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Palmyra and Its Empire: Zenobia's Revolt against Rome

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Firstly, I am surprised to find that I am the first person to review this book. I am greatly interested in the Third Century Roman Empire, as well as Palmyra and its revolt against Rome under Zenobia, and have read a lot on these topics; this is one of the best single books I have found. `Palmyra and its Empire-Zenobia's Revolt against Rome' is an essential source on this breakaway Romano-Arab trading center and the beautiful but formidable Queen that decisively led it.

This book should be equally useful for a beginner or for someone that has already studied the topic-it is highly readable and captures the reader's attention and interest, yet at the same time does not try to entertain the reader-for its 246 pages, this book gets pretty deep in solid history. For someone reading this review that knows little or nothing of Zenobia and Palmyra, Palmyra was a thriving trade center in southeastern Roman Syria with a bustling population of Syrians, Arabs, Jews, Romans, Greeks, and merchants, pilgrims, and travelers from virtually every country and tribe in the Old World. It is a source of dispute amongst historians as to just when Palmyra fell under Roman control-anywhere from the early 1st to the early 3rd Centuries-but in AD 269 it revolted under its Queen, Zenobia, and her son Wahballath-Latinized as Vallabathus. Zenobia gained control of most of the Roman east, Syria, Judea, and Aegypta, before being defeated and taken captive by L. Domitius Aurelianus, otherwise Emperor Aurelian, `Restorer of the World'. Rather than being executed, Zenobia was spared and lived out her days at a villa in Italy.

In the introduction the author informs us of the basics of Zenobia's story, as I did above, and tells us of his sources in Roman literature. The first chapter is titled `The Syrian Scene'. It takes a look at the culture and surroundings of Roman Syria were like, and at the conflicting Greek, Roman, and various Eastern factions that contributed to its rich heritage. The second chapter is `Of Spices, Silk, and Camels'; here, the author takes us into a semi-technical study of the economic situation in Roman Syria, and how and why Palmyra became so powerful. He provides some good information on the trade routes from the East to the West, and even on the Chinese traders who were the source of Rome's (and subsequently Palmyra's) best silk. I personally found this chapter to be the driest in the book, but it is full of good information on the foundation of Palmyra's economic-and subsequent military-dominance.

Chapter three is `Temples, Tribes, and Taxes'. The purpose of this chapter is to take a detailed look at the social background of Palmyra, and the Syrians and Arabs who provided the bulk of its population. A large number of Palmyrenes were Roman citizens, and many in Zenobia's time were children of people who became citizens under the Severan Emperors (AD 193-234)-hence the extreme commonness of the Roman names Septimius and Septimia (Septimia Zenobia). Nonetheless, tribal rivalries, already extremely ancient in the 3rd Century AD, played an even more important role in the social conditions of Palmyra, and there were a number of fierce rivalries amongst various Arab clans. It was from these tribal conflicts that a warrior named Septimius Odenathus arose and came to be the ruler of Palmyra-in one inscription, he was called `king of kings'. It was around AD 255 that he married the then roughly 14 year-old Septimia Zenobia.

Chapter four is `Between Persia and Rome'. This fascinating chapter takes a look at the Roman Empire's stormy romance with the ancient East, including its incessant wars against the actually rather peaceful Parthian Empire, and against the Sassanid Persian Dynasty that replaced the latter. Palmyra in the mid third century had the misfortune to be caught between the clashing titans of Rome and Persia, but under Odenathus remained loyal to the Romans and withstood the wrath of the first two (and perhaps the greatest) of the Sassanid emperors. Palmyra's tiny but well-trained and motivated army succeeded where countless Roman legions had failed-by meeting the heavily-armored cataphracts of the Persian Army with their own tactics, and by wearing them out with never-ending raids by lightly-armed desert tribesmen.

Chapter five is `Zenobia: The Warrior Queen'; it finally focuses on the single most famous Palmyrene in history-Septimia Zenobia, daughter of I. Aurelius Zabdilas, one of the Greek-style strategoi generals of the City. In 255 she married Odenathus at about the age of 14. Although he initially married her just for her beauty, by the time of his assassination in 267 she had become quite the political force, partly through her sons Wallabath and Herodianus. In this chapter, and throughout the book in general, the author explores the many often conflicting reputations Zenobia has held throughout history-ranging from a Cleopatra-type temptress to a Boudica-type bitter warrior-queen, from a spoiled, overly perfumed Eastern princess to a chaste Amazonian huntress. Jewish and Arab-Muslim traditions are all eager to claim her for their causes as well; there is, as the next chapter `Of Philosophers, Oracles, and Bishops' discusses, plenty of evidence for Zenobia having a Jewish education and Jewish sympathies, and several sources claim her as a gentile convert to Judaism or even as a secret born Jewess. Among the `characters' that made up her one-of-a-kind retinue were Cassius Longinus, a Roman philosopher and orator (who allegedly influenced her with his Judaic worldview) and Paul of Samosata, a most unorthodox Christian bishop and a rather bizarre piece of work.

Chapter seven is `Revolt in the Desert'; the author opens this chapter by outlining the conflicting sources for Zenobia's swift conquest of Egypt, and for the military career of her nemesis Aurelianus. Mr. Stoneman uses the Latin accounts of Aurelianus' two-year conquest of the Palmyran Empire to tell the rest of the story of Zenobia's decline and fall. He marched his army, consisting largely of Germanic and Pannonian legionaries used to lush and wet environments, across most of the Syrian desert with a minimum of rations, yet maintained discipline and, if not the affection, at least the respect and fear of his men. Overall, the most useful insight of this chapter is into the continuing quality of the Roman infantry in the late 3rd Century. Because of the folly of their leaders, the legionaries of this era have received an undue reputation for lack of skill and discipline, but only a very well-organized and dedicated army could have taking the beating that Aurelianus' legions took in Syria. After winning victories at Antioch and/or Immae, and at Emesa, Aurelian sieged Palmyra and captured it. Zenobia and her retinue fled on camels, but were captured and taken into captivity in Rome.

In Rome Aurelianus held his triumph, and made a cruel display of his conquered foes, Zenobia, Tetricus of Gaul, and a number of chieftains from every barbarian tribe he had fought. Zenobia was bound with gold chains and nearly collapsed under their weight as she was led through Rome in her own ceremonial chariot. Normally, after being forced to bear all these indignities enemy leaders were sacrificed to Jupiter, but Aurelian instead decided to give an example of Roman clemency and spared Zenobia and the captured chiefs. Zenobia is believed to have lived out the rest of her days at a villa in Tivoli (hence the name of the seventh and final chapter) and may have remarried (she was still fairly young, only around 32-34 when she was captured) and had descendants. A woman mentioned in an inscription from 4th Century Italy was called Odaenathiana, and thus may have been a direct descendant of Zenobia or one of her sons (or maybe, even Zenobia herself).

The author takes a brief look at the rather wanting portrayals that Zenobia has received from western literature from the 17th to the 20th Centuries in the appendix. After this, he outlines the history of Palmyra from the 1st Century BC to the destruction of the city in 274 (when the second Palmyrene revolt of Antiochus, a relative of Zenobia, was put down). He then gives a detailed list of his sources, both ancient and modern, and lastly includes some black-and-white photos of the ruins, art, tombstones, and coins of Palmyra (one of these coins being the only contemporary image of Zenobia we have) and several recent artistic portrayals of Zenobia, including a beautiful and romantic painting of her looking at her beloved city a final time before being led away in chains.

Overall, this book is a detailed and highly informative source on Palmyra and its rebel Queen, and the varying roles it played in the economic and military affairs of the Middle East for some three-hundred years. This is the best, and indeed one of the very few, serious treatments that Zenobia and her breakaway empire have received in the English language and would be a highly useful addition to the library of any student of history.