Zenobia

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

Inscription at Palmyra honoring Julius Aurelius Zenobius, believed by some to be Zenobia's father

Julius Aurelius Zenobius appears on a Palmyrene inscription as a strategos of Palmyra in 231–232; based on the similarity of the names,[24] Zenobius was suggested as Zenobia's father by the numismatist Alfred von Sallet and others.[31] 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, the linguist Jean-Baptiste Chabot pointed out that Zenobius' statue stood opposite to that of Odaenathus not Zenobia and rejected Waddington's hypothesis.[14] 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),[4] and it cannot be proven that the queen changed her gentilicium to Septimia after her marriage.[note 4][24][31]

One of Zenobia's inscriptions recorded her as "Septimia Bat-Zabbai, daughter of Antiochus".[33][34] Antiochus' identity is not definitively known:[23] his ancestry is not recorded in Palmyrene inscriptions, and the name was not common in Palmyra.[35] 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 a distant ancestor: the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes or Antiochus VII Sidetes, whose wife was the Ptolemaic Cleopatra Thea.[33][35] 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.[27] According to Stoneman, Zenobia "had reason to believe [her Seleucid ancestry] to be true".[27] The historian 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.[35]

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.[23] The historian Trevor Bryce suggests that she was related to Septimius Zabbai, Palmyra's garrison leader, and he may even have been her father.[23] 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.[36]

In the Historia Augusta, Zenobia is said to have been a descendant of Cleopatra and claimed descent from the Ptolemies.[note 5][9] According to the Souda, a 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia,[37] after the Palmyrene conquest of Egypt,[38] the sophist Callinicus of Petra wrote a ten-volume history of Alexandria dedicated to Cleopatra.[39] According to modern scholars, by Cleopatra Callinicus meant Zenobia.[note 6][39][41] Apart from legends, there is no direct evidence in Egyptian coinage or papyri of a contemporary conflation of Zenobia with Cleopatra.[42] The connection may have been invented by Zenobia's enemies to discredit her,[note 7][44] 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.[45][46] Zenobia's alleged claim of a connection to Cleopatra seems to have been politically motivated,[22] since it would have given her a connection with Egypt and made her a legitimate successor to the Ptolemies' throne.[47] A relationship between Zenobia and the Ptolemies is unlikely,[48] and attempts by classical sources to trace the queen's ancestry to the Ptolemies through the Seleucids are apocryphal.[49]

Although some Arab historians linked Zenobia to the Queen of Sheba, their accounts are apocryphal.[49] Medieval Arabic traditions identify a queen of Palmyra named al-Zabba',[50] and her most romantic account comes from al-Tabari.[51] According to al-Tabari, she was an Amalekite; her father was 'Amr ibn Zarib, an 'Amālīq sheikh who was killed by the Tanukhids.[49] Al-Tabari identifies a sister of al-Zabba' as "Zabibah".[49] Jadhimah ibn Malik, the Tanukhid king who killed the queen's father, was killed by al-Zabba'.[51] According to al-Tabari, al-Zabba' had a fortress along the Euphrates and ruled Palmyra.[15]

Al-Tabari's account does not mention the Romans, Odaenathus, Vaballathus or the Sassanians;[15] focusing on the tribes and their relations, it is immersed in legends.[52] Although the account is certainly based on the story of Zenobia,[15] it is probably conflated with the story of a semi-legendary nomadic Arab queen (or queens).[53][52] Al-Zabba''s fortress was probably Halabiye, which was restored by the historic Palmyrene queen and named Zenobia.[15]

Odaenathus, a bust dated to the 250s

During the early centuries AD, Palmyra was a city subordinate to Rome and part of the province of Syria Phoenice.[54] In 260 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.[55] Odaenathus, formally loyal to Rome and its emperor Gallienus (Valerian's son),[56] was declared king of Palmyra.[57] Launching successful campaigns against Persia, he was crowned King of Kings of the East in 263.[58] Odaenathus crowned his eldest son, Herodianus, as co-ruler.[59] In addition to 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.[60] In 267, when Zenobia was in her late twenties or early thirties, Odaenathus and his eldest son were assassinated while returning from a campaign.[59]

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.[61] However, she was probably designated as queen when her husband became king.[61] As queen consort, Zenobia remained in the background and was not mentioned in the historical record.[62] According to later accounts, including one by Giovanni Boccaccio, she accompanied her husband on his campaigns.[63] 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.[62]

According to the Historia Augusta, Odaenathus was assassinated by a cousin named Maeonius.[64] In the Historia Augusta, Odaenathus' son from his first wife was named Herodes and was crowned co-ruler by his father.[65] 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).[64] The Historia Augusta does not suggest that Zenobia was involved in the events leading to her husband's murder,[66] and the crime is attributed to Maeonius' moral degeneration and jealousy.[64] This account, according to the historian Alaric Watson, can be dismissed as fictional.[67] 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.[68]

Vaballathus, Zenobia's son and successor of his father Odaenathus (on the obverse of an antoninianus, AD 272)

In the Historia Augusta , Maeonius was emperor briefly before he was killed by his soldiers,[66] however, no inscriptions or evidence exist for his reign.[69] 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.[70] 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.[70] 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.[70] 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.[71] Although she never claimed to rule in her own right and acted as a regent for her son,[72] Zenobia held the reins of power in the kingdom,[73] and Vaballathus was kept in his mother's shadow, never exercising real power.[74]

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.[75] Odaenathus tried to ensure the dynasty's future by crowning his eldest son co-king, but both were assassinated.[76] 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).[76] Vaballathus (with Zenobia orchestrating the process) assumed his father's royal titles immediately, and his earliest known inscription records him as King of Kings.[76][71]

Roman regions under Odaenathus (yellow) and the Palmyrene kingdom (green)

Odaenathus controlled a large area of the Roman East,[note 8] and held the highest political and military authority in the region, superseding that of the Roman provincial governors.[78][59] His self-created status was formalized by Emperor Gallienus,[79] who had little choice but to acquiesce.[80] Odaenathus's power relative to that of the emperor and the central authority was unprecedented and elastic, but relations remained smooth until his death.[81] His assassination meant that the Palmyrene rulers' authority and position had to be clarified, which led to a conflict over their interpretation.[81] 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.[81] This conflict was the first step on the road to war between Rome and Palmyra.[81]

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.[82] 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".[76] Although the Roman emperors accepted the royal succession, the assumption of Roman military rank antagonized the empire.[83] Emperor Gallienus may have decided to intervene in an attempt to regain central authority;[34] 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.[84] The account is doubtful, however, since Heraclianus participated in Gallienus' assassination in 268.[85] 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.[note 9][85]

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.[note 10][87] If this was the case, the events of 270 (which saw Zenobia's conquest of the Levant and Egypt) are extraordinary.[86] It is more likely that the queen ruled the territories controlled by her late husband,[86] a view supported by Southern and the historian Udo Hartmann,[88] and backed by ancient sources (such as the Roman historian Eutropius, who wrote that the queen inherited her husband's power).[86] The Historia Augusta also mentioned that Zenobia took control of the East during Gallienus' reign.[86][88] Further evidence of extended territorial control was a statement by the Byzantine historian Zosimus, who wrote that the queen had a residence in Antioch.[note 11][86]

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.[note 12][90] 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.[91] According to Hartmann, the governors and military leaders of the eastern provinces apparently acknowledged and supported Vaballathus as the successor of Odaenathus.[91] During Zenobia's early regency, she focused on safeguarding the borders with Persia and pacifying the Tanukhids in Hauran.[92] To protect the Persian borders, the queen fortified many settlements on the Euphrates (including the citadels of Halabiye—later called Zenobia—and Zalabiye).[93] 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.[note 13][94][95]

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 the East were caught between loyalty to the emperor and Zenobia's increasing demands for allegiance.[96] The timing and rationale of the queen's decision to use military force to strengthen her authority in the East is unclear;[96] scholar Gary K. Young suggested that Roman officials refused to recognize Palmyrene authority, and Zenobia's expeditions were intended to maintain Palmyrene dominance.[97] 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.[97] 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.[98] Also, according to Schwartz, the economic interests conflicted; Bostra and Egypt received trade which would have otherwise passed through Palmyra.[99] The Tanukhids near Bostra and the merchants of Alexandria probably attempted to rid themselves of Palmyrene domination, triggering a military response from Zenobia.[99]

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 Septimius Zabdas to Bosra (capital of the province of Arabia Petraea);[96] the queen's timing seems intentional.[100] In Arabia the Roman governor (dux), Trassus (commanding the Legio III Cyrenaica),[note 14] confronted the Palmyrenes and was routed and killed.[96] Zabdas sacked the city, and destroyed the temple of Zeus Hammon, the legion's revered shrine.[96] A Latin inscription after the fall of Zenobia attests to its destruction:[102] "The temple of Iuppiter Hammon, destroyed by the Palmyrene enemies, which ... rebuilt, with a silver statue and iron doors (?)".[103] The city of Umm el-Jimal may have also been destroyed by the Palmyrenes in connection with their efforts to subjugate the Tanukhids.[102]

After his victory, Zabdas marched south along the Jordan Valley and apparently met little opposition.[96] There is evidence that Petra was attacked by a small contingent which penetrated the region.[104] Arabia and Judaea were eventually subdued.[104] Palmyrene dominance of Arabia is confirmed by many milestones bearing Vaballathus' name.[101] Syrian subjugation required less effort because Zenobia had substantial support there, particularly in Antioch,[105] Syria's traditional capital.[89] 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.[105] By November 270, the mint began issuing coinage in Vaballathus' name.[106]

The Arabian milestones presented the Palmyrene king as a Roman governor and commander, referring to him as vir clarissimus rex consul imperator dux Romanorum.[101] The assumption of such titles was probably meant to legitimize Zenobia's control of the province, not yet a usurpation of the imperial title.[107] 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.[108] 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;[82] an "imperator" was a commander of troops, not the equal of an emperor ("imperator caesar").[107]

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.[109] This theory ignores the fact that the Euphrates route was only partially disrupted, and overlooks Zenobia's ambition.[104] 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.[110] Watson, emphasizing the works of Zonaras and Syncellus and dismissing Zosimus' account, places the invasion in October 270 (after Claudius' death).[111] According to Watson, the occupation of Egypt was an opportunistic move by Zenobia (who was encouraged by the news of Claudius' death in August).[104][112] Zenobia was declared Queen of Egypt after Palmyrene invasion of Egypt.[113] 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.[104]

Palmyra at its zenith in 271

The Roman position was worsened by the absence of Egypt's prefect, Tenagino Probus, who was battling pirates.[104][110] 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.[112][100] After their victory, the Palmyrenes withdrew their main force and left a 5,000-soldier garrison.[100] By early November,[104] Tenagino Probus returned and assembled an army; he expelled the Palmyrenes and regained Alexandria, prompting Zabdas to return.[100] 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.[104] 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.[105] Timagenes, with his knowledge of the land, ambushed the Roman rear; Tenagino Probus committed suicide, and Egypt became part of Palmyra.[105] In the Historia Augusta the Blemmyes were among Zenobia's allies,[114] and Gary K. Young cites the Blemmyes attack and occupation of Coptos in 268 as evidence of a Palmyrene-Blemmyes alliance.[115]

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).[100] 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; 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.[106] There is no evidence that Zenobia ever visited Egypt.[116]

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.[117] The Palmyrenes annexed Galatia and, according to Zosimus, reached Ancyra.[44] Bithynia and the Cyzicus mint remained beyond Zenobia's control, and her attempts to subdue Chalcedon failed.[117] The Asia Minor campaign is poorly documented, but the western part of the region did not become part of the queen's authority;[44][118] no coins with Zenobia or Vaballathus' portraits were minted in Asia Minor, and no royal Palmyrene inscriptions have been found.[118] By August 271 Zabdas was back in Palmyra, with the Palmyrene empire at its zenith.[117]

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.[119] 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.[120] The queen projected an image of a Syrian monarch, a Hellenistic queen and a Roman empress, which gained broad support for her cause.[121]

The right 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.[122] As academics migrated to the city, it replaced classical learning centers such as Athens for Syrians.[122] The best-known court philosopher was Longinus,[123] who arrived during Odaenathus' reign and became Zenobia's tutor in paideia (aristocratic education).[124][122] Many historians, including Zosimus, accused Longinus of influencing the queen to oppose Rome.[125][124] This view presents the queen as malleable,[124] but, according to Southern, Zenobia's actions "cannot be laid entirely at Longinus' door".[38] Other intellectuals associated with the court included Nicostratus of Trapezus and Callinicus of Petra.[126]

From the second to the fourth centuries, Syrian intellectuals argued that Greek culture did not evolve in Greece but was adapted from the Near East.[126] According to Iamblichus, the great Greek philosophers reused Near Eastern and Egyptian ideas.[127] 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.[127] 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.[126]

Zenobia embarked on several restoration projects in Egypt.[128] 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.[129] 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.[130]

Palmyra's most important deities: (right to left) Bel, Yarhibol, Aglibol and Baalshamin

Zenobia followed the Palmyrene paganism,[131] where a number of Semitic gods, with Bel at the head of the pantheon, were worshipped.[132] Zenobia accommodated Christians and Jews,[119] and ancient sources made many claims about the queen's beliefs;[41] Manichaean sources alleged that Zenobia was one of their own;[133] 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.[134] It is more likely, however, that Zenobia tolerated all cults in an effort to attract support from groups marginalized by Rome.[41]

Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria wrote that Zenobia did not "hand over churches to the Jews to make them into synagogues";[135] although the queen was not a Christian, she understood the power of bishops in Christian communities.[136] 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.[136] She may have bestowed on Paul 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.[137] Hughes suggested that Paul's position while Zenobia ruled was in the state treasury.[138][note 15]

Less than a hundred years after Zenobia's reign, Athanasius of Alexandria called her a "Jewess" in his History of the Arians.[135] 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.[135] According to French scholar Javier Teixidor, Zenobia was probably a proselyte; this explained her strained relationship with the rabbis.[142] Teixidor believed that Zenobia became interested in Judaism when Longinus spoke about the philosopher Porphyry and his interest in the Old Testament.[142] Although Talmudic sources were hostile to Palmyra because of Odaenathus' suppression of the Jews of Nehardea,[143] Zenobia apparently had the support of some Jewish communities (particularly in Alexandria).[117] In Cairo,[144] 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 (I or II) was found.[144] At a much later date, the plaque was re-inscribed to commemorate the restoration of immunity "on the orders of the queen and king".[128][144] 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.[128][145]

The historian E. Mary Smallwood wrote that good relations with 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.[143] The 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.[146] 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?"[147] 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.[148]

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).[142] The queen's alleged patronage of Paul of Samosata (who was accused of "Judaizing"),[143] may have given rise to the idea that she was a proselyte.[41] Only Christian accounts note Zenobia's Jewishness; no Jewish source mentions it.[149]

The queen probably spent most of her reign in Antioch,[116] Syria's administrative capital.[89] 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.[150][151] Odaenathus maintained Palmyra's institutions, as did Zenobia;[152] a Palmyrene inscription after her fall records the name of Septimius Haddudan, a Palmyrene senator.[153] However, the queen apparently ruled autocratically; Septimius Worod, Odaenathus' viceroy and one of Palmyra's most important officials, disappeared from the record after Zenobia's ascent.[154] The queen opened the doors of her government to Eastern nobility.[119] Zenobia's most important courtiers and advisers were her generals, Septemius Zabdas and Septimius Zabbai;[123] both of whom were generals under Odaenathus and received the gentilicium (surname) "Septimius" from him.[155]

Odaenathus respected the Roman emperor's privilege of appointing provincial governors,[156] and Zenobia continued this policy during her early reign.[157] 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.[158] During the rebellion, Zenobia maintained Roman forms of administration,[44] but appointed the governors herself (most notably in Egypt,[159] where Julius Marcellinus took office in 270 and was followed by Statilius Ammianus in 271).[note 16][158]

Palmyrene antoninianus minted in Antioch in AD 271, showing Aurelian (left) as emperor and Vaballathus as king

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.[92] 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.[161][108][162] In late 270, Zenobia minted coinage bearing the portraits of Aurelian and Vaballathus; Aurelian was titled "emperor", and Vaballathus "king".[161] The regnal year in early samples of the coinage was only Aurelian's.[161] By March 271,[163] despite indicating Aurelian as the paramount monarch by naming him first in the dating formulae, the coinage also began bearing Vaballathus' regnal year.[164] 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.[164]

The emperor's blessing of Palmyrene authority has been debated;[162] 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.[161][165] No proof of a formal agreement exists, and the evidence is based solely on the joint coinage- and papyri-dating.[162] It is unlikely that Aurelian would have accepted such power-sharing,[161] but he was unable to act in 271 due to crises in the West.[162][161] 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.[162][161] Another reason for Aurelian's tolerance may have been his desire to ensure a constant supply of Egyptian grain to Rome;[166] it is not recorded that the supply was cut, and the ships sailed to Rome in 270 as usual.[159] Some modern scholars, such as Harold Mattingly, suggest that Claudius Gothicus had concluded a formal agreement with Zenobia which Aurelian ignored.[42]

Coin of Zenobia as empress with Juno on the reverse, AD 272

An inscription, found in Palmyra and dated to August 271, called Zenobia eusebes (the pious);[163] this title, used by Roman empresses, could be seen as a step by the queen toward an imperial title.[167] Another contemporary inscription called her sebaste, the Greek equivalent of "empress" (Latin: Augusta), but also acknowledged the Roman emperor.[167] A late-271 Egyptian grain receipt equated Aurelian and Vaballathus, jointly calling them Augusti.[167] Finally, Palmyra officially broke with Rome;[168] the Alexandrian and Antiochian mints removed Aurelian's portrait from the coins in April 272, issuing new tetradrachms in the names of Vaballathus and Zenobia (who were called Augustus and Augusta, respectively).[167]

The assumption of imperial titles by Zenobia signaled a usurpation: independence from, and open rebellion against, Aurelian.[169] The timeline of events and why Zenobia declared herself empress is vague.[170] In the second half of 271,[171] Aurelian marched to the East, but was delayed by the Goths in the Balkans;[169] this may have alarmed the queen, driving her to claim the imperial title.[170] Zenobia also probably understood the inevitability of open conflict with Aurelian, and decided that feigning subordination would be useless;[172] her assumption of the imperial title was used to rally soldiers to her cause.[172] Aurelian's campaign seems to have been the main reason for the Palmyrene imperial declaration and the removal of his portrait from its coins.[167][98]

Route of Aurelian's campaign

The usurpation, which began in late March or early April 272, ended by August.[173] Aurelian spent the winter of 271–272 in Byzantium,[174] and probably crossed the Bosporus to Asia Minor in April 272.[175] Galatia fell easily; the Palmyrene garrisons were apparently withdrawn, and the provincial capital of Ancyra was regained without a struggle.[176] All the cities in Asia Minor opened their doors to the Roman emperor, with only Tyana putting up some resistance before surrendering; this cleared the path for Aurelian to invade Syria, the Palmyrene heartland.[177] 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.[176] 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.[175]

In May 272, Aurelian headed toward Antioch.[178] About 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of the city, he defeated the Palmyrene army (led by Zabdas) at the Battle of Immae.[178][179] As a result, Zenobia, who waited in Antioch during the battle, retreated with her army to Emesa.[180] 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.[181] The following day, Aurelian entered the city before marching south.[180] After defeating a Palmyrene garrison south of Antioch,[182] Aurelian continued his march to meet Zenobia in the Battle of Emesa.[182]

The 70,000-strong Palmyrene army, assembled on the plain of Emesa, nearly routed the Romans.[182] In an initial thrill of victory they hastened their advance, breaking their lines and enabling the Roman infantry to attack their flank.[182] The defeated Zenobia headed to her capital on the advice of her war council, leaving her treasury behind.[183] In Palmyra, the queen prepared for a siege;[184] Aurelian blockaded food-supply routes,[185] and there were probably unsuccessful negotiations.[186] 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.[186] If such an alliance existed, a much-larger frontier war would have erupted; however, no Persian army was sent.[186] As the situation worsened, the queen left the city for Persia intending on seeking help from Palmyra's former enemy; according to Zosimus, she rode a "female camel, the fastest of its breed and faster than any horse".[183][187]

Harriet Hosmer's Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra (1857)

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.[245]
• Zenobia in Chains (1859) by Harriet Hosmer. Two copies were made, one exhibited at the Huntington Library and the other at the St Louis Art Museum.[246]

• Literature:

• Chaucer narrates a condensed story of Zenobia's life in one of a series of "tragedies" in "The Monk's Tale".[247][28]
• La gran Cenobia (1625) by Pedro Calderón de la Barca.[248]
• Zénobie, tragédie. Où la vérité de l'Histoire est conservée dans l'observation des plus rigoureuses règles du Poème Dramatique (1647) by François Hédelin.[249]
• Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra; a Narrative, Founded on History. (1814) by Adelaide O'Keeffe.[250]
• The Queen of the East (1956) by Alexander Baron.[251]
• Moi, Zénobie reine de Palmyre (1978) by Bernard Simiot.[252]
• The Chronicle of Zenobia (2006) by Judith Weingarten.[252]
• "A Predicament" (1838) by Edgar Allan Poe.

• Paintings:

• Queen Zenobia Addressing her Soldiers by Giambattista Tiepolo; it dates to the early eighteenth century but the exact year is not known.[253] This painting (part of a series of tableaux of Zenobia) was painted by Tiepolo on the walls of the Zenobio family palace in Venice, although they were unrelated to the queen.[253]
• Queen Zenobia's Last Look upon Palmyra (1888) by Herbert Gustave Schmalz.[254]

• Operas:

• Zenobia (1694): Tomaso Albinoni's first opera.[255]
• Zenobia in Palmira (1725) by Leonardo Leo.[256]
• Zenobia (1761) by Johann Adolph Hasse.[257]
• Zenobia in Palmira (1789) by Pasquale Anfossi.[253]
• Zenobia in Palmira (1790) by Giovanni Paisiello.[253]
• Aureliano in Palmira (1813) by Gioachino Rossini.[258]
• Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra (1882) by Silas G. Pratt.[259]
• Zenobia (2007) by Mansour Rahbani.[260]

• Play: Zenobia (1995), by Nick Dear, was first performed at the Young Vic as a co-production with the Royal Shakespeare Company.[261]
• 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).[262]
• Film: Nel Segno di Roma, a 1959 Italian film starring Anita Ekberg.[263]
• Television: Al-Ababeed (1997), Syrian television series starring Raghda as Zenobia.[264]