Editing Zenobia (section)

=====Religion=====
[[File:Relief Bel Baalshamin Yarhibol Aglibol MBA Lyon 1992-13.jpg|thumb|alt=Bas-relief of four human-looking gods|Palmyra's most important deities: ''(right to left)'' [[Bel (mythology)|Bel]], [[Yarhibol]], [[Aglibol]] and [[Baalshamin]]]]
Zenobia followed the Palmyrene paganism,{{sfn|Macurdy|1937|p= [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015019188914;view=1up;seq=147 123]}} where a number of [[Ancient Semitic religion|Semitic gods]], with [[Bel (mythology)|Bel]] at the head of the pantheon, were worshipped.{{sfn|Butcher|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=YJPn3-rRjC0C&pg=PA345 345]}} Zenobia accommodated [[Early Christianity|Christians]] and [[History of the Jews in the Roman Empire|Jews]],{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA86 86]}} and ancient sources made many claims about the queen's beliefs;{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA65 65]}} [[Manichaeism|Manichaean]] sources alleged that Zenobia was one of their own;{{sfn|Ball|2016|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=hblTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA489 489]}} a manuscript dated to 272 mentions that the Queen of Palmyra supported the Manichaeans in establishing a community in Abidar, which was under the rule of a king named Amarō, who could be the [[Lakhmids|Lakhmid]] king [[Amr ibn Adi]].{{sfn|Intagliata|2018|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=l6RTDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 98]}} It is more likely, however, that Zenobia tolerated all cults in an effort to attract support from groups marginalized by Rome.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA65 65]}}

Bishop [[Athanasius of Alexandria]] wrote that Zenobia did not "hand over churches to the Jews to make them into synagogues";{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA217 217]}} although the queen was not a Christian, she understood the power of bishops in Christian communities.{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA220 220]}} In Antioch—considered representative of political control of the East and containing a large Christian community—Zenobia apparently maintained authority over the church by bringing influential clerics, probably including [[Paul of Samosata]], under her auspices.{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA220 220]}} She may have bestowed on Paul the rank of ''[[ducenarius]]'' (minor judge); he apparently enjoyed the queen's protection, which helped him keep the [[Diocese|diocesan]] church after he was removed from his office as [[Roman diocese|bishop of Antioch]] by a [[synod]] of bishops in 268.{{sfn|Millar|1971|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DFLqCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA244 1]}} [[Philip Hughes (historian)|Hughes]] 
suggested that Paul's position while Zenobia ruled was in the state treasury.{{sfn|Hughes|1949|p= [https://archive.org/details/historyofchurch0001phil/page/134/mode/2up?view=theater 134]}}{{#tag:ref|Paul of Samosata is considered a [[Heresy|heretic]] by mainstream Christianity, accused of denying the preexistence of [[Jesus|Christ]].{{sfn|Macquarrie|2003|p= [https://archive.org/details/stubborntheologi0000macq/page/149 149]}} The earliest reference to the relationship between Zenobia and Paul of Samosata comes from Athanasius of Alexandria's fourth-century ''History of the Arians''.{{sfn|Downey|2015|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=gTTWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA312 312]}} According to [[Eusebius]], Paul preferred to be called ''"ducenarius"'' instead of bishop;{{sfn|Stoneman|2003|pp= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA149 149], [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA151 151]}}{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA220 220]}} There is evidence that he held this rank in the service of Zenobia.{{sfn|Millar|1971|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DFLqCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA244 1]}} There is no evidence that Paul was invited to the Palmyrene court, and his relationship with Zenobia was exaggerated by later sources.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA86 86]}}{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA65 65]}} The queen may have supported him as bishop to promote religious tolerance.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA86 86]}}|group=note}}

======Judaism======
Less than a hundred years after Zenobia's reign, Athanasius of Alexandria called her a "Jewess" in his ''History of the Arians''.{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA217 217]}} In 391, archbishop [[John Chrysostom]] wrote that Zenobia was Jewish; so did a [[Syriac Christianity|Syriac]] chronicler around 664 and bishop [[Bar Hebraeus]] in the thirteenth century.{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA217 217]}} According to French scholar [[Javier Teixidor]], Zenobia was probably a [[proselyte]]; this explained her strained relationship with the rabbis.{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA218 218]}} Teixidor believed that Zenobia became interested in [[Judaism]] when Longinus spoke about the philosopher [[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]] and his interest in the [[Old Testament]].{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA218 218]}} Although [[Talmud]]ic sources were hostile to Palmyra because of Odaenathus' suppression of the Jews of [[Nehardea]],{{sfn|Smallwood|1976|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=FdQUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA532 532]}} Zenobia apparently had the support of some Jewish communities (particularly in Alexandria).{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA64 64]}} In [[Cairo]],{{sfn|Smallwood|1976|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=jSYbpitEjggC&pg=PA517 517]}} a plaque originally bearing an inscription confirming a grant of immunity to a Jewish synagogue in the last quarter of the first millennium BC by King Ptolemy Euergetes ([[Ptolemy III Euergetes|I]] or [[Ptolemy VIII Physcon|II]]) was found.{{sfn|Smallwood|1976|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=jSYbpitEjggC&pg=PA517 517]}} At a much later date, the plaque was re-inscribed to commemorate the restoration of immunity "on the orders of the queen and king" and the precedence of the queen in the ordering of the two titles is remarkable.{{sfn|Bowersock|1984|p= [http://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/basp/0599796.0021.001/38:4?page=root;size=100;view=image 32]}}{{sfn|Smallwood|1976|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=jSYbpitEjggC&pg=PA517 517]}} Although it is undated, the letters of the inscription date to long after Cleopatra and Anthony's era; Zenobia and her nominal co-monarch Vaballathus, who controlled Egypt in 270–272, are the only candidates for a king and a queen ruling Egypt after the Ptolemies.{{sfn|Bowersock|1984|p= [http://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/basp/0599796.0021.001/38:4?page=root;size=100;view=image 32]}}{{sfn|Smallwood|1976|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=jSYbpitEjggC&pg=PA518 518]}}

The historian [[E. Mary Smallwood]] wrote that good relations with the [[Jewish diaspora#Under the Roman Empire|diaspora]] community did not mean that the Jews of Palestine were content with Zenobia's reign, and her rule was apparently opposed in that region.{{sfn|Smallwood|1976|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=FdQUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA532 532]}} The [[Jerusalem Talmud]], in [[Masekhet|Tractate]] [[Terumot]] tells the story of the [[amoraim]] Rabbi "Ammi" and Rabbi "Samuel bar Nahmani", who visited Zenobia's court and asked for the release of a Jew ("Zeir bar Hinena") detained on her orders.{{sfn|Hartmann|2001|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=BdcHK8Ll1jMC&pg=PA330 330]}} The queen refused, saying: "Why have you come to save him? He teaches that your creator performs miracles for you. Why not let God save him?"{{sfn|Neusner|2010|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=OClDBJfW79QC&pg=PA125 125]}} During Aurelian's destruction of Palmyra, Palestinian conscripts with "clubs and cudgels" (who may have been Jews) played a vital role in Zenobia's defeat and the destruction of her city.{{sfn|Smallwood|1976|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=FdQUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA533 533]}}

There is no evidence of Zenobia's birth as a Jew; the names of her and her husband's families belonged to the Aramaic [[wikt:onomasticon|onomasticon]] (collection of names).{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA218 218]}} The queen's alleged patronage of Paul of Samosata (who was accused of "Judaizing"),{{sfn|Smallwood|1976|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=FdQUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA532 532]}} may have given rise to the idea that she was a proselyte.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA65 65]}} Only Christian accounts note Zenobia's Jewishness; no Jewish source mentions it.{{sfn|Graetz|2009|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=pnMtoAjig7wC&pg=PA529 529]}}