28. Female Rulers Gave the Romans Plenty of Grief in This Part of the World
As seen above, Mavia’s revolt gave the Roman authorities no end of trouble. However, hers was not the first revolt by a female ruler in Rome’s eastern provinces to cause the Romans plenty of grief. A century and a half earlier, an even bigger revolt against Rome’s authority was led by Zenobia (circa 240 – circa 274), a third-century AD Syrian queen. She challenged the authority of Rome and took charge of the short-lived Empire of Palmyra from 267 to 272.
In that span, via war, conquest, and diplomacy, Zenobia came to control and govern a sizeable realm that encompassed most of the Roman Empire’s eastern provinces. She was born Julia Aurelia Zenobia in Palmyra, a wealthy Syrian city that grew prosperous from its strategic location astride caravan trade routes. She was educated in Latin and Greek and was fluent in Aramaic and Egyptian. In her youth, she was put in charge of her family’s flocks and crews of shepherds. That hardened her physically for what was to come.