Her most lasting legacy is in Syria, where the queen is a national symbol. Zenobia became an icon for Syrian nationalists; she had a cult following among Western-educated Syrians, and an 1871 novel by journalist Salim al-Bustani was entitled "Zenobia malikat Tadmor" ("Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra"). Syrian nationalist Ilyas Matar, who wrote Syria's first history in Arabic in 1874, ("al-'Uqud al-durriyya fi tarikh al-mamlaka al-Suriyya"; "The Pearl Necklace in the History of the Syrian Kingdom"), was fascinated by Zenobia and included her in his book. To Matar, the queen kindled hope for a new Zenobia who would restore Syria's former grandeur. Another history of Syria was written by Jurji Yanni in 1881, in which Yanni called Zenobia a "daughter of the fatherland", and yearned for her "glorious past". Yanni described Aurelian as a tyrant who deprived Syria of its happiness and independence by capturing its queen.