Beate Dignas & Engelbert Winter - Kaveh Farrokh

160 5 Arabia between the great powers
In the year 262 Odaenathus succeeded in reclaiming the territories in
Mesopotamia previously gained by the Sasanians. In particular the loss
of Nisibis and Carrhae amounted to a serious defeat. Moreover, twice
Odaenathus’ troops advanced all the way to Ktēsiphon (262; 264?) and
devastated large parts of Mesopotamia. 47 However, they did not manage to
capture the Sasanian capital, contrary to what the Historia Augusta might
indicate. Apparently only the area surrounding the capital, which was successfully
defended by the Persians, was raided. Nor is the capture of the
royal harem confirmed by other sources. Be this as it may, there is no doubt
that Odaenathus’ advance enabled Rome to restore the status quo ante bellum.
Gallienus granted Odaenathus the title of imperator for his successes.
The emperor also appointed him commander over the entire East and he
became corrector totius Orientis. 48
In Gallienus’ name Odaenathus now governed the territories that he had
reconquered from ˇ Sāpūr. He probably held his imperium maius over the
Eastern Roman provinces from the Pontic coast all the way to Palestine. 49
He became indispensable to the Roman emperor and to the defence of the
Roman Eastern frontier. 50 With regard to Palmyrene trade interests it was
above all important to restore direct access to the Persian Gulf.
Odaenathus’ death in the spring of 267 not only freed ˇ Sāpūr I from a
powerful opponent but was also a benchmark in the history of Palmyra.
Up to this point the city had sided with and been loyal to Rome, and its
power had increased steadily. Odaenathus’ official successor was his ten
year-old son Vahballāthus on whose behalf his mother Zenobia (267–72)
ruled the city. Within a short period of time she became the actual ruler
of Palmyra and ‘governed almost the entire East like a man’. 51 Gallienus
must have taken advantage of Palmyra’s unstable situation entailed in the
change of rule but the threat from the Goths in the West prevented the
emperor from pursuing an active policy in the East. 52 Apparently Rome
and Palmyra found some sort of modus vivendi also during the reign of
Claudius II (268–70). Coins issued by both the Roman emperor and the
Palmyrene ruler indicate a policy of rapprochement. 53 Palmyra retained its
significance for the protection of the Roman Eastern frontier against the
Sasanian Empire.
47 Cf. Strobel 1993: 249–50.
48 SHA Gall. 10.1–2; on Odaenathus’ titles see Chrysos 1978: 51–2; Swain 1993: 157–64; Potter 1996a:
271–85.
49 Strobel 1993: 249.
50 On Palmyra’s role as the most important Roman outpost against the Sasanians see Funke 1996:
226–7.
51 SHA Gall. 13.5. 52 Alföldi 1939: 177–8.
53 Mattingly 1936: 95, 102 and 109.