Editing Zenobia (section)

===Contemporary epigraphical evidence===
Basing their suppositions upon archaeological evidence, various historians have suggested several men as Zenobia's father:
{{Multiple image|align=right|direction=vertical|image1=Palmyra Julius Aurelius Zenobius inscription.jpg|caption1=Inscription at [[Palmyra]] honoring Julius Aurelius Zenobius, believed by some to be Zenobia's father}}
Julius Aurelius Zenobius appears on a Palmyrene inscription as a [[strategos]] of Palmyra in 231–232; based on the similarity of the names,{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA4 4]}} Zenobius was suggested as Zenobia's father by the [[Numismatist (specialist)|numismatist]] [[:de:Alfred von Sallet|Alfred von Sallet]] and others.{{sfn|Hartmann|2001|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=BdcHK8Ll1jMC&pg=PA117 117]}} The archaeologist [[William Waddington]] argued in favor of Zenobius' identification as the father, assuming that his statue stood opposite to where the statue of the queen stood in [[Great Colonnade at Palmyra|Great Colonnade]]. However, the linguist [[Jean-Baptiste Chabot]] pointed out that Zenobius' statue stood opposite to that of Odaenathus not Zenobia and rejected Waddington's hypothesis.{{sfn|Macurdy|1937|p= [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015019188914;view=1up;seq=150 126]}} The only ''gentilicium'', a hereditary name borne by people that was originally the name of one's gens (family or clan) by patrilineal descent, appearing on Zenobia's inscriptions was "Septimia" (not "Julia Aurelia", which she would have borne if her father's ''gentilicium'' was Aurelius),{{sfn|Sartre|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=9y7nTpFcN3AC&pg=PA551 551]}} and it cannot be proven that the queen changed her ''gentilicium'' to Septimia after her marriage.{{#tag:ref|Both Dittenberger and von Sallet believed that Zenobia bore the ''gentilicium'' Julia Aurelia during her marriage and took the ''gentilicium'' Septimia after Odaenathus' death; von Sallet argued that the coins minted by Vaballathus in Alexandria bore the initials of the names "Julius", "Aurelius" and "Septimius", before his own name.{{sfn|Macurdy|1937|p= [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015019188914;view=1up;seq=149 125]}} Therefore, it is apparent that Vaballathus took his maternal family's name beside his paternal one.{{sfn|Macurdy|1937|p= [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015019188914;view=1up;seq=150 126]}}|group=note}}{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA4 4]}}{{sfn|Hartmann|2001|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=BdcHK8Ll1jMC&pg=PA117 117]}}

One of Zenobia's inscriptions recorded her as "Septimia Bat-Zabbai, daughter of Antiochus".{{sfn|Dodgeon|Lieu|2002|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=tgCKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA371 371]}}{{sfn|Ando|2012|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=2fTcCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA209 209]}} Antiochus' identity is not definitively known:{{sfn|Bryce|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=q8Z7AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA297 297]}} his ancestry is not recorded in Palmyrene inscriptions, and the name was not common in Palmyra.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA5 5]}} This, combined with the meaning of Zenobia's Palmyrene name (daughter of Zabbai), led scholars such as [[:de:Harald Ingholt|Harald Ingholt]] to speculate that Antiochus might have been a distant ancestor: the [[List of Seleucid rulers|Seleucid]] king [[Antiochus IV Epiphanes]] or [[Antiochus VII Sidetes]], whose wife was the [[Ptolemaic dynasty|Ptolemaic]] [[Cleopatra Thea]].{{sfn|Dodgeon|Lieu|2002|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=tgCKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA371 371]}}{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA5 5]}} In the historian [[Richard Stoneman]]'s view, Zenobia would not have created an obscure ancestry to connect herself with the ancient [[Ancient Macedonians|Macedonian]] rulers: if a fabricated ancestry were needed, a more direct connection would have been invented.{{sfn|Stoneman|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA112 112]}} According to Stoneman, Zenobia "had reason to believe [her Seleucid ancestry] to be true".{{sfn|Stoneman|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLFfE1qPhIC&pg=PA112 112]}} The historian [[Pat Southern|Patricia Southern]], noting that Antiochus was mentioned without a royal title or a hint of great lineage, believes that he was a direct ancestor or a relative rather than a Seleucid king who lived three centuries before Zenobia.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA5 5]}}

On the basis of Zenobia's Palmyrene name, Bat Zabbai, her father may have been called Zabbai; alternatively, Zabbai may have been the name of a more distant ancestor.{{sfn|Bryce|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=q8Z7AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA297 297]}} The historian [[Trevor R. Bryce|Trevor Bryce]] suggests that she was related to [[Septimius Zabbai]], Palmyra's garrison leader, and he may even have been her father.{{sfn|Bryce|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=q8Z7AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA297 297]}} The archaeologist [[Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau]], attempting to reconcile the meaning of the name "Bat Zabbai" with the inscription mentioning the queen as daughter of Antiochus, suggested that two brothers, Zabbai and Antiochus, existed, with a childless Zabbai dying and leaving his widow to marry his brother Antiochus. Thus, since Zenobia was born out of a [[levirate marriage]], she was theoretically the daughter of Zabbai, hence the name.{{sfn|Macurdy|1937|p= [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015019188914;view=1up;seq=151 127]}}

{{anchor|In ancient sources}}