[Ennath]

272
Palmyrene War

Odenathus, assassinated in 267 (see posting), was succeeded by his minor son with Zenobia, the ten-year-old Vaballathus. Under the regency of Zenobia, Vaballathus was kept in the shadow while his mother assumed actual rule and consolidated her power. The queen was careful not to provoke Rome and took for herself and her son the titles that her husband had, while working on guaranteeing the safety of the borders with Persia, and pacifying the dangerous Tanukhid tribes in Hauran (southwestern Syria/northeastern Jordan).

Aided by her generals, Septimius Zabbai and Septimius Zabdas, , Zenobia launched an expedition against the Tanukhids in the spring of 270, during the reign of emperor Claudius II. Zabdas sacked Bosra, killed the Roman governor and marched south securing Roman Arabia. In October of 270, a Palmyrene army of 70,000 invaded Egypt, and declared Zenobia queen of Egypt. The Roman general Tenagino Probus was able to regain Alexandria in November, but was defeated and escaped to the fortress of Babylon, where he was besieged and killed by Zabdas. Afterward, in 271, Zabbai started operations in Asia Minor, and was joined by Zabdas in the spring of that year. The Palmyrenes subdued Galatia and occupied Ankara, marking the greatest extent of the Palmyrene expansion. However, the attempts to conquer Chalcedon were unsuccessful.

The Palmyrene conquests were initially done under the protective show of subordination to Rome. Zenobia issued the coinage in the name of Claudius’ successor Aurelian with Vaballathus depicted as king, while the emperor allowed the Palmyrene coinage and conferred the Palmyrene royal titles. However, toward the end of 271, Vaballathus took the title of Augustus (emperor) along with his mother.

By late in 271, the new emperor Aurelian had secured his rule and defeated a Germanic incursion into Italy. In the East, Aurelian refused to recognize Zenobia’s new titles. There were, however, coins minted in Palmyrene-controlled Antioch with both Valaballus and Aurelian, with Aurelian as Caesar, on them; this appears to be an attempt on the part of Zenobia to appease Aurelian. Aurelian, however, was determined to reunite the parts of the Empire that had fallen away.

In 272, Aurelian crossed the Bosphorus and advanced quickly through Anatolia. According to one account, Marcus Aurelius Probus regained Egypt, while the emperor continued his march and reached Tyana, in Cappadocia. It was here that Aurelian spared the populace and declared that all cities that surrendered to him would be spared a sack. This paid off, as many more cities submitted upon seeing that the emperor would not exact revenge.

Aurelian next advanced towards Antioch and it was here that Zenobia resolved to give battle. Outside of the village of Immae, just east of Antioch, the Palmyrene forces led by Zabdas met the emperor. The Battle of Immae began with a charge by the Palmyrene heavy cataphract cavalry; this broke the lighter Roman cavalry, which fell back in apparent disorder into a marshy area, where the Roman infantry was waiting and routed the now tired Palmyrene horse. After this the Palmyrenes appear to have determined to make a stand in the suburb of Daphne where they held a hill. The Roman infantry advanced in a testudo formation and cut the Palmyrenes apart. Antioch surrendered to Aurelian and what remained of the Palmyrene army retreated towards Emesa, a town on the main road towards Palmyra. The Battle of Emesa appears to be somewhat similar to Immae in that the Palmyrene cavalry again routed the Roman horse but this time it appears that it was only with great difficulty that the Roman infantry carried the day.

Reinforced by Probus, who had now secured Egypt, Aurelian marched through the desert, harassed by Bedouin loyal to Palmyra; however, as soon as he arrived at the city gates, he negotiated with the Bedouin, who betrayed Palmyra and supplied the Roman army with water and food.

Aurelian besieged Palmyra in the summer of 272, and tried to negotiate with Zenobia, on the condition that she surrender herself in person to him, to which she answered with refusal. The siege appears to have been a difficult ordeal for the Romans due to the vigorous defenses and walls. Several assaults failed. Eventually it became apparent to Zenobia that the cause was lost and she resolved to flee the city and try to obtain aid from Persia; she did manage to get out on camelback but was caught by the Roman horse near the Euphrates and brought to Aurelian. Shortly after this the city surrendered and was spared, save their wealth and several of Zenobia’s advisors. Zenobia herself was spared. Aurelian then proceeded back through Asia Minor and into Dacia, where he defeated the Carpi.

While campaigning against the Carpi, Aurelian received word that Palmyra had again had rebelled and killed Aurelian’s governor Marcellianus, as well as the 600 archers left as its garrison. Marcellianus did manage to get a letter to Aurelian before he was killed warning of unrest. In a series of forced marches, Aurelian reached Antioch in the spring of 273, where he learned that under the leadership of a certain Apsaeus, the Palmyrenes had declared Septimius Antiochus, a 5 year old boy and reputed son of Zenobia, to be their king. Aurelian immediately marched for Palmyra. This time, the speed of Aurelian’s march caught them unprepared and resistance was scattered and ineffective. The Historia Augusta says the city suffered a terrible vengeance; the city was looted and burned, though the 5 year old Antiochus was somehow spared. Palmyra was, in Zenobia’s time, a large, rich important trading city; it never recovered from this sack. This Palmyrene revolt also caused another pro-Palmyrene revolt in Alexandria led by a certain Firmus, who inspired hugely destructive riots which overwhelmed the local Roman garrison. Aurelian proceeded from Palmyra to Alexandria and put down the revolt with relative ease, again allowing his soldiers to loot as they pleased. Zenobia herself was displayed in Aurelian’s triumph in 274; most ancient historians claim that she was then spared, granted a villa in Tibur, where she lived with her children.

The revolt of Palmyra is used as a theme in Syrian nationalism and Palmyra is viewed as exclusively Syrian, and treated as a fighting city that threw off the imperial dominance and relieved the people from tyranny. A Syrian TV show was produced based on Zenobia’s life, and she was the subject of a biography written by Syria’s former minister of defense Mustafa Tlass. The ancient remains of the city were badly damaged by ISIS.