Editing Zenobia (section)

==Evaluation and legacy==
An evaluation of Zenobia is difficult; the queen was courageous when her husband's supremacy was threatened and by seizing the throne, she protected the region from a power vacuum after Odaenathus' death.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA87 87]}} According to Watson, she made what Odaenathus left her a "glittering show of strength".{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA88 88]}} In the view of Watson, Zenobia should not be seen as a total powermonger, nor as a selfless hero fighting for a cause; according to the historian David Graf, "She took seriously the titles and responsibilities she assumed for her son and that her program was far more ecumenical and imaginative than that of her husband Odenathus, not just more ambitious".{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA88 88]}}

Zenobia has inspired scholars, academics, musicians and actors; her fame has lingered in the West, and is supreme in the [[Middle East]].{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 1]}} As a heroic queen with a tragic end, she stands alongside Cleopatra and [[Boudica]].{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 1]}} The queen's legend turned her into an idol, that can be reinterpreted to accommodate the needs of writers and historians; thus, Zenobia has been by turns a freedom fighter, a hero of the oppressed and a national symbol.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA2 2]}} The queen is a female role model;{{sfn|Slatkin|2001|p= [https://archive.org/details/womenartistsinhi00slat 144]}} according to the historian [[Michael Rostovtzeff]], [[Catherine the Great]] liked to compare herself to Zenobia as a woman who created military might and an intellectual court.{{sfn|Stoneman|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA121 121]}} During the 1930s, thanks to an Egyptian-based feminist press, Zenobia became an icon for women's-magazine readers in the Arabic-speaking world as a strong, nationalistic female leader.{{sfn|Booth|2011|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=nr9Ivt-pc0IC&pg=PA239 239]}}

Her most lasting legacy is in Syria, where the queen is a national symbol.{{sfn|Sahner|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=dBIoBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT153 134]}} Zenobia became an icon for [[Syrian nationalism|Syrian nationalists]]; she had a cult following among Western-educated Syrians, and an 1871 novel by journalist [[Salim Al Bustani]] was entitled ''Zenobia malikat Tadmor'' (''Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra'').{{sfn|Choueiri|2013|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=zUJFAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA66 66]}} Syrian nationalist [[Ilyas Matar]], who wrote Syria's first history in Arabic in 1874,{{sfn|Iggers|Wang|Mukherjee|2013|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=AXXaAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA94 94]}}{{sfn|Abu-Manneh|1992|p= [https://books.google.com/books?hl=nl&id=5Z66AAAAIAAJ&dq 22]}} (''al-'Uqud al-durriyya fi tarikh al-mamlaka al-Suriyya''; ''The Pearl Necklace in the History of the Syrian Kingdom''),{{sfn|Choueiri|2013|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=aUJFAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA226 226]}} was fascinated by Zenobia and included her in his book.{{sfn|Choueiri|2013|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=zUJFAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA51 51]}} To Matar, the queen kindled hope for a new Zenobia who would restore Syria's former grandeur.{{sfn|Choueiri|2013|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=zUJFAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA51 51]}} Another history of Syria was written by [[Jurji Yanni]] in 1881,{{sfn|Pipes|1992|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=J3PsAb1uV94C&pg=PA14 14]}} in which Yanni called Zenobia a "daughter of the fatherland", and yearned for her "glorious past".{{sfn|Choueiri|2013|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=zUJFAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA57 57]}} Yanni described Aurelian as a tyrant who deprived Syria of its happiness and independence by capturing its queen.{{sfn|Choueiri|2013|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=zUJFAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA57 57]}}

In modern Syria, Zenobia is regarded as a patriotic symbol; her image appeared on [[Syrian pound|banknotes]],{{sfn|Sahner|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=dBIoBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT153 134]}} and in 1997 she was the subject of the television series [[Al-Ababeed]] (''The Anarchy'').{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 1]}} The series was watched by millions in the Arabic-speaking world.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 1]}} It examined the [[Israeli–Palestinian conflict]] from a Syrian perspective, where the queen's struggle symbolized the Palestinians' struggle to gain the right of self-determination.{{sfn|Sahner|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=dBIoBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT153 134]}} Zenobia was also the subject of a biography by [[Mustafa Tlass]], Syria's former minister of defense and one of the country's most prominent figures.{{sfn|Sahner|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=dBIoBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT153 134]}}

{{anchor|Myths, romanticism and popular culture}}