Septimius Zabbai dating history

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Zabbai was a Palmyrene man who lived in the third century, and likely was a member of the Palmyrene nobility. Nothing is known about him other than the reference in Queen Zenobia's Palmyrene name recorded in Palmyrene inscriptions, sptymy'btzby, which translates as Septimia Daughter of Zabbai. Zenobia's Palmyrene name might hint at her family origins, and might tie with the medieval tradition recorded by medieval Persian scholar Al-Tabari that she was the daughter of an Arab sheikh. However, it is also possible that Zenobia may not have been Zabbai's daughter, with the inscription implying that she belonged to a family whose ancestral head was Zabbai.