Zenobia versus Mawia: A Note on Warrior Queens and Female Power in the Arab World

Lucinda Dirven

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Chapter 3 Zenobia versus Mawia

A Note on Warrior Queens and Female Power in the Arab World

In: The Public Lives of Ancient Women (500 BCE-650 CE)

Author:

Lucinda Dirven

Lucinda Dirven Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen Faculty of Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies, Antique Religions

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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 65–87

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004534513_006

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Abstract

This contribution aims to clarify the exceptional power of Zenobia and Mawia, two near-contemporary ‘warrior queens’ from (late) antique Syria, who are described as commanding their armies in person on the battlefield. After a discussion of the much-biased literary sources, which are corrected and complemented by different sources and circumstantial evidence, it is concluded that we are in fact dealing with two historical situations that are different in many respects. What both women have in common, however, is that they rose to power in societies where clans and dynasties were very important. Combined with their agency, this best explains their extraordinarily belligerent reigns.

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The Public Lives of Ancient Women (500 BCE-650 CE)

Series: Mnemosyne, Supplements, Volume: 468 and Mnemosyne, Supplements, History and Archaeology of Classical Antiquity, Volume: 468

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004534513

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 07 Feb 2023

Subjects
- Classical Studies

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Chapter 3 Zenobia versus Mawia

A Note on Warrior Queens and Female Power in the Arab World

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The Public Lives of Ancient Women (500 BCE-650 CE)

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