The Daring Book for Girls - Andrea J. Buchanan [133]
As Zenobia grew her Palmyran empire, armies threatened the larger Roman Empire on all sides. The new Roman emperor, Aurelian, was battling the Goth and Visigoth tribes in northern Europe. When his messengers arrived with news of Queen Zenobia’s expanding kingdom, Aurelian set off for Egypt, determined to win the territory back, and then to Turkey (which in ancient times was called Asia Minor). After these small victories, he prepared to attack Antioch, a city in northern Syria that Zenobia now ruled.
Zenobia had never faced the vast legions of the mighty Roman army. She could have given up and returned to the Roman fold, but decided instead to take a last stand and save the heart of her hard-earned empire. She assembled the troops along one side of the northflowing Orontes River. Her soldiers fought all day, Zenobia along with them. Then, as the sun dipped toward the western horizon, the tired soldiers, bleary and water-starved after a long day, fell into a trap, in which the Romans massacred them from all sides.
Zenobia managed to escape with seventy thousand soldiers and retreated to the city of Emesa. They found a hill and, under cover of night, climbed to the top and lay in wait, ready to rain down arrows on the Roman soldiers. The Romans, though, pulled out their colorful shields, held high overhead, each shield meeting the next to cover the men and protect them from the Palmyrans’ arrows and darts. In this formation, the Romans pushed forward up the hill. When they reached the Palmyran marksmen, they moved their shields forward and down, and attacked.
Thousands of troops died on the battlefield. Zenobia herself barely escaped and even her trusted horse fell in the battle. She commandeered a camel and turned the slow beast toward the sandy hinterlands of the Syrian desert, with hopes that the plodding animal could take her one hundred miles east to Persia, where she would be safe from Rome.
“I promise you life if you surrender,” Aurelian wrote to her. Zenobia had other plans, but it was Aurelian’s turn for victory. He lay siege to her beloved Palmyra and sent his best soldiers on horseback to capture the fallen paradise’s fugitive queen. As she neared the Euphrates River, so close to freedom, the emperor’s horsemen reached Zenobia and captured her.
The remainder of Zenobia’s life is shrouded in myth. Where one ancient historian reports that she died in captivity, another writes that Aurelian took her to Rome. It is said that in 274, Zenobia was wrapped in chains of gold and made to walk down Rome’s main boulevard as Aurelian celebrated his triumph over the many tribes he had battled. Still another tale suggests that some time later, Zenobia was released. In her absence, Palmyra had rebelled against Rome once more and had been crushed. Some tales hold that with no home to return to, Zenobia lived the rest of her life not far from Rome, in Tivoli.
Japanese T-Shirt Folding
Folding clothes has never been this much fun. What you need: a short-sleeved t-shirt and just a little patience.
Step 1: On a nice wide surface, lay a T-shirt flat in front of you, right side up, and with the collar part closest to you.
Step 2: With your right hand, use your thumb and forefinger to pinch the edge of the fabric about an inch or two to the right of the collar (about halfway between the edge of the collar and the edge of the shoulder seam).
Step 3: Still holding the fabric with your right thumb and forefinger, take your left hand and draw an imaginary straight line from where you’re pinching with your right hand to about the middle of the shirt (halfway between the top and the bottom). Pinch that with your left hand thumb and forefinger, making sure to get both sides of the fabric.
Step 4: Still pinching the fabric, bring your right hand over your left hand so that you are folding the shirt in half, the collar part touching the bottom part. With your right hand, grab both the original place where