western Aramaic languages|Aramaic]] name meaning "daughter of Zabbai".{{sfn|Stoneman|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA2 2]}} Such compound names for women were common in Palmyra, where the element "bt" means daughter, but the personal name that follows does not necessarily denote the immediate father, rather referring to the ancestor of the family.{{sfn|Stark|1971|p=80}} In [[Ancient Greek|Greek]]—Palmyra's [[Lingua franca|diplomatic]] and second language, used in many [[Palmyrene inscriptions]]—she used the name Zenobia.{{sfn|Weldon|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=5fPHAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA106 106]}} In Palmyra, when written in Greek, names such as Zabeida, Zabdila, Zabbai or Zabda were often transformed into "Zenobios" (masculine) and "Zenobia" (feminine).{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA201 201]}} The element "Zabbai" from Zenobia's native name means "gift of N.N. [god]",{{#tag:ref|N.N. is a grammatical abbreviation denoting "no name", indicating hypocoristica, where a compound name is abbreviated by dropping its theophoric (deity name) element.{{sfn|Jackson|1983|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=leQtcmpcQ-EC&pg=PA509 509]}}{{sfn|Coogan|1976|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=fAD1DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA111 111]}}|group=note}}{{sfn|Stark|1971|p=86}} and the name Zenobia translates to "one whose life derives from [[Zeus]]".{{sfn|Weldon|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=5fPHAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA106 106]}} The historian [[Victor Duruy]] believed that the queen used the Greek name as a translation of her native name, in deference to her [[Greece in the Roman era#Later Roman Empire|Greek subjects]].{{sfn|Duruy|1883|p= [https://archive.org/stream/p2historyofromeo07duru#page/n7/mode/2up 295]}} The philologist [[Wilhelm Dittenberger]] argued that the name Bat-Zabbai underwent a detortum (twist), thus resulting in the name Zenobia.{{sfn|Macurdy|1937|p= [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015019188914;view=1up;seq=150 126]}}

The ninth-century historian [[al-Tabari]], in his highly fictionalized account,{{sfn|Millar|1993|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=IA-YlZqHv90C&pg=PA433 433]}} wrote that the queen's name was Na'ila al-Zabba'.{{sfn|Powers|2010|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=A7joBeDsajcC&pg=PA148 148]}} [[Manichaeism|Manichaean]] sources, reporting the visit of the apostle [[Mar Adda]] to the region during the time of Odaenathus, called Zenobia "Queen Tadi", wife of kysr (caesar).{{#tag:ref|Mainly texts written in [[Sogdian language|Sogdian]] from the [[Turpan|Turfan Oasis]]; they were included in the series named ''Berliner Turfantexte'' launched in 1971.{{sfn|Lieu|1998|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=Yl2DteLY8jcC&pg=PA37 37]}}|group=note}} The name given to Zenobia in those Manichaean writings seems to derive from Tadmor, Palmyra's native name, and this is supported by the Coptic ''Acts Codex'', in which Zenobia is named Queen Thadmor.{{sfn|Gardner|2020|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZG_CDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA56 56]}}

No contemporary statues of Zenobia have been found in Palmyra or elsewhere, with only inscriptions on statues' bases surviving, indicating that a statue of the queen once stood in the place; most known representations of Zenobia are the idealized portraits of her found on her coins.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA3 3]}} Sculptures of Palmyrene style were normally impersonal, unlike Greek and Roman ones: a statue of Zenobia in this style would have given an idea of her general style in dress and jewelry but would not have revealed her true appearance.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA3 3]}} The non-contemporary historian [[Edward Gibbon]] has described her as being "of a dark complexion" and considered "most lovely," and that she "equalled in beauty her [claimed] ancestor [[Cleopatra]]."{{sfn|Gibbon|1776|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=aLcWAAAAQAAJ&pg=307 307]}} British scholar [[William Wright (orientalist)|William Wright]] visited Palmyra toward the end of the nineteenth century in a vain search for a sculpture of the queen.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA16 16]}}

In addition to archaeological evidence, Zenobia's life was recorded in different ancient sources but many are flawed or fabricated; the ''[[Historia Augusta]]'', a late-Roman collection of biographies, is the most notable (albeit unreliable) source for the era.{{sfn|Stoneman|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA10 10]}} The author (or authors) of the ''Historia Augusta'' invented many events and letters attributed to Zenobia in the absence of contemporary sources.{{sfn|Stoneman|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA10 10]}} Some ''Historia Augusta'' accounts are corroborated from other sources, and are more credible.{{sfn|Stoneman|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA10 10]}} The Byzantine chronicler [[Joannes Zonaras]] is considered an important source for the life of Zenobia.{{sfn|Stoneman|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA10 10]}}

==Origin, family and early life==
Palmyrene society was an amalgam of [[Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples|Semitic-speaking peoples]], mostly [[Arabs]] and [[Arameans]], and Zenobia cannot be identified with any one group; as a Palmyrene, she may have had both Arab and [[Arameans|Aramean]] ancestry.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 1]}} However, the Palmyrene's never considered themselves Arab,{{sfn|Young|2003|p=163}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Retso |first=Jan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uq2_tK0L2g4C&pg=PA463 |title=The Arabs in Antiquity: Their History from the Assyrians to the Umayyads |date=2013-07-04 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-87289-1 |pages=463}}</ref>{{sfn|Millar|1993|p=525}} and to call Palmyra "Arab" is a modern device with no contemporary usage.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Robinson |first=Chase F. |url=http://archive.org/details/the-new-cambridge-history-of-islam-volume-1_202301 |title=The New Cambridge History of Islam, Volume 1 |date=2010-11-29 |pages=77}}</ref> Information about Zenobia's ancestry and immediate family connections is scarce and contradictory.{{sfn|Bryce|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=q8Z7AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA297 297]}} Nothing is known about her mother, and her father's identity is debated.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA4 4]}} Manichaean sources mention a "Nafsha", sister of the "queen of Palmyra",{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA4 4]}} but those sources are confused and "Nafsha" may refer to Zenobia herself:{{sfn|Ball|2016|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=hblTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA121 121]}} it is doubtful that Zenobia had a sister.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA2 2]}}

Apparently not a commoner,{{sfn|Stoneman|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA112 112]}} Zenobia would have received an education appropriate for a noble Palmyrene girl.{{sfn|Stoneman|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA113 113]}} The ''Historia Augusta'' contains details of her early life, although their veracity is dubious; according to the ''Historia Augusta'', the queen's hobby as a child was hunting{{sfn|Stoneman|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA112 112]}} and, in addition to her Palmyrene Aramaic mother tongue, she was fluent in [[Egyptian language|Egyptian]] and Greek and spoke [[Classical Latin|Latin]].{{sfn|Ball|2016|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=hblTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA85 85]}}{{sfn|Dodgeon|Lieu|2002|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=3gGKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA73 73]}} When she was about fourteen years old (ca. 255), Zenobia became the second wife of [[Odaenathus]], the ''[[rais|ras]]'' ("lord") of Palmyra.{{sfn|Stoneman|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA112 112]}}{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA4 4]}} Noble families in Palmyra often intermarried, and it is probable that Zenobia and Odaenathus shared some ancestors.{{sfn|Macurdy|1937|p= [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015019188914;view=1up;seq=150 126]}}

===Contemporary epigraphical evidence===
Basing their suppositions upon archaeological evidence, various historians have suggested several men as Zenobia's father:

{{Multiple image|align=right|direction=vertical|image1=Palmyra Julius Aurelius Zenobius inscription.jpg|caption1=[[Palmyrene inscriptions|Palmyrene inscription]] honoring Julius Aurelius Zenobius, believed by some to be Zenobia's father}}

Julius Aurelius Zenobius appears on a [[Palmyrene inscriptions|Palmyrene inscription]] as a [[strategos]] of Palmyra in 231–232; based on the similarity of the names,{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA4 4]}} Zenobius was suggested as Zenobia's father by the [[Numismatist (specialist)|numismatist]] [[:de:Alfred von Sallet|Alfred von Sallet]] and others.{{sfn|Hartmann|2001|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=BdcHK8Ll1jMC&pg=PA117 117]}} The archaeologist [[William Waddington]] argued in favor of Zenobius' identification as the father, assuming that his statue stood opposite to where the statue of the queen stood in [[Great Colonnade at Palmyra|Great Colonnade]]. However, the linguist [[Jean-Baptiste Chabot]] pointed out that Zenobius' statue stood opposite to that of Odaenathus not Zenobia and rejected Waddington's hypothesis.{{sfn|Macurdy|1937|p= [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015019188914;view=1up;seq=150 126]}} The only ''gentilicium'', a hereditary name borne by people that was originally the name of one's gens (family or clan) by patrilineal descent, appearing on Zenobia's inscriptions was "Septimia" (not "Julia Aurelia", which she would have borne if her father's ''gentilicium'' was Aurelius),{{sfn|Sartre|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=9y7nTpFcN3AC&pg=PA551 551]}} and it cannot be proven that the queen changed her ''gentilicium'' to Septimia after her marriage.{{#tag:ref|Both Dittenberger and von Sallet believed that Zenobia bore the ''gentilicium'' Julia Aurelia during her marriage and took the ''gentilicium'' Septimia after Odaenathus' death; von Sallet argued that the coins minted by Vaballathus in Alexandria bore the initials of the names "Julius", "Aurelius" and "Septimius", before his own name.{{sfn|Macurdy|1937|p= [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015019188914;view=1up;seq=149 125]}} Therefore, it is apparent that Vaballathus took his maternal family's name beside his paternal one.{{sfn|Macurdy|1937|p= [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015019188914;view=1up;seq=150 126]}}|group=note}}{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA4 4]}}{{sfn|Hartmann|2001|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=BdcHK8Ll1jMC&pg=PA117 117]}}

One of Zenobia's inscriptions recorded her as "Septimia Bat-Zabbai, daughter of Antiochus".{{sfn|Dodgeon|Lieu|2002|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=tgCKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA371 371]}}{{sfn|Ando|2012|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=2fTcCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA209 209]}} Antiochus' identity is not definitively known:{{sfn|Bryce|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=q8Z7AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA297 297]}} his ancestry is not recorded in Palmyrene inscriptions, and the name was not common in Palmyra.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA5 5]}} This, combined with the meaning of Zenobia's Palmyrene name (daughter of Zabbai), led scholars such as [[:de:Harald Ingholt|Harald Ingholt]] to speculate that Antiochus might have been a distant ancestor: the [[List of Seleucid rulers|Seleucid]] king [[Antiochus IV Epiphanes]] or [[Antiochus VII Sidetes]], whose wife was the [[Ptolemaic dynasty|Ptolemaic]] [[Cleopatra Thea]].{{sfn|Dodgeon|Lieu|2002|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=tgCKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA371 371]}}{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA5 5]}} In the historian [[Richard Stoneman]]'s view, Zenobia would not have created an obscure ancestry to connect herself with the ancient [[Ancient Macedonians|Macedonian]] rulers: if a fabricated ancestry were needed, a more direct connection would have been invented.{{sfn|Stoneman|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA112 112]}} According to Stoneman, Zenobia "had reason to believe [her Seleucid ancestry] to be true".{{sfn|Stoneman|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA112 112]}} The historian [[Pat Southern|Patricia Southern]], noting that Antiochus was mentioned without a royal title or a hint of great lineage, believes that he was a direct ancestor or a relative rather than a Seleucid king who lived three centuries before Zenobia.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA5 5]}}

On the basis of Zenobia's Palmyrene name, Bat Zabbai, her father may have been called Zabbai; alternatively, Zabbai may have been the name of a more distant ancestor.{{sfn|Bryce|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=q8Z7AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA297 297]}} The historian [[Trevor R. Bryce|Trevor Bryce]] suggests that she was related to [[Septimius Zabbai]], Palmyra's garrison leader, and he may even have been her father.{{sfn|Bryce|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=q8Z7AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA297 297]}} The archaeologist [[Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau]], attempting to reconcile the meaning of the name "Bat Zabbai" with the inscription mentioning the queen as daughter of Antiochus, suggested that two brothers, Zabbai and Antiochus, existed, with a childless Zabbai dying and leaving his widow to marry his brother Antiochus. Thus, since Zenobia was born out of a [[levirate marriage]], she was theoretically the daughter of Zabbai, hence the name.{{sfn|Macurdy|1937|p= [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015019188914;view=1up;seq=151 127]}}

=== <span class="anchor" id="In ancient sources"></span> Ancient sources ===
In the ''Historia Augusta'', Zenobia is said to have been a descendant of [[Cleopatra]] and claimed descent from the Ptolemies.{{#tag:ref|The writer of the ''Historia Augusta'' might have based his account on the work of [[Ammianus Marcellinus]], who wrote about the habits of men in "vaulted baths" and how they extol women "with such disgraceful flattery as the [[Parthia]]ns do [[Semiramis]], the Egyptians their Cleopatras, the [[Carians]] [do] [[Artemisia II of Caria|Artemisia]], or the people of Palmyra [do] Zenobia".{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA201 201]}} If the ''Historia Augusta'' writer did indeed use the words of Ammianus, then the remark about Zenobia's supposed descent loses its merit.{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA201 201]}}|group=note}}{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA201 201]}} According to the ''[[Suda|Souda]]'', a tenth-century [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] encyclopedia,{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA206 206]}} after the Palmyrene conquest of Egypt,{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA97 97]}} the sophist [[Callinicus (Sophist)|Callinicus of Petra]] wrote a ten-volume history of [[Alexandria]] dedicated to Cleopatra.{{sfn|Potter|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=7HKFAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA263 263]}} According to modern scholars, by Cleopatra Callinicus meant Zenobia.{{#tag:ref|The conclusion that Callinicus meant Zenobia is based on the fact that the work was written following Palmyra's invasion of Egypt, combined with what is known about Zenobia's alleged claims of descent from Cleopatra.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA97 97]}} The first scholar to suggest that, by Cleopatra, Callinicus meant Zenobia was [[Aurel Stein]] in 1923, and his view was accepted by many other historians.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA188 188]}}|group=note}}{{sfn|Potter|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=7HKFAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA263 263]}}{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA65 65]}} Apart from legends, there is no direct evidence in Egyptian coinage or [[List of ancient Egyptian papyri|papyri]] of a contemporary [[conflation]] of Zenobia with Cleopatra.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA190 190]}} The connection may have been invented by Zenobia's enemies to discredit her,{{#tag:ref|The Roman view of Cleopatra was negative; she was portrayed as a traitorous manipulative woman who used her beauty and sex to achieve her goals.{{sfn|Burstein|2007|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=KSonyiReFY8C&pg=PA68 68]}}|group=note}}{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA116 116]}} but circumstantial evidence indicates that Zenobia herself made the claim; an imperial declaration once ascribed to Emperor [[Severus Alexander]] (died 235) was probably made by Zenobia in the name of her son [[Vaballathus]], where the king named Alexandria "my ancestral city", which indicates a claim to Ptolemaic ancestry.{{sfn|Bennett|2003|p=317}}{{sfn|Parsons|1967|p=378}} Zenobia's alleged claim of a connection to Cleopatra seems to have been politically motivated,{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 1]}} since it would have given her a connection with Egypt and made her a legitimate successor to the Ptolemies' throne.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA93 93]}} A relationship between Zenobia and the Ptolemies is unlikely,{{sfn|Bryce|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=41-MAgAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PR25 298]}} and attempts by classical sources to trace the queen's ancestry to the Ptolemies through the Seleucids are [[apocrypha]]l.{{sfn|Ball|2002|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=qQKIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA78 78]}}

====Arab traditions and al-Zabba'====
Although some Arab historians linked Zenobia to the [[Queen of Sheba]], their accounts are apocryphal.{{sfn|Ball|2002|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=qQKIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA78 78]}} Medieval Arabic traditions identify a queen of Palmyra named al-Zabba',{{sfn|Rihan|2014|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1iGpAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA28 28]}} and her most romantic account comes from al-Tabari.{{sfn|Bryce|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=q8Z7AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA295 295]}} According to al-Tabari, she was an [[Amalek]]ite; her father was 'Amr ibn Zarib, an 'Amālīq [[sheikh]] who was killed by the [[Tanukhids]].{{sfn|Ball|2002|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=qQKIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA78 78]}} Al-Tabari identifies a sister of al-Zabba' as "Zabibah".{{sfn|Ball|2002|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=qQKIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA78 78]}} Jadhimah ibn Malik, the Tanukhid king who killed the queen's father, was killed by al-Zabba'.{{sfn|Bryce|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=q8Z7AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA295 295]}} According to al-Tabari, al-Zabba' had a fortress along the [[Euphrates]] and ruled Palmyra.{{sfn|Millar|1993|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=IA-YlZqHv90C&pg=PA433 433]}}

Al-Tabari's account does not mention the Romans, Odaenathus, Vaballathus or the Sassanians;{{sfn|Millar|1993|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=IA-YlZqHv90C&pg=PA433 433]}} focusing on the tribes and their relations, it is immersed in legends.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA12 12]}} Although the account is certainly based on the story of Zenobia,{{sfn|Millar|1993|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=IA-YlZqHv90C&pg=PA433 433]}} it is probably conflated with the story of a semi-legendary nomadic Arab queen (or queens).{{sfn|Bryce|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=q8Z7AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA296 296]}}{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA12 12]}} Al-Zabba'{{'s}} fortress was probably [[Halabiye]], which was restored by the historic Palmyrene queen and named Zenobia.{{sfn|Millar|1993|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=IA-YlZqHv90C&pg=PA433 433]}}

==Queen of Palmyra==
===Consort===
[[Image:Odenaethus Glyptoteket.jpg|thumb|alt=Bust of Odaenathus|Mid-third-century bust of a Palmyrene leader, possibly [[Odaenathus]].<ref>Ingholt, Harald (1976), "Varia Tadmorea: II The Odeinat family", in ''Palmyre: Bilan et Perspectives''. Strasbourg: Association pour l'Étude de la Civilisation Romaine, pp. 115–37.</ref>]]

During the early centuries AD, Palmyra was a city subordinate to [[Roman Empire|Rome]] and part of the province of [[Phoenice (Roman province)|Syria Phoenice]].{{sfn|Edwell|2007|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DQgmOZlsEWcC&pg=PA27 27]}} In 260 the Roman emperor [[Valerian (emperor)|Valerian]] marched against the [[Sassanid Persia]]n monarch [[Shapur I]], who had invaded the empire's eastern regions; Valerian was [[Battle of Edessa|defeated and captured]] near [[Edessa]].{{sfn|Ando|2012|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=2fTcCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA167 167]}} Odaenathus, [[Odaenathus#Relation with Rome|formally loyal to Rome]] and its emperor [[Gallienus]] (Valerian's son),{{sfn|Butcher|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=YJPn3-rRjC0C&pg=PA58 58]}} was declared king of Palmyra.{{sfn|Dignas|Winter|2007|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=MG2hqcRDvJgC&pg=PA159 159]}} Launching successful campaigns against Persia, he was crowned [[King of Kings]] of the East in 263.{{sfn|Butcher|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=YJPn3-rRjC0C&pg=PA58 58]}} Odaenathus crowned his eldest son, [[Hairan I|Herodianus]], as co-ruler.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=muVoB0O_XXMC&pg=PT61 61]}} In addition to the royal titles, Odaenathus received many [[Odaenathus#Ruler of the East|Roman titles]], most importantly ''[[corrector]] totius orientis'' (governor of the entire East), and ruled the Roman territories from the [[Black Sea]] to [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]].{{sfn|Dignas|Winter|2007|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=MG2hqcRDvJgC&pg=PA160 160]}} In 267, when Zenobia was in her late twenties or early thirties, Odaenathus and his eldest son were assassinated while returning from a campaign.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=muVoB0O_XXMC&pg=PT61 61]}}

The first inscription mentioning Zenobia as queen is dated two or three years after Odaenathus' death, so exactly when Zenobia assumed the title "queen of Palmyra" is uncertain.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA73 73]}} However, she was probably designated as queen when her husband became king.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA73 73]}} As [[queen consort]], Zenobia remained in the background and was not mentioned in the historical record.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA72 72]}} According to later accounts, including one by [[Giovanni Boccaccio]], she accompanied her husband on his campaigns.{{sfn|Franklin|2006|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=XLPEa28ncjsC&pg=PA60 60]}} If the accounts of her accompanying her husband are true, according to Southern, Zenobia would have boosted the morale of the soldiers and gained political influence, which she needed in her later career.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA72 72]}}

====Possible role in Odaenathus' assassination====
According to the ''Historia Augusta'', Odaenathus was assassinated by a cousin named [[Maeonius]].{{sfn|Dodgeon|Lieu|2002|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=tgCKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA81 81]}} In the ''Historia Augusta'', Odaenathus' son from his first wife was named Herodes and was crowned co-ruler by his father.{{sfn|Bray|1997|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=fVwtnOBCiCwC&pg=PA276 276]}} The ''Historia Augusta'' claims that Zenobia conspired with Maeonius for a time because she did not accept her stepson as his father's heir (ahead of her own children).{{sfn|Dodgeon|Lieu|2002|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=tgCKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA81 81]}} The ''Historia Augusta'' does not suggest that Zenobia was involved in the events leading to her husband's murder,{{sfn|Bryce|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=q8Z7AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA292 292]}} and the crime is attributed to Maeonius' moral degeneration and jealousy.{{sfn|Dodgeon|Lieu|2002|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=tgCKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA81 81]}} This account, according to the historian [[Alaric Watson]], can be dismissed as fictional.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA58 58]}} Although some modern scholarship suggests that Zenobia was involved in the assassination due to political ambition and opposition to her husband's pro-Roman policy, she continued Odaenathus' policies during her first years on the throne.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA78 78]}}

===Regent===
[[File:Aurelian-with-vabalathus-ad-270-275-5686793-O.jpg|thumb|alt=Front and back of ancient coin|Palmyrene ''[[Aureus]]'' minted in Antioch in AD 271, showing [[Aurelian]] (left) as emperor and [[Vaballathus]] as king.]]

In the ''Historia Augusta '', Maeonius was emperor briefly before he was killed by his soldiers,{{sfn|Bryce|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=q8Z7AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA292 292]}} however, no inscriptions or evidence exist for his reign.{{sfn|Brauer|1975|p= [https://archive.org/details/ageofsoldierem00brau 163]}} At the time of Odaenathus' assassination, Zenobia might have been with her husband; according to chronicler [[George Syncellus]], he was killed near [[Heraclea Pontica]] in [[Bithynia]].{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA81 81]}} The transfer of power seems to have been smooth, since Syncellus reports that the time from the assassination to the army handing the crown to Zenobia was one day.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA81 81]}} Zenobia may have been in Palmyra, but this would have reduced the likelihood of a smooth transition; the soldiers might have chosen one of their officers, so the first scenario of her being with her husband is more likely.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA81 81]}} The historical records are unanimous that Zenobia did not fight for supremacy and there is no evidence of delay in the transfer of the throne to Odaenathus and Zenobia's son, the ten-year-old [[Vaballathus]].{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA84 84]}} Although she never claimed to rule in her own right and acted as a regent for her son,{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA92 92]}} Zenobia held the reins of power in the kingdom,{{sfn|Stoneman|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA119 119]}} and Vaballathus was kept in his mother's shadow, never exercising real power.{{sfn|Bryce|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=q8Z7AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA299 299]}}

====Consolidation of power====
The Palmyrene monarchy was new; allegiance was based on loyalty to Odaenathus, making the transfer of power to a successor more difficult than it would have been in an established monarchy.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA59 59]}} Odaenathus tried to ensure the dynasty's future by crowning his eldest son co-king, but both were assassinated.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA60 60]}} Zenobia, left to secure the Palmyrene succession and retain the loyalty of its subjects, emphasized the continuity between her late husband and his successor (her son).{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA60 60]}} Vaballathus (with Zenobia orchestrating the process) assumed his father's royal titles immediately, and his earliest known inscription records him as King of Kings.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA60 60]}}{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA84 84]}}

[[Image:Odaenathus Kingdom.png|thumb|alt=Color-coded map of the ancient Near East|Roman regions under Odaenathus (yellow) and the Palmyrene kingdom (green)]]

Odaenathus controlled a large area of the Roman East,{{#tag:ref|The Roman East traditionally included all the Roman lands in Asia east of the [[Bosphorus]].{{sfn|Ball|2002|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=73-JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA6 6]}}|group=note}} and held the highest political and military authority in the region, superseding that of the Roman provincial governors.{{sfn|Young|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=E5yCAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA215 215]}}{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=muVoB0O_XXMC&pg=PT61 61]}} His self-created status was formalized by Emperor Gallienus,{{sfn|Vervaet|2007|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=nG-S-X_uI6EC&pg=PA137 137]}} who had little choice but to acquiesce.{{sfn|Young|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=E5yCAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA214 214]}} Odaenathus's power relative to that of the emperor and the central authority was unprecedented and elastic, but relations remained smooth until his death.{{sfn|Ando|2012|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=2fTcCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA172 172]}} His assassination meant that the Palmyrene rulers' authority and position had to be clarified, which led to a conflict over their interpretation.{{sfn|Ando|2012|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=2fTcCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA172 172]}} The Roman court viewed Odaenathus as an appointed Roman official who derived his power from the emperor, but the Palmyrene court saw his position as hereditary.{{sfn|Ando|2012|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=2fTcCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA172 172]}} This conflict was the first step on the road to war between Rome and Palmyra.{{sfn|Ando|2012|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=2fTcCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA172 172]}}

Odaenathus' Roman titles, such as ''[[dux]] Romanorum'', ''corrector totius orientis'' and ''[[imperator]] totius orientis'' differed from his royal eastern ones because the Roman ranks were not hereditary.{{sfn|Kulikowski|2016|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=XZokDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT158 158]}} Vaballathus had a legitimate claim to his royal titles, but had no right to the Roman ones—especially ''corrector'' (denoting a senior military and provincial commander in the Roman system), which Zenobia used for her son in his earliest known inscriptions with "King of Kings".{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA60 60]}} Although the Roman emperors accepted the royal succession, the assumption of Roman military rank antagonized the empire.{{sfn|Andrade|2013|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=4ROhAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT423 333]}} Emperor Gallienus may have decided to intervene in an attempt to regain central authority;{{sfn|Ando|2012|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=2fTcCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA209 209]}} according to the ''Historia Augusta'', [[praetorian prefect]] [[Aurelius Heraclianus]] was dispatched to assert imperial authority over the east and was repelled by the [[Palmyrene army]].{{sfn|Potter|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=7HKFAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA262 262]}} The account is doubtful, however, since Heraclianus participated in Gallienus' assassination in 268.{{sfn|Southern|2015|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=2p9hCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA150 150]}} Odaenathus was assassinated shortly before the emperor, and Heraclianus would have been unable to be sent to the East, fight the Palmyrenes and return to the West in time to become involved in the conspiracy against the emperor.{{#tag:ref|A plausible scenario, according to the historian [[David Stone Potter|David Potter]], would be that a campaign was sent in 270 by [[Claudius Gothicus]], Gallienus' successor.{{sfn|Potter|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=7HKFAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA262 262]}}|group=note}}{{sfn|Southern|2015|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=2p9hCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA150 150]}}

====Early reign====
[[Image:Halabiya,N-wall.jpg|thumb|alt=Ruins of a sandstone fortress|The citadel of [[Halabiye]], renamed "Zenobia" after its renovation by the queen]]

The extent of Zenobia's territorial control during her early reign is debated; according to the historian [[Fergus Millar]], her authority was confined to Palmyra and [[Emesa]] until 270.{{#tag:ref|An often-cited argument for limited territorial control is that the [[Antioch]]ean [[Mint (facility)|Mint]] did not issue coins in the name of the queen or her son before 270.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA87 87]}} However, in the opinion of Southern, this can be explained by the existence of Claudius Gothicus on the imperial throne, which made it unnecessary for the queen to issue coins in the name of her son.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA87 87]}} After Claudius' death in 270, the imperial throne was contested by his brother [[Quintillus]] and the army candidate [[Aurelian]], but the Antiochean mint, probably under orders from Zenobia (who apparently did not recognize Quintillus) did not issue coins for both pretenders.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA87 87]}} When Aurelian prevailed, Zenobia might have found it an opportunity to declare for him; the new coins bore the picture of Aurelian but also, for the first time, Vaballathus.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA87 87]}}|group=note}}{{sfn|Millar|1971|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=0fIq9wd3Z3oC&pg=PA205 9]}} If this was the case, the events of 270 (which saw Zenobia's conquest of the [[Levant]] and [[Roman Egypt|Egypt]]) are extraordinary.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA87 87]}} It is more likely that the queen ruled the territories controlled by her late husband,{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA87 87]}} a view supported by Southern and the historian [[:de:Udo Hartmann|Udo Hartmann]],{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA186 186]}} and backed by ancient sources (such as the Roman historian [[Eutropius (historian)|Eutropius]], who wrote that the queen inherited her husband's power).{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA87 87]}} The ''Historia Augusta'' also mentioned that Zenobia took control of the East during Gallienus' reign.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA87 87]}}{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA186 186]}} Further evidence of extended territorial control was a statement by the Byzantine historian [[Zosimus (historian)|Zosimus]], who wrote that the queen had a residence in [[Antioch]].{{#tag:ref|The palace was probably established by Odaenathus who crowned his son in Antioch,{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA87 87]}} Syria's historical capital.{{sfn|Nakamura|1993|p= [https://grbs.library.duke.edu/article/view/3431 141]}}|group=note}}{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA87 87]}}

There is no recorded unrest against the queen accompanying her ascendance in ancient sources hostile to her, indicating no serious opposition to the new regime.{{#tag:ref|According to the '' Historia Augusta '' the emperor Aurelian sent a letter to the Senate saying that the [[Egyptians]], [[Armenians]] and [[Arabs]] were so afraid of Zenobia that they did not dare revolt; however, the author does not say that the [[Syrians]] were afraid of the queen.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA88 88]}}|group=note}}{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA88 88]}} The most obvious candidates for opposition were the Roman provincial governors, but the sources do not say that Zenobia marched on any of them or that they tried to remove her from the throne.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA89 89]}} According to Hartmann, the governors and military leaders of the eastern provinces apparently acknowledged and supported Vaballathus as the successor of Odaenathus.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA89 89]}} During Zenobia's early regency, she focused on safeguarding the borders with Persia and pacifying the [[Tanukhids]] in [[Hauran]].{{sfn|Bryce|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=Xno9AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA299 299]}} To protect the Persian borders, the queen fortified many settlements on the [[Euphrates]] (including the citadels of [[Halabiye]]—later called Zenobia—and [[Zalabiye]]).{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA91 91]}} Circumstantial evidence exists for confrontations with the Sassanid Persians; probably in 269, Vaballathus assumed the [[victory title]] of ''Persicus Maximus'' (the great victor in Persia); this may be connected to an unrecorded battle against a Persian army trying to control northern Mesopotamia.{{#tag:ref|Ancient sources accused Zenobia of sympathizing with the Persians, claiming that she was worshiped like the Persian leaders and drank wine with their generals;{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA92 92]}} however, the accusations are unfounded since Zenobia fortified the frontier with Persia.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA91 91]}}|group=note}}{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA92 92]}}{{sfn|Hartmann|2001|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=BdcHK8Ll1jMC&pg=PA267 267]}}

====<span class="anchor" id=1></span> Expansion====
In 269, while [[Claudius Gothicus]] (Gallienus' successor) was defending the borders of [[Roman Italy|Italy]] and the [[Balkans]] against Germanic invasions, Zenobia was cementing her authority; Roman officials in the East were caught between loyalty to the emperor and Zenobia's increasing demands for allegiance.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA61 61]}} The timing and rationale of the queen's decision to use military force to strengthen her authority in the East is unclear;{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA61 61]}} scholar Gary K. Young suggested that Roman officials refused to recognize Palmyrene authority, and Zenobia's expeditions were intended to maintain Palmyrene dominance.{{sfn|Young|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=E5yCAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA163 163]}} Another factor may have been the weakness of Roman central authority and its corresponding inability to protect the provinces, which probably convinced Zenobia that the only way to maintain stability in the East was to control the region directly.{{sfn|Young|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=E5yCAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA163 163]}} The historian Jacques Schwartz tied Zenobia's actions to her desire to protect Palmyra's economic interests, which were threatened by Rome's failure to protect the provinces.{{sfn|Young|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=E5yCAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA162 162]}} Also, according to Schwartz, the economic interests conflicted; [[Bosra|Bostra]] and Egypt received trade which would have otherwise passed through Palmyra.{{sfn|Young|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=E5yCAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA164 164]}} The Tanukhids near Bostra and the merchants of [[Alexandria]] probably attempted to rid themselves of Palmyrene domination, triggering a military response from Zenobia.{{sfn|Young|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=E5yCAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA164 164]}}

=====Syria and the invasion of Arabia Petraea=====
[[File:Bosra-Ruins.jpg|left|thumb|alt=Extensive ruins|[[Bostra]], [[Sack of Bostra|sacked]] by Palmyra in 270]]

In the spring of 270, while Claudius was fighting the [[Goths]] in the mountains of [[Thrace]], Zenobia sent her general [[Zabdas|Septimius Zabdas]] to Bosra (capital of the province of [[Arabia Petraea]]);{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA61 61]}} the queen's timing seems intentional.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA114 114]}} In Arabia the Roman governor (''dux''), Trassus (commanding the [[Legio III Cyrenaica]]),{{#tag:ref|Although his name is only mentioned by [[John Malalas]], archaeological evidence supports the Arabian campaign.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 109]}}|group=note}} confronted the Palmyrenes and was routed and killed.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA61 61]}} Zabdas [[Sack of Bostra|sacked the city]], and destroyed the temple of [[Amun#Greece|Zeus Hammon]], the legion's revered shrine.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA61 61]}} A Latin inscription after the fall of Zenobia attests to its destruction:{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA108 108]}} "The temple of Iuppiter Hammon, destroyed by the Palmyrene enemies, which&nbsp;... rebuilt, with a silver statue and iron doors (?)".{{sfn|Dodgeon|Lieu|2002|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=3gGKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA75 75]}} The city of [[Umm el-Jimal]] may have also been destroyed by the Palmyrenes in connection with their efforts to subjugate the Tanukhids.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA108 108]}}

After his victory, Zabdas marched south along the [[Jordan Rift Valley|Jordan Valley]] and apparently met little opposition.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA61 61]}} There is evidence that [[Petra]] was attacked by a small contingent which penetrated the region.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA62 62]}} Arabia and [[Judea (Roman province)|Judaea]] were eventually subdued.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA62 62]}} Palmyrene dominance of Arabia is confirmed by many milestones bearing Vaballathus' name.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 109]}} Syrian subjugation required less effort because Zenobia had substantial support there, particularly in Antioch,{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA63 63]}} Syria's traditional capital.{{sfn|Nakamura|1993|p= [https://grbs.library.duke.edu/article/view/3431 141]}} The invasion of Arabia coincided with the cessation of coin production in Claudius' name by the Antiochean [[Mint (facility)|mint]], indicating that Zenobia had begun tightening her grip on Syria.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA63 63]}} By November 270, the mint began issuing coinage in Vaballathus' name.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA106 106]}}

The Arabian milestones presented the Palmyrene king as a Roman governor and commander, referring to him as ''[[vir clarissimus]] [[Rex (title)|rex]] [[consul]] imperator dux Romanorum''.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 109]}} The assumption of such titles was probably meant to legitimize Zenobia's control of the province, not yet a usurpation of the imperial title.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA110 110]}} Until now, Zenobia could say that she was acting as a representative of the emperor (who was securing the eastern lands of the empire) while the Roman monarch was preoccupied with struggles in Europe.{{sfn|Bryce|Birkett-Rees|2016|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=gDAFDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA282 282]}} Although Vaballathus' use of the titles amounted to a claim to the imperial throne, Zenobia could still justify them and maintain a mask of subordination to Rome;{{sfn|Kulikowski|2016|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=XZokDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT158 158]}} an ''"imperator"'' was a commander of troops, not the equal of an emperor (''"imperator caesar augustus"'').{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA110 110]}}

=====Annexation of Egypt and the campaigns in Asia Minor=====
{{Main|Palmyrene invasion of Egypt}}

The invasion of Egypt is sometimes explained by Zenobia's desire to secure an alternative trade route to the Euphrates, which was cut because of the war with Persia.{{sfn|Smith II|2013|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=h5cMho6zFckC&pg=PA178 178]}} This theory ignores the fact that the Euphrates route was only partially disrupted, and overlooks Zenobia's ambition.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA62 62]}} The date of the campaign is uncertain; Zosimus placed it after the [[Battle of Naissus]] and before Claudius' death, which sets it in the summer of 270.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA113 113]}} Watson, emphasizing the works of Zonaras and Syncellus and dismissing Zosimus' account, places the invasion in October 270 (after Claudius' death).{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA190 190]}} According to Watson, the occupation of Egypt was an opportunistic move by Zenobia (who was encouraged by the news of Claudius' death in August).{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA62 62]}}{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA204 204]}} Zenobia was declared Queen of Egypt after [[Palmyrene invasion of Egypt]].{{sfn|Bryce|2014|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Xno9AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA304 304]}} The image of [[Selene]] on the reverse of the coins of Zenobia minted in Alexandria symbolized Zenobia's claim as a descendant and inheritor of Cleopatra VII to legitimize her rule.{{sfn|Finlayson|2019|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=iv_7EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA120 120]}} The appearance of the Palmyrenes on Egypt's eastern frontier would have contributed to unrest in the province, whose society was fractured; Zenobia had supporters and opponents among local Egyptians.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA62 62]}}

[[File:Palmyrene Empire.png|thumb|alt=Color-coded map of Palmyra|Palmyra at its zenith in 271]]

The Roman position was worsened by the absence of Egypt's [[Praetorian prefect|prefect]], [[Tenagino Probus]], who was battling pirates.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA62 62]}}{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA113 113]}} According to Zosimus, the Palmyrenes were helped by an Egyptian general named Timagenes; Zabdas moved into Egypt with 70,000 soldiers, defeating an army of 50,000 Romans.{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA204 204]}}{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA114 114]}} After their victory, the Palmyrenes withdrew their main force and left a 5,000-soldier garrison.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA114 114]}} By early November,{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA62 62]}} Tenagino Probus returned and assembled an army; he expelled the Palmyrenes and regained Alexandria, prompting Zabdas to return.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA114 114]}} The Palmyrene general aimed a thrust at Alexandria, where he seems to have had local support; the city fell into Zabdas' hands, and the Roman prefect fled south.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA62 62]}} The last battle was at the [[Babylon Fortress]], where Tenagino Probus took refuge; the Romans had the upper hand, since they chose their camp carefully.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA63 63]}} Timagenes, with his knowledge of the land, ambushed the Roman rear; Tenagino Probus committed suicide, and Egypt became part of Palmyra.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA63 63]}} In the ''Historia Augusta '' the [[Blemmyes]] were among Zenobia's allies,{{sfn|Stoneman|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA122 122]}} and Gary K. Young cites the Blemmyes attack and occupation of [[Qift|Coptos]] in 268 as evidence of a Palmyrene-Blemmyes alliance.{{sfn|Young|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=E5yCAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA76 76]}}

Only Zosimus mentioned two invasions, contrasting with many scholars who argue in favor of an initial invasion and no retreat (followed by a reinforcement, which took Alexandria by the end of 270).{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA114 114]}} During the Egyptian campaign, Rome was entangled in a succession crisis between Claudius' brother [[Quintillus]] and the general [[Aurelian]]. Egyptian [[List of ancient Egyptian papyri|papyri]] and coinage confirm Palmyrene rule in Egypt; the papyri stopped using the [[regnal year]]s of the emperors from September to November 270, due to the succession crisis. By December regnal dating was resumed, with the papyri using the regnal years of the prevailing emperor Aurelian and Zenobia's son Vaballathus. Egyptian coinage was issued in the names of Aurelian and the Palmyrene king by November 270.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA106 106]}} There is no evidence that Zenobia ever visited Egypt.{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA205 205]}}

Although the operation may have commenced under Septimius Zabbai, Zabdas' second-in-command, the invasion of Asia Minor did not fully begin until Zabdas' arrival in the spring of 271.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA64 64]}} The Palmyrenes annexed [[Galatia]] and, according to Zosimus, reached [[Ancyra]].{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA116 116]}} [[Bithynia]] and the [[Cyzicus]] mint remained beyond Zenobia's control, and her attempts to subdue [[Chalcedon]] failed.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA64 64]}} The Asia Minor campaign is poorly documented, but the western part of the region did not become part of the queen's authority;{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA116 116]}}{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA117 117]}} no coins with Zenobia or Vaballathus' portraits were minted in Asia Minor, and no royal Palmyrene inscriptions have been found.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA117 117]}} By August 271 Zabdas was back in Palmyra, with the [[Palmyrene Empire|Palmyrene empire]] at its zenith.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA64 64]}}

====Governance====
Zenobia ruled an empire of different peoples; as a Palmyrene, she was accustomed to dealing with multilingual and multicultural diversity since she hailed from a city which embraced many cults.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA86 86]}} The queen's realm was culturally divided into eastern-Semitic and [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic]] zones; Zenobia tried to appease both, and seems to have successfully appealed to the region's ethnic, cultural and political groups.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA66 66]}} The queen projected an image of a Syrian monarch, a Hellenistic queen and a Roman empress, which gained broad support for her cause.{{sfn|Nakamura|1993|p= [https://grbs.library.duke.edu/article/view/3431 135]}}

=====Culture=====
[[File:Colossi of Memnon May 2015 2.JPG|thumb|alt=Two huge statues of seated figures|The right [[Colossi of Memnon|colossus of Memnon]] was probably restored by Zenobia.]]

Zenobia turned her court into a center of learning, with many intellectuals and sophists reported in Palmyra during her reign.{{sfn|Andrade|2013|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=y6IaBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA335 335]}} As academics migrated to the city, it replaced classical learning centers such as Athens for Syrians.{{sfn|Andrade|2013|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=y6IaBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA335 335]}} The best-known court philosopher was [[Cassius Longinus (philosopher)|Longinus]],{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA95 95]}} who arrived during Odaenathus' reign and became Zenobia's tutor in ''[[paideia]]'' (aristocratic education).{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA96 96]}}{{sfn|Andrade|2013|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=y6IaBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA335 335]}} Many historians, including Zosimus, accused Longinus of influencing the queen to oppose Rome.{{sfn|Schneider|1993|p= 19}}{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA96 96]}} This view presents the queen as malleable,{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA96 96]}} but, according to Southern, Zenobia's actions "cannot be laid entirely at Longinus' door".{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA97 97]}} Other intellectuals associated with the court included [[Nicostratus of Trapezus]] and Callinicus of Petra.{{sfn|Andrade|2013|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=y6IaBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA336 336]}}

From the second to the fourth centuries, Syrian intellectuals argued that [[Ancient Greece#Culture|Greek culture]] did not evolve in [[Ancient Greece|Greece]] but was adapted from the [[Near East]].{{sfn|Andrade|2013|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=y6IaBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA336 336]}} According to [[Iamblichus]], the great Greek philosophers reused Near Eastern and Egyptian ideas.{{sfn|Andrade|2013|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=y6IaBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA337 337]}} The Palmyrene court was probably dominated by this school of thought, with an intellectual narrative presenting Palmyra's dynasty as a Roman imperial one succeeding the Persian, Seleucid and Ptolemaic rulers who controlled the region in which Hellenistic culture allegedly originated.{{sfn|Andrade|2013|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=y6IaBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA337 337]}} Nicostratus wrote a history of the Roman Empire from [[Philip the Arab]] to Odaenathus, presenting the latter as a legitimate imperial successor and contrasting his successes with the disastrous reigns of the emperors.{{sfn|Andrade|2013|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=y6IaBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA336 336]}}

Zenobia embarked on several restoration projects in Egypt.{{sfn|Bowersock|1984|p= [http://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/basp/0599796.0021.001/38:4?page=root;size=100;view=image 32]}} One of the [[Colossi of Memnon]] was reputed in antiquity to sing; the sound was probably due to cracks in the statue, with solar rays interacting with dew in the cracks.{{sfn|Bagnall|2004 |p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=5ig4uQC20_IC&pg=PA195 195]}} The historian [[Glen Bowersock]] proposed that the queen restored the colossus ("silencing" it), which would explain third-century accounts of the singing and their disappearance in the fourth.{{sfn|Bowersock|1984|pp= 31, 32}}

=====Religion=====
[[File:Relief Bel Baalshamin Yarhibol Aglibol MBA Lyon 1992-13.jpg|thumb|alt=Bas-relief of four human-looking gods|Palmyra's most important deities: ''(right to left)'' [[Bel (mythology)|Bel]], [[Yarhibol]], [[Aglibol]] and [[Baalshamin]]]]

Zenobia followed the Palmyrene paganism,{{sfn|Macurdy|1937|p= [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015019188914;view=1up;seq=147 123]}} where a number of [[Ancient Semitic religion|Semitic gods]], with [[Bel (mythology)|Bel]] at the head of the pantheon, were worshipped.{{sfn|Butcher|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=YJPn3-rRjC0C&pg=PA345 345]}} Zenobia accommodated [[Early Christianity|Christians]] and [[History of the Jews in the Roman Empire|Jews]],{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA86 86]}} and ancient sources made many claims about the queen's beliefs;{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA65 65]}} [[Manichaeism|Manichaean]] sources alleged that Zenobia was one of their own;{{sfn|Ball|2016|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=hblTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA489 489]}} a manuscript dated to 272 mentions that the Queen of Palmyra supported the Manichaeans in establishing a community in Abidar, which was under the rule of a king named Amarō, who could be the [[Lakhmids|Lakhmid]] king [[Amr ibn Adi]].{{sfn|Intagliata|2018|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=l6RTDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 98]}} It is more likely, however, that Zenobia tolerated all cults in an effort to attract support from groups marginalized by Rome.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA65 65]}}

Bishop [[Athanasius of Alexandria]] wrote that Zenobia did not "hand over churches to the Jews to make them into synagogues";{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA217 217]}} although the queen was not a Christian, she understood the power of bishops in Christian communities.{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA220 220]}} In Antioch—considered representative of political control of the East and containing a large Christian community—Zenobia apparently maintained authority over the church by bringing influential clerics, probably including [[Paul of Samosata]], under her auspices.{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA220 220]}} She may have bestowed on Paul the rank of ''[[ducenarius]]'' (minor judge); he apparently enjoyed the queen's protection, which helped him keep the [[Diocese|diocesan]] church after he was removed from his office as [[Roman diocese|bishop of Antioch]] by a [[synod]] of bishops in 268.{{sfn|Millar|1971|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DFLqCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA244 1]}} [[Philip Hughes (historian)|Hughes]] suggested that Paul's position while Zenobia ruled was in the state treasury.{{sfn|Hughes|1949|p= [https://archive.org/details/historyofchurch0001phil/page/134/mode/2up?view=theater 134]}}{{#tag:ref|Paul of Samosata is considered a [[Heresy|heretic]] by mainstream Christianity, accused of denying the preexistence of [[Jesus|Christ]].{{sfn|Macquarrie|2003|p= [https://archive.org/details/stubborntheologi0000macq/page/149 149]}} The earliest reference to the relationship between Zenobia and Paul of Samosata comes from Athanasius of Alexandria's fourth-century ''History of the Arians''.{{sfn|Downey|2015|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=gTTWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA312 312]}} According to [[Eusebius]], Paul preferred to be called ''"ducenarius"'' instead of bishop;{{sfn|Stoneman|2003|pp= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA149 149], [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA151 151]}}{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA220 220]}} There is evidence that he held this rank in the service of Zenobia.{{sfn|Millar|1971|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DFLqCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA244 1]}} There is no evidence that Paul was invited to the Palmyrene court, and his relationship with Zenobia was exaggerated by later sources.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA86 86]}}{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA65 65]}} The queen may have supported him as bishop to promote religious tolerance.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA86 86]}}|group=note}}

======Judaism======
Less than a hundred years after Zenobia's reign, Athanasius of Alexandria called her a "Jewess" in his ''History of the Arians''.{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA217 217]}} In 391, archbishop [[John Chrysostom]] wrote that Zenobia was Jewish; so did a [[Syriac Christianity|Syriac]] chronicler around 664 and bishop [[Bar Hebraeus]] in the thirteenth century.{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA217 217]}} According to French scholar [[Javier Teixidor]], Zenobia was probably a [[proselyte]]; this explained her strained relationship with the rabbis.{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA218 218]}} Teixidor believed that Zenobia became interested in [[Judaism]] when Longinus spoke about the philosopher [[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]] and his interest in the [[Old Testament]].{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA218 218]}} Although [[Talmud]]ic sources were hostile to Palmyra because of Odaenathus' suppression of the Jews of [[Nehardea]],{{sfn|Smallwood|1976|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=FdQUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA532 532]}} Zenobia apparently had the support of some Jewish communities (particularly in Alexandria).{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA64 64]}} In [[Cairo]],{{sfn|Smallwood|1976|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=jSYbpitEjggC&pg=PA517 517]}} a plaque originally bearing an inscription confirming a grant of immunity to a Jewish synagogue in the last quarter of the first millennium BC by King Ptolemy Euergetes ([[Ptolemy III Euergetes|I]] or [[Ptolemy VIII Physcon|II]]) was found.{{sfn|Smallwood|1976|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=jSYbpitEjggC&pg=PA517 517]}} At a much later date, the plaque was re-inscribed to commemorate the restoration of immunity "on the orders of the queen and king" and the precedence of the queen in the ordering of the two titles is remarkable.{{sfn|Bowersock|1984|p= [http://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/basp/0599796.0021.001/38:4?page=root;size=100;view=image 32]}}{{sfn|Smallwood|1976|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=jSYbpitEjggC&pg=PA517 517]}} Although it is undated, the letters of the inscription date to long after Cleopatra and Anthony's era; Zenobia and her nominal co-monarch Vaballathus, who controlled Egypt in 270–272, are the only candidates for a king and a queen ruling Egypt after the Ptolemies.{{sfn|Bowersock|1984|p= [http://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/basp/0599796.0021.001/38:4?page=root;size=100;view=image 32]}}{{sfn|Smallwood|1976|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=jSYbpitEjggC&pg=PA518 518]}}

The historian [[E. Mary Smallwood]] wrote that good relations with the [[Jewish diaspora#Under the Roman Empire|diaspora]] community did not mean that the Jews of Palestine were content with Zenobia's reign, and her rule was apparently opposed in that region.{{sfn|Smallwood|1976|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=FdQUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA532 532]}} The [[Jerusalem Talmud]], in [[Masekhet|Tractate]] [[Terumot]] tells the story of the [[amoraim]] Rabbi "Ammi" and Rabbi "Samuel bar Nahmani", who visited Zenobia's court and asked for the release of a Jew ("Zeir bar Hinena") detained on her orders.{{sfn|Hartmann|2001|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=BdcHK8Ll1jMC&pg=PA330 330]}} The queen refused, saying: "Why have you come to save him? He teaches that your creator performs miracles for you. Why not let God save him?"{{sfn|Neusner|2010|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=OClDBJfW79QC&pg=PA125 125]}} During Aurelian's destruction of Palmyra, Palestinian conscripts with "clubs and cudgels" (who may have been Jews) played a vital role in Zenobia's defeat and the destruction of her city.{{sfn|Smallwood|1976|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=FdQUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA533 533]}}

There is no evidence of Zenobia's birth as a Jew; the names of her and her husband's families belonged to the Aramaic [[wikt:onomasticon|onomasticon]] (collection of names).{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA218 218]}} The queen's alleged patronage of Paul of Samosata (who was accused of "Judaizing"),{{sfn|Smallwood|1976|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=FdQUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA532 532]}} may have given rise to the idea that she was a proselyte.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA65 65]}} Only Christian accounts note Zenobia's Jewishness; no Jewish source mentions it.{{sfn|Graetz|2009|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=pnMtoAjig7wC&pg=PA529 529]}}

=====Administration=====
The queen probably spent most of her reign in Antioch,{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA205 205]}} Syria's administrative capital.{{sfn|Nakamura|1993|p= [https://grbs.library.duke.edu/article/view/3431 141]}} Before the monarchy, Palmyra had the institutions of a Greek city ([[polis]]) and was ruled by a senate which was responsible for most civil affairs.{{sfn|Smith II|2013|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=h5cMho6zFckC&pg=PA122 122]}}{{sfn|Smith II|2013|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=h5cMho6zFckC&pg=PA127 127]}} Odaenathus maintained Palmyra's institutions, as did Zenobia;{{sfn|Sivertsev|2002|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=OfWUkVoHP7YC&pg=PA72 72]}} a Palmyrene inscription after her fall records the name of [[Septimius Haddudan]], a Palmyrene senator.{{sfn|Hartmann|2001|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=BdcHK8Ll1jMC&pg=PA384 384]}} However, the queen apparently ruled [[Autocracy|autocratically]]; [[Septimius Worod]], Odaenathus' viceroy and one of Palmyra's most important officials, disappeared from the record after Zenobia's ascent.{{sfn|Stoneman|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA117 117]}} The queen opened the doors of her government to Eastern nobility.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA86 86]}} Zenobia's most important courtiers and advisers were her generals, Septemius Zabdas and Septimius Zabbai;{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA95 95]}} both of whom were generals under Odaenathus and received the ''[[Roman naming conventions#Nomen|gentilicium]]'' (surname) "Septimius" from him.{{sfn|Potter|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=7HKFAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA257 257]}}

Odaenathus respected the Roman emperor's privilege of appointing provincial governors,{{sfn|Ando|2012|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=bpd3tBPN4v8C&pg=PA171 171]}} and Zenobia continued this policy during her early reign.{{sfn|Southern|2008|pp= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA87 87], [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA88 88]}} Although the queen did not interfere in day-to-day administration, she probably had the power to command the governors in the organization of border security.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA88 88]}} During the rebellion, Zenobia maintained Roman forms of administration,{{sfn|Southern|2008|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA116 116]}} but appointed the governors herself (most notably in Egypt,{{sfn|Southern|2008|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA115 115]}} where [[Julius Marcellinus]] took office in 270 and was followed by [[Statilius Ammianus]] in 271).{{#tag:ref|One of Statilius' inscriptions is firmly dated to spring 272, so he could have been appointed by the Romans who regained Egypt at that time.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA169 169]}}|group=note}}{{sfn|Southern|2008|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA88 88]}}

======Agreement with Rome======
[[Image:Antoninian Vaballathus Augustus (obverse).jpg|thumb|alt=Old coin|''Antoninianus'' of Vaballathus as emperor ([[augustus (title)|''augustus'']]), AD 272.]]

Zenobia initially avoided provoking Rome by claiming for herself and her son the titles, inherited from Odaenathus, of subject of Rome and protector of its eastern frontier.{{sfn|Bryce|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=Xno9AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA299 299]}} After expanding her territory, she seems to have tried to be recognized as an imperial partner in the eastern half of the empire and presented her son as subordinate to the emperor.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA67 67]}}{{sfn|Bryce|Birkett-Rees|2016|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=gDAFDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA282 282]}}{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA118 118]}} In late 270, Zenobia minted coinage bearing the portraits of Aurelian and Vaballathus; Aurelian was titled "emperor", and Vaballathus "king".{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA67 67]}} The regnal year in early samples of the coinage was only Aurelian's.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA67 67]}} By March 271,{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA68 68]}} despite indicating Aurelian as the paramount monarch by naming him first in the dating formulae, the coinage also began bearing Vaballathus' regnal year.{{sfn|Ando|2012|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=G9qqBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA210 210]}} By indicating in the coinage that Vaballathus' reign began in 267 (three years before the emperor's), Vaballathus appeared to be Aurelian's senior colleague.{{sfn|Ando|2012|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=G9qqBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA210 210]}}

The emperor's blessing of Palmyrene authority has been debated;{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA118 118]}} Aurelian's acceptance of Palmyrene rule in Egypt may be inferred from the [[Oxyrhynchus]] papyri, which are dated by the regnal years of the emperor and Vaballathus.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA67 67]}}{{sfn|Ando|2012|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=G9qqBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA211 211]}} No proof of a formal agreement exists, and the evidence is based solely on the joint coinage- and papyri-dating.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA118 118]}} It is unlikely that Aurelian would have accepted such power-sharing,{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA67 67]}} but he was unable to act in 271 due to crises in the West.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA118 118]}}{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA67 67]}} His apparent condoning of Zenobia's actions may have been a ruse to give her a false sense of security while he prepared for war.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA118 118]}}{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA67 67]}} Another reason for Aurelian's tolerance may have been his desire to ensure a constant [[Cura Annonae|supply of Egyptian grain to Rome]];{{sfn|Drinkwater|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=MNSyT_PuYVMC&pg=PA52 52]}} it is not recorded that the supply was cut, and the ships sailed to Rome in 270 as usual.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA115 115]}} Some modern scholars, such as [[:de:Harold B. Mattingly|Harold Mattingly]], suggest that Claudius Gothicus had concluded a formal agreement with Zenobia which Aurelian ignored.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA190 190]}}

====Empress and open rebellion====
[[File:ZENOBIA - RIC V 2 - 80000750.jpg|thumb|alt=Both sides of a coin commemorating Zenobia|Coin of Zenobia as empress with [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]] on the reverse, AD 272]]

An inscription, found in Palmyra and dated to August 271, called Zenobia ''eusebes'' (the pious);{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA68 68]}} this title, used by Roman empresses, could be seen as a step by the queen toward an imperial title.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA69 69]}} Another contemporary inscription called her ''sebaste'', the Greek equivalent of "empress" (Latin: ''[[Augusta (honorific)|Augusta]]''), but also acknowledged the Roman emperor.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA69 69]}}{{#tag:ref|An Egyptian grain receipt dated to June 241 refers to both Aurelian and Vaballathus as ''[[Augustus (honorific)|Augusti]]'', but it is considered an anomaly and most likely a scribal error.{{sfn|Watson|2004|pp= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA69 69], [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA240 240]}}{{sfn|Andrade|2018|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mLhwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA176 176]}}|group=note}} Finally, Palmyra officially broke with Rome;{{sfn|Dignas|Winter|2007|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=MG2hqcRDvJgC&pg=PA161 161]}} the Alexandrian and Antiochian mints removed Aurelian's portrait from the coins in April 272, issuing new [[tetradrachm]]s in the names of Vaballathus and Zenobia (who were called ''Augustus'' and ''Augusta'', respectively).{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA69 69]}} On Zenobia's ''antoninianus''&nbsp;of 272, she appeared as a Roman ruler, depicting herself in the style of the Syrian Empresses: [[Julia Domna]], [[Julia Mamaea]] and [[Julia Soaemias]].{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA126 126]}} Zenobia's use of images of [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]] and [[Jupiter (god)|Jupiter]] on her and her son's coins, respectively, reflected an attempt to present her and her son as supreme heads of Rome.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rocca |first=Samuele |date=2019-06-29 |title=Antoninianus depicting the head of Zenobia and Juno Regina (272 CE) |url=https://www.judaism-and-rome.org/antoninianus-depicting-head-zenobia-and-juno-regina-272-ce |access-date=2026-03-06 |website=Judaism and Rome |language=en}}</ref>

The assumption of imperial titles by Zenobia signaled a [[Usurper|usurpation]]: independence from, and open rebellion against, Aurelian.{{sfn|Southern|2015|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=2p9hCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA169 169]}} The timeline of events and why Zenobia declared herself empress is vague.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA120 120]}} In the second half of 271,{{sfn|Potter|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=7HKFAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA266 266]}} Aurelian marched to the East, but was delayed by the [[Goths]] in the Balkans;{{sfn|Southern|2015|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=2p9hCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA169 169]}} this may have alarmed the queen, driving her to claim the imperial title.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA120 120]}} Zenobia also probably understood the inevitability of open conflict with Aurelian, and decided that feigning subordination would be useless;{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA121 121]}} her assumption of the imperial title was used to rally soldiers to her cause.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA121 121]}} Aurelian's campaign seems to have been the main reason for the Palmyrene imperial declaration and the removal of his portrait from its coins.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA69 69]}}{{sfn|Young|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=E5yCAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA162 162]}}

====Downfall====
[[File:AurelianusPalmyra272.png|thumb|Route of Aurelian's campaign]]

The usurpation, which began in late March or early April 272, ended by August.{{sfn|Hartmann|2001|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=BdcHK8Ll1jMC&pg=PA359 359]}} Aurelian spent the winter of 271–272 in [[Byzantium]],{{sfn|Southern|2015|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=2p9hCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA170 170]}} and probably crossed the [[Bosporus]] to Asia Minor in April 272.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA133 133]}} Galatia fell easily; the Palmyrene garrisons were apparently withdrawn, and the provincial capital of Ancyra was regained without a struggle.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA71 71]}} All the cities in Asia Minor opened their doors to the Roman emperor, with only [[Tyana]] putting up some resistance before [[Siege of Tyana (272)|surrendering]]; this cleared the path for Aurelian to invade Syria, the Palmyrene heartland.{{sfn|Watson|2004|pp= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA71 71], [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA72 72]}} A simultaneous expedition reached Egypt in May 272; by early June Alexandria was captured by the Romans, followed by the rest of Egypt by the third week of June.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA71 71]}} Zenobia seems to have withdrawn most of her armies from Egypt to focus on Syria—which, if lost, would have meant the end of Palmyra.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA133 133]}}

In May 272, Aurelian headed toward Antioch.{{sfn|Hartmann|2001|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=BdcHK8Ll1jMC&pg=PA368 268]}} About {{convert|40|km}} north of the city, he defeated the Palmyrene army (led by Zabdas) at the [[Battle of Immae]].{{sfn|Hartmann|2001|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=BdcHK8Ll1jMC&pg=PA368 268]}}{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA73 73]}} As a result, Zenobia, who waited in Antioch during the battle, retreated with her army to Emesa.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA74 74]}} To conceal the disaster and make her flight safer, she spread reports that Aurelian was captured; Zabdas found a man who resembled the Roman emperor and paraded him through Antioch.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA137 137]}} The following day, Aurelian entered the city before marching south.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA74 74]}} After defeating a Palmyrene garrison south of Antioch,{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA75 75]}} Aurelian continued his march to meet Zenobia in the [[Battle of Emesa]].{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA75 75]}}

The 70,000-strong Palmyrene army, assembled on the plain of Emesa, nearly routed the Romans.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA75 75]}} In an initial thrill of victory they hastened their advance, breaking their lines and enabling the Roman infantry to attack their flank.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA75 75]}} The defeated Zenobia headed to her capital on the advice of her war council, leaving her treasury behind.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA76 76]}} In Palmyra, the empress prepared for a siege;{{sfn|Powers|2010|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=A7joBeDsajcC&pg=PA133 133]}} Aurelian blockaded food-supply routes,{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA143 143]}} and there were probably unsuccessful negotiations.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA144 144]}} According to the ''Augustan History'', Zenobia said that she would fight Aurelian with the help of her Persian allies; however, the story was probably fabricated and used by the emperor to link Zenobia to Rome's greatest enemy.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA144 144]}} If such an alliance existed, a much-larger frontier war would have erupted; however, no Persian army was sent.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA144 144]}} As the situation worsened, the queen left the city for Persia intending to seek help from Palmyra's former enemy; according to Zosimus, she rode a "female camel, the fastest of its breed and faster than any horse".{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA76 76]}}{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA145 145]}}

==Captivity and fate==
[[File:Poikile quadriportico Villa Adriana.jpg|thumb|alt=Man-made pond with ducks swimming and hills in the background|[[Hadrian's Villa]]; Zenobia reportedly spent her last days in a villa near Hadrian's complex in [[Tivoli, Lazio|Tibur]].]]

Aurelian, learning about Zenobia's departure, sent a contingent which captured the empress before she could cross the Euphrates to Persia;{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA145 145]}} Palmyra capitulated soon after news of Zenobia's captivity reached the city in August 272.{{#tag:ref|Many ancient writers, including [[John Malalas]], [[Avienius|Rufius Festus]], [[Jordanes]], George Syncellus and [[Jerome]], mistakenly wrote that Zenobia was captured at Immae.{{sfn|Downey|2015|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=gTTWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA267 267]}}|group=note}}{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA77 77]}}{{sfn|Hartmann|2001|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=BdcHK8Ll1jMC&pg=PA384 384]}} Aurelian sent the empress and her son to Emesa for trial, followed by most of Palmyra's court elite (including Longinus).{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA146 146]}} According to the ''Augustan History'' and Zosimus, Zenobia blamed her actions on her advisers; however, there are no contemporary sources describing the trial, only later hostile Roman ones.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA146 146]}} The empress's reported cowardice in defeat was probably Aurelian's propaganda; it benefited the emperor to paint Zenobia as selfish and traitorous, discouraging the Palmyrenes from hailing her as a hero.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA146 146]}} Although Aurelian had most of his prisoners executed, he spared the empress and her son to parade her in his planned [[Roman triumph|triumph]].{{sfn|Watson|2004|pp= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA79 79], [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA84 84]}}

Zenobia's fate after Emesa is uncertain since ancient historians left conflicting accounts.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA156 156]}} Zosimus wrote that she died before crossing the Bosporus on her way to Rome; according to this account, the empress became ill or starved herself to death.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA156 156]}} The generally unreliable chronicler [[John Malalas]]{{sfn|Dumitru|2016|p= 261}} wrote that Aurelian humiliated Zenobia by parading her through the eastern cities on a [[dromedary]]; in Antioch, the emperor had her chained and seated on a dais in the [[hippodrome]] for three days before the city's populace.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA156 156]}}{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA79 79]}} Malalas concluded his account by writing that Zenobia appeared in Aurelian's triumph and was then beheaded.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA159 159]}}

Most ancient historians and modern scholars agree that Zenobia was displayed in Aurelian's 274 triumph;{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA159 159]}} Zosimus was the only source to say that the empress died before reaching Rome, making his account questionable.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA83 83]}} A public humiliation (as recounted by Malalas) is a plausible scenario, since Aurelian would probably have wanted to publicize his suppression of the Palmyrene rebellion.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA156 156]}} Only Malalas, however, describes Zenobia's beheading; according to the other historians, her life was spared after Aurelian's triumph.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA159 159]}} The ''[[Augustan History]]'' recorded that Aurelian gave Zenobia a villa in [[Tivoli, Lazio|Tibur]] near [[Hadrian's Villa]], where she lived with her children.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA160 160]}}{{sfn|Bryce|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=q8Z7AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA317 317]}} Zonaras wrote that Zenobia married a nobleman,{{sfn|Banchich|Lane|2009|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8_CBAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA60 60]}} and Syncellus wrote that she married a Roman senator.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA160 160]}} The house she reportedly occupied became a tourist attraction in Rome.{{sfn|Southern|2015|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=2p9hCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA171 171]}}

==Titles==
[[File:Zenobia lead token.png|thumb|Lead token naming Zenobia as queen c. 268]]

The queen owed her elevated position to her son's minority.{{sfn|Stoneman|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA121 121]}} To celebrate Herodianus' coronation, a statue was erected in Palmyra in 263.{{sfn|Hartmann|2001|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=BdcHK8Ll1jMC&pg=PA178 178]}} According to the inscription on the base of the statue, it was commissioned by Septimius Worod, then the ''[[duumviri]]'' (magistrate) of Palmyra, and Julius Aurelius, the Queen's [[Procurator (Ancient Rome)|''procurator'']] (treasurer).{{sfn|Dodgeon|Lieu|2002|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=3gGKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA67 67]}} According to the historian [[David Stone Potter|David Potter]], Zenobia is the queen mentioned, and the inscription is an evidence for the usage of the title by her during Odaenathus' lifetime.{{sfn|Potter|1996|p=274}} An inscription on a milestone on the road between Palmyra and Emesa, dated to Zenobia's early reign,{{sfn|Millar|1993|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=IA-YlZqHv90C&pg=PA172 172]}} identifies her as "illustrious queen, mother of the king of kings";{{sfn|Ando|2012|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=2fTcCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA209 209]}} this was the first inscription giving her an official position.{{sfn|Stoneman|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA118 118]}} A lead token from Antioch also identifies Zenobia as queen.{{#tag:ref|Dated to 268,{{sfn|Cussini|2012|p=161}} its code in Delbert R. Hillers and Eleonora Cussini's work, titled "Palmyrene Aramaic Texts" (PAT),{{sfn|Magnani|Mior|2017|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=diolDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA106 106]}} is PAT 2827, and the inscription read: queen Zenobia.{{sfn|Cussini|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA27 27]}}|group=note}}{{sfn|Bland|2011|p= [https://www.academia.edu/2525613/_The_coinage_of_Vabalathus_and_Zenobia_from_Antioch_and_Alexandria_Numismatic_Chronicle_171_2011 133]}}{{sfn|Cussini|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA27 27]}}

The earliest confirmed attestation of Zenobia as queen in Palmyra is an inscription on the base of a statue erected for her by Zabdas and Zabbai, dated to August 271 and calling her "most illustrious and pious queen".{{sfn|Stoneman|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA118 118]}}{{sfn|Dodgeon|Lieu|2002|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=3gGKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA77 77]}} On an undated milestone found near [[Byblos]], Zenobia is titled ''Sebaste''.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA120 120]}} The queen was never acknowledged as sole monarch in Palmyra, although she was the de facto sovereign of the empire;{{sfn|Stoneman|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA119 119]}} she was always associated with her husband or son in inscriptions, except in Egypt (where some coins were minted in Zenobia's name alone).{{sfn|Stoneman|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA119 119]}} According to her coins, the queen assumed the title of ''Augusta'' (empress) in 272,{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA69 69]}} and reigned under the regnal name Septimia Zenobia Augusta.{{sfn|Macurdy|1937|p= [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015019188914;view=1up;seq=137 113]}} In 272, Zenobia, no longer acting as queen-regent, but as Empress of the East, rode forth to beat back the Roman Empire.{{sfn|Wright|1895|p=[https://archive.org/details/accountofpalmyra00wrigiala/page/145/mode/1up 145]}}

==Descendants==
[[File:Hairan I.jpg|thumb|Septimius Herodianus, might have been the same person as [[Hairan II]], a probable son of Zenobia]]

Aside from Vaballathus, it is unclear if Zenobia had other children, and their alleged identities are subject to scholarly disagreements. The image of a child named [[Hairan II|Hairan]] (II) appears on a seal impression with that of his brother Vaballathus; no name of a mother was engraved and the seal is undated.{{sfn|Hartmann|2001|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=BdcHK8Ll1jMC&pg=PA111 111]}} Odaenathus' son Herodianus is identified by Udo Hartmann with [[Hairan I]], a son of Odaenathus who appears in Palmyrene inscriptions as early as 251.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA9 9]}} David S. Potter, on the other hand, suggested that Hairan II is the son of Zenobia and that he is Herodianus instead of Hairan I.{{sfn|Potter|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=hGuGAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT585 85]}} Nathanael Andrade maintained that Hairan I, Herodianus, and Hairan II are the same person, rejecting the existence of a second Hairan.{{sfn|Andrade|2018|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=mLhwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA121 121]}}

A controversial Palmyrene inscription mentions the mother of the King [[Septimius Antiochus]]; the name of the queen is missing, and Dittenberger refused to fill the gap with Zenobia's name, but many scholars, such as [[Grace Macurdy]] considered that the missing name is Zenobia.{{sfn|Macurdy|1937|p= [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015019188914;view=1up;seq=137 113]}} Septimius Antiochus may have been Vaballathus' younger brother, or was presented in this manner for political reasons; Antiochus was proclaimed emperor in 273, when Palmyra revolted against Rome for a second time.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA5 5]}} If Antiochus was a son of Zenobia, he was probably a young child not fathered by Odaenathus; Zosimus described him as insignificant, appropriate for a five-year-old boy.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA81 81]}} On the other hand, Macurdy, citing the language Zosimus used when he described him, considered it more plausible that Antiochus was not a son of Zenobia, but a family relation who used her name to legitimize his claim to the throne.{{sfn|Macurdy|1937|p= [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015019188914;view=1up;seq=137 113]}}

The names of Herennianus and [[Timolaus of Palmyra|Timolaus]] were mentioned as children of Zenobia only in the ''Historia Augusta''.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA10 10]}} Herennianus may be a conflation of Hairan and Herodianus; Timolaus is probably a fabrication,{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA58 58]}} although the historian [[:de:Dietmar Kienast|Dietmar Kienast]] suggested that he might have been Vaballathus.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA174 174]}} According to the ''Historia Augusta'', Zenobia's descendants were Roman nobility during the reign of Emperor [[Valens]] (reigned 364–375).{{sfn|Stoneman|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA187 187]}} [[Eutropius (historian)|Eutropius]] and [[Jerome]] chronicled the queen's descendants in Rome during the fourth and fifth centuries.{{sfn|Southern|2015|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=2p9hCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA171 171]}}{{sfn|Bryce|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=q8Z7AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA317 317]}} They may have been the result of a reported marriage to a Roman spouse or offspring who accompanied her from Palmyra; both theories, however, are tentative.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA84 84]}} Zonaras is the only historian to note that Zenobia had daughters;{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA84 84]}} he wrote that one married Aurelian, who married the queen's other daughters to distinguished Romans.{{sfn|Banchich|Lane|2009|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8_CBAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA60 60]}} According to Southern, the emperor's marriage to Zenobia's daughter is a fabrication.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA160 160]}} Another descent claim is the relation of saint [[Zenobius of Florence]] (337–417) with the queen; the Girolami banking family claimed descent from the fifth century saint,{{sfn|Cornelison|2002|p= 436}} and the alleged relation was first noted in 1286.{{sfn|Cornelison|2002|p= 441}} The family also extended their roots to Zenobia by claiming that the saint was a descendant of her.{{sfn|Cornelison|2002|p= 440}}

==Evaluation and legacy==
An evaluation of Zenobia is difficult; the queen was courageous when her husband's supremacy was threatened and by seizing the throne, she protected the region from a power vacuum after Odaenathus' death.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA87 87]}} According to Watson, she made what Odaenathus left her a "glittering show of strength".{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA88 88]}} In the view of Watson, Zenobia should not be seen as a total powermonger, nor as a selfless hero fighting for a cause; according to the historian David Graf, "She took seriously the titles and responsibilities she assumed for her son and that her program was far more ecumenical and imaginative than that of her husband Odenathus, not just more ambitious".{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA88 88]}}

Zenobia has inspired scholars, academics, musicians and actors; her fame has lingered in the West, and is supreme in the [[Middle East]].{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 1]}} As a heroic queen with a tragic end, she stands alongside Cleopatra and [[Boudica]].{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 1]}} The queen's legend turned her into an idol, that can be reinterpreted to accommodate the needs of writers and historians; thus, Zenobia has been by turns a freedom fighter, a hero of the oppressed and a national symbol.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA2 2]}} The queen is a female role model;{{sfn|Slatkin|2001|p= [https://archive.org/details/womenartistsinhi00slat 144]}} according to the historian [[Michael Rostovtzeff]], [[Catherine the Great]] liked to compare herself to Zenobia as a woman who created military might and an intellectual court.{{sfn|Stoneman|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA121 121]}} During the 1930s, thanks to an Egyptian-based feminist press, Zenobia became an icon for women's-magazine readers in the Arabic-speaking world as a strong, nationalistic female leader.{{sfn|Booth|2011|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=nr9Ivt-pc0IC&pg=PA239 239]}}

Her most lasting legacy is in Syria, where the queen is a national symbol.{{sfn|Sahner|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=dBIoBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT153 134]}} Zenobia became an icon for [[Syrian nationalism|Syrian nationalists]]; she had a cult following among Western-educated Syrians, and an 1871 novel by journalist [[Salim Al Bustani]] was entitled ''Zenobia malikat Tadmor'' (''Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra'').{{sfn|Choueiri|2013|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=zUJFAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA66 66]}} Syrian nationalist [[Ilyas Matar]], who wrote Syria's first history in Arabic in 1874,{{sfn|Iggers|Wang|Mukherjee|2013|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=AXXaAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA94 94]}}{{sfn|Abu-Manneh|1992|p= [https://books.google.com/books?hl=nl&id=5Z66AAAAIAAJ&dq 22]}} (''al-'Uqud al-durriyya fi tarikh al-mamlaka al-Suriyya''; ''The Pearl Necklace in the History of the Syrian Kingdom''),{{sfn|Choueiri|2013|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=aUJFAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA226 226]}} was fascinated by Zenobia and included her in his book.{{sfn|Choueiri|2013|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=zUJFAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA51 51]}} To Matar, the queen kindled hope for a new Zenobia who would restore Syria's former grandeur.{{sfn|Choueiri|2013|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=zUJFAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA51 51]}} Another history of Syria was written by [[Jurji Yanni]] in 1881,{{sfn|Pipes|1992|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=J3PsAb1uV94C&pg=PA14 14]}} in which Yanni called Zenobia a "daughter of the fatherland", and yearned for her "glorious past".{{sfn|Choueiri|2013|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=zUJFAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA57 57]}} Yanni described Aurelian as a tyrant who deprived Syria of its happiness and independence by capturing its queen.{{sfn|Choueiri|2013|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=zUJFAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA57 57]}}

In modern Syria, Zenobia is regarded as a patriotic symbol; her image appeared on [[Syrian pound|banknotes]],{{sfn|Sahner|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=dBIoBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT153 134]}} and in 1997 she was the subject of the television series [[Al-Ababeed]] (''The Anarchy'').{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 1]}} The series was watched by millions in the Arabic-speaking world.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 1]}} It examined the [[Israeli–Palestinian conflict]] from a Syrian perspective, where the queen's struggle symbolized the Palestinians' struggle to gain the right of self-determination.{{sfn|Sahner|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=dBIoBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT153 134]}} Zenobia was also the subject of a biography by [[Mustafa Tlass]], Syria's former minister of defense and one of the country's most prominent figures.{{sfn|Sahner|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=dBIoBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT153 134]}}

== <span class="anchor" id="Myths, romanticism and popular culture"></span> Myth, romanticism and popular culture ==
Harold Mattingly called Zenobia "one of the most romantic figures in history".{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA87 87]}} According to Southern, "The real Zenobia is elusive, perhaps ultimately unattainable, and novelists, playwrights and historians alike can absorb the available evidence, but still need to indulge in varied degrees of speculation."{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA16 16]}}

She has been the subject of romantic and ideologically-driven biographies by ancient and modern writers.{{sfn|Sartre|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA16 16]}}{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA10 10]}} The ''Augustan History'' is the clearest example of an ideological account of Zenobia's life, and its author acknowledged that it was written to criticize the emperor [[Gallienus]].{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA10 10]}} According to the ''Augustan History'', Gallienus was weak because he allowed a woman to rule part of the empire and Zenobia was a more able sovereign than the emperor. The narrative changed as the ''Augustan History'' moved on to the life of [[Claudius Gothicus]], a lauded and victorious emperor, with the author characterizing Zenobia's protection of the eastern frontier as a wise delegation of power by Claudius.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA11 11]}} When the ''Augustan History'' reached the biography of Aurelian, the author's view of Zenobia changed dramatically; the queen is depicted as a guilty, insolent, proud coward;{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA11 11]}} her wisdom was discredited and her actions deemed the result of manipulation by advisers.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA12 12]}}

Zenobia's "staunch" beauty was emphasized by the author of the ''Augustan History'', who ascribed to her feminine timidity and inconsistency (the reasons for her alleged betrayal of her advisers to save herself). The queen's sex posed a dilemma for the ''Augustan History'' since it cast a shadow on Aurelian's victory.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA85 85]}} Its author ascribed many masculine traits to Zenobia to make Aurelian a conquering hero who suppressed a dangerous [[Amazons|Amazon]] queen.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA85 85]}} According to the ''Augustan History'', Zenobia had a clear, manly voice, dressed as an emperor (rather than an empress), rode horseback, was attended by [[eunuchs]] instead of [[Lady-in-waiting|ladies-in-waiting]], marched with her army, drank with her generals, was careful with money (contrary to the stereotypical spending habits of her sex) and pursued masculine hobbies such as hunting.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA86 86]}} [[Giovanni Boccaccio]] wrote a fanciful fourteenth-century account of the queen in which she is a [[tomboy]] in childhood who preferred wrestling with boys, wandering in the forests and killing goats to playing like a young girl.{{sfn|Fraser|2011|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=iW5VS9G6unUC&pg=PT79 79]}} Zenobia's chastity was a theme of these romanticized accounts; according to the ''Augustan History'', she disdained sexual intercourse and allowed Odaenathus into her bed only for conception.{{sfn|Fraser|2011|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=iW5VS9G6unUC&pg=PT79 79]}} Her reputed chastity impressed some male historians; [[Edward Gibbon]] wrote that Zenobia surpassed Cleopatra in chastity and valor.{{sfn|Fraser|2011|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=iW5VS9G6unUC&pg=PT79 79]}} According to Boccaccio, Zenobia safeguarded her virginity when she wrestled with boys as a child.{{sfn|Fraser|2011|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=iW5VS9G6unUC&pg=PT79 79]}}

Seventeenth-century visitors to Palmyra rekindled the Western world's romantic interest in Zenobia.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA12 12]}} This interest peaked during the mid-nineteenth century, when [[Lady Hester Stanhope]] visited Palmyra and wrote that its people treated her like the queen; she was reportedly greeted with singing and dancing, and [[Bedouin]] warriors stood on the city's columns.{{sfn|Ball|2016|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=hblTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA85 85]}} A procession ended with a mock coronation of Stanhope under the [[Monumental Arch of Palmyra|arch of Palmyra]] as "queen of the desert".{{sfn|Ball|2016|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=hblTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA85 85]}} [[William Ware]], fascinated by Zenobia, wrote a fanciful account of her life. Twentieth-century novelists and playwrights, such as [[Haley Elizabeth Garwood]] and [[Nick Dear]], also wrote about the queen.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA16 16]}}

=== <span class="anchor" id="Cultural depictions of Zenobia: selected works"></span> Selected cultural depictions ===
{{Multiple image|align=right|direction=vertical|image1=Hosmer.jpg|image2=Herbert Schmalz-Zenobia.jpg|alt1=Bust of Zenobia|caption1=[[Harriet Hosmer]]'s ''Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra'' (1857)|alt2=Painting of Zenobia gazing over Plamyra|caption2=''Queen Zenobia's Last Look upon Palmyra'' by [[Herbert Gustave Schmalz]] (1888)}}

* Sculptures:
** ''Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra'' (1857) by [[Harriet Hosmer]], exhibited at the [[Art Institute of Chicago]].{{sfn|Kelly|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=PfLzXKeVKzEC&pg=PA8 8]}}
** ''Zenobia in Chains'' (1859) by Harriet Hosmer. Two copies were made, one exhibited at the [[Huntington Library]] and the other at the [[Saint Louis Art Museum]].{{sfn|Palmer|2020|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=mKLWDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA155 155]}}
* Literature:
** [[Chaucer]] narrates a condensed story of Zenobia's life in one of a series of "tragedies" in "[[The Monk's Tale]]".{{sfn|Godman|1985|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=I4U4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA272 272]}}{{sfn|Stoneman|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA113 113]}}
** ''La gran Cenobia'' (1625) by [[Pedro Calderón de la Barca]].{{sfn|Quintero|2016|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=1u0FDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA52 52]}}
** ''Zénobie, tragédie. Où la vérité de l'Histoire est conservée dans l'observation des plus rigoureuses règles du Poème Dramatique'' (1647) by [[François Hédelin, abbé d'Aubignac|François Hédelin]].{{sfn|Stoneman|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA198 198]}}
** ''Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra; a Narrative, Founded on History''. (1814) by [[Adelaide O'Keeffe]].{{sfn|Ruwe|2012|p= 30}}
** ''The Queen of the East'' (1956) by [[Alexander Baron]].{{sfn|Hartmann|2001|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=BdcHK8Ll1jMC&pg=PA472 472]}}
** ''Moi, Zénobie reine de Palmyre'' (1978) by [[:fr:Bernard Simiot|Bernard Simiot]].{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA16 16]}}
** ''The Chronicle of Zenobia'' (2006) by Judith Weingarten.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA16 16]}}
** "[[A Predicament]]" (1838) by [[Edgar Allan Poe]].
* Paintings:
** ''Queen Zenobia Addressing her Soldiers'' by [[Giovanni Battista Tiepolo|Giambattista Tiepolo]]; it dates to the early eighteenth century but the exact year is not known.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA15 15]}} This painting (part of a series of [[Tableau vivant|tableaux]] of Zenobia) was painted by Tiepolo on the walls of the Zenobio family palace in [[Venice]], although they were unrelated to the queen.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA15 15]}}
** ''Queen Zenobia's Last Look upon Palmyra'' (1888) by [[Herbert Gustave Schmalz]].{{sfn|Stoneman|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA200 200]}}
* Operas:
** ''[[Zenobia (Albinoni)|Zenobia]]'' (1694): [[Tomaso Albinoni]]'s first opera.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA14 14]}}
** ''Zenobia in Palmira'' (1725) by [[Leonardo Leo]].{{sfn|Macy|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=N0zthpCZuAUC&pg=PA472 472]}}
** ''Zenobia'' (1761) by [[Johann Adolph Hasse]].{{sfn|Hansell|1968|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ap8JAQAAMAAJ&q 108]}}
** ''Zenobia in Palmira'' (1789) by [[Pasquale Anfossi]].{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA15 15]}}
** ''Zenobia in Palmira'' (1790) by [[Giovanni Paisiello]].{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA15 15]}}
** ''[[Aureliano in Palmira]]'' (1813) by [[Gioachino Rossini]].{{sfn|Gallo|2012|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=mcEiihJ5p9MC&pg=PA254 254]}}
** ''Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra'' (1882) by [[Silas G. Pratt]].{{sfn|Hartmann|2001|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=BdcHK8Ll1jMC&pg=PA473 473]}}
** ''Zenobia'' (2007) by [[Mansour Rahbani]].{{sfn|Fraser|2011|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=iW5VS9G6unUC&pg=PT86 86]}}
* Play: ''Zenobia'' (1995), by [[Nick Dear]], was first performed at the [[Young Vic]] as a co-production with the [[Royal Shakespeare Company]].{{sfn|Dear|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=H1W8BQAAQBAJ&pg=PT118 118]}}
* Song: "Zenobia" (1971), written by the [[Rahbani Brothers]] and sang by [[Fairuz]] as part of the Rahbani Brothers' 1971 musical play ''Nas Min Waraq'' (people of paper).{{sfn|Aliksān|1989|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=nuMLAAAAIAAJ&q 112]}}
* Film: ''[[Sheba and the Gladiator|Nel Segno di Roma]]'', a 1959 Italian film starring [[Anita Ekberg]].{{sfn|Wood|2006|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=6ReFDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA59 59]}}
* Television: ''[[Al-Ababeed]]'' (1997), Syrian television series starring [[Raghda]] as Zenobia.{{sfn|Gallo|2012|p=1}}
* Video games: Zenobia appears as a playable Archer-class Servant in the 2015 mobile game ''[[Fate/Grand Order]]'' by Lasengle and Aniplex.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2toWE7UL7u8 |title=Fate/Grand Order - Zenobia Servant Introduction |date=2023-10-12 |last=Aniplex USA |access-date=2024-09-26 |via=YouTube}}</ref> She is also playable as the faction leader of Palmyra in ''Empire Divided'' (2017), an [[expansion pack]] for the strategy game ''[[Total War: Rome II]]'' (2013).<ref>{{cite web|first=Colin|last=Campbell|title=Total War: Rome 2 celebrates ancient rulers on International Women’s Day|url=https://www.polygon.com/2018/3/7/17093542/total-war-rome-2-international-womens-day/|work=[[Polygon (website)|Polygon]]|date=7 March 2018|access-date=15 March 2026}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Crisis of the Third Century]]
* [[Gallic Empire]]
* [[Mavia (queen)]]
* [[Zenobia of Armenia]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|group=note}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist|20em}}

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* {{Cite book |last=Shahîd |first=Irfan |title=Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century (Part1: Political and Military History) |volume=1 |year=1995 |publisher=Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection |isbn=978-0-88402-214-5}}
* {{Cite book |title=Private Households and Public Politics in 3rd–5th Century Jewish Palestine |series=Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism |volume=90 |first=Alexei |last=Sivertsev |year=2002 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |isbn=978-3-16-147780-5}}
* {{Cite book |title=Women Artists in History: From Antiquity to the Present |first=Wendy |last=Slatkin |orig-year=1985 |year=2001 |edition=4 |publisher=Prentice Hall |isbn=978-0-13-027319-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/womenartistsinhi00slat}}
* {{Cite book |title=The Jews Under Roman Rule: From Pompey to Diocletian |first=E. Mary |last=Smallwood |publisher=Brill |year=1976 |isbn=978-90-04-04491-3}}
* {{Cite book |title=Roman Palmyra: Identity, Community, and State Formation |first=Andrew M. |last=Smith II |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-19-986110-1}}
* {{Cite book |title=Empress Zenobia: Palmyra's Rebel Queen |first=Patricia |last=Southern |publisher=A&C Black |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-4411-4248-1}}
* {{Cite book |title=The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine |first=Patricia |last=Southern |publisher=Routledge |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-317-49694-6}}
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* {{Cite book |last=Teixidor |first=Javier |editor-first=Eleonora |editor-last=Cussini |title=A Journey to Palmyra: Collected Essays to Remember Delbert R. Hillers |chapter=Palmyra in the third century |year=2005 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-12418-9}}
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* {{Cite book |last=Young |first=Gary K. |year=2003 |title=Rome's Eastern Trade: International Commerce and Imperial Policy 31 BC – AD 305 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-54793-7}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading ==
* {{Cite book |editor-last=Burgersdijk |editor-first=Diederik |year=2008 |title=Zenobia van Palmyra. Vorstin Tussen Europese en Arabische Traditie |language=nl |series=Armada: Tijdschrift voor Wereldliteratuur 53 |publisher=Uitgeverij Wereldbibliotheek |isbn=978-9-028-42256-8}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Woltering |first=Robbert A. F. L. |year=2014 |title=Zenobia or al-Zabbāʾ: The Modern Arab Literary Reception of the Palmyran Protagonist |journal=Middle Eastern Literatures |publisher=Routledge |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=25–42 |doi=10.1080/1475262X.2014.903047 |issn=1475-262X |s2cid=162487602}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links|wikt=Ζηνοβία|commons=Zenobia|n=no|q=no|s=Portal:Zenobia|b=no|v=no}}
* [http://www.roman-emperors.org/zenobia.htm Vaballathus and Zenobia]
* [https://www.livius.org/paa-pam/palmyra/zenobia.html Zenobia: empress of Palmyra (267–272)] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014174446/http://www.livius.org/paa-pam/palmyra/zenobia.html |date=2012-10-14 }})

{{Palmyra}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zenobia}}

[[Category:Zenobia| ]]
[[Category:240s births]]
[[Category:270s deaths]]
[[Category:3rd-century Roman women]]
[[Category:3rd-century people]]
[[Category:3rd-century regents]]
[[Category:3rd-century women monarchs]]
[[Category:Augustae]]
[[Category:Crisis of the Third Century]]
[[Category:Egyptian queens regnant]]
[[Category:Empresses regnant in Asia]]
[[Category:Imperial Roman rebels]]
[[Category:Monarchs taken prisoner in wartime]]
[[Category:Palmyrene Empire]]
[[Category:Palmyrene monarchs]]
[[Category:Queens of ancient Egypt]]
[[Category:Septimii]]
[[Category:Thirty Tyrants (Roman)]]
[[Category:Women in 3rd-century warfare]]
[[Category:Women in ancient Near Eastern warfare]]
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]

[[Category:Year of death uncertain]]