The Sack of Bostra occurred around the spring of 270 AD when

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

Zenobia Septimia Zenobia (Palmyrene Aramaic: , , vocalized as ; AD 240 – c. 274) was a third-century queen of the Palmyrene Empire in Syria. Many legends surround her ancestry; she was probably not a commoner and she married the ruler of the city, ...

Palmyra Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () ''Tadmor''; ar, تَدْمُر ''Tadmur'') is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early second ...

sent her general,

Zabdas Zabdas was a 3rd-century Syrian general who led the forces of Queen Zenobia of Palmyra during her rule as regent of her son Vaballathus and her subsequent rebellion against the Roman Emperor under the short-lived independent Palmyrene Empire. He ...

, to

Bostra Bosra ( ar, بُصْرَىٰ, Buṣrā), also spelled Bostra, Busrana, Bozrah, Bozra and officially called Busra al-Sham ( ar, بُصْرَىٰ ٱلشَّام, Buṣrā al-Shām), is a town in southern Syria, administratively belonging to the Dara ...

, the capital of

Arabia Petraea Arabia Petraea or Petrea, also known as Rome's Arabian Province ( la, Provincia Arabia; ar, العربية البترائية; grc, Ἐπαρχία Πετραίας Ἀραβίας) or simply Arabia, was a frontier province of the Roman Empi ...

, to subjugate the

Tanukhids The Tanûkhids ( ar, التنوخيون, transl=al-Tanūḫiyyūn) or Tanukh ( ar, تنوخ, translit=Tanūḫ) or Banū Tanūkh (, romanized as: ) were a confederation of Arab tribes, sometimes characterized as Saracens. They first rose to prom ...

who were challenging Palmyrene authority. The sack marked the beginning of Zenobia's military operations to consolidate Palmyrene authority over the Roman east. During the sack, the governor of

at the time, a certain Trassus, attempted to confront the Palmyrenes but was defeated and killed, while the city was sacked and the

Legio III Cyrenaica Legio III Cyrenaica, ( Third Legion " Cyrenean") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army. The legion had its origins among the forces of Mark Antony during the civil wars of late first century BC. In the Imperial period it was stationed in Egyp ...

's revered shrine, the temple of Zeus Hammon, was destroyed. The sack of the city was shortly followed by the subjugation of Arabia and

Judea Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Hebrew language#Modern Hebrew, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous L ...

, and later a full invasion of Egypt, and is the first in the string of events which ended in open rebellion against the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

and the declaration of an independent

Palmyrene Empire The Palmyrene Empire was a short-lived breakaway state from the Roman Empire resulting from the Crisis of the Third Century. Named after its capital city, Palmyra, it encompassed the Roman provinces of Syria Palaestina, Arabia Petraea, and Egypt, ...

Background

In 269, while the Romans were occupied with defending the empire against Germanic invasions, Zenobia was consolidating her power; Roman officials in the East were caught between loyalty to the emperor and Zenobia's increasing demands for allegiance. It is unknown when or why Zenobia resorted to using military force to strengthen her rule, it has been suggested that Roman officials refused to recognize Palmyrene authority, and Zenobia's expeditions were intended to maintain Palmyrene dominance over the east. Another factor may have been the weakness of Roman central authority over its eastern provinces and its corresponding inability to protect them, which harmed Palmyrene trade and probably convinced Zenobia that the only way to maintain stability in the East was to control the region directly. Paired with the conflict of Palmyra's economic interest; as

and Egypt received trade which would have otherwise passed through Palmyra. Regardless, the defiance of the Tanukhids and the merchant class of

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

against Palmyrene domination triggered a military response from Zenobia.

Attack

The attack seemed to be intentionally timed, as Zenobia commanded Zabdas to move the Palmyrene army south to Bostra while the Romans were preoccupied with their battles against the

Goths The Goths ( got, 𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰, translit=''Gutþiuda''; la, Gothi, grc-gre, Γότθοι, Gótthoi) were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe ...

in the mountains of

Thrace Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to t ...

. The Roman governor of Arabia, a certain Trassus, who at the time was commanding the

, confronted the approaching Palmyrene army, but was routed and killed. As a result, the city of Bostra opened its gates, and the Palmyrene army captured and sacked the city, and destroyed the temple of Zeus Hammon, the legion's revered shrine.

Aftermath

After the victory, Zabdas marched across

Jordan Valley The Jordan Valley ( ar, غور الأردن, ''Ghor al-Urdun''; he, עֵמֶק הַיַרְדֵּן, ''Emek HaYarden'') forms part of the larger Jordan Rift Valley. Unlike most other river valleys, the term "Jordan Valley" often applies just to ...

and apparently met little opposition.

Petra Petra ( ar, ٱلْبَتْرَاء, Al-Batrāʾ; grc, Πέτρα, "Rock", Nabataean Aramaic, Nabataean: ), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō, is an historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to t ...

, south of Bostra, was attacked as well, and the Palmyrene army had now penetrated the region. Arabia and

Judaea Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous Latin, and the modern-day name of the mountainous south ...

, as well as

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, were now subdued under Palmyrene control. A

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

inscription after the fall of Zenobia attests to the sack of the city mentioning the "Palmyrene enemies" and the destruction of the temple:

References

{{Reflist, 30em

Palmyrene Empire 270

270s in the Roman Empire

Background

Attack

Aftermath

See also

References