Tagged: zenobia
Forgotten Figures: Zenobia
Of all of the people to cross paths (and swords) with the Romans during their thousand year empire, Zenobia of Palmyra in particular stands out. She has long been overshadowed by the more famous women who took on Rome: Cleopatra and Boadicea. However, as you’ll see, she was every inch the political genius and warrior queen that her predecessors were. If Emperor Aurelian (who we covered last time) had been a weaker man, she may have even succeeded in her venture.
Background
Palmyra was a desert city along the all-important trade routes to the east that would become the Silk Road in later years. As such, it could have protection monopolies and charge tolls on the incoming and outgoing merchants. It was a wealthy city nominally conquered by Rome but really the Romans let them govern themselves quite readily—not that they had a choice as you’ll see in a moment.
Rome of the third century A. D. was not the powerful imperial Rome of its glory days. Rather, the empire was in chaos due to a game of musical chairs with Emperors, economic chaos as inflation ran unchecked and barbarian hordes seemingly coming from every direction. Did I mention there was also a plague going around killing everyone too? It was a tough time to be a Roman and eventually because of it, the emperors ruling in Italy just could not handle things. The empire split into three sections, essentially. Odaenathus in the east, Postumus in Gaul and Britain and Gallienus in central Italy. Due to the revolving door of emperors during the third century, this situation would not last long though. Continue reading
Forgotten Figures: Aurelian
Lucius Domitius Aurelianus—Aurelian to modern scholars—is one of the most famous men you’ve never heard of. What I mean by that is he is remembered as an absolutely amazing Emperor within Roman history, but the average person has never, ever heard of him. That’s a shame because as you’ll see, Aurelian deserves to be put up there with the more recognizable Augustus, Trajan and Hadrian.
A bust of Aurelian.
Background
Aurelian is not as familiar to our modern ears because he ascended to the throne during what’s known as the Crisis of the Third Century. This crisis of political, economic and social factors is a confusing mess of events for modern historians trying to piece together a coherent narrative and not much is actually known about it. What is known, however, is that during this period, the Roman Empire split into three distinct areas ruled by different emperors and pseudo-emperors.
This period is not the high point of Roman culture, believe me. The written word was rarer, there were severe manpower shortages throughout the empire as the plague made its rounds and emperors rose and fell with alarming frequency. In the so-called Middle Empire of the time, the Emperor Gallienus ruled until he was assassinated by a military coup led by Claudius, who would later earn the title Gothicus for his campaigns against the Goths. Unfortunately, Claudius Gothicus likely succumbed to the plague killing his men, leaving no clear successor and a bunch of ambitious, seasoned military officers behind.
In the western Gallic Empire consisting mainly of Britain and Gaul, a man named Postumus had been ruling wisely and justly. He was beloved by his troops and the people he ruled over because the Western provinces had been neglected by the emperors in the central Empire. And when Gallienus, the current central emperor tried to launch a military campaign to retake the provinces, Postumus repulsed him twice. He was no dummy and managed to maintain his hold over the Gallic Empire for around nine good years.
In the East, a man named Odaenathus had been the de facto ruler for years. His main strength was that he was keeping the Sassanids in Persia from retaking territory they had lost to Rome centuries ago. Odaenathus was also no dummy and had a sphere of influence over most of the eastern provinces, including Syria, Egypt and Asia Minor. He ruled from the trade city of Palmyra, which had grown influential as it was one of the last main stops along the silk road before traders entered Persia. As such, it could charge taxes and create protection rackets that made the city obscenely wealthy. When Rome’s influence was degrading in the East, Odaenathus seized his opportunity to extend Palmyra’s influence over the surrounding provinces and although he officially had the approval of Gallienus, Gallienus couldn’t have dislodged him if he tried. Odaenathus was too smart and too powerful.
A map of the three different ’empires’ that had split from Rome during the crisis years.
Improbable Women by William Woods Cotterman
(Cover picture courtesy of Syracuse University Press.)
Zenobia was the third-century Syrian queen who rebelled against Roman rule. Before Emperor Aurelian prevailed against her forces, she had seized almost one-third of the Roman Empire. Today, her legend attracts thousands of visitors to her capital, Palmyra, one of the great ruined cities of the ancient world.
In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, during the time of Ottoman rule, travel to the Middle East was almost impossible for Westerners. That did not stop five daring women from abandoning their conventional lives and venturing into the heart of this inhospitable region. Improbable Women explores the lives of Hester Stanhope, Jane Digby, Isabel Burton, Gertrude Bell, and Freya Stark, narrating the story of each woman’s pilgrimage to Palmyra to pay homage to the warrior queen. Although the women lived in different time periods, ranging from the eighteenth century to the mid–twentieth century, they all came from middle to upper-class British backgrounds and overcame great societal pressures to pursue their independence.
Cotterman situates their lives against a backdrop of the Middle Eastern history that was the setting for their adventures. Divided into six sections, one devoted to Zenobia and one focused on each of the five women, Improbable Women is a fascinating glimpse into the experiences and characters of these intelligent, open-minded, and free-spirited explorers.
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
As someone who personally admires Zenobia, I knew I just had to pick up Improbable Women. A biography of one of my favourite heroines as well as five other incredible women? How could could I not read it?
I was slightly disappointed in the level of detail in the biographies, but I’m fully aware that including enough details to satisfy me would have meant a separate book for each woman. If you haven’t heard anything about these women the information could be a little overwhelming at first, but William Woods Cotterman has a great writing style to help you along. It’s actually easier to read Improbable Women if you read one biography and then pause to reflect before going onto the next one, but it’s not a requirement.
Improbable Women was actually broken up into logical segments which seems to be rare in the nonfiction books I’ve read through NetGalley. Each section is clearly labelled and the order the biographies are in actually make sense. Some of the women profiled in here were inspired by other women in the book, so I liked how that was mentioned and the similarities between each the two were pointed out. At the same time, readers are never spoken down to when these similarities are drawn.
Overall, Improbable Women is a great read for anyone who loves reading about women who were ahead of their time. Every single woman in this collection of biographies from Zenobia to Freya Stark was ahead of her time and lived a fascinating life. Some were more interesting than others, but that’s a matter of personal preference than anything. I would highly recommend Improbable Women to people who love history when it comes out on October 15 or 16 (it says 15 on Goodreads, 16 on NetGalley) of this year.
I give this book 5/5 stars.