Queen Zenobia

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Queen Zenobia, a famous military leader of the ancient world. Born in around 240 AD, Zenobia was Empress of the Palmyrene Empire in the Middle East. A highly educated, intelligent and militarily accomplished leader, she claimed descent from Dido and Cleopatra and spoke many languages, including Egyptian. Zenobia led a rebellion against the Roman Empire and conquered Egypt before being finally defeated by the Emperor Aurelian. Her story captured the imagination of many Renaissance writers, and has become the subject of numerous operas, poems and plays.

→ Play on BBC Sounds website

Guests

• Edith Hall 19 episodes
  Professor of Classics at King's College, London
• Kate Cooper 3 episodes
  Professor of Ancient History at the University of Manchester
• Richard Stoneman No other episodes
  Honorary Visiting Professor in the Department of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Exeter

Reading list

• Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
  Edward Gibbon (various publishers ) Google Books →
• Rome's Enemies 5: The Desert Frontier
  David Nicolle and Angus McBride (Osprey Publishing, 1991) Google Books →
• Roman Palmyra: Identity, Community and State Formation
  Andrew M. Smith II (Oxford University Press, 2013) Google Books →
• Empress Zenobia: Palmyra's Rebel Queen
  Pat Southern (Continuum, 2009) Google Books →
• Palmyra and its Empire: Zenobia's Revolt against Rome
  Richard Stoneman (University of Michigan Press, 1995) Google Books →
• Scriptores Historiae Augustae vol. III
  Loeb Classical Library (Loeb Classical Library, 1989)

Related episodes

• Boudica
  
  11 Mar, 2010 900 History
• Cleopatra
  
  2 Dec, 2010 930 History of the Ancient World
• Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem
  
  21 Nov, 2019 900 History
• Hannibal
  
  11 Oct, 2012 930 History of the Ancient World
• The Mamluks
  
  26 Sep, 2013 950 History of Asia
• Hatshepsut
  
  6 Nov, 2014 930 History of the Ancient World
• The Arab Conquests
  
  26 Jun, 2008 950 History of Asia
• Ashoka the Great
  
  5 Feb, 2015 950 History of Asia
• The Zulu Nation’s Rise and Fall
  
  15 Apr, 2010 960 History of Africa
• Eleanor of Aquitaine
  
  28 Jan, 2016 940 History of Europe
• The Empire of Mali
  
  29 Oct, 2015 960 History of Africa
• The Amazons
  
  11 Apr, 2013 930 History of the Ancient World
• Constantine the Great
  
  5 Oct, 2017 930 History of the Ancient World
• Marcus Aurelius
  
  25 Feb, 2021 180 Ancient, medieval, and Eastern philosophy
• Aphra Behn
  
  12 Oct, 2017 820 English and Old English literatures
• Seneca the Younger
  
  23 Feb, 2017 800 Literature, rhetoric and criticism
• The Siege of Malta, 1565
  
  11 Jan, 2018 940 History of Europe
• The Abbasid Caliphs
  
  2 Feb, 2006 900 History
• Justinian’s Legal Code
  
  17 Nov, 2016 340 Law
• Agrippina the Younger
  
  31 Mar, 2016 930 History of the Ancient World

---

Programme ID: b01snjpp

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01snjpp

Auto-category: 937 (Ancient Rome)