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Zenobia
(240-?)
Syria's Rebel Queen
“How, O Zenobia, hast thou dared to insult Roman emperors?” -Aurelian, 44th Emperor of the Roman Empire
1 Palmyra is in current-day Syria. At the time it was called Tadmor, so feel free to make your own “Now it’s Palmyra, not Tadmor” They Might Be Giants parody. She also said she was descended from Dido — the one who founded Carthage, not the one who just wants to thank you — but she wasn’t. Well, probably not, at least. She was described as having a dark complexion and being more beautiful than Cleopatra, despite artwork of her consistently depicting her as light-skinned.
2 She went hunting with her husband, and could march 3-4 miles with the troops at a time. She also didn’t really use her chariot, just went on foot. Also, Odainat is often called Odaenathus. Odainat is the Aramaic spelling. As for the “super chastity” powers, this sort of thing happens a lot with historical depictions of women. You’re either a virgin with Magic Purity Powers (Joan of Arc, Elizabeth I, even Catalina de Erauso) or a slatternly wench who cavorts with the devil (Catherine the Great, Theodora, Pasiphae).
3 Odainat actually died when he was assassinated by his nephew, although it’s certainly possible that Zenobia had something to do with it. Their heir was underage, hence she took the throne in his stead until he came of age, and proceeded to attack Egypt pretty quickly. Why she actually went against Rome is still a mystery for the ages. Most historians just assume she wanted to rule in her own right.
4 Rome had been dealing with lots of other uprisings, on top of a regime change. Zenobia probably thought this was her best chance to strike out on her own. Also, Aurelian’s cup here reads “NVM I AVGVSTVS”, which is sort of like “#1 Boss.” I thought it was funny, at least.
5 And yes, I know Latin only used the letter X for Greek loan words. Please don’t send in emails about this.
6 You can actually read Aurelian’s letter extolling her virtues right here! (page 137)
7 Christine de Pizan is in the book!8 As a rule, this project tries not to be political, especially in times of war, but seriously, screw those guys. Yes, they had a reason – to cut off the present from any non-Islamic past, and establish their theology as the only option. I’d rather not dignify that line of action by calling it “reason.” (but hey, Ogre Battle is great!)
Footnotes
| ↑1 | Palmyra is in current-day Syria. At the time it was called Tadmor, so feel free to make your own “Now it’s Palmyra, not Tadmor” They Might Be Giants parody. She also said she was descended from Dido — the one who founded Carthage, not the one who just wants to thank you — but she wasn’t. Well, probably not, at least. She was described as having a dark complexion and being more beautiful than Cleopatra, despite artwork of her consistently depicting her as light-skinned. |
| ↑2 | She went hunting with her husband, and could march 3-4 miles with the troops at a time. She also didn’t really use her chariot, just went on foot. Also, Odainat is often called Odaenathus. Odainat is the Aramaic spelling. As for the “super chastity” powers, this sort of thing happens a lot with historical depictions of women. You’re either a virgin with Magic Purity Powers (Joan of Arc, Elizabeth I, even Catalina de Erauso) or a slatternly wench who cavorts with the devil (Catherine the Great, Theodora, Pasiphae). |
| ↑3 | Odainat actually died when he was assassinated by his nephew, although it’s certainly possible that Zenobia had something to do with it. Their heir was underage, hence she took the throne in his stead until he came of age, and proceeded to attack Egypt pretty quickly. Why she actually went against Rome is still a mystery for the ages. Most historians just assume she wanted to rule in her own right. |
| ↑4 | Rome had been dealing with lots of other uprisings, on top of a regime change. Zenobia probably thought this was her best chance to strike out on her own. Also, Aurelian’s cup here reads “NVM I AVGVSTVS”, which is sort of like “#1 Boss.” I thought it was funny, at least. |
| ↑5 | And yes, I know Latin only used the letter X for Greek loan words. Please don’t send in emails about this. |
| ↑6 | You can actually read Aurelian’s letter extolling her virtues right here! (page 137) |
| ↑7 | Christine de Pizan is in the book! |
| ↑8 | As a rule, this project tries not to be political, especially in times of war, but seriously, screw those guys. Yes, they had a reason – to cut off the present from any non-Islamic past, and establish their theology as the only option. I’d rather not dignify that line of action by calling it “reason.” (but hey, Ogre Battle is great!) |
Art Notes
- Zenobia’s outfit is part Cleopatra, part Roman. It’s totally invented (and actually counter to some of the descriptions of her), but I wanted to push myself.
- I think I covered the rest in the writeup itself.
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Next Time on Rejected Princesses
For this fresco painter/mercenary soldier, it was better to live honored in exile than dishonored at home.
Wow. An ancient psychotic, fun-loving version of Lucretia Mongfish from GIRL GENIUS. She even grins in the same evil ‘oh tee hee’ way!
Ogre Battle, March of the black Queen, you say?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-SMOsXCc0c
I love the new format!
You said that your picture counters some descriptions of her. Where are those? I’m curious
I loved all the little drawings–so cute. I hope this continues for other rejected Princesses.
Yep! That’s what the game was named after, actually. :D
This was a lot of fun to read and very informative! Also, I love the style of illustration you used for the cartoon panels and the mixing of illustrations with regular text, hope to see more of those in future RPs. :)
Interesting new format! Thanks for answering my messages…looking forward to the Not-Rejected-by-Scholastic Princesses! :D
Loved it! And looking forward to learning about Christine de Pizan — she sounds awesome.
Loving the new format you’ve got here.
loved it! By the way, will you go over Mavia, the other syrian queen who took on the power of rome?
Yes, but not any time soon. Her story is just too similar to Zenobia, although she was more successful and less well known.
LOVE The new format! Super fun and made me laugh. Love what you are doing here!!
Actually the Islamic State destroyed not just those structures but all others that are non-Islamic. It was pure evil, but they did it with the idea that they intend to rule over the following inhabitants that grow up in that are and they want them to grow up knowing nothing else except Islam as their history. The west needs to stop dinking around and actually destroy these terrorists.
Wait, is this Palmyrian soldier on the front blewing a raspberry at the romans?
Yep!
Glorious work. I cannot believe I discovered you just yesterday.
You should do one on Queen Balqees of Sheba.
The Islamic state?
Dp you mean the terrorist right?
Just discovered this site and i love it so far!! And yeah me muslim myself, the “islamic state” aint a islamic state. Theyre a cult of mentally evil and confused people that cant face normal human society. religion is just their excuse just as the “bhuddist” in myanmar are brutally killing and yes of course the “christians” in the US whove committed attrocites. . Anyway just wanted to mention one mistake… The arabs and saracens are the same ppl. Saracen came from what the persians called the arabs. “Desert dwellers” and the eurpeans turned the word into saracen. Same thing but cool you mentioned the term
Rome has the worst luck in terms of warrior queens invading their beloved country. I bet if Zenobia and Boadicea had been able to team up Rome would’ve been left in shambles but unfortunately they lived in different areas. :/
isis desapears overnight for unknown reasons
found the text zenobia rules near terrorist corpse
please do Cleopatra entry and comic. She’s the best. Could also make a Boudica comic.
PS. Zenobia going “Im Cleopatra” with the headdress is hilarious.
There, there, that’s just what they call themselves. I prefer to call them by their acronym, because Isis is an awesome goddess and fuck those dicks for profaning her name.
Zenobia is hilarious all throughout this comic!
Oh my God yes. I thought I recognized the grin from somewhere, but I couldn’t put my finger on it
That reminds me… I need to get around to mailing you that copy of THE MAN WHO WANTED SEVEN WIVES…a story of a woman who possibly conned an entire court to take the testimony of her murdered daughter’s ghost as evidence against the man who killed her.
YES. She’s totally drawn the same way!
I was gutted to see what ISIS had done to Palmyra. And they killed one of the best archeologists in the world because he found the courage to deny them. They deserve whatever holy hell the spirit of Zenobia can bring down on them.
Love love love RP!
I’m not sure the maturity rating on this is entirely accurate…
Whoops, fixed!
Interesting to come back to this, and to the ending of it, now that ISIS is in trouble. :)