Concluding my
annual series of features in celebration of Women’s History Month, I’m sharing
some poetry and prose about Zenobia, the Queen of Palmyra, who challenged the
might of imperial Rome and lived to tell the tale. I would also like to call
your attention to some original poems by our talented writing staff that
celebrate Zenobia and her achievements in vivacious verses!
Zenobia, also
known as Septimia Zenobia, was a woman who became the ruler of Palmyra, a city-state
in modern-day Syria, in the 3rd century CE. She was known for being a fierce
warrior, a great leader, and a brilliant strategist. In her youth, she mastered
the arts of poetry, music, and philosophy, and eventually, she led her armies
to many victories on the battlefield. She was a formidable and intelligent
queen who left a lasting legacy in the history of the ancient world.
Queen Zenobia’s Last Look upon Palmyra by Herbert Schmalz (1856-1935). Image Credit: Public Domain via
Wikimedia Commons.
“Zenobia of Palmyra: Her Life Story”
By Ashlyn Tarnhelm, Staff Writer
The Queen of the East,
In the land of Syria –
She ruled for a time
From within the city of
Palmyra.
A lady of such grace
And power so great,
She fought the Romans
hard
And drove them from
Palmyra's gate.
She waged her war
With her army, loyal,
strong;
For seven years she
warred against the Romans,
Driving them far from her
home and land.
Yet Rome was not to be
beaten
By a lady and her army.
A Roman emperor came
forth
And conquered Palmyra and
all its lands.
Taken prisoner
By Roman emperor Aurelian,
She was taken to Rome
To stand trial for her rebellion.
It ended poorly
For Zenobia,,
For she was stripped
Of her titles and riches.
She was forced to march
Through Rome,
In a long parade of other
prisoners,
Carried by a crowd as she
was dressed
In robes of mockery and
rags.
And the parade ended
With a great crowd
Of Roman citizens
Who cheered and jeered
At her downfall and
defeat.
For she was not broken
Through the hardships
She had endured;
Her faith was unshaken,
And she found power in
her dreams.
“Zenobia: Queen of the East”
Presented by the Editor
Here is the story of one
of the most noteworthy women leaders of antiquity. Zenobia of Palmyra (an
ancient city in central Syria) was not only a remarkable Middle Eastern leader
but also a famous philosopher after her retirement in Italy. The Editor has condensed
(and slightly modernized) the following account of her life from the pages of Historical
Tales: The Romance of Reality, Volume X: Greek by Charles Morris (published
in 1908 and now in the public domain).
Among the most famous of the women of ancient days
must be named Zenobia (ca. 240-after 275 CE), the celebrated Queen of Palmyra
and the East, who claimed to be descended from Cleopatra. She was familiar with
the Greek, the Syriac, and the Egyptian languages and was an adept in Latin,
then the political language of the civilized world. She was an earnest student
of ancient Near Eastern history, of which she herself drew up an epitome, while
she was fully conversant with Homer, Plato, and the other great writers of
Greece.
This
accomplished woman gave her hand in marriage to Odaenathus, who from a private
station had gained by his valor the empire of the East. He made Syria his by
courage and ability and twice pursued the Persian king to the gates of
Ctesiphon. Inured to fatigue, she usually appeared on horseback in a military
habit and at times marched on foot at the head of the troops. Odaenathus owed
his success largely to the prudence and fortitude of his incomparable wife. In
the midst of his successes in war, Odaenathus was cut off in 267 CE by
assassination. He had punished his nephew, who killed him in return. Zenobia at
once succeeded to the vacant throne and by her ability governed Palmyra, Syria,
and the East.
Her husband Odaenathus had avenged Valerian, the
Roman emperor, who had been taken prisoner and shamefully treated by the
Persian king. For this service, he was confirmed in his authority by the Senate
of Rome. But after his death, the Senate refused to grant this authority to his
widow and called on her to deliver her dominion over to Rome. The martial queen
refused, defied the power of Rome, and determined to maintain her empire in
despite of the Senate and army of the proud “master of the world.”
War at once broke out. A Roman army invaded Syria but
was met by Zenobia with such warlike energy and skill that it was hurled back
in defeat, and its commanding general, having lost his army, was driven back to
Europe in disgrace. This success gave Zenobia the highest fame and power in the
world of the Orient. The states of Arabia, Armenia, and Persia, in dread of her
enmity, solicited alliance with her. To her dominions, which extended from the
Euphrates over much of Asia Minor and to the borders of Arabia, she added the
populous kingdom of Egypt, the inheritance of her claimed ancestors. The Roman
emperor Claudius II acknowledged her authority and left her unmolested.
Assuming the splendid title of Queen of the East, she established at her court
the stately power of the courts of Asia, exacted from her subjects the
adoration shown to the Persian king, and, while strict in her economy, at times
dis-played the greatest liberality and magnificence.
But a new emperor came to the throne in Rome:
Aurelian, a fierce and vigorous soldier, marched at the head of the Roman
legions against this valiant queen, who had built herself up an empire of great
extent, and demanded that she should submit to the power of his arms. Asia
Minor was quickly restored to Rome, Antioch fell into the hands of Aurelian,
and the Romans still advanced to meet the army of the Syrian queen. Meeting
near Antioch, a great battle was fought. The army of Zenobia met with defeat
and at a subsequent battle, near Emesa, met with a second disastrous repulse.
Zenobia found it impossible to collect a third army.
Most of the nations under her control had submit-ted to the conqueror. Out of
her lately great empire only her capital, Palmyra, remained. In this city,
surrounded with strong walls, Zenobia had gathered the various military engines
that in those days were used in siege and defense and was prepared to make the
most vigorous resistance to the armies of Rome.
The siege proved difficult, and the emperor, leading
the attacks in person, was himself wounded with a dart. Aurelian, finding that
he had undertaken no trifling task, prudently offered excellent terms to the
besieged, but they were rejected with insulting language. Zenobia hoped that
famine would come to her aid to defeat her foe and had reason to expect that
Persia would send an army to her relief. Neither happened. The Persian king had
just died. Convoys of food crossed the desert in safety. Despairing at length
of success, Zenobia mounted her fleetest dromedary and fled across the desert
to the Euphrates. Here she was overtaken and brought back a captive to the
emperor's feet.
Soon afterwards, Palmyra surrendered. The emperor
treated it with lenity, but a great treasure in gold, silver, silk, and
precious stones fell into his hands, with all the animals and arms. Zenobia,
being brought into his presence, he sternly asked her how she had dared to take
arms against the emperors of Rome. She answered, with respectful prudence,
“Because I disdained to consider as Roman emperors an Aureolus or a Gallienus.
You alone I acknowledge as my conqueror and my sovereign.”
On his return, Aurelian celebrated his victories and
conquests with a magnificent triumph, one of the most ostentatious that any
Roman emperor had ever given. To Zenobia the victor behaved with a generous
clemency such as the conquering emperors of Rome rarely indulged in. He
presented her with an elegant villa at Tibur, or Tivoli, about twenty miles
from the imperial city; and here, surrounded by luxury, she who had played so
imperial a role in history sank into the humbler state of a Roman matron. Her
daughters married into noble families, and the descendants of the once Queen of
the East were still known in Rome in the fifth century.
“Viewing Zenobia’s Time Through a Visionary Lens: Reflections from an
Early Christian Seer”
Presented by the Editor
The third century CE was a turbulent time for the
Roman Empire. Torn asunder by civil wars and barbarian migrations, the Roman
Empire was on the verge of collapse for several decades. There was also turmoil
in the Middle East, with the rise of an aggressive new Persian Empire under the
Sassanid Dynasty.
It was sometime during the middle of the 3rd century
CE that an early Christian visionary penned chapters 15 and 16 of the Second
Book of Esdras. This book is considered to be apocryphal by Roman
Catholic and Protestant Christians alike, but it is included in the biblical
canon of the Eastern Orthodox Christian churches. Its final two chapters paint
a chilling picture of the chaos and
disorder that nearly destroyed the Roman Empire during the 3rd century CE. In
the following excerpt, the prophet foresees warfare in the Middle East, with
tragic results. (The Carmonians, mentioned below, are from the Persian province
of Carmonia.)
“A Vision of Turmoil in the Middle East”
Excerpted from 2 Esdras 15:28-33 (King James Version)
28. Behold an horrible vision, and the appearance
thereof from the east:
29. Where the nations of the dragons of Arabia shall
come out with many chariots, and the multitude of them shall be carried as the
wind upon earth, that all they which hear them may fear and tremble.
30. Also the Carmonians raging in wrath shall go
forth as the wild boars of the wood, and with great power shall they come, and
join battle with them, and shall waste a portion of the land of the Assyrians.
31. And then shall the dragons have the upper hand,
remembering their nature; and if they shall turn themselves, conspiring
together in great power to persecute them,
32. Then these shall be troubled, and keep silence
through their power, and shall flee.
33. And from the land of the Assyrians shall the
enemy besiege them, and consume some of them, and in their host shall be fear
and dread, and strife among their kings.
•
https://blogs.getty.edu/iris/zenobia-visionary-queen-of-ancient-palmyra/ (Zenobia: Visionary
Queen of Ancient Palmyra)
•
https://chaucer.fas.harvard.edu/pages/monks-prologue-and-tale (The Story of Zenobia in
Lines 2247-2374 of “The Monk’s Tale,” from Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury
Tales)
•
https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/alexander-and-zenobia/ (“Alexander and
Zenobia,” a Poem by Anne Brontë)
After retirement to her villa in Tivoli, Italy, Queen Zenobia remarried
and started a new family. She became a well-known Neoplatonic philosopher and
instructed the children of noble Roman families in philosophy. (Image Credit:
Digital artwork created by the Editor.)
“Zenobia Speaks”
By Sabrina Saelind, Staff Writer
I am Zenobia, Ruler of
the East, Conqueror and Queen.
My kingdom stretched far
and wide, from Syria to Egypt.
My armies were fierce and
loyal, protecting my reign with honor.
But my greatest
achievement was not built with steel or might,
But rather a passion for
knowledge, education, and enlightenment.
The Bardic Gorsedd
An Original Poem by Viviana Rivera, Staff Writer
"Zenobia, the Philosopher-Queen”
Zenobia, the Syrian Queen, a warrior of noble spirit:
In the land of Palmyra, she reigned with great power.
But in her later years, she left the throne
To seek wisdom and knowledge, far from her home.
She journeyed to Rome, where she lived in great comfort
And found, in the philosophers' teachings, her true worth.
She taught young Roman women to seek wisdom and truth
And showed them the path towards their own great youth.
The Ancient Wisdom Corner
By Minerva Victor, Staff Writer
Here's a quotation
from Musonius Rufus, the Stoic philosopher, regarding the education of women:
"Women, no less than men, should study philosophy. For just as
courage is not the exclusive quality of men, so too wisdom is not a privilege
of men. It is both noble and appropriate for women to engage in
education."
This quotation from Musonius Rufus reflects the Stoic belief in the
value of wisdom and knowledge as universal virtues, transcending gender
boundaries. For the Stoics, wisdom was not exclusive to men; rather, it was a
quality that could be cultivated in anyone, including women.
The Dharma Corner
By Lisa Romenor, Staff Writer
This quote is
from the Lotus Sutra, one of the most important scriptures in Mahayana Buddhism:
"All phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows,
dewdrops, a flash of lightning; thus should one view them."
Nichiren, the founder of the Nichiren School of Buddhism, would
say that this means that we should view all things in the world as temporary
and illusory. They are like passing clouds in the sky, here one moment and gone
the next. This is called the "impermanence" or "emptiness"
of all phenomena.
Ex Oriente
Lux (Light from the East)
By Holly
Pontifex, Staff Writer
East Asian
philosophy is mostly a product of the Han and Tang dynasties. In their times,
female scholars were just as important as male philosophers, especially during
the Tang. A good example is Xuan Ji, a renowned poet, tea connoisseur, and
musician.
"In the silence of the night, I listen to the murmuring
stream.
The moon is like a wheel in the clear sky;
The wind, a melody upon the trees.
Life is brief, like a dewdrop on the edge of a blade of grass.
Why waste it with mundane concerns?" (Xuan Ji, circa 700 AD)
Female
scholars were also very influential at court during Tang times. One notable
example is Yang Guifei, a beloved concubine of the Tang emperor Xuanzong. Yang
was highly skilled in the arts, including poetry and music, and her influence
on the court was profound.
