Zenobia

queen of Palmyra. She died about 274 or later. She was educated by a celebrated Greek scholar, Longinus, and was able to speak the Latin, Greek, Coptic, and Syrian languages. She was the wife of the king of Palmyra. She accompanied her husband in war and the chase and stimulated him to wage war on the Persians. At her husband's death in 267 she assumed the crown, styling herself Queen of the East. For a time she was regarded favorably by the Romans as an eastern bulwark of the empire, but, on the accession of the energetic and despotic Aurelian to the imperial throne, Roman thirst for conquest led to a declaration of war against Zenobia. She defended herself bravely, but lost the battles of Antioch and Emesa. After defending the walls of Palmyra until resistance was vain, she fled as far as the Euphrates, but was pursued by the Romans, captured, taken to Rome, and forced to walk in the triumphal procession of the victorious Aurelian. Her wit and beauty won her friends. She was accepted in Roman society. Her daughters grew up and married into leading Roman families. The date and manner of her death are not recorded. See Palmyra