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93-647: Septimia Zenobia ( Palmyrene Aramaic : 𐡡𐡶𐡦𐡡𐡩 ‎, Bat-Zabbai ; c. 240 – c. 274) was a third-century queen of the Palmyrene Empire in Syria . Many legends surround her ancestry; she was probably not a commoner and she married the ruler of the city, Odaenathus . Her husband became king in 260, elevating Palmyra to supreme power in the Near East by defeating the Sasanian Empire of Persia and stabilizing

186-461: A "Nafsha", sister of the "queen of Palmyra", but those sources are confused and "Nafsha" may refer to Zenobia herself: it is doubtful that Zenobia had a sister. Apparently not a commoner, Zenobia would have received an education appropriate for a noble Palmyrene girl. The Historia Augusta contains details of her early life, although their veracity is dubious; according to the Historia Augusta ,

279-462: A Palmyrene inscription as a strategos of Palmyra in 231–232; based on the similarity of the names, Zenobius was suggested as Zenobia's father by the numismatist Alfred von Sallet and others. 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 . However,

372-531: A Palmyrene-Blemmyes alliance. 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). During the Egyptian campaign, Rome was entangled in a succession crisis between Claudius' brother Quintillus and the general Aurelian . Egyptian papyri and coinage confirm Palmyrene rule in Egypt;

465-470: A center of learning, with many intellectuals and sophists reported in Palmyra during her reign. As academics migrated to the city, it replaced classical learning centers such as Athens for Syrians. The best-known court philosopher was Longinus , who arrived during Odaenathus' reign and became Zenobia's tutor in paideia (aristocratic education). Many historians, including Zosimus, accused Longinus of influencing

558-411: A city which embraced many cults. The queen's realm was culturally divided into eastern-Semitic and Hellenistic zones; Zenobia tried to appease both, and seems to have successfully appealed to the region's ethnic, cultural and political groups. The queen projected an image of a Syrian monarch, a Hellenistic queen and a Roman empress, which gained broad support for her cause. Zenobia turned her court into

651-470: A dark complexion” and considered “most lovely,” and that she “equalled in beauty her [claimed] ancestor Cleopatra.” British scholar William Wright visited Palmyra toward the end of the nineteenth century in a vain search for a sculpture of the queen. In addition to archaeological evidence, Zenobia's life was recorded in different ancient sources but many are flawed or fabricated; the Historia Augusta ,

744-646: A distant ancestor: the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes or Antiochus VII Sidetes , whose wife was the Ptolemaic Cleopatra Thea . In the historian Richard Stoneman 's view, Zenobia would not have created an obscure ancestry to connect herself with the ancient Macedonian rulers: if a fabricated ancestry were needed, a more direct connection would have been invented. According to Stoneman, Zenobia "had reason to believe [her Seleucid ancestry] to be true". The historian Patricia Southern , noting that Antiochus

837-567: A false sense of security while he prepared for war. Another reason for Aurelian's tolerance may have been his desire to ensure a constant supply of Egyptian grain to Rome ; it is not recorded that the supply was cut, and the ships sailed to Rome in 270 as usual. Some modern scholars, such as Harold Mattingly , suggest that Claudius Gothicus had concluded a formal agreement with Zenobia which Aurelian ignored. An inscription, found in Palmyra and dated to August 271, called Zenobia eusebes (the pious); this title, used by Roman empresses, could be seen as

930-567: 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. Zenobia embarked on several restoration projects in Egypt. 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

1023-418: A late-Roman collection of biographies, is the most notable (albeit unreliable) source for the era. The author (or authors) of the Historia Augusta invented many events and letters attributed to Zenobia in the absence of contemporary sources. Some Historia Augusta accounts are corroborated from other sources, and are more credible. The Byzantine chronicler Joannes Zonaras is considered an important source for

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1116-548: A similarly valuable catalogue of the Cambridge University Library collection. The manuscripts in this collection came mainly from Anglican Missionaries based at Urmiah. His Short history of Syriac literature was written originally as an encyclopedia article, and so has no proper sub-divisions. It was republished after his death in book form, and has remained a basic handbook for the student of Syriac. The material in it comes from various sources, but much of it from

1209-452: 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. 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. The non-contemporary historian Edward Gibbon has described her as being “of

1302-564: A step by the queen toward an imperial title. Another contemporary inscription called her sebaste , the Greek equivalent of "empress" (Latin: Augusta ), but also acknowledged the Roman emperor. A late-271 Egyptian grain receipt equated Aurelian and Vaballathus, jointly calling them Augusti . Finally, Palmyra officially broke with Rome; the Alexandrian and Antiochian mints removed Aurelian's portrait from

1395-426: A time because she did not accept her stepson as his father's heir (ahead of her own children). The Historia Augusta does not suggest that Zenobia was involved in the events leading to her husband's murder, and the crime is attributed to Maeonius' moral degeneration and jealousy. This account, according to the historian Alaric Watson , can be dismissed as fictional. Although some modern scholarship suggests that Zenobia

1488-509: A view supported by Southern and the historian Udo Hartmann , and backed by ancient sources (such as the Roman historian Eutropius , who wrote that the queen inherited her husband's power). The Historia Augusta also mentioned that Zenobia took control of the East during Gallienus' reign. Further evidence of extended territorial control was a statement by the Byzantine historian Zosimus , who wrote that

1581-691: A vital role in Zenobia's defeat and the destruction of her city. There is no evidence of Zenobia's birth as a Jew; the names of her and her husband's families belonged to the Aramaic onomasticon (collection of names). The queen's alleged patronage of Paul of Samosata (who was accused of "Judaizing"), may have given rise to the idea that she was a proselyte. Only Christian accounts note Zenobia's Jewishness; no Jewish source mentions it. The queen probably spent most of her reign in Antioch, Syria's administrative capital. Before

1674-565: Is also remembered for the Short history of Syriac literature . Wright was born in Bengal to Alexander Wright and Johanna Leonora Christina Overbeek, daughter of the last resident of Dutch Bengal , Daniel Anthony Overbeek . He was educated at St Andrew's University , Halle and Leiden . He was Professor of Arabic at University College London from 1855 to 1856, and Professor of Arabic at Trinity College, Dublin from 1856 to 1861. From 1861 to 1869 he

1767-423: Is dated two or three years after Odaenathus' death, so exactly when Zenobia assumed the title "queen of Palmyra" is uncertain. However, she was probably designated as queen when her husband became king. As queen consort , Zenobia remained in the background and was not mentioned in the historical record. According to later accounts, including one by Giovanni Boccaccio , she accompanied her husband on his campaigns. If

1860-429: Is immersed in legends. Although the account is certainly based on the story of Zenobia, it is probably conflated with the story of a semi-legendary nomadic Arab queen (or queens). Al-Zabba' 's fortress was probably Halabiye , which was restored by the historic Palmyrene queen and named Zenobia. During the early centuries AD, Palmyra was a city subordinate to Rome and part of the province of Syria Phoenice . In 260

1953-460: Is more likely. 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 . Although she never claimed to rule in her own right and acted as a regent for her son, Zenobia held the reins of power in the kingdom, and Vaballathus was kept in his mother's shadow, never exercising real power. The Palmyrene monarchy

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2046-416: Is no direct evidence in Egyptian coinage or papyri of a contemporary conflation of Zenobia with Cleopatra. The connection may have been invented by Zenobia's enemies to discredit her, 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

2139-532: 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. This theory ignores the fact that the Euphrates route was only partially disrupted, and overlooks Zenobia's ambition. 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. Watson, emphasizing

2232-465: The Near East . According to Iamblichus , the great Greek philosophers reused Near Eastern and Egyptian ideas. 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. Nicostratus wrote

2325-511: The Oxyrhynchus papyri, which are dated by the regnal years of the emperor and Vaballathus. No proof of a formal agreement exists, and the evidence is based solely on the joint coinage- and papyri-dating. It is unlikely that Aurelian would have accepted such power-sharing, but he was unable to act in 271 due to crises in the West. His apparent condoning of Zenobia's actions may have been a ruse to give her

2418-753: The 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. The Jerusalem Talmud , in 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. 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?" During Aurelian's destruction of Palmyra, Palestinian conscripts with "clubs and cudgels" (who may have been Jews) played

2511-545: The province of Arabia Petraea ); the queen's timing seems intentional. In Arabia the Roman governor ( dux ), Trassus (commanding the Legio III Cyrenaica ), confronted the Palmyrenes and was routed and killed. Zabdas sacked the city , and destroyed the temple of Zeus Hammon , the legion's revered shrine. A Latin inscription after the fall of Zenobia attests to its destruction: "The temple of Iuppiter Hammon, destroyed by

2604-500: The Arians . In 391, archbishop John Chrysostom wrote that Zenobia was Jewish; so did a Syriac chronicler around 664 and bishop Bar Hebraeus in the thirteenth century. According to French scholar Javier Teixidor , Zenobia was probably a proselyte ; this explained her strained relationship with the rabbis. Teixidor believed that Zenobia became interested in Judaism when Longinus spoke about

2697-474: The East were caught between loyalty to the emperor and Zenobia's increasing demands for allegiance. The timing and rationale of the queen's decision to use military force to strengthen her authority in the East is unclear; scholar Gary K. Young suggested that Roman officials refused to recognize Palmyrene authority, and Zenobia's expeditions were intended to maintain Palmyrene dominance. Another factor may have been

2790-767: The Eastern Cemetery. His early publications of Syriac material appeared in the Journal of Sacred Literature in the 1860s. These included the publication of the Syriac text of An ancient Syrian martyrology in the October 1865 issue. He then went on to publish texts and translations of various works listed below. He also translated and edited Caspari's Grammar of the Arabic Language (2 vols., London, 1859–62); collected and edited Opuscula Arabica (Leyden, 1859). His main achievement

2883-485: The Jews to make them into synagogues"; although the queen was not a Christian, she understood the power of bishops in Christian communities. 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. She may have bestowed on Paul

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2976-519: The Palmyrene enemies, which ... rebuilt, with a silver statue and iron doors (?)". The city of Umm el-Jimal may have also been destroyed by the Palmyrenes in connection with their efforts to subjugate the Tanukhids. After his victory, Zabdas marched south along the Jordan Valley and apparently met little opposition. There is evidence that Petra was attacked by a small contingent which penetrated

3069-400: The Palmyrenes withdrew their main force and left a 5,000-soldier garrison. By early November, Tenagino Probus returned and assembled an army; he expelled the Palmyrenes and regained Alexandria, prompting Zabdas to return. 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. The last battle

3162-497: The Roman East. After Odaenathus' assassination, Zenobia became the regent of her son Vaballathus and held de facto power throughout his reign. In 270, Zenobia launched an invasion that brought most of the Roman East under her sway and culminated with the annexation of Egypt . By mid-271 her realm extended from Ancyra , central Anatolia , to Upper Egypt , although she remained nominally subordinate to Rome. However, in reaction to

3255-531: The Roman emperor Valerian marched against the Sassanid Persian monarch Shapur I , who had invaded the empire's eastern regions; Valerian was defeated and captured near Edessa . Odaenathus, formally loyal to Rome and its emperor Gallienus (Valerian's son), was declared king of Palmyra. Launching successful campaigns against Persia, he was crowned King of Kings of the East in 263. Odaenathus crowned his eldest son, Herodianus , as co-ruler. In addition to

3348-398: The Roman system), which Zenobia used for her son in his earliest known inscriptions with "King of Kings". Although the Roman emperors accepted the royal succession, the assumption of Roman military rank antagonized the empire. Emperor Gallienus may have decided to intervene in an attempt to regain central authority; according to the Historia Augusta , praetorian prefect Aurelius Heraclianus

3441-596: 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. In 269, while Claudius Gothicus (Gallienus' successor) was defending the borders of Italy and the Balkans against Germanic invasions, Zenobia was cementing her authority; Roman officials in

3534-490: 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. According to the Historia Augusta , Odaenathus was assassinated by a cousin named Maeonius . In the Historia Augusta , Odaenathus' son from his first wife was named Herodes and was crowned co-ruler by his father. The Historia Augusta claims that Zenobia conspired with Maeonius for

3627-497: The ancestor of the family. In Greek —Palmyra's diplomatic and second language, used in many Palmyrene inscriptions—she used the name Zenobia. In Palmyra, when written in Greek, names such as Zabeida, Zabdila, Zabbai or Zabda were often transformed into "Zenobios" (masculine) and "Zenobia" (feminine). The element "Zabbai" from Zenobia's native name means "gift of N.N. [god]", and the name Zenobia translates to "one whose life derives from Zeus ". The historian Victor Duruy believed that

3720-490: The campaign of the Roman emperor Aurelian in 272, Zenobia declared her son emperor and assumed the title of empress, thus declaring Palmyra's secession from Rome. The Romans were victorious after heavy fighting; the empress was besieged in her capital and captured 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

3813-494: The coinage was only Aurelian's. By March 271, despite indicating Aurelian as the paramount monarch by naming him first in the dating formulae, the coinage also began bearing Vaballathus' regnal year. 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. The emperor's blessing of Palmyrene authority has been debated; Aurelian's acceptance of Palmyrene rule in Egypt may be inferred from

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3906-460: The coins in April 272, issuing new tetradrachms in the names of Vaballathus and Zenobia (who were called Augustus and Augusta , respectively). The assumption of imperial titles by Zenobia signaled a usurpation : independence from, and open rebellion against, Aurelian. The timeline of events and why Zenobia declared herself empress is vague. In the second half of 271, Aurelian marched to the East, but

3999-426: The cracks. 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. Zenobia followed the Palmyrene paganism, where a number of Semitic gods , with Bel at the head of the pantheon, were worshipped. Zenobia accommodated Christians and Jews , and ancient sources made many claims about

4092-492: The economic interests conflicted; Bostra and Egypt received trade which would have otherwise passed through Palmyra. The Tanukhids near Bostra and the merchants of Alexandria probably attempted to rid themselves of Palmyrene domination, triggering a military response from Zenobia. In the spring of 270, while Claudius was fighting the Goths in the mountains of Thrace , Zenobia sent her general Septimius Zabdas to Bosra (capital of

4185-436: The emperor and the central authority was unprecedented and elastic, but relations remained smooth until his death. His assassination meant that the Palmyrene rulers' authority and position had to be clarified, which led to a conflict over their interpretation. 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. This conflict

4278-451: The emperor. 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. If this was the case, the events of 270 (which saw Zenobia's conquest of the Levant and Egypt ) are extraordinary. It is more likely that the queen ruled the territories controlled by her late husband,

4371-529: The first millennium BC by King Ptolemy Euergetes ( I or II ) was found. At a much later date, the plaque was re-inscribed to commemorate the restoration of immunity "on the orders of the queen and king". Although it is undated, the letters of the inscription date to long after Cleopatra and Anthony's era; Zenobia and her son are the only candidates for a king and a queen ruling Egypt after the Ptolemies. The historian E. Mary Smallwood wrote that good relations with

4464-638: The governors and military leaders of the eastern provinces apparently acknowledged and supported Vaballathus as the successor of Odaenathus. During Zenobia's early regency, she focused on safeguarding the borders with Persia and pacifying the Tanukhids in Hauran . To protect the Persian borders, the queen fortified many settlements on the Euphrates (including the citadels of Halabiye —later called Zenobia—and Zalabiye ). Circumstantial evidence exists for confrontations with

4557-409: The king named Alexandria "my ancestral city", which indicates a claim to Ptolemaic ancestry. Zenobia's alleged claim of a connection to Cleopatra seems to have been politically motivated, since it would have given her a connection with Egypt and made her a legitimate successor to the Ptolemies' throne. A relationship between Zenobia and the Ptolemies is unlikely, and attempts by classical sources to trace

4650-434: The life of Zenobia. Palmyrene society was an amalgam of 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 Aramean ancestry. Information about Zenobia's ancestry and immediate family connections is scarce and contradictory. Nothing is known about her mother, and her father's identity is debated. Manichaean sources mention

4743-427: The linguist Jean-Baptiste Chabot pointed out that Zenobius' statue stood opposite to that of Odaenathus not Zenobia and rejected Waddington's hypothesis. 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

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4836-455: The mint began issuing coinage in Vaballathus' name. The Arabian milestones presented the Palmyrene king as a Roman governor and commander, referring to him as vir clarissimus rex consul imperator dux Romanorum . The assumption of such titles was probably meant to legitimize Zenobia's control of the province, not yet a usurpation of the imperial title. Until now, Zenobia could say that she

4929-461: The monarchy, Palmyra had the institutions of a Greek city ( polis ) and was ruled by a senate which was responsible for most civil affairs. Odaenathus maintained Palmyra's institutions, as did Zenobia; a Palmyrene inscription after her fall records the name of Septimius Haddudan , a Palmyrene senator. However, the queen apparently ruled autocratically ; Septimius Worod , Odaenathus' viceroy and one of Palmyra's most important officials, disappeared from

5022-467: 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. The Palmyrenes annexed Galatia and, according to Zosimus, reached Ancyra . Bithynia and the Cyzicus mint remained beyond Zenobia's control, and her attempts to subdue Chalcedon failed. The Asia Minor campaign is poorly documented, but

5115-423: The papyri stopped using the regnal years 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. There is no evidence that Zenobia ever visited Egypt. Although

5208-512: The philosopher Porphyry and his interest in the Old Testament . Although Talmudic sources were hostile to Palmyra because of Odaenathus' suppression of the Jews of Nehardea , Zenobia apparently had the support of some Jewish communities (particularly in Alexandria). In Cairo , a plaque originally bearing an inscription confirming a grant of immunity to a Jewish synagogue in the last quarter of

5301-441: The process) assumed his father's royal titles immediately, and his earliest known inscription records him as King of Kings. Odaenathus controlled a large area of the Roman East, and held the highest political and military authority in the region, superseding that of the Roman provincial governors. His self-created status was formalized by Emperor Gallienus, who had little choice but to acquiesce. Odaenathus's power relative to that of

5394-410: The province, whose society was fractured; Zenobia had supporters and opponents among local Egyptians. The Roman position was worsened by the absence of Egypt's prefect , Tenagino Probus , who was battling pirates. 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. After their victory,

5487-456: 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. During the rebellion, Zenobia maintained Roman forms of administration, but appointed the governors herself (most notably in Egypt, where Julius Marcellinus took office in 270 and was followed by Statilius Ammianus in 271). Zenobia initially avoided provoking Rome by claiming for herself and her son

5580-467: The queen had a residence in Antioch . 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. 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. According to Hartmann,

5673-453: The queen to oppose Rome. This view presents the queen as malleable, but, according to Southern, Zenobia's actions "cannot be laid entirely at Longinus' door". Other intellectuals associated with the court included Nicostratus of Trapezus and Callinicus of Petra. From the second to the fourth centuries, Syrian intellectuals argued that Greek culture did not evolve in Greece but was adapted from

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5766-402: The queen used the Greek name as a translation of her native name, in deference to her Greek subjects. The philologist Wilhelm Dittenberger argued that the name Bat-Zabbai underwent a detortum (twist), thus resulting in the name Zenobia. The ninth-century historian al-Tabari , in his highly fictionalized account, wrote that the queen's name was Na'ila al-Zabba'. Manichaean sources, reporting

5859-506: The queen's ancestry to the Ptolemies through the Seleucids are apocryphal . Although some Arab historians linked Zenobia to the Queen of Sheba , their accounts are apocryphal. Medieval Arabic traditions identify a queen of Palmyra named al-Zabba', and her most romantic account comes from al-Tabari. According to al-Tabari, she was an Amalekite ; her father was 'Amr ibn Zarib, an 'Amālīq sheikh who

5952-719: The queen's beliefs; Manichaean sources alleged that Zenobia was one of their own; 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 Lakhmid king Amr ibn Adi . It is more likely, however, that Zenobia tolerated all cults in an effort to attract support from groups marginalized by Rome. Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria wrote that Zenobia did not "hand over churches to

6045-614: The queen's hobby as a child was hunting and, in addition to her Palmyrene Aramaic mother tongue, she was fluent in Egyptian and Greek and spoke Latin . When she was about fourteen years old (ca. 255), Zenobia became the second wife of Odaenathus , the ras ("lord") of Palmyra. Noble families in Palmyra often intermarried, and it is probable that Zenobia and Odaenathus shared some ancestors. Basing their suppositions upon archaeological evidence, various historians have suggested several men as Zenobia's father: Julius Aurelius Zenobius appears on

6138-428: The rank of ducenarius (minor judge); he apparently enjoyed the queen's protection, which helped him keep the diocesan church after he was removed from his office as bishop of Antioch by a synod of bishops in 268. Hughes suggested that Paul's position while Zenobia ruled was in the state treasury. Less than a hundred years after Zenobia's reign, Athanasius of Alexandria called her a "Jewess" in his History of

6231-471: The record after Zenobia's ascent. The queen opened the doors of her government to Eastern nobility. Zenobia's most important courtiers and advisers were her generals, Septemius Zabdas and Septimius Zabbai; both of whom were generals under Odaenathus and received the gentilicium (surname) "Septimius" from him. Odaenathus respected the Roman emperor's privilege of appointing provincial governors, and Zenobia continued this policy during her early reign. Although

6324-586: The region. Arabia and Judaea were eventually subdued. Palmyrene dominance of Arabia is confirmed by many milestones bearing Vaballathus' name. Syrian subjugation required less effort because Zenobia had substantial support there, particularly in Antioch, Syria's traditional capital. The invasion of Arabia coincided with the cessation of coin production in Claudius' name by the Antiochean mint , indicating that Zenobia had begun tightening her grip on Syria. By November 270,

6417-501: The removal of his portrait from its coins. Palmyrene Aramaic The dual had disappeared from it. The written Palmyrene language was composed in a rounded script that later exhibited resemblances to the Syriac Estrangela script. This Semitic languages -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . William Wright (orientalist) William Wright (17 January 1830 – 22 May 1889)

6510-454: The royal titles, Odaenathus received many Roman titles , most importantly corrector totius orientis (governor of the entire East), and ruled the Roman territories from the Black Sea to Palestine . In 267, when Zenobia was in her late twenties or early thirties, Odaenathus and his eldest son were assassinated while returning from a campaign. The first inscription mentioning Zenobia as queen

6603-456: The titles, inherited from Odaenathus, of subject of Rome and protector of its eastern frontier. 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. In late 270, Zenobia minted coinage bearing the portraits of Aurelian and Vaballathus; Aurelian was titled "emperor", and Vaballathus "king". The regnal year in early samples of

6696-520: The visit of the apostle Addai to the region during the time of Odaenathus, called Zenobia "Queen Tadi", wife of kysr (caesar). 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 , where Zenobia is named Queen Thadmor. No contemporary statues of Zenobia have been found in Palmyra or elsewhere, only inscriptions on statues bases survive, indicating that

6789-424: 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. 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. Also, according to Schwartz,

6882-555: The western part of the region did not become part of the queen's authority; no coins with Zenobia or Vaballathus' portraits were minted in Asia Minor, and no royal Palmyrene inscriptions have been found. By August 271 Zabdas was back in Palmyra, with the Palmyrene empire at its zenith. Zenobia ruled an empire of different peoples; as a Palmyrene, she was accustomed to dealing with multilingual and multicultural diversity since she hailed from

6975-491: The works of Zonaras and Syncellus and dismissing Zosimus' account, places the invasion in October 270 (after Claudius' death). According to Watson, the occupation of Egypt was an opportunistic move by Zenobia (who was encouraged by the news of Claudius' death in August). Zenobia was declared Queen of Egypt after Palmyrene invasion of Egypt . The appearance of the Palmyrenes on Egypt's eastern frontier would have contributed to unrest in

7068-512: Was Aurelius), and it cannot be proven that the queen changed her gentilicium to Septimia after her marriage. One of Zenobia's inscriptions recorded her as "Septimia Bat-Zabbai, daughter of Antiochus". Antiochus' identity is not definitively known: his ancestry is not recorded in Palmyrene inscriptions, and the name was not common in Palmyra. This, combined with the meaning of Zenobia's Palmyrene name (daughter of Zabbai), led scholars such as Harald Ingholt to speculate that Antiochus might have been

7161-543: Was a famous English Orientalist, and Professor of Arabic in the University of Cambridge . Many of his works on Syriac literature are still in print and of considerable scholarly value, especially the catalogues of the holdings of the British Library and Cambridge University Library . A Grammar of The Arabic Language , often simply known as Wright's Grammar , continues to be a popular book with students of Arabic. Wright

7254-494: 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. 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; an "imperator" was a commander of troops, not the equal of an emperor ( "imperator caesar" ). The invasion of Egypt

7347-526: Was an Assistant in the Department of Manuscripts at the British Museum, and from 1869 to 1870 Assistant Keeper at the museum. In 1870 he was appointed Sir Thomas Adams's Professor of Arabic at Cambridge University, and he held the chair there until his death in 1889. On death he was returned to St Andrews for burial. His grave lies against the eastern wall of St Andrew's Cathedral churchyard, backing onto

7440-516: Was as a cataloguer of manuscript collections. The rich Syriac holdings of the British Museum (now in the British Library) were mainly obtained in the 1840s from the monastery of Deir al'Syriani in the Nitrian desert in Egypt and contained a large number of previously unknown texts. Wright's catalogue included excerpts from unpublished texts, and is still a valuable reference even today. He also compiled

7533-644: Was at the Babylon Fortress , where Tenagino Probus took refuge; the Romans had the upper hand, since they chose their camp carefully. Timagenes, with his knowledge of the land, ambushed the Roman rear; Tenagino Probus committed suicide, and Egypt became part of Palmyra. In the Historia Augusta the Blemmyes were among Zenobia's allies, and Gary K. Young cites the Blemmyes attack and occupation of Coptos in 268 as evidence of

7626-401: Was born c. 240–241, and bore the gentilicium (surname) Septimia. Her native Palmyrene name was Bat-Zabbai (written "Btzby" in the Palmyrene alphabet ), an Aramaic name meaning "daughter of Zabbai". 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

7719-579: Was born out of a levirate marriage , she was theoretically the daughter of Zabbai, hence the name. In the Historia Augusta , Zenobia is said to have been a descendant of Cleopatra and claimed descent from the Ptolemies. According to the Souda , a 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia, after the Palmyrene conquest of Egypt, the sophist Callinicus of Petra wrote a ten-volume history of Alexandria dedicated to Cleopatra. According to modern scholars, by Cleopatra Callinicus meant Zenobia. Apart from legends, there

7812-483: Was delayed by the Goths in the Balkans; this may have alarmed the queen, driving her to claim the imperial title. Zenobia also probably understood the inevitability of open conflict with Aurelian, and decided that feigning subordination would be useless; her assumption of the imperial title was used to rally soldiers to her cause. Aurelian's campaign seems to have been the main reason for the Palmyrene imperial declaration and

7905-468: Was dispatched to assert imperial authority over the east and was repelled by the Palmyrene army . The account is doubtful, however, since Heraclianus participated in Gallienus' assassination in 268. 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

7998-468: 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. In the Historia Augusta , Maeonius was emperor briefly before he was killed by his soldiers, however, no inscriptions or evidence exist for his reign. At the time of Odaenathus' assassination, Zenobia might have been with her husband; according to chronicler George Syncellus , he

8091-516: Was killed by the Tanukhids . Al-Tabari identifies a sister of al-Zabba' as "Zabibah". Jadhimah ibn Malik, the Tanukhid king who killed the queen's father, was killed by al-Zabba'. According to al-Tabari, al-Zabba' had a fortress along the Euphrates and ruled Palmyra. Al-Tabari's account does not mention the Romans, Odaenathus, Vaballathus or the Sassanians; focusing on the tribes and their relations, it

8184-470: Was killed near Heraclea Pontica in Bithynia . 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. 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

8277-402: 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. 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. The historian Trevor Bryce suggests that she

8370-487: 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. Odaenathus tried to ensure the dynasty's future by crowning his eldest son co-king, but both were assassinated. 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). Vaballathus (with Zenobia orchestrating

8463-450: 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. Zenobia

8556-444: Was related to Septimius Zabbai , Palmyra's garrison leader, and he may even have been her father. 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

8649-432: Was the first step on the road to war between Rome and Palmyra. 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. 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

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