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Zenobia’s near ancestry is not known for certain. According to Scriptores Historiae Augustae, a collection of biographies attributed to the fourth century, Zenobia claimed to be a descendant of the Queen of Carthage, the King of Emesa, and Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt. According to that source, Zenobia sent an imperial declaration in 269CE to the citizens of Alexandria, Egypt, describing the city as “my ancestral city”. A historian in Zenobia's court, Callinicus Dutorius, dedicated a ten-book history on Alexandria’s history to a ’Cleopatra,’ who can only be Zenobia.

That Zenobia believed she was descended from Cleopatra, is not doubted. After revolting against Rome and before her capture, Zenobia sent Emperor Aurelian the following message "From Zenobia, Queen of the East, to Aurelian Augustus. None save yourself has ever demanded by letter what you now demand. Whatever must be accomplished in matters of war must be done by valour alone. You demand my surrender as though you were not aware that Cleopatra preferred to die a Queen rather than remain alive, however high her rank….If [the forces] we are expecting from every side, shall arrive, you will, of a surety, lay aside that arrogance with which you now command my surrender."

The author(s) of Historia Augusta however dismiss Zenobia's claim to be a descendant of Cleopatra as "wild fantasy". Her father, Julius Aurelius Zenobius' ancestry is traceable up to six generations and includes Sampsiceramus, the first King of Emesa (modern Homs, Syria) as Zenobia claimed. Yet none of Zenobia's paternal ancestors had previously claimed descent from Cleopatra or the Queen of Carthage. So descent from thesse famous historical figures would seem to have to come from her maternal side.

Very little is known about Zenobia's mother. She is often said to be Egyptian. Reconstructions from Islamic histories would have her be Zabbai of Arabia, a descendant of Rabbel II "Soter", King of Nabataea [71-106CE], and Iotape the daughter of Sohaemus, King of Emena, and Drusilla the granddaughter of Cleopatra VII of Egypt. However, Zenobia was the first to ever mention this claim.

Fourth-century Christian writers had a different explanation for Zenobia's ancestry. Athanasius of Alexandria [c.293-373CE] writes, "Zenobia was a Jew and a patron of Paul of Samosata." Philastrius Bishop of Brescia [died before 397] mentions "a certain Zenobia, Queen in the East, [who] at that time seemed to Judaize" According to the Ecclesiastical Chronical of Gregory Bar-Hebraeus, Paul of Samosata fled to "a certain Jewish woman by the name of Zenobia, who had set out from the Persian regious of Syira against Rome". These quotes must be take with caution, because Christian writers wanting to slander someone's name would often say they were Jews or accuse them of being crypto-Jews or of having Jewish sympathies.

In royal burial grounds of Beth She'arim, Israel there is the tomb of Karteria, "the mother of Zenobia". The Greek inscription is incised on a white marble slab of catacomb 18 and is preceded by the formula in "Praise be to the pious". Various Jewish symbols accompany the inscription. However, it expresses the not-so-Jewish idea that Zenobia, daughter of Karteria is "pious" because she "always does actions praiseworthy in the eyes of mortals" (rather than the sight of God, etc). The phrase "built this monument, so that…you may enjoy…new and indestructible riches" has been interpreted to be a denial of the resurrection. Unlike other bombastic titles used by Queen Zenobia, this "Zenobia" uses no title.

Perhaps a solution to this problem may be found with Marcus Antonius Felix, procurator of Judea under Claudius. Tacitus says Felix's wife Drusilla was the "granddaughter of Antony and Cleopatra". Yet Josephus describes the marriage of Felix to Drusilla, sister of Herod Agrippa and former wife of Azizus, King of Emesa. We might suppose that Felix was married twice. In fact historian Suetonius says that Felix became, in consequence of several marriages, "husband of three queens". So scholars have concluded that first two were named Drusilla and the third is unknown.

The first Drusilla was a daughter of King Ptolemy of Mauretania and Queen Julia Urania of Mauretania. Drusilla’s paternal grandmother Queen of Mauretania Cleopatra Selene II, was a daughter of Ptolemaic Greek Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt and Roman Triumvir Mark Antony. Drusilla’s paternal grandfather African King Juba II of Mauretania claimed to be a descendant of the sister to the General of Carthage, Hannibal. Hannibal’s family, the Barcids, claimed to be descended from Dido’s younger brother. At first sight, since there is no suggestion that Alexander Helios or Ptolemy Philadelphus had any children, one would conclude that Drusilla, granddaughter of Cleopatra, would be the only person to fit all of Zenobia's claims.

However, Felix and this Drusillas divorced between 54-56CE had no known issue. Felix and the Judean Drusilla, had a son, Marcus Antonius Agrippa who he died along with his wife in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius on 24 August 79CE, and a daughter, Antonia Clementiana. Antonia Agrippina could be a daughter from their son‘s marriage (this name was graffiti in a Royal Tomb in Egypt). Clementiana became a grandmother to a Lucius Anneius Domitius Proculus. Two possible descendants from this marriage are Marcus Antonius Fronto Salvianus (a quaestor) and his son Marcus Antonius Felix Magnus a high priest in 225CE.

So we are left with the possibility that either Drusilla remarried after her divorce from Felix (scholars have suggested that she married Sohaemus, King of Emena – the brother of the first husband of the Judean Drusilla), or that Zenobia believed herself to be descended from Felix's first wife, when in fact she was descended from his second Jewish wife.

The animosity between the Christianized Jews living in Palmyra and the academies of Babylon is not only apparent from Odaenathus' destruction of the rabbinic academy in Nehardea in 259CE, but also in this quote from the Jerusalem Talmud: After the murder of Odaenathus and his son, Zenobia assumed that the crime had been committed by a rabbinic scholar living in the Galilee.

Zeira ben Chanina was kidnapped in the town Safsufa (a villiage in the Upper Galilee). R' Ammi and R' Shmuel went to appease [the Palmyrians] on his account. They came before Queen Zenavya. "He is accustomed to receiving [God's] blessing, He should make miracles for you", she mocked them. A Saracene came in holding a sword. "This is the sword that killed Ben Netzer [Odaenathus] and his brother [son, Hairan]." Ze'era bar Chanina was released.

Zenobia's relationship with Jews is not known for certain. In Egypt for example, where she restored the ancient rights of protection (refuge) to a Synagogue in Lower Egypt, her actions can be explained in terms of sympathy to Jews or imitation of her claimed ancestor Cleopatra. The declaration reads:

"By order of the Queen and King, in place of the previous tablet of the dedication of the house of prayer, let there be written above what had been written below: 'King Ptolemy Euergetes [proclaimed] the house of prayer as a refuge'" At the bottom of the inscription appears in Latin - "The King and Queen have ordered (this)."

One could speculate that Zenobia and her son Wahaballat had some connection with the Samaritans flavor of Judaism due to the similarity of this proclamation and the request of the Elephatine community to Sanballat for protection four hundred years earlier, but lacking further evidence nothing can be said.