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)Search for other papers by Lucinda Dirven in
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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.