118 - The Palmyrene Wars

This week's episode is brought to you by Audible. As you know, Audible is the Internet's leading provider of audio entertainment with over 60,000 titles to choose from. When you're done with this episode, go to audiblepodcast.com forward slash roam. That again, audiblepodcast.com forward slash roam. By going to that address, you qualify for a free book download when you sign up for a 14-day trial membership. There is no obligation to continue the service and you can cancel any time and keep the free book. You can also keep going with one of their monthly subscription options and get great deals on all your future audiobook purchases. This week, I'm going to move away from Rome a little bit and recommend Marathon, The Battle That Changed Western Civilization by Richard Billows. I don't know how much Rome's development would have been arrested had the Persians conquered Greece, but my suspicion is that it would have been a lot. Just remember to go to audiblepodcast.com forward slash roam so that they know who sent you.

Hello, and welcome to the History of Rome, episode 118, The Palmyrene Wars. Ever since the death of her husband in 267, the Palmyrene Queen Zenobia had shown herself to be a formidable new player in the great game of power politics. In an age where every soldier was a potential emperor and every territory a potential new kingdom, Zenobia had not only held onto the power and land she had inherited from Odinothus, but little by little, she managed to expand upon it. The power and prestige of Rome was at an all-time low, and Zenobia was taking full advantage of the Eternal City's eclipse. She was shrewd and ambitious and capable, and had the ball of fate bounced this way instead of that, she might just have permanently severed Rome's claim to the East. Empires evolved and devolved all the time, and by Zenobia's estimation, the sun was setting on Rome's almost 350 years of dominance over the Eastern Mediterranean.

Standing between Zenobia and a new independent Palmyrene Empire, though, was an Illyrian emperor named Aurelian, who, like his brother officers, was obsessed with the idea of reuniting the empire. It had become their almost religious mission in life, and nothing was going to stop them. Consumed as he was with Germanic invasions and riots in Rome, though, Aurelian was at first unable to deal with said Oriental queen, even as she thumbed her nose at Roman authority.

Probably upon receiving the news that Claudius was dead, Zenobia and her top general Zabdis had taken the opportunity to lead the Palmyrene army into Egypt, expel the Roman garrison, and occupy Alexandria. Whatever official or unofficial understanding existed between Rome and Palmyra, the status of Egypt was never in play. It was a Roman province, to be held by a Roman prefect, duly appointed by a Roman emperor, just as it had been since the days of Augustus. In other words, her invasion of Egypt was way, way out of bounds.

But, matching her own audacity in seizing Alexandria, Zenobia then pretended like nothing at all was amiss. After the brief power struggle following Claudius' death confirmed Aurelian was the new master of Rome, Zenobia dutifully issued coins from the Alexandrian mints, featuring Aurelian's name and image. True, the back of those coins featured the image of her young son Vabolathus, who, it should be recalled, Zenobia was ruling through. But her son was not presented as Augustus, as Aurelian clearly was. Further, official documents in the East were issued using letterhead that presented Aurelian's name first and Vabolathus' second. You see, nothing is amiss here. Rome and Palmyra are partners in power, and as is just and as is right, Rome is and will remain the senior and dominant partner.

But while officially downplaying Palmyrene independence, Zenobia was clearly not planning to stop with the annexation of Egypt. The Palmyrene claims to the Eastern Empire had always been a weird mixture of personal prerogative and sanctioned super-authority, and as I mentioned a few episodes back, it is likely that the governance of Syria and its various municipalities had been left in the hands of the same local officials who had been running the show prior to the rise of Odinothus. Now Zenobia sought something a little more concrete. Working through agents and allies in the various cities of Syria, especially Antioch, she arranged for each in turn to begin the process of formally recognizing Palmyra as their political master. Through skillful diplomacy, Zenobia was able to secure direct control of Syria while avoiding the use of military force. Following up on this success, she initiated the same process in Asia Minor, and pretty soon half of Anatolia had come around to recognizing Palmyra as their capital.

The subtle power plays, though, were not lost on Aurelian. Zenobia could issue all the coins and declarations under Aurelian's name that she wished, but it was obvious that it was all so much kabuki. The alliance Gallienus had made with Odinothus had been born of a particular set of circumstances facing Rome at a time of emergency, and the mere fact of its perpetuation now that the emergency had passed was already a daily slap in the face to the proud officers of the Roman high command. Zenobia's attempt to revise and extend the power of Palmyra was not just insulting then, it was an act of war.

So in 271, Aurelian gathered up his imperial army and marched them out of Italy, beginning a journey that would eventually see them march all the way to the gates of Palmyra and back again, and then back to the gates of Palmyra, and I can tell you, when Aurelian has to go back the second time, he really really isn't going to be happy about it.

But before the legions could begin their march to the east in earnest, they had to settle the situation in the Balkans. Despite the fact that the invasions of their countrymen were now routinely ending in defeat at the hands of the legions, some Gothic tribes were still keen on the idea of raiding the empire for its wealth. So as Aurelian reached the Danube frontier, he found the provinces once again littered with Gothic invaders. This batch though was nothing like the massive waves that had come down south in the 260s, indicating that Gothic power had been significantly affected by the previous decade's misadventures in Roman territory. But there was still enough of them on the loose to require Aurelian to stop short and deal with them. He was entirely successful in his efforts and the Goths were driven back across the river.

An interesting footnote to this brief Gothic campaign is that the tide of battle was turned when the Gothic king leading the invasion was killed. The sources have this Gothic king being named as some variation of Cannabutus, which is similar enough phonetically to a certain Gothic king who, twenty years before, had destroyed the legions at Abritus and killed two emperors, to make some wonder if King Cannabutus and King Caneva were not in fact the same person. If they were, then his death would have been sweet revenge for the Romans, much like Galerius' future capture of the Sassanid royal family will come as sweet revenge for the Persian imprisonment of Valerian.

As concerned with the future security of the Danube frontier as he was with the future security of Rome, Aurelian likely took this moment to initiate his controversial plan to dramatically tighten up the Roman defensive line. The province of Dacia, sticking out like a sore thumb north of the Danube, had only avoided Hadrian's consolidation of Roman holding some 150 years before because the blood, sweat, and tears that had gone into winning it was still fresh in everybody's mind. To give it up would have been an affront to the memories of those who had just fought and died to take it, so Hadrian was forced against his better judgment to leave it be. Also, it had some pretty sweet gold and silver mines. But the mines were dried up now, and in every way Dacia was a lead weight around Rome's neck. It added over 500 miles to the military perimeter of the empire without offering any kind of strategic or tactical value in return. The mountainous province had never been colonized or Romanized properly, and, bottom line, hanging onto Dacia put the empire in greater danger than it needed to be in. The empire was already in great danger. It didn't need to be in greater danger. So Aurelian ordered the evacuation of the province.

He was careful to make the process as steady and organized as possible. That is, he didn't just go around blaring a siren telling everybody to grab what they could and get out, but he made it very clear that in the near future, the order was going to come for the troops on the Dacian frontier to abandon their posts and re-entrench on the south bank of the Danube. Anyone left in Dacia would be on their own. Some, living lives far closer to their quote, barbarian enemies than their Roman neighbors, did indeed stay put, but most everyone else packed up and headed south. When the order finally came to remove the Roman troops, a collection of Goths was ready and waiting to move in. Their migration into Dacia came with the approval of Aurelian, who worked out a deal involving trade rights and certain other concessions in exchange for these new Dacian Goths to agree to act as a military buffer to other Germanic tribes. The new frontier line was thus not only shorter and easier to defend, but it came equipped with a buffer zone that absorbed the brunt of many a potential invasion force.

The evacuation of Dacia was as sound a policy as Rome had seen in a long time, but there was no mistaking the fact that good old Terminus, the implacable Roman god of boundaries who, once planted, refused to be moved, had now been moved. That did not bode well for the future.

Probably because he was not totally insensible to the optics of abandoning a fully incorporated province, Aurelian carved out of Moesia a new province which he dubbed Dacia. Now he could plausibly argue that he had not abandoned Dacia so much as moved it south of the Danube. See, there it is right there on the map. Okay, maybe he couldn't plausibly argue that, but it is worth noting that a province called Dacia still existed after Trajan's territory had been abandoned. The main point though was that while a Dacia still existed, the old Dacia was now gone. It had long been a backdoor into the empire, exploited endlessly by Rome's enemies, and Aurelian had now locked that door. Rome was safer and more secure for his decision.

With walls being built around the cities of the empire and the long Danube frontier now left far more manageable, Aurelian could finally turn body and soul to his divinely ordained mission. Aurelian's priority list in 271 looked like this. Number 1, retake Egypt. Number 2, reassert Roman control over the rest of the eastern provinces. And 3, knock Palmyra down a peg or five.

His own army was too cumbersome to quickly deal with the first priority, so Aurelian ordered one of his officers, possibly the future Emperor Probus, to gather up a fleet and sail immediately for Alexandria. With luck, Probus, or whoever it actually was, there are good reasons to believe Probus was actually in Gaul through this whole period, would be able to land in Egypt and drive off the Palmyrene garrison before Aurelian even set foot in Syria to handle the business of priority number 2. Once Egypt was retaken, the Imperial army could focus all of its energy on regaining control of Syria. Priority 3 would then be a foregone conclusion.

The preparations underway in the Imperial camp did not pass unnoticed by Zenobia. Knowing that Aurelian was likely coming no matter what her next move was, the Palmyrene queen decided to go all in, abandoning any pretense of partnership with Rome and issuing coins and orders under the auspices of Vabolathus alone, who was now styled, finally, Augustus. The Palmyrene court then advanced to Emesa, where Zenobia set up a forward base from which to confront Aurelian when he emerged into Syria. With a little luck, the cities of Asia Minor that she had recently brought into the Palmyrene fold would stick with their new eastern benefactor and resist the advance of Aurelian, leading the Roman emperor to either become bogged down in profitless sieges or continue on without secure supply or communication lines back to the west. Either outcome would have worked out to the Palmyrene advantage, and it would hopefully be a much-worn-down Roman army that Zenobia and Zabdas would have to face.

But Aurelian, as I think I've mentioned, was a no-nonsense kind of guy. He had no time for prolonged sieges, and no intention of continuing without ensuring that all of Anatolia was subdued. So much to Zenobia's chagrin, Aurelian picked a third option from the hat. Force the cities of Asia Minor to capitulate with minimal fighting, and then proceed safely and securely on to Syria. The further west you went, the looser the ties to Palmyra, and as Aurelian advanced east, the cities that he approached opened their gates without a fight. Aurelian had a fierce reputation, and there was very little doubt that should he be defied, that the emperor's wrath would be swift and deadly. Aurelian was well aware that his reputation was preceding him, and he used it to great effect, but to no greater effect than when he finally reached a city that attempted to hold out.

Moving south towards the Cilician gates, the imperial army reached the city of Tyne. Closer now to the center of Palmyra's power, the leaders of Tyne made a calculated decision to hold out against Aurelian, and hopefully find great rewards for themselves in a new Palmyrene empire. But resisting Aurelian and enduring a prolonged siege was not on the to-do list of everyone in Tyne, and the city was quickly betrayed into Aurelian's hands. Everyone held their breath. Here was a city that had essentially spit in the face of Rome. How bloody was Aurelian's retribution going to be? The soldiers prepared to do some serious sacking, the citizens prepared to endure some serious sacking. But Aurelian emerged from his tent, and to the surprise of everyone, announced that there would be no reprisals, no sacking, no punishments. Instead, a general pardon was declared.

According to the official legend, Aurelian had been visited in a dream by Apollonius, the famous philosophical son of Tyne, who, by the third century, was being put forward as a sort of pagan answer to the growing cult of Jesus Christ. According to the legend, on the eve of Tyne's capitulation, Apollonius visited Aurelian and told the emperor that if he desired to rule, that he must abstain from shedding the blood of innocents, and that if he planned to conquer, he must also plan to be merciful. Whether it was the ghost of a dead philosopher or the shrewd mind of Aurelian that led Tyne to be spared, the decision was a masterstroke.

Further east, the leading men of the cities that had gone over solidly to Palmyra had rightly feared punishment at the hands of Aurelian, but the example of Tyne proved that the emperor was in a forgiving mood. As the imperial army continued southeast, cities that would have resisted out of a desperate belief that they were doomed one way or the other, now threw open their gates. Each city was given the same light treatment, compounding a wave of capitulation that led Aurelian all the way to the doorstep of Antioch. The emperor's surprise decision to play off type led not just to a far easier campaign for his legions, but also it laid the groundwork for an amicable return of the eastern provinces into the Roman fold. Aurelian wanted to reunify the empire. Laying terrible waste to the countryside might allow him to occupy the east, but it would unify nothing.

As the emperor continued his march, word came up from Egypt that the fleet he had dispatched to retake Alexandria had landed and easily expelled the Palmyrean garrison, meaning that priority one was already now checked off the list. Watching her recently won political gains melt away, an undeterred Zenobia prepared for war, deploying Zabdas and the Palmyrene army between Aurelian and Antioch. Now the Palmyrene army, especially the Cataphracts, their much vaunted armored cavalry, was a force to be reckoned with in any situation, but fighting on their home turf against legionaries not used to combat in the heat of the desert appeared to make them invincible. But Aurelian was a master strategist and tactician, and he had a plan to defeat the Palmyrenes and troops who were disciplined enough to pull it off.

After a few days maneuvering around Antioch, Aurelian and Zabdas finally met in battle in May or June of 272. Knowing that defeating the Cataphracts was the key to victory, Aurelian employed the same ruse Claudius had used against the Goths at Nysus, a ruse Aurelian knew the devastating effects of firsthand, as he had been the general leading the cavalry that day. While the infantry on both sides shuffled their feet, Aurelian ordered his cavalry to directly attack the Cataphracts. At a prearranged moment, the Roman cavalry suddenly broke apart and began to flee from the field. With the Roman horsemen retreating in what appeared to be a panic, the Palmyrene Cataphracts gave chase, smugly convinced that they were about to secure their own legend by crushing the cream of the Roman legions. But you know what comes next. After leading the Cataphracts on a merry chase that wore out the heavily armored Palmyrenes, the Roman cavalry wheeled around at a second prearranged moment and as one unit barreled straight into the surprised and exhausted Cataphracts, devastating their ranks and allowing only a few to escape with their lives.

As soon as Zabdas learned the fate of his armored cavalry, he knew that the battle was lost. Zabdas' infantry was no match for the Roman infantry, and wasting little time, Zabdas ordered a retreat back to Antioch. Inside the city, panic gripped the local leaders, who had, rashly they now realized, thrown their lot in with the enemies of Rome. Aurelian had thus far displayed almost supernatural clemency, but who knew how long that was going to hold out. Nervous as they were though, the city fathers figured that as long as the Palmyrene army was there to protect them, that there was still hope. Which is why they were mortified to wake up on the morning after the battle to find that Zabdas, recognizing the inevitability of Antioch's fall, had packed up and marched his army in the direction of Emesa in the middle of the night.

Aurelian entered Antioch unchallenged, and was greeted by a citizen body prepared for the worst. But again, Aurelian proved to be of a much higher mind than anyone gave him credit for. Another general pardon was issued, and Syria was back in Roman hands. With priority one already accomplished and priority two well in hand, all that was left was priority three, the crushing of Palmyra.

Aurelian lingered in Antioch for a few weeks waiting on reinforcements to ensure that he would only have to make one trip into the desert, and when they finally arrived, the emperor headed northeast to the city of Emesa, where Zenobia and Zabdas were holed up with the Palmyrene royal treasury and an army 70,000 strong. The significance of the coming battle, nor the significance of the coming battle site, were missed. Though it seemed like a lifetime ago, only twelve years had elapsed since Valerian had walked out to meet his fate on the same plains beside Emesa. Would Aurelian exorcise Rome's demons, or would the desert city become known to history as the Slayer of Emperors?

In the battle that followed, Aurelian once again attempted to lure the Palmyrenes out with a fake retreat. But this time, his lines came too close to the Palmyrenes, and the chase was over before it got going. The Roman ranks, infantry and cavalry alike, were soon engulfed in bloody confusion. But the less disciplined Palmyrenes pushed their advantage too hard, which led to a breakup of their line, a breakup which was exploited to deadly effect by the Romans. First flanking, and then surrounding the Palmyrenes, slaughter ensued. Zabdas and a few officers escaped back to the city, where they collected Zenobia and the rest of the royal family, and dashed back to the relative safety of Palmyra. There was not even time to collect the treasury, which was music to the ears of the cash-strapped Aurelian.

The rest was foregone conclusion. Aurelian secured the Palmyrene treasury, and then followed his enemies back to their home city. Still defiant, Palmyra refused to yield just yet, and Aurelian was forced to begin a siege in the middle of the desert in the middle of summer. Now, being the oasis city that it was, Palmyra was well situated to hold out against the Romans and their dicey supply lines, but that was just in the near term. Long term, Zenobia recognized that they were going to need help if they wanted to get out of their fight with Rome alive. The only place they could possibly turn to for help, though, was, awkwardly, the Sassanids. The Persians were not likely to have forgotten that Odinothus had brought Palmyra to power by defeating and humiliating them, but in her desperation, Zenobia felt that she had no choice but to turn to them for aid.

Unfortunately for the Palmyrenes, though, Sharapur, the great king who had captured an emperor and sacked Antioch, was dying, and the Sassanids were divided and distracted by the question of who was going to succeed him. Under different circumstances, the Persians might have decided to go to war for Palmyra, but right now, it was out of the question. Zenobia, though, could not afford to take no for an answer, so she decided to risk everything by traveling to the Sassanid capital and making her case in person. By risking everything, though, she wound up losing everything. Aurelian was alerted to the fact that the queen had slipped out of the city and was heading east. A Roman cavalry detachment quickly caught up and overtook the Palmyrenes, and Zenobia, the eastern queen who very nearly made herself the equal of a Roman emperor, was now his prisoner.

The rank and file of the legions clamored for her death, but Aurelian would have none of it. After a generation of bad news, Aurelian was finally putting together a record the Romans could celebrate, and he planned to let them celebrate his victories with a good old-fashioned triumph. And what was a triumph without Rome's enemies marched through the streets of the Eternal City in chains?

Back inside Palmyra, news of the queen's capture sparked a brief fight between moderates and diehards about whether to capitulate. The war-weary moderates quickly suppressed the diehards, and the gates of the city were opened. As he had done for the entirety of his eastern campaign, Aurelian showed restraint when dealing with the citizens of Palmyra, announcing that there would be no bloody reprisals for their breach of faith. Unlike the cities of the empire proper, though, this time Aurelian allowed his men, who had thus far been denied any real spoils, a nice organized sacking of the rich oasis city in the desert. And of course, the Palmyrene High Command could not be treated as lightly as the leaders of Antioch or Tyne. After a brief public trial, the leaders of Palmyra, including Zabdas, were put to death. The fate of Vabolathus is unknown, though by one account he is going to die on the trip to Rome, but he is not very important anyway. Zenobia was the real prize, and Aurelian had her.

With the eastern half of the empire now back under Roman control, Aurelian could turn to the west. The dream of a reunited empire was still only half fulfilled, and next week Aurelian will turn his full attention on the Gallic Empire. The death of Posthumus had left the western provinces without a strong leader, and Aurelian reckoned that capturing Gaul would be a whole lot easier than recapturing Syria. And he was right.

I want to close this week by letting you all know that the History of Rome has apparently been nominated for a podcast award. We are in the running for Best Educational Podcast of 2010, and the award will be decided by an internet vote. So I figure that if every one of you takes a second to go to podcastawards.com and vote for us, then we have a pretty good shot at me forever after referring to the History of Rome as Award Winning Podcast, the History of Rome. Kind of like the way Pabst has gotten so much mileage out of that one blue ribbon they won that one time. You can vote once a day, so feel free to go crazy, and let's win this thing.

I also want to mention that the final nominees were selected based on the number of nominations each show got, which means that some of you out there took the time and effort to talk the show up, submit our name, and get us nominated. Thank you very much. And dare I say it, yes I think I will, it's an honor just to be nominated. podcastawards.com Go vote for us!