TADMOR IN THE WILDERNESS.

259

In the chapter succeeding that in which Solomon is mentioned to have built Tadmor in the wilderness, we read that "the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year, was six hundred three score and six talents of gold," v. 14. "Beside that he had of the merchantmen, and of the traffick of the spice-merchants, and of all the kings of Arabia, and of the governors of the country," v. 15. It is curious that at this present moment, the British government should be examining the practicability of restoring this old line of communication with India by the Euphrates, by means of the expedition of two iron steam vessels now on that river, under the command of Colonel Chesney.

With the exception of the above slight allusions by Josephus, Pliny, and Appian, we hear nothing more of this city until it bursts upon our notice in the reign of Valerian, and suddenly rises to a dazzling pitch of preeminence under the brilliant government of its young queen Zenobia. Trebellius Pollio, Zosimus, and Vopiscus, are the three historians who give the only accounts we have of this interesting period in the history of the place.

The Roman name had been disgraced, and the imperial purple sullied, by the defeat and capture of the Emperor Valerian by Sapor, king of Persia, who is said to have placed his foot on the

neck of the fallen emperor, when he mounted on horseback.

"Odenatus of Palmyra, a man says Zosimus, for whose ancestors the emperor had always a great respect,' sent a long train of camels to Sapor with rich presents, and a letter requesting the release of the Roman Emperor.

Who is this

Odenatus, said the victor, that thus insolently presumes to write to his lord? Let him prostrate himself before our throne with his hands tied behind him, or swift destruction shall be poured on his head, his race, and his country.' And he ordered the presents to be cast into the river."* Odenatus came, but he came in arms, surrounded by a brave band of Palmyrenes, and the swift cavalry of the desert, and accompanied by his wife, the beautiful and warlike Zenobia. They encountered Sapor and drove the Persians across the Euphrates. Trebellius Pollio gives the following slight sketch of the events of that period.

"Valerian being taken, Odenatus had the empire of the east, and Gallienus appeared to rejoice in the captivity of his father. Armies were wandering about, generals were murmuring, and

*Peter Patricius in Excerp. Leg. p. 29.

ODENATUS, THE PALMYRENE.

261

there was a great grief among all, that a Roman Emperor should be held in servitude in Persia."

66

Odenatus, the Palmyrene, having collected an army, restored the Roman affairs almost to their pristine condition. He took the treasures of the king, he took also what the Parthian kings esteem more dear than treasures, their women, and caused Sapor to flee with fear into his own kingdom."

"Odenatus, king of the Palmyrenes, thus obtained the empire of the whole East, and that, chiefly because he showed himself by his brave actions worthy of so much majesty. While Gallienus was doing nothing, or foolish, or ridiculous things, Odenatus crushed Balista, a pretender to the empire. He then immediately waged war on the Persians to revenge Valerian, which that emperor's son (Gallienus) neglected to do, occupied Nisibis and Carras, and sent the captive Satraps to Gallienus to shame him. Persia being desolated, Nisibis, and Carras, and all Mesopotamia being reduced to the Roman power, the conquering troops having marched to Ctesiphon, the king being fled, Satraps taken, and numbers of Persians killed, Odenatus was, with the approbation and applause of the Roman world, declared Au

gustus by the senate, and received as colleague in the empire by Gallienus, and the money taken from the Persians was ordered to be coined in their united names."*

Odenatus, we are then told, advanced against the Goths, who had for some time infested the Roman provinces, and drove them out of Asia Minor. Returning to Emesa, the historian Zonaras relates, "that at a great hunt, Moonius, the nephew of Odenatus, darted his javelin at a wild beast before the king, and when reproved by his uncle, again and a third time did it; Odenatus, enraged, took away his horse, which was considered a great disgrace among the barbarians, and cast the man, breathing threats on that account, into prison. At the request of the eldest son of Odenatus, he was afterwards liberated, but not forgetting the insult, with a drawn sword, he slew at a feast the king Odenatus and his son, who had so generously liberated him, and was himself immediately killed by the others." t

"The anger of God," says Trebellius Pollio, "against the Roman commonwealth, being most

* "Quod Senatus et urbs et omnis ætas gratanter accepit."-Trebellius Pollio in Hist. August., page 180. Zonaras, Tomus 2, Annalium, page 633.

THE QUEEN ZENOBIA.

263

visibly seen; because after Valerian was slain, he would not reserve Odenatus for its preservation."

The young, the warlike, and the beautiful Zenobia, the widow of Odenatus, occupied the vacant throne of Palmyra, assuming the title of Augusta, and Queen of the East, A. D. 263.

Septimia Zenobia, so called on her coins, appears from the concurrent testimony of antient writers, to have been one of the most beautiful and astonishing women that the world ever produced. From the time that she subsequently lived, she must have been very young at the death of her husband Odenatus. Cornelius Capitolinus affirms, that she was the handsomest of all the Eastern ladies, and Trebellius Pollio, after stating that her chastity was so great, "ut ne virum suum quidem sciret, nisi tentatis conceptionibus," gives the following minute description of her bearing, and personal appearance. "She lived," says he, " with royal pomp after the Persian manner, received adoration like the Persian kings, and banqueted like the Roman emperors. went in state to the assemblies of the people in a helmet, with a purple band fringed with jewels. Her robe was clasped to her waist by a diamond buckle, and she often wore her arm bare.

She

Her