Editing Zenobia (section)

===Consort===
[[image:Odenaethus Glyptoteket.jpg|thumb|alt=Bust of Odaenathus|[[Odaenathus]], a bust dated to the 250s]]
During the early centuries AD, Palmyra was a city subordinate to [[Roman Empire|Rome]] and part of the province of [[Phoenice (Roman province)|Syria Phoenice]].{{sfn|Edwell|2007|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DQgmOZlsEWcC&pg=PA27 27]}} In 260 the Roman emperor [[Valerian (emperor)|Valerian]] marched against the [[Sassanid Persia]]n monarch [[Shapur I]], who had invaded the empire's eastern regions; Valerian was [[Battle of Edessa|defeated and captured]] near [[Edessa]].{{sfn|Ando|2012|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=2fTcCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA167 167]}} Odaenathus, [[Odaenathus#Relation with Rome|formally loyal to Rome]] and its emperor [[Gallienus]] (Valerian's son),{{sfn|Butcher|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=YJPn3-rRjC0C&pg=PA58 58]}} was declared king of Palmyra.{{sfn|Dignas|Winter|2007|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=MG2hqcRDvJgC&pg=PA159 159]}} Launching successful campaigns against Persia, he was crowned [[King of Kings]] of the East in 263.{{sfn|Butcher|2003|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=YJPn3-rRjC0C&pg=PA60 60]}} Odaenathus crowned his eldest son, [[Hairan I|Herodianus]], as co-ruler.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=muVoB0O_XXMC&pg=PT61 61]}} In addition to the royal titles, Odaenathus received many [[Odaenathus#Ruler of the East|Roman titles]], most importantly ''[[corrector]] totius orientis'' (governor of the entire East), and ruled the Roman territories from the [[Black Sea]] to [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]].{{sfn|Dignas|Winter|2007|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=MG2hqcRDvJgC&pg=PA160 160]}} In 267, when Zenobia was in her late twenties or early thirties, Odaenathus and his eldest son were assassinated while returning from a campaign.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=muVoB0O_XXMC&pg=PT61 61]}}

The first inscription mentioning Zenobia as queen is dated two or three years after Odaenathus' death, so exactly when Zenobia assumed the title "queen of Palmyra" is uncertain.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA73 73]}} However, she was probably designated as queen when her husband became king.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA73 73]}} As [[queen consort]], Zenobia remained in the background and was not mentioned in the historical record.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA72 72]}} According to later accounts, including one by [[Giovanni Boccaccio]], she accompanied her husband on his campaigns.{{sfn|Franklin|2006|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=XLPEa28ncjsC&pg=PA60 60]}} If the accounts of her accompanying her husband are true, according to Southern, Zenobia would have boosted the morale of the soldiers and gained political influence, which she needed in her later career.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA72 72]}}

====Possible role in Odaenathus' assassination====
According to the ''Historia Augusta'', Odaenathus was assassinated by a cousin named [[Maeonius]].{{sfn|Dodgeon|Lieu|2002|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=tgCKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA81 81]}} In the ''Historia Augusta'', Odaenathus' son from his first wife was named Herodes and was crowned co-ruler by his father.{{sfn|Bray|1997|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=fVwtnOBCiCwC&pg=PA276 276]}} The ''Historia Augusta'' claims that Zenobia conspired with Maeonius for a time because she did not accept her stepson as his father's heir (ahead of her own children).{{sfn|Dodgeon|Lieu|2002|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=tgCKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA81 81]}} The ''Historia Augusta'' does not suggest that Zenobia was involved in the events leading to her husband's murder,{{sfn|Bryce|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=q8Z7AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA292 292]}} and the crime is attributed to Maeonius' moral degeneration and jealousy.{{sfn|Dodgeon|Lieu|2002|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=tgCKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA81 81]}} This account, according to the historian [[Alaric Watson]], can be dismissed as fictional.{{sfn|Watson|2004|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ2JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA58 58]}} Although some modern scholarship suggests that Zenobia was involved in the assassination due to political ambition and opposition to her husband's pro-Roman policy, she continued Odaenathus' policies during her first years on the throne.{{sfn|Southern|2008|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=DqMrR29Cc7MC&pg=PA78 78]}}