Rome and the East
to produce coins for Gallienus from up to the moment of his death in
, and for Claudius up to ; the coinage provides no suggestion of the
detachment of Syria from the Roman Empire up to this time.^96 Confirmation
both of normal minting at Antioch up to and of unsettled circumstances
immediately after that is provided by a hoard from near Bogazköy which
includes coins of Gallienus, and of Claudius minted at Antioch.^97
The same story is told by both the literary sources and the documentary
evidence on titulature. Vabalathus began by assuming the titles,corrector(see
below) and ‘‘king of kings.’’ In he advanced toconsul,dux Romanorum,
andImperator, though acknowledging Aurelian asAugustus. His own procla-
mation as ‘‘Augustus’’ came after August , when Zenobia appears without
the title ‘‘Augusta’’ on an inscription from Palmyra.^98 The coinage of Anti-
och confirms that it did not come until the spring of , almost at the very
moment of Aurelian’s reconquest.^99
The decisive break, however, and the Palmyrene occupation of Syria, had
clearly happened before this. Exactly how soon, it is not easy to say. Zosimus
portrays Aurelian, after the Danubian campaign of his first year (),^100 reck-
oning with the Palmyrene occupation both of Egypt and of all Asia Minor up
to Ankara.^101 Earlier, Zosimus places the invasion of Egypt under Claudius
(–) and says that Syrian troops were used for it;^102 this squares with
the evidence of Malalas (, ) that Zenobia took Arabia from the Romans
seem to show the fourth year of Vabalathus ending on August . See Schlumberger
(n. ), .
. See Alföldi (n. ), andCAHXII, –. Cf. C. Brenot and H.-G. Pflaum, ‘‘Les
émissions orientales de la fin du IIIesiècle après J.-C. à la lumière de deux trésors découverts
en Syrie,’’Rev. Num. (): ; cf. J.-P. Callu,La politique monétaire des empereurs romains
de à ,Bib. Ec. Fr. Ath. Rom. (): –.
. K. Bittel, ‘‘Funde im östlichen Galatien: ein römischer Münzschatz von Devret,’’Ist.
Mitt. (): .
. J. Cantineau,InventaireIII (), no. OGIS; see Starcky (n. ), .
. See Schlumberger (n. ), and H. Seyrig, ‘‘Vabalathus Augustus,’’Mélanges Michalow-
ski(), . Note, however, an ostracon,O. Mich.(Greek Ostraca in the University of
Michigan CollectionIII []; seeMichigan PapyriVIII[]), which dates to May–June
and describes Aurelian and Athenodorus (Vabalathus) as Augusti.
. Dated to by A. Alföldi, ‘‘Über die Juthungeneinfälle unter Aurelian,’’BIAB
(): Studien zur Geschichte der Weltkrise des . Jahrhunderts nach Christus(), .
But see n. below.
. Zos. , , .
. Zos. , ; cf.HA,Claud. , –. Compare the inscription published by H. Seyrig,
Syria (): –. Originating probably from the Hauran, it refers to the deaths of
many persons in Egypt, probably men recruited by Palmyra.