this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2026
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RoughRomanMemes

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A place to meme about the glorious ROMAN EMPIRE (and Roman Republic, and Roman Kingdom)! Byzantines tolerated! The HRE is not.

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[–] PugJesus@piefed.social 39 points 2 days ago

Explanation: After Queen Zenobia's husband died, she became regent for her young son. Ruling over much of what-is-now Syria, she hit the ground running - while her husband was closely aligned with, and subordinate to, the Roman Empire, Queen Zenobia made her own son into a claimant for the position of Roman Emperor, and swiftly conquered and had herself declared Queen of Egypt!

She ultimately would not win her struggle, as despite her excellent timing (the Empire being caught in a 3-way - then, with her, 4-way - civil war) and personal talent, she ended up against the newly-proclaimed Emperor Aurelian, 'The Restorer of the World', an immensely competent career soldier who 'resolved' all 3 rival claimants to the Roman Empire with military force.

She was displayed in Rome in triumph in golden chains, but was, according to most accounts, shown mercy and given a countryside villa, along with her son. It was a wild time and the Roman Empire really did look on the verge of disintegration - guess Aurelian didn't blame her too much for trying to roll the iron dice, even if in favor of her son instead of him! Or perhaps he just wanted to avoid further unrest in Syria, as she remained quite popular in her homeland!