16, 17. (a) Who took on the role of the king of the north referred to at Daniel 11:25? (b) Who came to occupy the position of the king of the south, and how did this occur?

¹⁶ God’s angel continued with the prophecy, saying: “He [the king of the north] will arouse his power and his heart against the king of the south with a great military force; and the king of the south, for his part, will excite himself for the war with an exceedingly great and mighty military force.

Meanwhile, Queen Septimia Zenobia of the Roman colony of Palmyra occupied the position of the king of the south.a (See “Zenobia—The Warrior Queen of Palmyra,” on page 252.) The Palmyrene army occupied Egypt in 269 C.E. under the pretext of making it secure for Rome. Zenobia wanted to make Palmyra the dominant city in the east and wanted to rule over Rome’s eastern provinces. Alarmed by her ambition, Aurelian aroused “his power and his heart” to proceed against Zenobia.

18. What was the outcome of the conflict between Emperor Aurelian, the king of the north, and Queen Zenobia, the king of the south?

¹⁸ As the ruling entity headed by Zenobia, the king of the south ‘excited himself’ for warfare against the king of the north “with an exceedingly great and mighty military force” under two generals, Zabdas and Zabbai. But Aurelian took Egypt and then launched an expedition into Asia Minor and Syria. Zenobia was defeated at Emesa (now Homs), whereupon she retreated to Palmyra. When Aurelian besieged that city, Zenobia valiantly defended it but without success. She and her son fled toward Persia, only to be captured by the Romans at the Euphrates River. The Palmyrenes surrendered their city in 272 C.E. Aurelian spared Zenobia, making her the prize feature in his triumphal procession through Rome in 274 C.E. She spent the rest of her life as a Roman matron.