Rex Winsbury has worked at the "Financial Times", the "Daily Telegraph" and the BBC, and as a self-employed publisher, editor and journalist. He is the author of "The Roman Book" (2009), also published by Duckworth.

• Preface Map 1. Inventing Zenobias: pen, brush and chisel 2. Zenobia – ‘a brigand or, more accurately, a woman’ 3. Bride of the desert: deliberately inventing Palmyra 4. Persia resurgent: the crisis of the third century 5. Just another usurper? The political legacy of the first Mr Zenobia 6. Arms and the woman: Zenobia goes to war 7. The French connection: guardians of the Rhine 8. Warrior and showman: the ‘puzzling’ emperor Aurelian 9. Showdown: Aurelian versus Zenobia’s cooking-pot men 10. The end of the affair: golden chains and silver statue 11. Re-assessing Zenobia: ‘a celebrated female sovereign’ Appendix A. Odenathus’ (alleged) titles: what did they mean? Appendix B. The Zenobia-Aurelian coalition theory and P.Wisc. 1.2 Notes Bibliography and abbreviations Index