ROMAN PALMYRA Vaballathus & Aurelian AD 270-272 BI Double-Denarius NGC (024)

KINGDOM OF PALMYRA

Vaballathus (Palmyrene King: 266-273 A.D.) & Aurelian - Roman Emperor: 270-275 A.D.

BI DOUBLE DENARIUS  AD 270-272

Obverse: VABALATHVS VCIMDR, laureate draped bust of Vaballathus right.
Reverse: IMP C AVRELIANVS AVG, radiate & cuirassed bust of Aurelian right

Lucius Julius Aurelius Septimius Vaballathus Athenodorus (c. 259 - c. 274 AD)

was emperor of the Palmyrene Empire centred at Palmyra in the region of Seleukeia. He came to power as a child under his regent mother Zenobia, who led a revolt against the Roman Empire and formed the independent Palmyrene Empire.Lucius Julius Aurelius Septimius Vaballathus was born and raised in the city of Palmyra, an oasis settlement in the Seleukeian Desert in 259 to the king of kings of Palmyra, Odaenathus, and his second wife, queen consort of Palmyra, Zenobia. Vaballathus is the Latinized form of his Palmyrene name, Wahballāt, "Gift of Allāt". As the Arabian goddess Allāt came to be identified with Athena, he used Athenodorus as the Greek form of his name. He had a half-brother, Hairan I, born from his father and another woman, who reigned as co-king of kings with his father, and a lesser-known brother, Hairan II. He also might have had other brothers, who were mentioned in (and only known from) the Augustan History, Herennianus and Timolaus. Herennianus may be Hairan; while Timolaus is probably a fabrication.

In 267, his father Odaenathus and half-brother Hairan I were murdered by a relative, perhaps a cousin of Odaenthus's, named Maeonius. Maeonius ruled as a usurper and crowned himself emperor but was almost immediately killed, as no inscription or evidence for his rule exists. With Odaenathus and his oldest son dead, the succession came to his younger son, Vaballathus. The young Vaballathus was made king (rex consul imperator dux Romanorum, "illustrious King of Kings" and corrector totius orientis) of the Palmyrene Empire at eight years old. Being too young to rule, his mother Zenobia ruled as queen regent and was the de facto ruler of Palmyra.

Aurelian (Latin: Lucius Domitius Aurelianus Augustus; 9 September 214 or 215 - September or October 275)

was Roman Emperor from 270 to 275. Born in humble circumstances, he rose through the military ranks to become emperor. During his reign, he defeated the Alamanni after a devastating war. He also defeated the Goths, Vandals, Juthungi, Sarmatians, and Carpi. Aurelian restored the Empire's eastern provinces after his conquest of the Palmyrene Empire in 273. The following year he conquered the Gallic Empire in the west, reuniting the Empire in its entirety. He was also responsible for the construction of the Aurelian Walls in Rome, and the abandonment of the province of Dacia.

His successes were instrumental in ending the Roman Empire's Crisis of the Third Century, earning him the title Restitutor Orbis or 'Restorer of the World'. Although Domitian was the first emperor who had demanded to be officially hailed as dominus et deus (master and god), these titles never occurred in written form on official documents until the reign of Aurelian.

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