Page:A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country (1804).djvu/867

Rh her love of liberty, she refused invitations to the courts of Prussia and Russia.

was taught the sciences by the celebrated Longinus, and made so great a progress in literature, that she spoke the Greek and Egyptian languages, and understood the Latin. She possessed a liberal and enlightened mind; and, at her desire, from some motives (a philosophical curiosity perhaps merely,) was instructed, by Paul, of Samosata, a famous heretic of those times, in the doctrines of the Christian religion. She abridged also the Egyptian and Oriental history. Having married Odenatus, a Saracen prince; when he was taken prisoner, by Sapores, king of Persia, she raised a great army, set him at liberty, and afterwards conquered the East. She contributed to the great victories he obtained over the Persians, which preserved the Eastern empire to the Romans. In reward for which service Gallienus gave her the title of Augusta, and created her husband emperor, 264. Zenobia, when left a widow, reigned with great glory, in the name of her two sons, who were under age. Having conquered Egypt, and added it to her dominions, her wisdom and ability made her an object