Born: 240 (circa), Syria
Died: 274
Country most active: Syria
Also known as: Palmyrene: beth taw zayin beth yodh (Btzby), pronounced Bat-Zabbai, Septimia Zenobia
Zenobia was a 3rd-century Syrian queen who led a revolt against the Roman Empire. The second wife of King Septimius Odaenathus, Zenobia became queen of the Palmyrene Empire after Odaenathus’s death in 267 and ruled until 272. Zenobia launched an invasion which brought most of the Roman East under her authority, expanding her empire into Asia Minor and Syria through military conquests, and culminated with the annexation of Egypt. She declared herself queen of Egypt, claiming to be a descendant of Dido, Cleopatra, and Marc Antony.
By mid-271 her realm extended from Ancyra in central Anatolia, to southern Egypt, although she remained nominally subordinate to Rome. In response to the campaign of the Roman emperor Aurelian in 272, Zenobia declared her son emperor and assumed the title of empress, declaring Palmyra’s secession from Rome. The Romans won after heavy fighting – the queen was besieged in her capital and captured by Aurelian, who exiled her to Rome and paraded her around the streets in chains. She was later released and allowed to live out her life in a villa at Tibur (now Tivoli), Italy.
Zenobia was known a a cultured monarch and fostered an intellectual environment in her court, which was open to scholars and philosophers. She demonstrated tolerance toward her subjects and protected religious minorities. The queen also maintained a stable administration, which governed a multicultural multi-ethnic empire. Her incredible rise and fall have inspired historians, artists and novelists, and she regarded as a patriotic symbol in Syria.