The daughter of Antiochus, she became the wife of odae-NATH and aided him in transforming Palmyra into a mighty ally of ROME. He campaigns against Persia secured Palmyran protection of Palestine, Syria, and parts of asia MINOR, with the blessing of Emperor gallienus. When Odaenath was murdered sometime in 266 or 267, possibly by the Queen herself, she immediately assumed control of the government, ruling in the name of their son VABALLATH. She set about expanding her court, attracting the finest minds of the time, especially the Neoplatonists and CASSIUS longinus, who urged her defiance of Rome.
When Emperor CLAUDIUS II gothicus died in 270, Zenobia launched a campaign to increase her power. General zabdas took command of the Palmyrene army and invaded the provinces of Syria-Palestine, eastern Asia Minor and even into EGYPT. aurelian, new to the throne of Rome, was preoccupied with barbarian invasions until the summer of 271, when he marched against the Palmyrenes. Zabdas was defeated at antioch and Emesa, and the Palmyrene acquisitions in Asia Minor and Syria were lost. Zenobia fled to Palmyra, rejecting Aurelian’s offer of peace. She then tried to escape to the Persians but was captured and forced to walk in Aurelian’s triumph in Rome, where she was transported in a golden chair. She lived in Rome and on an estate at tibur for the rest of her life, on a state subsidy.
Zenonis (fl. fifth century c. e.) Augusta in 475-476 and wife of Eastern emperor Basiliscus
When Zenonis was proclaimed Augusta, she entered a torrid affair with a stunningly handsome courtier named Armatus, trying to conceal the relationship but working to have Armatus promoted to the highest positions in the city. When Basiliscus fell from power, Zenonis and her children were banished with him to Cucusus in Cappadocia, where they were starved to death.
Zeus See jupiter.
Zosimus (d. 418 c. e.) Pope
A brief reigning pope (417-418 c. e.), remembered for two stinging defeats of his policy. The first came in Gaul where he attempted to aggrandize the Bishopric of arles in 417, giving that prelate the right to co-consecrate the other bishops of gallia narbonensis. A brief and bitter fight ensued, and other popes ended the special status of Arles. The second failure was in AFRICA, where Zosimus issued a decree in favor of the Pelagians, only to find himself facing St. Augustine, who forced him to recant his decree. He died in 418.
See PAPACY.
Zstommas, Chrysaphius (d. 450 c. e.) Eunuch Highly influential during the reign of Emperor Theodosius II, Zstommas stirred up trouble between pulcheria, Theodosius’s sister, and the emperor’s wife eudocia and then forced Pulcheria from the palace. Eudocia was exiled in 442 to Jerusalem, where she lived until her death in 460. Zstommas filled the vacuum caused by the departure of those formidable women, using conciliatory policies and vast amounts of the treasury to buy off the HUNS, who were ravaging illyricum. His actions naturally brought him many enemies at court, and sometime in 450 Pulcheria returned to her former position, with the help of the army generals. Zstommas fell from power, and during the last months of Theodosius’s reign Pulcheria gained complete control. After Theodosius died in July 450, MARCIAN, his successor, began his rule by executing Zstommas.
World History
