Zabdas led the armies of Palmyrene expansion in 270–271, sweeping into Egypt and, with the aid of the pro - Palmyrene political faction, annexing the entire province in the name of his queen.
Further advances were made throughout the entire East, including Syria and Asia Minor, until Emperor Aurelian took to the field in 271. Zabdas focused on ANTIOCH as his strategic base and moved north to the banks of the Orontes where he had his first engagement with the Romans.
Zabdas probably had a numerical advantage, especially in cavalry units, his horsemen being strongly arm o red on huge mounts, but this failed to serve him. Aurelian’s infantry allowed the cavalry to charge and then simply rolled up the Palmyrene flank.
Defeated but not destroyed, Zabdas retreated to Antioch but had to leave there because of the inhabitants’ unrest. Aurelian entered the city and pushed on, following Zabdas’s circuitous route to Emesa.
Zabdas hoped for Persian aid, which did not materialize, and turned to give battle again. With some 70,000 men at his disposal and the cavalry still large and formidable, Zabdas repeated the tactics of his first encounter with Aurelian, with the same results.
The Roman cavalry (mostly Moors and Dalmatians) was routed, but the Legions weathered the charges and then advanced, demolishing the Palmyrene army . The survivors broke and fled to Emesa, while Zenobia are treated to her native city. What became of Zabdas is unknown.
Showing posts with label Z. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Z. Show all posts
Zanticus - Iazyges leader
The chief of the Lazyges tribe who, in 175 C.E., went before Marcus Aurelius and admitted defeat and submission to Rome. The terms of the subsequent treaty with the emperor demanded that all of the lazyges abandon the Danube region.
Zealots
Zealots Name given to a party of Jewish extremists in first century C.E. JUDAEA; they acted as the main organizers of resistance to Roman rule over the Jews. In 6 C.E., the Romans annexed Judaea and installed procurators to administer local government. Inevitably, small pockets of opposition emerged. From 6 to 66 C.E., the Zealots slowly organized themselves, their presence felt by sporadic incidents of unrest or violence.
By 66, they were sufficiently manned to spearhead a major Jewish uprising, inducing the Judaean districts to rebel against ROME. JOSEPHUS, in his Jewish War, called them the Sicarii (Assassins), clearly depicting them as unrepresentative of the Jewish establishment. They pushed for war and then fought valiantly as the Roman LEGIONS under VESPASIAN and then TITUS reclaimed the country .
In JERUSALEM, the Zealots caused dissension and bloodshed by terrorizing the moderates and murdering opponents, thereby inadvertently weakening morale and giving entrance to the unpopular and harsh Idumaeans. They shared in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 but their cause was not so easily extinguished. At MASADA they fought bravely and survived total extirpation until 132–135, and the revolt of Simon BAR COCHBA.
By 66, they were sufficiently manned to spearhead a major Jewish uprising, inducing the Judaean districts to rebel against ROME. JOSEPHUS, in his Jewish War, called them the Sicarii (Assassins), clearly depicting them as unrepresentative of the Jewish establishment. They pushed for war and then fought valiantly as the Roman LEGIONS under VESPASIAN and then TITUS reclaimed the country .
In JERUSALEM, the Zealots caused dissension and bloodshed by terrorizing the moderates and murdering opponents, thereby inadvertently weakening morale and giving entrance to the unpopular and harsh Idumaeans. They shared in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 but their cause was not so easily extinguished. At MASADA they fought bravely and survived total extirpation until 132–135, and the revolt of Simon BAR COCHBA.
Zela
Town in north-central Turkey , about 75 miles inland from the Black Sea; site of a military engagement fought in May 47 B.C.E. between Julius Caesar and Pharnaces II, king of the Bosporus, resulting in a complete triumph for Caesar.
While the Roman world was engulfed by the Civil War of the First Triumvirate, Pharnaces II, son of the famed Mithridates the Great (of Pontus), attempted to emulate his father’s achievements. He marched on Caesar’s legate, Calvinus, in ASIA MINOR, and defeated him at the battle of Nicopolis in October 48.
Caesar, embroiled in the siege of Alexandria, was unable to respond, and Pharnaces extended his conquests throughout Pontus and into Cappadocia. By spring of 47, however, Caesar had finished his Egyptian campaign. The Asian monarch greeted the general’s arrival on the Pontic borders with a delegation that sued for the retention of all lands taken.
Two armies were camped near each other and close to Zela, the site of Mithridates’ success in 67 B.C.E. Caesar had no intention of allowing Pharnaces to keep the lands but allowed the Asian to make new offers and counteroffers while he maneuvered the Legions into a position of advantage. Made aware of Caesar’s ploy, Pharnaces ordered his chariots and infantry to the attack, surprising the Romans, who did not expect such a foolhardy advance.
Chariots armed with scythes tore through the confused Roman cohorts, but were soon rendered ineffective by massed archery and missiles. The legions, inspired by their tactical victory and by their position at the top of a steep hill, moved into action. The battle raged up and down the line, with the VI Legion, on the right, breaking through first.
The rout was on, and Pharnaces fled from the field and was murdered a short time later. Caesar named Mithridates of Pergamum the new ruler of Pontus, now a reduced domain, and then headed for Rome. He summed up the defeat of Pharnaces with the famous words, “Veni, vidi, vici”—“I came, I saw, I conquered.”
While the Roman world was engulfed by the Civil War of the First Triumvirate, Pharnaces II, son of the famed Mithridates the Great (of Pontus), attempted to emulate his father’s achievements. He marched on Caesar’s legate, Calvinus, in ASIA MINOR, and defeated him at the battle of Nicopolis in October 48.
Caesar, embroiled in the siege of Alexandria, was unable to respond, and Pharnaces extended his conquests throughout Pontus and into Cappadocia. By spring of 47, however, Caesar had finished his Egyptian campaign. The Asian monarch greeted the general’s arrival on the Pontic borders with a delegation that sued for the retention of all lands taken.
Two armies were camped near each other and close to Zela, the site of Mithridates’ success in 67 B.C.E. Caesar had no intention of allowing Pharnaces to keep the lands but allowed the Asian to make new offers and counteroffers while he maneuvered the Legions into a position of advantage. Made aware of Caesar’s ploy, Pharnaces ordered his chariots and infantry to the attack, surprising the Romans, who did not expect such a foolhardy advance.
Chariots armed with scythes tore through the confused Roman cohorts, but were soon rendered ineffective by massed archery and missiles. The legions, inspired by their tactical victory and by their position at the top of a steep hill, moved into action. The battle raged up and down the line, with the VI Legion, on the right, breaking through first.
The rout was on, and Pharnaces fled from the field and was murdered a short time later. Caesar named Mithridates of Pergamum the new ruler of Pontus, now a reduced domain, and then headed for Rome. He summed up the defeat of Pharnaces with the famous words, “Veni, vidi, vici”—“I came, I saw, I conquered.”
Zeno - King of Armenia
Zeno was the son of Polemo I, king of Pontus, and his second wife, Pythodoris, with the support and presence of the Armenian nobility, Germanicus crowned Zeno ruler of Armenia in 18 C.E., naming him Artaxias. His accession was greeted with approval, and the Parthians under Artabanus III were too distracted by internal strife to oppose anything in the client state. Zeno’s reign was the most peaceful in Armenian history. When he died in 34, Artabanus was preparing to move against Roman supremacy in the region.
Zeno (Tarasicodissa) Emperor of the East
Born in Isauria, the wild region between Pisidia and Cilicia in Asia Minor, he bore the name Tarasicodissa and served as chieftain of the Isaurians. Emperor LEO I recruited him and his warriors as a military counter balance to the Germans in the Eastern lands.
Tarasicodissa changed his name to Zeno and was granted command of the newly formed (mostly Isaurian) imperial guard, the Excubitors. A gifted and reliable officer, Zeno was given the hand of Leo’ s daughter, Aelia Ariadne, and the post of Magister Militum in Thrace (c. 470). His official task was to repel an invasion of the HUNS, but Leo was developing him as a political weapon against the German magister militum, ASPAR.
Internal feuding followed as Aspar tried to have Zeno killed, but he fled to Serdica. Leo, in his absence, was forced to elevate Aspar’s son PATRICIUS to the rank of Caesar, and Aspar moved to win the support of the Isaurian contingents. Zeno returned at once from Thrace, and in 471 Aspar and his son Ardaburius were murdered.
What part Zeno played in this is unclear, although he profited handsomely from the deaths. By 473, he held a consulship (469) and the office of magister militum in the East, where he suppressed the banditry of the Isaurian tribes. Then he became the magister militum in Constantinople, where he advised the emperor on all important matters.
In October 473, Leo’ s grandson (by Aelia Ariadne and Zeno) was elevated to Augustus, succeeding to the throne on February 3, 474. He lived only long enough to certify his father’ s already supreme authority, dying on November 17, 474.
Zeno was now sole master of the East, although considered a usurping outsider by the palace. Verina, Leo I’s widow, headed a conspiracy to remove him in favor of her lover, a secretary known as Patricius, and her accomplices included the Isaurian General Illus and Verina’s brother Basiliscus.
Once more Zeno, forewarned, retired to safety , becoming chief of the tribe again in Isauria. Basiliscus betrayed his sister and took power for himself. The people of Constantinople rose up and rejected him, and Zeno returned in August of 476, remaining as emperor until his death in 491.
Meanwhile in the West, Emperor Julius Nepos could not prevent the rise of Romulus Augustulus, son of Nepos’ s own magister, Orestes, and fled to Dalmatia to plead his case.
He found himself in competition with a delegation sent by the barbarian King Odoacer, who had deposed Romulus Augustulus and now sought recognition of his own control of Italy . Zeno chose a compromise, making Odoacer a patrician and reinstating Nepos.
Odoacer agreed, having no intention of keeping his word. He called himself King of Italy until the invasion of the Ostrogoths in 489, and the West passed into history. The other major act of Zeno’s reign was a peace treaty in 474 with King Geiseric and the Vandals that lasted half a century .
Tarasicodissa changed his name to Zeno and was granted command of the newly formed (mostly Isaurian) imperial guard, the Excubitors. A gifted and reliable officer, Zeno was given the hand of Leo’ s daughter, Aelia Ariadne, and the post of Magister Militum in Thrace (c. 470). His official task was to repel an invasion of the HUNS, but Leo was developing him as a political weapon against the German magister militum, ASPAR.
Internal feuding followed as Aspar tried to have Zeno killed, but he fled to Serdica. Leo, in his absence, was forced to elevate Aspar’s son PATRICIUS to the rank of Caesar, and Aspar moved to win the support of the Isaurian contingents. Zeno returned at once from Thrace, and in 471 Aspar and his son Ardaburius were murdered.
What part Zeno played in this is unclear, although he profited handsomely from the deaths. By 473, he held a consulship (469) and the office of magister militum in the East, where he suppressed the banditry of the Isaurian tribes. Then he became the magister militum in Constantinople, where he advised the emperor on all important matters.
In October 473, Leo’ s grandson (by Aelia Ariadne and Zeno) was elevated to Augustus, succeeding to the throne on February 3, 474. He lived only long enough to certify his father’ s already supreme authority, dying on November 17, 474.
Zeno was now sole master of the East, although considered a usurping outsider by the palace. Verina, Leo I’s widow, headed a conspiracy to remove him in favor of her lover, a secretary known as Patricius, and her accomplices included the Isaurian General Illus and Verina’s brother Basiliscus.
Once more Zeno, forewarned, retired to safety , becoming chief of the tribe again in Isauria. Basiliscus betrayed his sister and took power for himself. The people of Constantinople rose up and rejected him, and Zeno returned in August of 476, remaining as emperor until his death in 491.
Meanwhile in the West, Emperor Julius Nepos could not prevent the rise of Romulus Augustulus, son of Nepos’ s own magister, Orestes, and fled to Dalmatia to plead his case.
He found himself in competition with a delegation sent by the barbarian King Odoacer, who had deposed Romulus Augustulus and now sought recognition of his own control of Italy . Zeno chose a compromise, making Odoacer a patrician and reinstating Nepos.
Odoacer agreed, having no intention of keeping his word. He called himself King of Italy until the invasion of the Ostrogoths in 489, and the West passed into history. The other major act of Zeno’s reign was a peace treaty in 474 with King Geiseric and the Vandals that lasted half a century .
Zeno the Stoic - Philosopher, found of Stoicism
Zeno’s views, crystallized by Chrysippus, had a most profound effect upon subsequent Greek and Roman thinking.
Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra from 266 to 272
The daughter of Antiochus, she became the wife of Odaenath and aided him in transforming Palmyra into a mighty ally of Rome. He campaigns against Persia secured Palmyran protection of Palestine, Syria, and parts of Asia Minor, with the blessing of Emperor Gallienud.
When Odaenath was murdered sometime in 266 or 267, possibly by the Queen herself, she immediately assumed control of the government, ruling in the name of their son Vaballath. She set about expanding her court, attracting the finest minds of the time, especially the Neoplatonists and Cassius Longinus, who urged her defiance of Rome.
When Emperor Claudius II Gothicus died in 270, Zenobia launched a campaign to increase her power. General Zabdas took command of the Palmyrene army and invaded the provinces of Syria-Palestine, eastern Asia Minor and even into Egypt.
Aurelian, new to the throne of Rome, was preoccupied with barbarian invasions until the summer of 271, when he marched against the Palmyrenes. Zabdas was defeated at Antioch and Emesa, and the Palmyrene acquisitions in Asia Minor and Syria were lost. Zenobia fled to Palmyra, rejecting Aurelian’s offer of peace.
She then tried to escape to the Persians but was captured and forced to walk in Aurelian’ s Triumph in Rome, where she was transported in a golden chair. She lived in Rome and on an estate at Tibur for the rest of her life, on a state subsidy.
When Odaenath was murdered sometime in 266 or 267, possibly by the Queen herself, she immediately assumed control of the government, ruling in the name of their son Vaballath. She set about expanding her court, attracting the finest minds of the time, especially the Neoplatonists and Cassius Longinus, who urged her defiance of Rome.
When Emperor Claudius II Gothicus died in 270, Zenobia launched a campaign to increase her power. General Zabdas took command of the Palmyrene army and invaded the provinces of Syria-Palestine, eastern Asia Minor and even into Egypt.
Aurelian, new to the throne of Rome, was preoccupied with barbarian invasions until the summer of 271, when he marched against the Palmyrenes. Zabdas was defeated at Antioch and Emesa, and the Palmyrene acquisitions in Asia Minor and Syria were lost. Zenobia fled to Palmyra, rejecting Aurelian’s offer of peace.
She then tried to escape to the Persians but was captured and forced to walk in Aurelian’ s Triumph in Rome, where she was transported in a golden chair. She lived in Rome and on an estate at Tibur for the rest of her life, on a state subsidy.
Zenonis
Zenonis (fl. fifth century C.E.) Augusta in 475–476 and wife of Eastern emperor Basiliscus. When Zenonis was proclaimed Augusta, she entered a torrid affair with a stunningly handsome courtier named Armatus, trying to conceal the relationship but working to have Armatus promoted to the highest positions in the city . When Basiliscus fell from power, Zenonis and her children were banished with him to Cucusus in Cappadocia, where they were starved to death.
Zosimus
A brief reigning pope (417–418 C.E.), remembered for two stinging defeats of his policy . The first came in Gaul where he attempted to aggrandize the Bishopric of ARLES in 417, giving that prelate the right to co-consecrate the other bishops of GALLIA NARBONENSIS.
A brief and bitter fight ensued, and other popes ended the special status of Arles. The second failure was in Africa, where Zosimus issued a decree in favor of the Pelagians, only to find himself facing St. Augustine, who forced him to recant his decree. He died in 418.
A brief and bitter fight ensued, and other popes ended the special status of Arles. The second failure was in Africa, where Zosimus issued a decree in favor of the Pelagians, only to find himself facing St. Augustine, who forced him to recant his decree. He died in 418.
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