Zenobia

Queen of the Roman East (r. 267-272 c.e.)

• Born: c. 240
• Birthplace: Palmyra (now Tadmur, Syria)
• Died: After 274 c.e.
• Place of death: Near Tibur (now Tivoli, Italy)

Zenobia conquered and unified Rome’s eastern provinces during the late third century c.e. and formed a literary salon of Greek and Syrian intellectuals.

Early Life

Little is known about Queen Zenobia (zee-NOH-bih-uh) other than she was the second wife of Septimius Odaenathus and mother of the young prince of Palmyra, Septimus Vaballathus (or Athenodorus, in Greek). Her beauty must have been sublime if her name, in the Arabic form “al-Zabba,” is taken to mean the one with beautiful long hair. She was the daughter of Julius Aurelius Zenobios, a military man of the city of Palmyra in the 240’s c.e. Palmyra (modern Tadmor in Syria) had been a prosperous city in the Roman East, which had enjoyed the profits of the Silk Road as a nodal point in that long trade route spanning China and the Mediterranean region.

Zenobia’s native tongue was Palmyrene, a dialect of Aramaic, and she most likely knew Greek. She attached her fortunes to a local Palmyrene senator (vir consularis) named Septimius Odaenathus, who eventually became the king of Palmyra. Their only child was a son named Vaballathus. The social and political backdrop to Zenobia’s lifetime is that of the “crisis” period of Roman rule during the third century c.e. From 235 to 284, Roman government underwent a tremendous amount of political instability with no less that thirty different emperors claiming rule. The legitimacy of the emperorship was called into question as various generals, supported by their legions, vied for power. Serious incursions into Roman territory by the Germanic Herulian tribes in the north along the Danube River and by Sasanid Persians in the east had exacerbated the situation.

Severe financial difficulties plagued Rome as well. Over time, the silver content of Roman coins was debased, primarily to stretch the silver bullion supply. By the early third century, Roman currency was little more than a bronze coin with a thin wash of silver, and inflation was rampant. The security of the Roman provinces, particularly in the northern and eastern frontiers, was in jeopardy. A military disaster in 260 left the Roman emperor Valerian captured by the Persian king Shāpūr I and Rome’s eastern provinces virtually defenseless. Odaenathus, as an ally of Rome, defeated Shāpūr’s forces and helped secure Rome’s eastern territories in 261.

Life’s Work

On her husband’s death in 267 (he may have been assassinated in a dynastic struggle), Zenobia had accepted Odaenathus’s authority as king of Palmyra and de facto governor (corrector) of the Roman eastern provinces as a regent for her young son. Filling a power vacuum left by a weakened Roman military, Zenobia governed the provinces of Syria and secured Rome’s eastern frontier from Sasanid Persian invasion. After the death of the emperor Claudius II in 270, however, the ambitious Zenobia expanded her authority and territory by swiftly overcoming the provinces of Arabia, heading west into Syria-Palestine, and then plunging south into Egypt.

Zenobia’s campaign in Egypt, which is well documented, consisted of a direct assault on Alexandria with an army of seventy thousand. The army at its core comprised Palmyrene heavy calvary, supplemented by horse archers as well as light infantry made up of Syrians and other Near Easterners. It appears that the Palmyrene army depended on various mercenary troops made up of many different people. Sources mention that half of Zenobia’s forces had Jewish, Nabataean, and perhaps Indian and Aksumitic elements. After Zenobia had taken Egypt, she marched west into Asia Minor and reached the city of Ancyra. At its height, Zenobia’s Palmyrene Empire extended over much of Syria, the Levantine coast, Arabia, Egypt, and a good deal of Asia Minor. The major metropolitan cities of Antioch, Bostra, and Alexandria were under Zenobia’s control within a single year, a remarkable military achievement.

The major sources of the period that characterize the nature of Zenobia’s regime are not wholly consistent. The Historia Augusta (a collection of biographies of the Roman emperors from Hadrian to Numerian, probably written in the late fourth century c.e. by unknown authors; no complete translation) portrays the Palmyrene queen as a Syrian Dido, a Queen Victoria, an Assyrian queen, and a self-styled Cleopatra VII. This contrasts with her own propaganda emphasizing her connection with the Hellenistic Seleucid line as well as legendary accounts that emphasize her “Jewishness.” Early in her career in 267-268, Zenobia held, through her son, the formal Roman title of corrector, a governorship position that her husband had held. Early in 270 a series of coins was issued from the mints at Antioch and Alexandria featuring her son, Vaballathus, and the legitimate Roman emperor Aurelian, giving the appearance of joint rule.

Later that year, as the break from Rome grew more pronounced, she fully assumed the title of augusta, clearly revealing her aspirations to be equal with the emperors in Rome. Perhaps her assumption of such numerous and varied titles points to the diverse nature of the constituencies over whom she ruled. As a Ptolemaic queen, a daughter of Antiochus, or a Roman augusta, Zenobia wore many crowns, so to speak, for the many people that she ruled.

Despite Zenobia’s wide-ranging constituency, there is evidence that her rule was far from stable. According to Tabari’s Tārīkh al-rusul wa-al-mulūk; (ninth century c.e.; The History of Al-Tabarī, 1985-1999), an Arab tradition states that Zenobia had assassinated Jadhima, the ruling sheik of the Tanukh tribal confederation in northern Arabia. Jadhima’s successor, ‘Amir ibn ‘Adi, avenged his uncle’s death by leading the Tanukh against Palmyra, eventually destroying it. The accuracy of this legendary account is suspect, through it perhaps points to tension that existed between Zenobia and some Bedouin tribes. Zenobia and her Palmyrene forces had also earned the enmity of the Sasanid Persians, who had been defeated and driven from the Roman east back to Ctesiphon by Odaenathus. The disappearance of a Persian representative Aurelius Vorodes from the Palmyrene court is a sure indication that hostilities existed between the two powers after Zenobia’s ascendancy.

One of the major achievements of Zenobia’s rule is her establishment of a literary salon of writers, philosophers, and intellectuals. Cassius Longinus, the rhetorician and Platonic philosopher, is said to have been part of Zenobia’s court and had written Odaenathus’s funeral oration. The salon of Palmyra must have had an eastern flavor, with the historians Genathlius of Petra and Nicostratus of Trapezus, who penned histories of the Roman east. Rhetoricians and Sophists were also included, such as Callinicus. He, surpassing the realm of oral eloquence, wrote a history of Alexandria and presented it to his patron queen, Zenobia. Clearly the Palmyrene queen understood the importance of maintaining the trappings of queenly literary patronage, symbolizing her status as a ruler. One can perhaps see some parallels with another Syrian empress, Julia Domna, who during the second century c.e. patronized a similar circle of literati.

Unfortunately, Zenobia’s star fell as quickly as it had risen. In 272 the emperor Aurelian, bent on restoring the Roman Empire to its previous integrity, made war on the Palmyrenes. Aurelian’s military victories in Asia Minor quickly caused support for the Palmyrene regime to evaporate. Zenobia and her general, Zabdas, fled before Aurelian’s onslaught, first to Emesa and later to Palmyra, where she held her ground. It is not clear exactly what became of the Palmyrene queen. One tradition has Zenobia, not wishing to become part of Aurelian’s triumph, fall in battle against the Romans. Others say that she was bound with gold fetters and did indeed become part of Aurelian’s victory parade through Rome. This tradition also maintains that Zenobia, after being brought to Rome, was granted clemency by Aurelian and spent the remaining years of her life in a villa at Tivoli.

Significance

Zenobia’s Palmyrene Empire demonstrates the fragile nature of Roman Imperial government during the third century c.e. During this crisis of the third century, Rome’s central government had been so weak as to have lost not only its eastern provinces to Zenobia but its northern provinces of Britannia and Gaul for a short number of years. It was truly an accomplishment that Zenobia took control of her city after her husband’s death and then went on to conquer and rule the wealthiest and most populous of Rome’s provinces. The diversity of peoples she ruled perhaps forced her to portray herself in ambiguous ways, adapting to the circumstances around her. During the early stages of her regime, Zenobia had ruled as a regent, but she then assumed full control, dispensing the guise of her rule along the lines of a patriarchy. It is unclear what plans she had for her son, Vaballathus, had he grown to maturity or how it would have affected her reign had it lasted.

Bibliography

Browning, Iain. Palmyra. Park Ridge, N.J.: Noyes Press, 1979. A richly illustrated work on the archaeological remains of Palmyra. Includes bibliography and index.

Colledge, M. A. R. The Art of Palmyra. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1976. A comprehensive study of the art and architecture of Palmyra. Includes bibliography and index.

Millar, Fergus. The Roman Near East, 31 B.C.-A.D. 337. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1993. A thorough political survey of the Roman Near East that provides the larger political context for Palmyra and Zenobia. Includes bibliography and index.

Nakamura, Byron. “Palmyra and the Roman East.” Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 34 (1993): 133-172. Argues for the political pragmatism of Zenobia’s propaganda and imperial images.

Stoneman, Richard. Palmyra, Its Empire: Zenobia’s Revolt Against Rome. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1992. An accessible introduction to the Palmyrene rebellion. Includes bibliography and index.