Editing Zenobia (section)

===Ancient sources===
In the ''Historia Augusta'', Zenobia is said to have been a descendant of [[Cleopatra]] and claimed descent from the Ptolemies.{{#tag:ref|The writer of the ''Historia Augusta'' might have based his account on the work of [[Ammianus Marcellinus]], who wrote about the habits of men in "vaulted baths" and how they extol women "with such disgraceful flattery as the [[Parthia]]ns do [[Semiramis]], the Egyptians their Cleopatras, the [[Carians]] [do] [[Artemisia II of Caria|Artemisia]], or the people of Palmyra [do] Zenobia".{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA201 201]}} If the ''Historia Augusta'' writer did indeed use the words of Ammianus, then the remark about Zenobia's supposed descent loses its merit.{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA201 201]}}|group=note}}{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA201 201]}} According to the ''[[Suda|Souda]]'', a 10th-century [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] encyclopedia,{{sfn|Teixidor|2005|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZcr7SzzVYYC&pg=PA206 206]}} after the Palmyrene conquest of Egypt,{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA97 97]}} the sophist [[Callinicus (Sophist)|Callinicus of Petra]] wrote a ten-volume history of [[Alexandria]] dedicated to Cleopatra.{{sfn|Potter|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=7HKFAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA263 263]}} According to modern scholars, by Cleopatra Callinicus meant Zenobia.{{#tag:ref|The conclusion that Callinicus meant Zenobia is based on the fact that the work was written following Palmyra's invasion of Egypt, combined with what is known about Zenobia's alleged claims of descent from Cleopatra.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA97 97]}} The first scholar to suggest that, by Cleopatra, Callinicus meant Zenobia was [[Aurel Stein]], in 1923, and his view was accepted by many other historians.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA188 188]}}|group=note}}{{sfn|Potter|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=7HKFAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA263 263]}}{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA65 65]}} Apart from legends, there is no direct evidence in Egyptian coinage or [[List of ancient Egyptian papyri|papyri]] of a contemporary [[conflation]] of Zenobia with Cleopatra.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA190 190]}} The connection may have been invented by Zenobia's enemies to discredit her,{{#tag:ref|The Roman view of Cleopatra was negative; she was portrayed as a traitorous manipulative woman who used her beauty and sex to achieve her goals.{{sfn|Burstein|2007|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=KSonyiReFY8C&pg=PA68 68]}}|group=note}}{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA116 116]}} but circumstantial evidence indicates that Zenobia herself made the claim; an imperial declaration once ascribed to Emperor [[Severus Alexander]] (died 235) was probably made by Zenobia in the name of her son [[Vaballathus]], where the king named Alexandria "my ancestral city", which indicates a claim to Ptolemaic ancestry.{{sfn|Bennett|2003|p=317}}{{sfn|Parsons|1967|p=378}} Zenobia's alleged claim of a connection to Cleopatra seems to have been politically motivated,{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecfiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 1]}} since it would have given her a connection with Egypt and made her a legitimate successor to the Ptolemies' throne.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnTOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA93 93]}} A relationship between Zenobia and the Ptolemies is unlikely,{{sfn|Bryce|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=41-MAgAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PR25 298]}} and attempts by classical sources to trace the queen's ancestry to the Ptolemies through the Seleucids are [[apocrypha]]l.{{sfn|Ball|2002|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=qQKIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA78 78]}}

====Arab traditions and al-Zabba'====
Although some Arab historians linked Zenobia to the [[Queen of Sheba]], their accounts are apocryphal.{{sfn|Ball|2002|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=qQKIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA78 78]}} Medieval Arabic traditions identify a queen of Palmyra named al-Zabba',{{sfn|Rihan|2014|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1iGpAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA28 28]}} and her most romantic account comes from al-Tabari.{{sfn|Bryce|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=q8Z7AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA295 295]}} According to al-Tabari, she was an [[Amalek#Arabs as Amalekites|Amalekite]]; her father was 'Amr ibn Zarib, an 'Amālīq [[sheikh]] who was killed by the [[Tanukhids]].{{sfn|Ball|2002|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=qQKIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA78 78]}} Al-Tabari identifies a sister of al-Zabba' as "Zabibah".{{sfn|Ball|2002|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=qQKIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA78 78]}} Jadhimah ibn Malik, the Tanukhid king who killed the queen's father, was killed by al-Zabba'.{{sfn|Bryce|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=q8Z7AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA295 295]}} According to al-Tabari, al-Zabba' had a fortress along the [[Euphrates]] and ruled Palmyra.{{sfn|Millar|1993|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=IA-YlZqHv90C&pg=PA433 433]}}

Al-Tabari's account does not mention the Romans, Odaenathus, Vaballathus or the Sassanians;{{sfn|Millar|1993|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=IA-YlZqHv90C&pg=PA433 433]}} focusing on the tribes and their relations, it is immersed in legends.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA12 12]}} Although the account is certainly based on the story of Zenobia,{{sfn|Millar|1993|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=IA-YlZqHv90C&pg=PA433 433]}} it is probably conflated with the story of a semi-legendary nomadic Arab queen (or queens).{{sfn|Bryce|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=q8Z7AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA296 296]}}{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA12 12]}} Al-Zabba'{{'s}} fortress was probably [[Halabiye]], which was restored by the historic Palmyrene queen and named Zenobia.{{sfn|Millar|1993|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=IA-YlZqHv90C&pg=PA433 433]}}