Zenobia - Queen of Palmyra - Chicago, IL
Posted by: Metro2
N 41° 52.718 W 087° 37.445
16T E 448216 N 4636489
This sculpture is on permanent display at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Waymark Code: WMC0CG
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 07/10/2011
Views: 4
Zenobia was Queen of the Palmyran Empire and led a famous revolt against the Roman Empire..and capturing and ruling over Egypt. The Romans re-captured Egypt five years later in 274 A.D. and took Zenobia as a hostage.
Zenobia claimed ancestry to Dido, Queen of Carthage and Cleopatra VII of Egypt. She ascended the throne of Palmyra however, upon the death of her husband King Septimius Odaenathus in 267. Read more about her at (
visit link)
This 1857 marble sculpture is by Harrriet Hosmer (1830-1908). The sculpture is intended to depict Zenobia at the moment of her capture.
The placard accompanying the sculpture quotes the artist thusly:
"I have tried to make her too proud to exhibit passion or emotion of any kind; not subdued, though a prisoner; but calm, grand, and strong within herself."
The wikipedia webpage cited above also has another full legnth sculpture of Zenobia by the same artist.