Zenobia, co-ruler of Palmyra, Syria, held the Roman Emperor Gallienus responsible for her husband’s assassination. The emperor pointed his fat finger at Zenobia and claimed she had murdered her own husband. She, in turn, pointed her Roman broadsword at him.
It isn’t smart to anger a woman who trains and leads her own army. Zenobia declared war on Rome. Her first objective was to destroy Rome where it would hurt the most–their food source. Rome controlled Egypt, with all its riches in grains, fruits, and vegetables that grew in profusion along the rich Nile. Rome could not feed her people without Egyptian produce. Zenobia sent her general, Zabdas, to assist the Egyptian general, Timogenes, to poke a giant hole in the Roman breadbasket. The Palmyran army succeeded and Rome, chaotic by this time, was knee deep in woman-induced woes.
Zenobia, still peeved with the Romans, forged ahead and snatched Asia Minor just as the short-lived Emperor Claudius died. Rome slid further into pandemonium. In less than two years, a fighting mad warrior queen had captured one-third of Rome’s eastern frontier.
The Palmyran Army, with Zenobia in the lead, made it as far as Ankara before she halted to do battle again. A new emperor and gifted general, Aurelian, blocked her progress toward Rome. Emperor Aurelian was Rome’s only hope.
It does no good to win a battle unless it’s the last one. Zenobia surprised Aurelian with her knowledge of warfare and won the first battle. But he won the last. The feisty warrior queen had met her match. Aurelian, perhaps curious about this wild woman who fought a great battle, did not kill her. She lived the rest of her days in a villa outside of Rome. Some say she married a senator; some say she refused marriage. Can you imagine some poor guy married to a woman who could as easily slice him for lunch as she could a loaf of bread? Now that could be a novel—perhaps a comedy for those of us with warped ideas.
Ironically, Zenobia outlived Aurelian. Five years after her capture, the emperor was assassinated. Rumor has it that Zenobia had her revenge. Did she? I like to think so.
Read Part I of this two-part series.
Haley Elizabeth Garwood has penned four historical novels on women warriors. Learn more at her Web site.
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Balazs said:
Well, that was way too short and lacked a lot of information for a history site. We didn’t learn anything about Palmyra, Zenobia’s army, the secret of her success or the battles. Too bad.
March 5th, 2009 at 1:39 am
Linda said:
Balazs,
In my head only,it was not intended to be a complete history but an overview. I think it laid out enough to either intrigue you or to let you know you were not interested.
Personally, I will probably spend much time delving deeper!
(or as the late Paul Harvey would have said: “For the rest of the story”.
Thank you for posting this blog, Ms Garwood (Haley Elizabeth Garwood)!
Linda
March 5th, 2009 at 6:52 am
Jacqueline A wilson said:
I enjoyed it, but also found it too short, however, I think that was the idea. It made me want to read more.
As i just joined I am still feeling my way around. Was there a Part 1?
March 5th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
Gerald D. Swick said:
Jacqueline, there is a part one to the Zenobia article, and it is now linked to this one vice-versa. You’ll find it below Haley’s last paragraph.
March 9th, 2009 at 5:57 am