Zenobia the Warrior Queen of the Palmyrene Empire

The warrior queen Zenobia of the Palmyrene Empire ruled her kingdom for three years until the Roman Emperor Aurelian stopped her in her tracks. The Palmyrene Empire was an empire that broke away from the Roman Empire during the instability of the Crisis of the Third Century. It was a short-lived empire, it only survived for three years, and is named after its capital city, Palmyra. Palmyra is a city in modern-day Syria which is known as an Oasis, and the position of the city made it an important trading hub, and a prominent stop on the Silk Road where taxes were collected and people stopped to rest.

Julia Aurelia Zenobia (who was known as Septimia Zenobia after her marriage to Lucius Septimus Odaenathus, known as Odaenathus), was born in 240 CE in Palmyra, Syria. Odaenathus was made a governor of the whole eastern part of the Roman Empire, and eventually, he had enough power and prestige to effectively rule over his realm almost independent of Rome with Zenobia as his queen. Until, of course, both he and his son were assassinated by his nephew which put Zenobia’s son, Vaballathus, who was only ten years old, on the throne.

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— CHAPTERS —
0:00​ Introduction
0:50 What is the Palmyrene Empire and Where is it Located?
1:33 Who is Queen Zenobia and What is she Known For?
5:32 The End of the Palmyrene Empire and the Fate of Queen Zenobia
8:24 Outro

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— ATTRIBUTIONS —

The music used in this recording is the intellectual copyright of Michael Levy, a prolific composer for the recreated lyres of antiquity, and used with the creator's permission. Michael Levy's music is available to stream at all the major digital music platforms. Find out more on:

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Herbert Gustave Schmalz
Public domain

World History Encyclopedia

#zenobia #queenzenobia #palmyreneempire #palmyra

[WorldHistoryEncyclopedia]

What do you think really happened to Zenobia? Do you think the Romans really let her live the rest of her life in their kingdom? Let us know what you think!

[auroraflos]

Zenobia got the short end of the stick. She was overshadowed by Oedanathus, and had to face Aurelian, probably the greatest emperor in military terms to rule the empire.

[LocalLocalplus]

I can’t say anything for certain, however, there was tones of assassinations going around. It’s totally possible Aurelian had Zenobia quietly assassinated after parading her to boost his victory and “showing mercy” for political popularity. One thing I can say for certain there is no records of her after captivity.

[annjoyce]

12 year roman prisoner, Diocletian sat roman emperor and fell in love with zenobia ptolemy-epiphanes, Diocletian retired to Croatia with wife zenobia and daughter 1 of 3 wrote historic apology letter to Christians for her father's genocide of Christians before he and zenobia became Christians. Thanks for your video!

[randomfacts]

Did You Know? Cleopatra wasn't Egyptian. Cleopatra VII (51–30 BCE) belonged to the Ptolemaic dynasty, a family of Greek origin that ruled Egypt after Alexander the Great. Her family actually refused to speak Egyptian, and she was the first to learn the language. The misconception about her nationality may have arisen from the way she represented herself in public — as the reincarnation of Isis, an Egyptian goddess.

[natasharocha]

I found traces of her having lived at Hardian's Villa in Tivoli after she was brought to Rome by Aurelian, thereafter, the trail dies out. I also read that she had a daughter with a senator whom she married after her capture. The daughter's name is Lucias Septimia Patavina Babbilla Tyria Nepotilla Odeathiania.

[rolandhoward]

Great video! Where did the black and white photo of the busts come from??? Thanks!

[TasneemSalie_]

Is it safe to say that Zenobia should not have started the first attack as it seems like it had lead to her doom?

[avilacanario]

I want to "believe" she survived and was held as somewhat of a second-class citizen of Roman.

[compiledperspectives]

I wish if there were more imagery provided, in general.
What was the borders of this Palmyra; was it part of the Syrian province of Rome?
Because I procrastinate more often, there should be several changing musical tracks in the video; and that'd not affect the content academically, I believe, right?

[stevenv]

Fun fact, later on in early Islamic history the name Zaynab was very popular for women especially in Yahtrib/Medina. It is thought that they were named after this queen and the name Zaynab is still popular now because of the prophet Muhammad's (saw) wife Zaynab bint Jahsh (ra).

[theosvult]

I don't think it's fair to say she didn't do ANYTHING to oppose Rome. Taking Egypt alone cut Rome from it's biggest food supplier, so she was threatening the Empire. Aurelian also spared Palmyra, THEN other cities surrendered, knowing they would have it easy of they did. And I don't believe Aurelian would be embarrassed by Zenobia, she was am opportunist during a time Aurelian had more things to worry about

[ma]

Did you know Cleopatra lived closer to us than she did Menes, the first Pharoah of the unified Egypt who lived 2925bc, whereas Cleopatra died 31bc, or 2053 ytd. And Cleopatra was a product of Egypt's decline subjugation by foreign powers, in her case Hellenic Greeks.
And did you know "Egypt" is the Greek name for the capital city Memphis. Ancient Egyptians called their land "Kemet".

Looking at the world through Greek perspectives translates prejudices and is often wrong.

[dafunk]

Nice presentation! But the audio could be better though, it's too roomy or auditorium'ish. Subscribed! 👍

[jimmyfaulkner]

Great video! What do you think were the main differences between the Gallic Empire and Palmyrene Empire during the Crisis of the Third Century? I’m mainly interested in the differences in the administrative, cultural, political spheres etc.

[unianalexter]

Can you please tell us the real story of MEDUSA? 😊😊

[elliotkane]

Where does this 'Warrior Queen' stuff come from? Is there any record that she actually led an army or ever held a sword?

[aramaicheritage]

The mother language of queen Zenobia was Aramaic. She was from Aramean origin and her Aramaic name was Bat-Zabbai, that means "daugther of Zabbai". If you wants to learn more about queen Zenobia, then you can better make research in Aramaic sources. Prof Arman Akopian and Prof Sebastian Brock has published many information about the Aramean warrior queen Zenobia of Palmyra.

[danashehab]

In school they told us that one of the rumors is that she was wearing a ring with some poison in it, & when they took her captive, she drank the poison and 💀

[zaidtawfeek]

The story I know is she suicided in the end or during her journey to Rome, she was on a hunger strike and got someone to sneak poisonous herbs to her