Feminists always come up with sob stories about eternal female victimhood, and unfortunately, modern education is often so bad that people believe them. However, in real life women were often treated better than men. The story of Queen Zenobia of Palmyra who reigned in the end of the 3rd century proves it.
Zenobia was the second wife of Septimus Odaenathus, the King of Palmyra, and had a son from him and a stepson, Septimus' child from his first marriage. After her husband and stepson were assassinated, she began to rule Palmyra on behalf of her son who was then only 1 year old. Zenobia was that creature so many men seem to idolyze, 'a warrior queen' and wiki article informs us that she was so tough that sometimes she would walk the whole of 3 miles alongside her soldiers. She also could ride a horse and would occasionally drink together with her officers.
The Queen was well educated and her interests included philosophy, poetry, and literature. And, of course, she was extremely beautiful, which is important for a queen. She and her generals were successful in conquering Egypt, which was then a Roman province. Romans were not amused and the Emperor himself led his armies against hers and won. He then proceeded to execute an awful lot of Palmyrian soldiers and military advisers (all men), except Zenobia herself who was brought to Rome and paraded through the city in golden chains.
I forgot who first coined the phrase 'she will look beautiful in chains', but Queen Zenobia certainly did, and it produced such an impression on the Emperor, that he not only freed her, but also gave her a nice villa to live in and a handsome income so that she enjoyed all possible luxury. I want to draw your attention to the fact that Emperor Aurelian showed clemency to Zenobia, which she had not shown to the Roman prefect of Egypt, and he had been beheaded on her orders.
Zenobia's son died on his way to Rome, but she remarried and had several daughters from her new husband, a Roman senator, who all married into nobility.
So you can see for yourself that women were not treated equally to men. They often got preferential treatment.
Ok...but see? Had she not been beautiful (I am not a feminist, btw), doubt she'd been given the well-treatment she received. And...sort of a crappy story of horror to use in defense of anti-feminism, imo.
ReplyDeleteBeauty is a woman's greatest asset, but Zenobia was also intelligent, well educated and chaste, and her chastity was one of the things which impressed Aurelian so very much. Anyway, the fact stays that she was a woman and she survived while countless men supporting her ambitious claims died. Further on, my point was to dbunk the myth of women being treated worse than men generally, which is simply not true. And I'm sorry but if you see this story as a tale of horror you must live a very sheltered life. I think it's rather inspiring, personally:)
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