DARK HEROINES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2433, 31 October 1900, Page 68

DARK HEROINES.

Bx Jessie Mackay.

V.— ZENOBIA, OF PALMYRA.

Seventeen centuries ago the already decaying but still mighty Roman Empire was shaken to its foundations, by the genius and ambition of an Arab woman who was I undoubtedly in her time the most famous and powerful woman in the world. We know her as Zenobia, that being the foreign name of State she bore throughout the brilliant queenship that rose to a brief blaze ' of empire that embraced Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, and a large part of Asia Minor. Foi Zenobia and her warrior husband had reduced these mighty ancient powers to vassals of the desert-girt city of Palmyra, whose ruins and inscriptions have proved a mine to 1 antiquarians. \Ve are all familiar with the early Semitic name of Palmyra, and with the supposed Biblical account of its origin. In the' second Book of Chronicles we read that Solomon, in the zenith of bis glory, founded Tadmor in the wilderness, and Taclmor was the native name of Palmyra, even as Bath Zabb'd was the ' true home name of Zenobia the Queen. - But this account is rejected by modern criticism. In the first place, there is a philological stumbling block ; • the Hebrew characters, erroneously translated " Tadmor," more faithfully read "Tamar," i*ie name of a Judzsn city mentioned in Ezekiel. In the second place, it is difficult to imagine that Solomon, an astute commercial prince whose policy it was to enrich Israel by the Red Sea trade, carried on through territory accessible and submissive to him, -would encourage a rival route through remote deserts which bore the yoke of dominion as lightly as their sands bore the. print of roads. Tadmor was situated somewhat over 150 miles north-east of Damascus, in an oasis of that desert region between Syria, Mesopotamia, and Persia. It was thus in a natural No Man's Land, and owned to this isolation much of its later commanding and independent character. The long accepted theory of Solomonic foundation at least indicates that it was a tolerably ancient city, though there is no evidence to fix its beginning so far back as 1000 B.C. It seems probable that Tadmor sprang up in the Arab migrations northward one or two centuries 8.C., when the vigorous nomads found their opportunity for trade and colonisation in the decay of Syria and Chaldea. Palmyra was a later migration apparently than the Nabathssan power which owned Petra for its capital. In both cases the Bedouin colonists tamed their fiery spirits to follow trade and become .smooth city dwellers. They adopted a Syrian civilisation and written language ; the series of inscriptions for which Tadmor is famous- — a series commencing 9 11. c, and ending 272 a.d. — was written in 'Aramaean. It will be remembered that this same'Aramasan, and not Hebrew, was spoken throughout Palestine while Christ was on earth. The silence' of sacred and secular writers shows that t ; ll near the Christian era the oasis of Tadmor was of no commercial importance. By 42 8.C., however, the city had become sufficiently wealthy to be coveted by Mark Antony, but the citizens fled and saved their treasure. Soon the desert settlement of Tadmor became the lofty city of Palmyra, the leading Arab power of the northern migrations. It was advanced to this eminence by the same situation as a centre of converging caravan routes and the same keen trading instincts that made Mecca a similar power in the south. Striking analogies, indeed, have been noted between Palmyra and Mecca. Both were cities of merchant princes, who, as true Arabs, despised agriculture, but were keen in the honourable pursuits of selling and bartering. * Both were polytheistic in belief, but discreetly avoided dangerous religious brawls' among their -wild patrons !by becoming shrines of peculiar cults accepted reverently by all of Arab race. Mecca was the seat ,of the worship of the universally adored Kaaiba. Palmyra constituted herself the shrine of the "most holy sun," identified with Baal. This Baal worship would seem to have been far milder and purer than its native Phoenicia ; many of the votive altars were at last .dedicated simply to " the good and .merciful one, blessed be his name for ever." Like the Athenian altar to the unknown god, however, it seems likely that the Palmyrene dedication was less a feeling after the unseen Creator than a suave and advantageous political compromise. Zem Zcm, the holy well of Mecca, had its Jalmyrene counterpart in the sacred fountain of Ephka, whose medicinal waters were eagerly sought by the afflicted, and which was the special care of the cliety known as the "moon lord."

In the .second century, ( A.r>., Palmyra reached a height of much glory, but lost its independence and became a Roman valsal. This change seems to have come peaceably. The Emperor Hadrian, famous in British wars, specially distinguished the city with his favour. During the Persian -wars which followed, Palmyra was the citadel of Roman power in the east. The leading families speedily adapted themselves to Roman influences, which at that time necessarily included a considerable leaven of Greek culuire. High honouis, both civil and military, rewarded the services of Ihe young Palymrenes. But such a real fusion of thought and custom as took place in Britain, Gaul, and other western provinces was not possible here. The Romanism of Palmyra was but skin deep ; from first to last, in its splendour as in its humility, Palmyra remained an Oriental city, and cherished a smouldering opposition to western over-lordship. One family of the ancient Arab aristocracy had attained special honour. Its head, Odhainafc (a name Latinised into the well-known form of Odenatus) was made a Roman Senator. Hs, it seems, was the leader of an incipient rebellion against the Emperor ; but before his party could strike the meditated blow he was murdered at the instigation of a Roman official. Of his two sons, the elder for a time was accepted Jus sjzcoessoi ag "headman" of Palmyra.

But the heritage of his spirit descended upon his second son, the famous Odenatus. Eschewing the luxury and the huckstering spirit of the town, with its exotic cultivation, he spent his youth amid the hills and deserts, a warrior and a hunter. In the great solitudes his strong mind grew, till he mastered the desert spell over the hearts of men. The tameless Bedouins, who sneered at their smooth urban brethren, loved the young Palmyrene- chief, and their fidelity Avas the foundation of his greatness. No less was their fidelity towards his bride, the beautiful Bath Zabbai, who, being of a noble Palmyrene family also, had taken the name of Septimia Zenobia. Her Arab lineage has been doubted, but, is maintained by the best authorities. She certainly, when mistress of Egypt, made some profession of having descended from the Macedonian Ptolemys ; but such a touch of Oriental finesse in order to strengthen a claim to uncertain royalty is too common in history to carry any weight. Athanssius, speaking of the protection she gave to the heretic bishop Paul of Samosata, calls her a Jewess. Probably the great churchman reasoned from the undoubted kindness she showed to the Alexandrian Jews, a kindness to which they testified in a yet existing inscription on a synagogue in that city. A Jewess, indeed, might have risen to such eminence in Palmyra ; the Jews still lived in peace and friendship with their Arab kinsmen at this time ; the bitter cleft of division only came with the rise of Islam four centuries later. But merciful and broad-minded as the. Palmyrene queen proved herself to be, there is no evidence that she worshipped anything higher than the Arab Pantheon ; the pagan evidences on her coins contradict the possibility of hei holding a monotheistic belief. Pollio's description of her is at least as applicable to an Arab as lo a Jewess. He speaks admiringly of her as a beautiful dark woman with brilliant black eyes, teeth like pearls, and a frank yet noble and queenly bearing. She seems, iudeed, to have been one of those rare beings whose physical perfection is the expression of an equally balanced and vigorous mind and a clear soul. Her courage was as high as her bodily endurance was marvellous ; she shared the fatigues of the chase and. the perils of ihe desert with her husband ; and yet she stands forth as a perfect type of wife and mother — no manlike Amazon was she, though the rop.r of battle itself did not daunt h*er. Yet she had mastered the learning of her time, and added to her rare gifts of mind and person that almost clairvoyant perception of men and things that marks the empire builder in. every age. Odenatus was a born leader of men : but Zenobia was the incarnate genius of his fortunes, the inspiration of his enterprises, v as truly as she was his loyal wife.

(To be continued.)