The Unforgettable Queen of the Ancient World: Who is Queen Zenobia of Palmyra?
While Rome was struggling with the crisis of the 3rd century, Zenobia quickly rose to Palmyra, making it the superpower of the Near East. Her meteoric rise and subsequent decline have inspired historians, artists, and writers for centuries.
Queen Zenobia of Palmyra (240-274) faced the power vacuum that followed the death of her husband and the dissolution of Roman rule over the Near East. To ensure stability in the region, she established an empire covering most of the lands of the Roman Near East, from Anatolia to Egypt. Zenobia, who encouraged intellectual movements in the palace, became a ruler who handled many issues arising from the multilingual and multi-ethnic situation here with justice and tolerance. Despite this short-term rule, this dynamic female ruler also took precedence over the resurgent Roman Empire.
Zenobia's Palmyra
Palmyra was a Semitic city whose citizens included Amarite, Aramaic, and Arab elements. The local language was a dialect of Aramaic, but Greek was also widely spoken in the city. In addition to local Semitic and Mesopotamian influence, Greek culture had a great influence, especially in art and architecture. Famous for its wealth, Palmira owed most of its wealth to the active trade caravans along the Silk Road. Since the desert route of the Silk Road was under the control of Palmyra, Palmyra merchants could operate as far as Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf.
Although Palmyra was under Roman control for very little time, it became part of the Roman Province of Syria in the 1st century AD. During the rule of the Severan Dynasty (193-235 AD), Palmyra transitioned from a city-state to a kingdom. The Severans distinguished Palmyra by granting privileges, a Roman garrison, and even imperial visits. During the same period, conflict between Rome and the Parthian and Sassanid Dynasties in Iran prompted Palmyra to invest in defense and play an active role militarily.
Septimia Zenobia (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 the Roman East. After Odaenathus' assassination, Zenobia became the regent of her son Vaballathus and held de facto power throughout her reign.
Little is known about Zenobia's early life, and many of the few sources are doubtful. According to these sources, Zenobia, who was born into a noble family around 240 AD, seems to have received a comprehensive education, including not only Aramaic but also Egyptian, Greek, and Latin languages, by her status. Since it was common for noble families to intermarry in Palmyra, Zenobia probably belonged to a ruling family. Again, according to sources, when she was a young girl, her hobby was hunting.
Beyond this, most of what we know about Zenobia's origin and early life derives from linguistic, numismatic, and epigraphic evidence. The name Zenobia in Greek means "whose life comes from the Greek", in the local Palmyrene language she was Bat-Zabbai or "daughter of Zabbi". She may have been called Zenobia, possibly because of her speaking Greek. Zenobia also had a surname called Septimia. In an inscription, she is mentioned as Septimia Bat-Zabbai, the daughter of Antiochus. Accordingly, since Antiochus is not a common Palmyrene name, it has been suggested that it is a reference to real or imaginary ancestors from the Seleucid or Ptolemaic dynasties.
Wife of the Ruler of Palmyra
When she was fourteen years old, Zenobia was married to Odaenathus, ruler of Palmyra, and became his second wife. Odaenathus was appointed ruler by the city council to strengthen the army and protect Palmyra's trade routes against Persian attacks. It is believed that Zenobia accompanied Odaenathus on military campaigns, which both increased the morale of the troops and gave him political influence and military experience. And these achievements would serve Zenobia well in her career later on.
Disasters of Rome
As a loyal vassal of Rome, Odaenathus mobilized his forces to support Roman Emperor Valerian in his attempt to thwart the invasion of the Sasanian King Shapur I in 260 AD. However, this war ended in disaster for the Romans; Valerian was captured and died in captivity. Odaenathus, who later achieved much greater success, expelled the Persians from Roman territory in 260 AD, suppressed a rebellion in the east for the Roman emperor Gallienus in 261 AD, and launched an invasion that took him to the walls of the Persian capital in 262 AD. Given many titles and authority over the Eastern Provinces for his achievements, Odaenathus crowned himself King of Palmyra and the typical Persian title of King of Kings.
Surrounded by civil war, plunder, invasion, and economic decline, there was little Rome could do to govern Odaenathus and keep it in its former subordinate position. Odaenathus had maintained peace and stability in at least part of the empire by 266. She and her son Hairan I were assassinated while returning from an expedition in Anatolia. Some claimed that Zenobia was involved, but there were many others, both Romans and Persians, who were sufficiently motivated to assassinate Odaenathus.