Dux Femina Facti: Zenobia, A Better Warrior Than A Man, SHA Duorum Gallienorum 13.1-5

Zenobia vs. Gallienus

Name: Scriptores Historia Augusta Date:   Unknown Region:    Unknown Citation:     Life of The Two Gallieni 13.1-5

Often, authors will use depictions of other nations as a mirror for their own society. Here Zenobia’s exploits are used to criticize Gallienus’ masculinity and ability to rule effectively.  

At that time, Odenathus was killed by his cousin’s plot. He was killed along with his son Herodes, whom he had also named emperor. Since his remaining children Herennianus and Timolaus were too young to rule, his wife Zenobia took the throne. She ruled for a long time, not in a womanly manner, or like a girl, but cleverly and boldly, not only dissimilar to Gallienus (who any woman could do a better job than), but also even other rulers. For when Gallienus heard that Odenathus died, he gathered his forces for a war against the Persians in a too-little-too-late attempt to avenge his father. He assembled the troops and managed the war as a clever leader through the management of Heraclian. However, when Heraclian set out against the Persians, he was defeated by the Palmyrans and lost all of his soldiers, since Zenobia was ruling both Palmyra and many other eastern cities in a manly fashion.

Zenobia vs. Gallienus

Per idem tempus Odenatus insidiis consobrini sui interemptus est cum filio Herode, quem et ipsum imperatorem appellaverat. Cum Zenobia, uxor eius, quod parvuli essent filii eius, qui supererant, Herennianus et Timolaus, ipsa suscepit imperium diuque rexit, non muliebriter neque more femineo, sed non solum Gallieno, quo quae virgo melius imperare potuisset, verum etiam multis imperatoribus fortius atque solertius. Gallienus sane, ubi ei nuntiatum Odenatum interemptum, bellum Persis ad seram nimis vindictam patris paravit collectisque per Heraclianum ducem militibus sollertis principis rem gerebat. Qui tamen Heraclianus, cum contra Persas profectus esset, a Palmyrenis victus omnes, quos paraverat, milites perdidit, Zenobia Palmyrenis et orientalibus plerisque viriliter imperante.

Scriptores Historiae Augustae Little is known about the author(s) of the Historia Augusta; even internal evidence within the text is either falsified, skewed or utterly fictitious. Although attributed to six different authors, the text was likely written by a single author living during the 4th century CE. It is a series of imperial biographies modeled after the works of Suetonius; these biographies cover the reigns of the emperors Hadrian through Carus.