Zenobia: Desert Empress follows the rise and fall of the queen who broke from Rome and built a rival empire in the East.
After the death of her husband, Odaenathus, Zenobia moved quickly to secure power in a region balanced between Roman authority and local ambition. Her expansion across Syria and Egypt, and her assertion of independence, brought her into direct conflict with the emperor Aurelian. The campaign that followed would decide not only her fate, but the limits of Roman control in the East. The book also examines how her image was reshaped over time—from Roman accounts to later literary traditions—each recasting her as rebel, ruler, or legend. Zenobia: Desert Empress presents a clear, accessible account of a leader often filtered through myth, returning her to the political realities and decisions that defined her rule.
