Description
My son and daughter-in-law took me to the Wadsworth Athenium in Hartford Connecticut where the statue “Zenobia in Chains” stands below an impressive marble stairway. The statue was created by Harriet Hosmer (1830 – 1908), America’s first female classic sculptor and her choice of subject, the real-life queen of ancient Palmyra, was significant. Queen Zenobia ruled over a kingdom stretching from Egypt to Turkey. According to historians, her reign was marked by religious tolerance over a culturally-diverse group of subjects. The statue depicts the tragic end of her life when Roman legions conquered Palmyra and led her away in chains as a war trophy to be paraded in the streets of Rome.
