Zenobia’s rise sits in the “Crisis of the Third Century,” when Rome briefly fragmented into three powers: the central empire, the breakaway Gallic Empire in the West, and Zenobia’s Palmyrene realm in the East. Our main sources—Zosimus, the Historia Augusta, and later chroniclers—agree that she controlled Egypt and much of the Eastern provinces and that she styled her son Vaballathus with elevated titles, while still nominally recognizing Emperor Aurelian at first. Aurelian defeated her at Immae