Review

Review

Zenobia’s birth is shrouded in mystery. Due to a variety of factors no record of Zenobia’s date of birth is left behind. Of her parents we know only her father, Zabaai ben Selim, who could trace his family back to Cleopatra Selene, Queen of Mauretania. An informed guess places Zenobia’s place of birth in the city of Palmyra, a trading city in what is now Syria that grew rich and powerful. Of Zenobia’s childhood we know she loved to study. In time Zenobia would learn to read and write several different languages, among them: Latin, Greek, Egyptian, various Arabic dialects, and Aramic. In fact Zenobia became somewhat obsessed with Greek culture and ways; she dressed like a Greek and even preferred to speak that language. At one point while still young Zenobia married the chieftan of Palmyra, Odainat ben Hairan (Latin: Septimius Odaenathus), to whom she would remain loyal.

At first Zenobia would rise on the path to glory along with Odainat. Odainat came from a rich old family that ruled Palmyra for many years and in the time before that the family were still Palmyra’s leading citizens. Hairan, Odainat’s father, had built close relations with Rome and had been given Roman citizenship and a place in the Senate. Thus Zenobia had chosen well in her marriage to Odainat. Around 258 AD the Romans made Odainat a Consul and appointed him governor of Syria. Unlike most women Zenobia was not simply content to take care of her husband’s home, though she was very good at it. Whenever Odainat went hunting in the desert, Zenobia went with him, when Odainat mobilized to chase after some desert tribes causing trouble Zenobia went with him. Together the royal couple shared power and prestige equally, both were considered the rulers of Palmyra. It is interesting to note that as Odainat’s policies yielded even more profit and fame for Palmyra he was to have said that he owed his success to Zenobia. However not everything was peaceful in Palmyra, the Romans and the Sassanid Persians were at war and Palmyra was stuck in the middle of the conflict. In 260 AD what was undoubtedly Rome’s greatest humiliation of the era occurred when the Sassanid Shahanshah, Shapur I, captured the senior Roman Emperor, Valerian, at Edessa. This was the first and only time a Roman Emperor was captured by a foreigner. But to the shock of both Odainat and Zenobia the Romans did nothing to try to rescue Valerian or even try to get revenge on the Sassanids. So the royal pair decided to do the job for Rome. According to some ancient accounts Odainat tried to prevent Zenobia from coming with him in the campaign against the Sassanids. But Zenobia would have none of it; neither would she accept any of her husband’s attempts to pamper her on campaign. Zenobia would ride out to war on her own horse, in full armor, hair undone, shouting war songs. As it turns it out Zenobia’s presence would be a great morale booster to the Palmyrene forces when Odainat moved against the Sassanids for the first time in late 260 AD. This first campaign would be a great success, driving Shapur completely out of Roman lands. In 261 the couple would besiege Quietus, a usurper based in Emesa (modern Homs), and kill him. For these actions Valerian’s son, Gallienus, bestowed the titles of dux Romanorum (Latin: leader of the Romans) and totius Orientis imperator (Latin: Commander-in-chief of the entire East). Over the course of the next several years Odainat and Zenobia would lead the Palmyrene forces to further victories over the Sassanids, going as far as to have twice sacked and held the Sassanid capital of Ctesiphon (modern Baghdad). In time the royal couple was able to restore, and then exceed, the power of Rome in the East. The popularity of Odainat and Zenobia was so great that Gallienus allowed for them to hold a triumph in Rome celebrating the recovery of Armenia in 264. When he returned to Palmyra from Rome, Odainat took upon himself a new Persian title to supplement his Roman ones: King of Kings. For Odainat, and for Zenobia, this decision would have lasting consequences. No man took the title King of Kings without a great deal of personal ambition. Perhaps due to this audacity, and perhaps due to scheming at his court in Palmyra, Odainat was assassinated in 268 with his eldest son, Hairan (who was born by his wife before Zenobia). To this day the identity of the murderer, and whomever ordered the assassination, is unknown. In any case with Odainat dead the rulership of Palmyra passed into the hands of his second son, Wahab-Allath (Latin: Vaballathus). But in reality Zenobia was in charge, Wahab-Allath was just a boy.

With her husband dead and son too young all power passed into hands of Zenobia, who would prove to be an able and talented ruler. For her first action as sole ruler of Palmyra Zenobia chose to punish whom she believed responsible for the death of her husband, her nephew Maconius. After cleaning up that little piece of business Zenobia solidified her rule in Palmyra. At this time (269) a local desert chief, named in Arab legend as Jadhimah, escalated his rivalry with Palmyra by launching raids into Palmyrene territory. For Zenobia this was the last she would put up with Jadhimah and others of his kind. She ordered the general Zabda to attack the desert nomads and end their threat. Then something happened that historians have been trying to figure the why since that time. For unknown reasons Zabda turned and invaded Roman territory, attacking in short order Bostra, Philadelphia, and Petra. Then the Palmyrene army launched an invasion of Egypt. The Roman prefect of Egypt, Tenagino Probus, initially threw back Zabda. But an Egyptian traitor, named Timagenes, helped the Palmyrene forces during their second attempt on Egypt, allowing for Probus’ capture. At the same time Zenobia launched an invasion of Syria and Asia Minor, which was led by a general named Zabbay. The Palmyrene invasion proceeded quickly, before anyone could believe it Palmyrenes were in Ancrya (modern Ankara) and Chalcedon (modern Kadikoy district, Istanbul). Zenobia now had a major problem on her hands with a variety of different faiths. Zenobia declared tolerance for all religions in her empire; she even went as far as befriending the Bishop of Antioch. There were still some problems, though these were mostly confined to conflicts between Christians and Jews. For the first time the Palmyrenes had conquered land and kept it for themselves, instead of handing it to Rome as Odainat had done. Here comes another confusing issue in Zenobia’s history, it was considered a normal act for a nation rebelling against Roman rule to print its own coinage with just the ruler of the rebelling nation in question upon it. But this is not the case in Zenobia’s Palmyra. Coins minted at both Antioch and Alexandria bare on one side the head of the newly crowned Emperor Aurelian, on the other was Wahab-Allath with his father’s Roman titles. This means according to modern historians that Zenobia was not truly rebelling against Roman authority, by the coinage Palmyra still acknowledged Rome as master. But then what was she doing? Perhaps we may never know. In any case Zenobia in around late 270, maybe early 271, made a visit with her son to Alexandria. There Zenobia declared that she was a descendent of Cleopatra and thus considered Alexandria and Egypt to be hers by right of bloodline. With the aim of increasing the Hellenic culture of her court Zenobia had Greek intellectuals from Alexandria come to Palmyra (curiously enough even though Zenobia was obsessed with Greek culture she insisted on Persian court ceremonial).

While Zenobia enjoyed the fruits of her victories in Asia, the Romans were very angry back in Italia. For the past several years the political scene of Rome was very much in turmoil. Emperor Gallienus had been assassinated about the same time as Odainat; his successor Emperor Claudius II had a short rule of barely two years, and was succeeded by his brother Quintillus. But Quintillus was unpopular with the army and in 270 they proclaimed their own emperor, the supreme commander of all Roman cavalry (note this title is different then the similar Master of Horses), Aurelian. By mid year Aurelian had defeated Quintillus and established himself as emperor. But Aurelian was not happy with just being the legitimate emperor; he wanted to be emperor in reality. He started off by warring with the German tribes in and around Italia itself then expanded out from there fighting Germanics, horse nomads, and the Goths over the course of the next two years. It was not until 272 that Zenobia’s actions in Palmyra were finally noticed by the court in Rome. For Rome the fact that a woman had nearly stolen the entirety of the East from them in a lightning strike that they had never even noticed till two years after the fact was more then they could bare. Aurelian was pressured on all sides to deal with this ‘Woman from the East’. Meanwhile in Palmyra Zenobia seemed blissfully unaware of the ire she had stirred in Rome. In fact the lands Zenobia had conquered were actually peaceful and it seems from the surviving accounts that she was erecting steles of Wahab-Allath detailing his reign and lineage all over her territory. Aurelian was always mentioned as being the sovereign of course. It is actually quite likely that Zenobia believed that Aurelian would be pleased with having his self still acknowledged as sovereign. If this is correct then Zenobia had the same flaw that brought down her ancestor, she was intoxicated with power. It is also possible that Zenobia was just naïve enough to think Aurelian would be content with his acknowledgement. In any case Zenobia had committed her fatal mistake. Aurelian, regardless of the real state of affairs surrounding Zenobia’s actions in 270 whatever they may be, would not brook any foreign ownership of Roman territory. In 272 after a brief stay in Rome Aurelian prepared to invade Palmyrene lands and take back the East. He arrived in short order in Byzantion then crossed the Straits of Mamara into Bithynia, which he steamrolled. To Zenobia’s credit, despite the shock of Aurelian’s sudden invasion she reacted quickly and dispatched Zabda, her star general, to Antioch to try to salvage the situation. Quite interestingly enough at this point a major change occurs in the Palmyrene coinage, Aurelian’s head is removed and replaced with Zenobia’s. In addition Wahab-Allath is shown with all the titles of a Roman Emperor, Zenobia with the titles of a Queen Mother. It is quite possible that Aurelian accidentally caused what was at best an unusual situation to worsen into a full fledged rebellion. Meanwhile Aurelian was making good progress, easily taking Ancrya. At this point he divided his forces and sent one wing of the army to reconquer Egypt. The other wing proceeded as planned to Tyana. Here the Romans encountered fierce resistance, and when the city fell Aurelian forbade any slaughter. It is probable that Aurelian realized that if he slaughtered the populace the whole of the East would unite behind Zenobia. The Tyana episode prompted Zenobia to take command herself, so she left Palmyra to go to Antioch to meet Zabda. The two armies would end up meeting at the plains before the small town of Immae, along the road to Antioch. There Zenobia, in her customary armor and undone hair, could be seen psyching her troops up before battle. The resulting battle of Immae would be a very close run affair. But in the end the Romans won the battle due to their iron discipline. The Palmyrene forces retreated to Antioch, and after reassuring the populace, made to Emesa. All along the space between Antioch and Emesa the cities welcomed the Romans with open arms. Finally Aurelian arrived at the city of Emesa. Once more Zenobia took to the field, but the Romans’ iron discipline once again brought them victory. Zenobia fled into Emesa, where a frantic council meeting was held. After some deliberation it was decided that the remnants of the Palmyrene army should fall back to Palmyra itself. So Zenobia fled, forcing herself to leave behind her considerable treasury in the process. Aurelian would keep on advancing from Emesa, and despite heavy guerilla attacks on the part of Zenobia’s desert allies he would lay siege to Palmyra. During this time Zenobia received startling news, Shapur, the Shahanshah of Sassanid Persia, was offering her refuge in Ctesiphon. No one knows what prompted Shapur to offer refuge to the widow of the man who humiliated him several times over, but he did. At the urging of her officials Zenobia decided to in the middle of the night to flee by camel with Wahab-Allath to Persia. However Zenobia would never reach her refuge, at the Euphrates she was captured by Roman cavalry and hauled to Emesa to be tried by Aurelian in court. In the trial Zenobia demanded that because she was a woman she be granted immunity from normal procedure. Aurelian, taken aback by Zenobia’s spunk, spared her from the executioner, though most of her court was not so lucky. In 274 AD Aurelian returned to Rome and he held a grand triumph to celebrate his victories of the past four years. Zenobia was made to take part in this triumph, shackled with golden chains (interestingly Aurelian wanted to parade Zenobia in a chariot, but she refused, so Aurelian made her walk instead). After the triumph Aurelian meant to kill Zenobia, but struck by her beauty and intelligence, decided to spare the Arab queen a second time. He built a lavish villa for Zenobia on the banks of the Tiber, near modern Tivoli. She would spend the rest of her life there, at one point marrying again. This insured the survival of Zenobia’s family well into the 5th century. In an unknown year at an unknown age Zenobia died peacefully. So died Zenobia, the warrior Queen of Palmyra.

In conclusion Zenobia is a very interesting historical figure. Zenobia undoubtedly stands tall among the personalities of the so called ‘Crises of the Third Century’ not only because she was a woman, for the ‘Crises’ was full of powerful women, but because of her warrior spirit, her intelligence, and her beauty. Today Zenobia is still a topic of study, as much about her remains a mystery, and perhaps always will.