Synopsis:  Aurelian’s vision compels him to spare the defiant citizens of Tyana.  As the Romans advance through Anatolia, Zenobia concentrates her forces in Syria, and the two sides finally clash at the Battle of Immae.

“As soon as the Emperor was on his march thither, Ancyra submitted to the Romans, and afterwards Tyana, and all the cities between that and Antioch.  There finding Zenobia with a large army ready to engage, as he himself also was, he met and engaged her as honor obliged him.” – Zosimus, the History

“Zenobia would have ill deserved her reputation, had she indolently permitted the Emperor of the West to approach within a hundred miles of her capital…The Queen of Palmyra animated the armies by her presence, and devolved the execution of her orders on Zabdas, who had already signaled his military talents by the conquest of Egypt.  The numerous forces of Zenobia consisted for the most part of light archers, and of heavy cavalry clothed in complete steel.” – Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire