Zenobia and her reception

• Grant number: 21/10859-5
• Support type: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): January 01, 2022
• Effective date (End): March 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - Ancient and Medieval History
• Principal researcher: Pedro Paulo Abreu Funari
• Grantee: Catarina de Faria Rodrigues
• Supervisor abroad: Maria Del Carmen Wyke
• Home Institution: Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas (IFCH). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Research place: University College London (UCL), England
• Associated to the scholarship: 21/02551-0 - Representations of the palmirenian feminine: the uses of the past of Queen Zenobia, BP.IC

Abstract

The city of Palmyra, also known as Tadmor, is located in current Syria. Known for its commercial routes and culture confluences, this antiquity city was dominated by the Roman Empire, but not in a passive way. This project aims to validate how the Palmyra people had their own ideals and materializations of culture, even though the Romans made themselves present. An example of this was Queen Zenobia, conqueror against the Roman Empire, who ruled the city of Palmyra from 268 AD to 273 AD. Famous for her achievements even in such a short period, the Queen is known until modern times and used in different contexts and narratives (such as the one made by the modern Syrian regime after ISIS's attacks), which we may call uses of the past or reception. Thus, this project will seek to study what are the representations of Zenobia, her stereotypes, but also her receptions over time. Therefore, developed alongside the University College of London, this research aims to collect and investigate sources that may contain these receptions, in addition to contact with historical bibliographic and theoretical supports. Besides that, the period of three months in the city of London will make it possible to search for bibliography and archaeological material beyond this project since it will also help the research ongoing in Brazil, which has a similar theme, but also focused on the Palmyra women representations in Antiquity.