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Lucius Septimius Odaenathus, or Odenatus (Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
: (Hodainathos), , the Latinized form of Odainath, was a ruler of the Arab kingdom of Palmyra
Palmyra

Palmyra was in ancient times an important city of central Syria, located in an oasis 215 km northeast of Damascus and 120 km southwest of the Euphrates....
, Syria
Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is an Arab-majority country in Southwest Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north....
 and later of the short lived Palmyrene Empire
Palmyrene Empire

The Palmyrene Empire was a splinter empire that broke off the Roman Empire during the Crisis of the Third Century. It encompassed the Roman provinces of Syria , Syria Palaestina, Aegyptus and large parts of Asia Minor....
, in the second half of the 3rd century, who succeeded in recovering the Roman East from the Persians
Persian Empire

The 'Persian Empire' was a series of successive Iranian or Persianization empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland, and beyond in Southwest Asia, South Asia, Central Asia and the Caucasus....
 and restoring it to the Empire.

full name was Lucius Septimius Odainath. His gentilicium Septimius shows that his family received the Roman citizenship
Roman citizenship

Citizenship in ancient Rome was a privileged social status afforded to certain individuals with respect to laws, property, and governance.It is hard to offer meaningful generalities across the entire Roman period, as the nature and availability of citizenship was affected by legislation, for example, the Lex Iulia....
 under an emperor of the Severan dynasty
Severan dynasty

The Severan dynasty was a Ancient Rome imperial dynasty, which ruled the Roman Empire between 193 and 235. The dynasty was founded by the African general Septimius Severus, who rose to power during the civil war of 193, known as the Year of the Five Emperors....
, and thus it was the leading family in Palmyra since the 190s.






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Lucius Septimius Odaenathus, or Odenatus (Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
: (Hodainathos), , the Latinized form of Odainath, was a ruler of the Arab kingdom of Palmyra
Palmyra

Palmyra was in ancient times an important city of central Syria, located in an oasis 215 km northeast of Damascus and 120 km southwest of the Euphrates....
, Syria
Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is an Arab-majority country in Southwest Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north....
 and later of the short lived Palmyrene Empire
Palmyrene Empire

The Palmyrene Empire was a splinter empire that broke off the Roman Empire during the Crisis of the Third Century. It encompassed the Roman provinces of Syria , Syria Palaestina, Aegyptus and large parts of Asia Minor....
, in the second half of the 3rd century, who succeeded in recovering the Roman East from the Persians
Persian Empire

The 'Persian Empire' was a series of successive Iranian or Persianization empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland, and beyond in Southwest Asia, South Asia, Central Asia and the Caucasus....
 and restoring it to the Empire.

Life

His full name was Lucius Septimius Odainath. His gentilicium Septimius shows that his family received the Roman citizenship
Roman citizenship

Citizenship in ancient Rome was a privileged social status afforded to certain individuals with respect to laws, property, and governance.It is hard to offer meaningful generalities across the entire Roman period, as the nature and availability of citizenship was affected by legislation, for example, the Lex Iulia....
 under an emperor of the Severan dynasty
Severan dynasty

The Severan dynasty was a Ancient Rome imperial dynasty, which ruled the Roman Empire between 193 and 235. The dynasty was founded by the African general Septimius Severus, who rose to power during the civil war of 193, known as the Year of the Five Emperors....
, and thus it was the leading family in Palmyra since the 190s. He was the son of Lucius Septimius Herod (Hairan), the "senator and chief of Tadmor", the son of Vaballathus (Wahballath), the son of Nasor.

The year when Odaenathus became chief of Palmyra is not known, but already in an inscription dated 258 he is styled "the illustrious consul our lord" (N.S.I. No. 126). In his wife, the renowned Zenobia
Zenobia

Zenobia was a Roman Syrian queen who lived in the 3rd century. She was a Queen regnant of the Palmyrene Empire and the second wife of King Septimius Odaenathus....
, he found an able supporter of his policy.

The defeat and captivity of the emperor Valerian
Valerian (emperor)

Publius Licinius Valerianus , commonly known in English language as Valerian or Valerian I, was the Roman Emperor from 253 to 260....
 in 260 left the eastern provinces largely at the mercy of the Persians; the prospect of Persian supremacy was not one which Palmyra or its ruler had any reason to desire. At first, it seems, Odaenathus attempted to propitiate the Persian monarch Shapur I
Shapur I

Shapur I was the second Sassanid King of the Sassanid Empire. The dates of his reign are commonly given as 241 - 272, but it is likely that he also reigned as co-regent prior to his father's death in 241....
; but when his gifts were contemptuously rejected (Petr. Patricius, 10) he decided to throw in his lot with the cause of Rome. The neutrality which had made Palmyra's fortune was abandoned for an active military policy which, while it added to Odaenathus's fame, in a short time brought his native city to its ruin. He fell upon the victorious Persians returning home after the sack of Antioch
Antioch

Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the nearer East and was a cradle of gentile hi...
, and before they could cross the Euphrates
Euphrates

The Euphrates is the western of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia which flows from Anatolia....
 inflicted upon them a considerable defeat.

Then, when two usurping emperors were proclaimed in the East (261), Odaenathus took the side of Gallienus
Gallienus

Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus ruled the Roman Empire as co-emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260, and then as the sole Roman Emperor from 260 to 268....
 the son and successor of Valerian
Valerian

Valerian may refer to:In botany:* Valeriana, a genus of plants* Valerian , a medicinal plant* Red valerian, a garden flower, Centranthus ruber ...
, attacked and put to death the usurper Quietus
Quietus

Titus Fulvius Iunius Quietus was a Roman usurper against Roman Emperor Gallienus.Quietus was the son of Macrianus Major and a noblewoman, possibly named Iunia....
 at Emesa (modern Homs
Homs

Hims Hims did not emerge into the light of history until the 1st century BCE at the time of Seleucids. It later became the capital of a kingdom ruled by the Royal Family of Emesa who gave the city its name....
) and was rewarded for his loyalty by the grant of an exceptional position (262). He may have assumed the title of king before; but he now became totius Orientis imperator, not indeed joint-ruler, nor Augustus, but independent lieutenant of the emperor for the East (Mommsen
Mommsen

Mommsen is a surname, and may refer to one of a family of German historians, see Mommsen family:*Theodor Mommsen*Tycho Mommsen*Wilhelm Mommsen...
, Provinces, ii. p. 103).

In a series of rapid and successful campaigns, during which he left Palmyra
Palmyra

Palmyra was in ancient times an important city of central Syria, located in an oasis 215 km northeast of Damascus and 120 km southwest of the Euphrates....
 under the charge of Septimius Worod his deputy (N.S.I. Nos. 127-129), he crossed the Euphrates
Euphrates

The Euphrates is the western of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia which flows from Anatolia....
 and relieved Edessa
Edessa, Mesopotamia

Edessa is the historical name of a Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac people town in northern Mesopotamia, refounded on an ancient site by Seleucus I Nicator....
, recovered Nisibis
Nisibis

Nusaybin is a city in Mardin Province, southeastern Turkey populated by Kurdish people, Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac people, Arabs.It is the ancient Mesopotamian city, which Alexander's successors refounded as Antiochia Mygdonia and is mentioned for the first time in Polybius' description of the march of Antiochus I against the Molon...
 and Carrhae (modern Harran
Harran

Harran, also known as Carrhae, is a district of Sanliurfa Province in the southeast of Turkey.A very ancient city which was a major Mesopotamian commercial, cultural, and religious center, Harran is a valuable archaeological site....
). He even took the offensive against the power of Persia, and twice invested the Persian capital Ctesiphon
Ctesiphon

Ctesiphon was one of the great cities of the Persian Empire, located on the east bank of the Tigris.Ctesiphon was an imperial capital of the Arsacids and of their successors, the Sassanids....
 itself; probably also he brought back Armenia
Armenia

Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in South Caucasus between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea....
 into the Empire. These successes restored the Roman rule in the East; and Gallienus did not disdain to hold a triumph with the captives and trophies which Odaenathus had won (264). Odaenathus celebrated his victories in the East sharing with his eldest son Hairan (Herodes) the eastern title "king of kings".

While observing all due formalities towards his overlord, there can be little doubt that Odaenathus aimed at forging an independent empire; but during his lifetime no breach with Rome occurred. He was about to start for Cappadocia
Cappadocia

Cappadocia, Wikipedia:IPA for English /k?p?'do???/ , was an extensive inland district of Asia Minor . The name continued to be used in western sources and in the Christianity tradition throughout history and is still widely used as an international Tourism in Turkey concept to define a region of exceptional natural wonders characterized by...
 against the Goths
Goths

The Goths were East Germanic tribes who, in the 3rd and 4th centuries, invasion the Roman Empire and later adopted Arian Christianity. In the 5th and 6th centuries, divided as the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, they established powerful successor-states of the Roman Empire in the Iberian peninsula and Italy....
 when he was assassinated, together with Hairan, by his nephew Maeonius
Maeonius

Maeonius , or Maconius, was a short-lived Roman usurper. He is also known with the names of Odaenathus and Rufinus .He was the nephew or the cousin of Odaenathus, who had taken control of the Eastern provinces after the defeat and capture of Emperor Valerian by Shapur I of the Sassanid Empire....
. There is no reason to suppose that this deed of violence was instigated from Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
.

According to Historia Augusta, Maeonius
Maeonius

Maeonius , or Maconius, was a short-lived Roman usurper. He is also known with the names of Odaenathus and Rufinus .He was the nephew or the cousin of Odaenathus, who had taken control of the Eastern provinces after the defeat and capture of Emperor Valerian by Shapur I of the Sassanid Empire....
 killed Odaenathus and his son Hairan during a celebration, because of a conspiracy organized by Zenobia
Zenobia

Zenobia was a Roman Syrian queen who lived in the 3rd century. She was a Queen regnant of the Palmyrene Empire and the second wife of King Septimius Odaenathus....
, second wife of Odaenathus, who wanted their son Vaballathus to succeed Odaenathus instead of Hairan (who was the son of Odaenathus by another woman). According to Gibbon, the murder was revenge for a short confinement imposed by Odaenathus to Maeonius for being unrespectful. After his death (266-267), Zenobia succeeded to his position and practically governed Palmyra on behalf of the young Vaballathus
Vaballathus

Lucius Iulius Aurelius Septimius Vaballathus Athenodorus was a king of the Palmyrene Empire. Vaballathus is the Latinized form of his name in the Arabic language, Wahb Allat or gift of the Goddess....
.