Homage to Zenobia

The battle in May over the Syrian town of Palmyra was notable for being isis’s first major military victory against the forces of the Assad government. The Army fled, leaving the jihadis in control of sizable gas reserves, the brutal prison where thousands of Islamists and political dissidents had formerly been held (which they blew up), and the ruins of a fabled dominion that was once ruled by a queen named Zenobia, who dared to threaten the power of imperial Rome. Zenobia’s empire reached across Egypt and through much of modern-day Turkey. Her city’s remains are now in the hands of a force that wages war on civilization, both modern and ancient.