Royal Society. 145 
might continue amongfl: them, till about the time of u4urelia}J^ 
who demolifhed the place, and led Zenobia, wife of Odenatus^ 
captive to Rome j who, tho' fhe be called cjueen, yet we do not 
find that ever her husband had the title of king, but was only one 
of the chief inhabitants, a leading man in the lenate, as it is pro- 
bable thefe Alilamanes and Airanes were before him, who 
whilft the Romans were bufied in Europe, made himlelf great 
here, and by his own force repelled the ^Partblansj who, having 
made themlelves mafters of whatever the Romans poffeflfed on 
the other fide of EupbrateSi made an incurfion into Syria^ but 
were driven back beyond the river by Odenatus. In the courfe of 
thele wars Odenatus was llain, but his wife Zenobia, being a 
woman of a mafculine Ipirit, not only maintained her ground 
againfl: her enemies abroad, but prelerved her authority at home, 
Iceeping the government in her own hands. Atierwards out of a 
defire to caft'off the Roman yoke, flie caufed the whole garriion, 
left there by Aurelian^ to be barbaroufly cut off, which bringing 
Aurelian back with his army, he quickly took the city and de- 
flroyed it, putting the inhabitants to the fword, and carrying 
Zenobia captive to Rome-^ which was the fatal period of the 
glory of that place. This method of running up their genealo- 
gies or pedigrees to the 4th or 5th generations, ihews that they 
borrowed Ibme of their culloms from their neighbours the [fo^i^s^ 
with whom it is not improbable they had formerly great com- 
merce • and perhaps many of them were defcended from that 
people, Zenobia herfelf being faid to have been a jfewefs 5 or 
elfe this mull have been the manner of all the eaftern nations.- 
Their yEr^, or account of time, they begin from the death of 
Alexander the Great, as the Syrians generally do, and the very 
Chriflians at this day follow the iame'ufage. Yet, tho' they de- 
note the date of the year by Greek chara6^ers, they range them 
a different way from the Greeks, letting the leffer number firll, 
as if they were to be read backwards from the right hand to the 
Mt, NT here denoting 450 ; the third letter A Mr. Halifay: takes 
to ftand for the day of the irionth 5 viz. the laft of Xandicus^ 
which anfwers to our Aprih^ this and other names of months, 
which are found in other inlcriptions, are borrowed from the 
Macedonians^ with very little variation. That they were idola- 
ters is plain by the mention made of their country gods, both 
here and in other places^ fo that their commerce with, the Jeeves 
did nor, it lecms, bring them to the knowledge of the true God ; 
or elle, they mufl have degenerated therefrom, and relapll^d int.:) 
idolatry. 
Vol. III. T PiO- 
