page_title: Zenobia
section_title: Captivity and fate
hierarchical_section_title: Zenobia / Captivity and fate
caption_attribution_description: English: Pond of the Poikile at the Villa Adriana in Tivoli. View from the peristyle, now lost (in the East); middleground: Hall of the Philosophers (left) and Thermae with Heliocaminus (center); background: Monti Tiburtini hills. Français&#160;: Bassin du Pécile de la villa d'Hadrien à Tivoli, vu depuis le péristyle, depuis disparu (situé à l'Est). Au fond, vue de la Salle des Philosophes (à gauche) et des Thermes avec héliocaminus (au centre)&#160;; tout à fait au fond, les monts Tiburtins.
context_page_description: Septimia Zenobia 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 Sassanians and stabilizing the Roman East. After Odaenathus' assassination, Zenobia became the regent of her son Vaballathus and held de facto power throughout his reign.
  In 270, Zenobia launched an invasion which brought most of the Roman East under her sway and culminated with the annexation of Egypt. By mid-271 her realm extended from Ancyra, central Anatolia, to southern Egypt, although she remained nominally subordinate to Rome. However, in reaction to the campaign of the Roman emperor Aurelian in 272, Zenobia declared her son emperor and assumed the title of empress. The Romans were victorious after heavy fighting; the queen was besieged in her capital and captured by Aurelian, who exiled her to Rome where she spent the remainder of her life.
  Zenobia was a cultured monarch and fostered an intellectual environment in her court, which was open to scholars and philosophers.
context_section_description: Aurelian, learning about Zenobia's departure, sent a contingent which captured the queen before she could cross the Euphrates to Persia; Palmyra capitulated soon after news of Zenobia's captivity reached the city in August 272. Aurelian sent the queen and her son to Emesa for trial, followed by most of Palmyra's court elite (including Longinus). According to the Augustan History and Zosimus, Zenobia blamed her actions on her advisers; however, there are no contemporary sources describing the trial, only later hostile Roman ones. The queen's reported cowardice in defeat was probably Aurelian's propaganda; it benefited the emperor to paint Zenobia as selfish and traitorous, discouraging the Palmyrenes from hailing her as a hero. Although Aurelian had most of his prisoners executed, he spared the queen and her son to parade her in his planned triumph.
  Zenobia's fate after Emesa is uncertain since ancient historians left conflicting accounts. Zosimus wrote that she died before crossing the Bosporus on her way to Rome; according to this account, the queen became ill or starved herself to death. The generally unreliable chronicler, John Malalas, wrote that Aurelian humiliated Zenobia by parading her through the eastern cities on a dromedary; in Antioch, the emperor had her chained and seated on a dais in the hippodrome for three days before the city's populace. Malalas concluded his account by writing that Zenobia appeared in Aurelian's triumph and was then beheaded.
  Most ancient historians and modern scholars agree that Zenobia was displayed in Aurelian's 274 triumph; Zosimus was the only source to say that the queen died before reaching Rome, making his account questionable. A public humiliation (as recounted by Malalas) is a plausible scenario, since Aurelian would probably have wanted to publicize his suppression of the Palmyrene rebellion. Only Malalas, however, describes Zenobia's beheading; according to the other historians, her life was spared after Aurelian's triumph. The Augustan History recorded that Aurelian gave Zenobia a villa in Tibur near Hadrian's Villa, where she lived with her children. Zonaras wrote that Zenobia married a nobleman, and Syncellus that she married a Roman senator. The house she reportedly occupied became a tourist attraction in Rome.
caption: Hadrian's Villa; Zenobia reportedly spent her last days in a villa near Hadrian's complex in Tibur.
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