Palmyrene Aramaic
𐡡𐡶𐡦𐡡𐡩
Bat-Zabbai
Zenobia's Palmyrene name
The consonantal spelling btzby is attested in a milestone inscription near Palmyra. Here it is rendered using modern Unicode characters for the Palmyrene script.
The language of Zenobia
Many inspirations.
One distinctive expression.
The rhythm of a pattern. The warmth of gold. A surface that changes with the light. This is where our design begins.
Syrian intarsia & inlay
The art of
belonging together.
Syrian decorative traditions offer a remarkable lesson in composition. A small shape is beautiful on its own; placed beside another, it becomes part of a rhythm. Repeat that rhythm and an entire surface comes to life.
Our inspiration draws particularly on inlay, including the mother-of-pearl and wood combinations found in Damascene furniture and interiors. This family of techniques, often described through intarsia and marquetry, creates a design by bringing contrasting materials together.
We also look to the ordered geometry of mosaics. Inlay and mosaic are distinct crafts, connected in our imagination by the way many small elements can create a coherent whole.
On the dial, that idea becomes a rosette, a repeating border or a field of interlocking lines. The result is a small composition with room for discovery.
Mother-of-pearl
Light, with a life
of its own.
Mother-of-pearl is the luminous thread that runs through our design world. Its appeal lies in movement: a soft white one moment, a suggestion of rose, green or blue the next.
Against the clarity of steel or the warmth of gold, that changing surface feels intimate. Geometry gives the dial its order; pearl gives it a sense of possibility.
It is a fitting material for an object devoted to time. The pattern remains, while each passing moment finds a slightly different light.
ܢܘܗܪܐ Nuhrā · Light, in Classical Syriac
Explore the materials 
Phoenician purple
A colour
with depth.
Our signature purple looks toward the celebrated dyes associated with the Phoenician coast. Tyre and other coastal cities traded a highly prized purple derived from murex shellfish, giving the colour a lasting association with rarity and status.
We interpret that history through a deep, red-toned purple: rich enough to frame gold, dark enough to let pearl glow. Beside warm ivory and wood tones, it gives the house its distinctive atmosphere.
This colour story is a separate thread from Zenobia's Palmyrene history. Both belong to the wider cultural landscape of the Levant; each brings its own meaning to our design.
Words that carry a world
A place for
language, too.
The region's written traditions offer another way into its history. We use these words with their meanings beside them, keeping each language and script distinct.
Classical Syriac
ܢܘܗܪܐ
Nuhrā
Light
A single word for the quality that gives mother-of-pearl its presence. It accompanies our material story as a quiet point of connection.
Classical Syriac
ܡܪܓܢܝܬܐ
Margānītā
Pearl
A word with a long life in Syriac writing. Its meaning is “pearl”; we place it here beside our exploration of pearl's luminous material world.
These are distinct Aramaic traditions. The Syriac words are not presented as quotations from Zenobia.
From inspiration to expression
The details
become a whole.
A Zenobia watch brings these influences into a contemporary composition. Rich pattern within a clear silhouette. A quiet palette around a luminous centre. A Swiss movement beneath a dial with something to say.
Discover the collectionNotes on our inspiration
Our designs are contemporary interpretations. These references inform the historical and language notes on this page.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Damascus chest with mother-of-pearl inlay
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art · The Phoenicians and purple dye
- Scuola Normale Superiore · Palmyrene inscription and the name Bat-Zabbai
- Beth Mardutho, SEDRA · Nuhrā, “light”
- Harvard University · The Pearl Song, Syriac glossary
- The Unicode Standard · Palmyrene script