Rome and the East
but by a soldier from the Legion III Cyrenaica, stationed at Bostra: in Pal-
myrene PLḤ’ [soldier] DB LGYWN’ DY BṢR’. Septimius Hairanes was his
patronus, duly transliterated asπάτρων. This expression finds no equivalent
in the Palmyrene version.
By contrast, the Palmyrene text of inscription , like that of inscription ,
does give Hairanes a title which might well suggest an established dynastic
position: RŠ TDMWR or RŠ [’] DY [TDMWR], ‘‘head of Tadmor.’’ But we
have to be careful in attributing too definite a meaning to this expression,
which is not found elsewhere in the epigraphy of Palmyra. Moreover, an
Aramaic and Greek bilingual inscription of the second–third century, from
Khirbet Zif in ancient Idumaea, uses RŠ plus an expression denoting either a
group of people or a locality as the equivalent of the Greekπρωτοπολείτης,
‘‘leading citizen.’’^26 Is there any reason to suppose that the soldier from Bostra
meant anything more precise than that? The Greek equivalent in this case is
baffling, partially missing in inscription (ἔξα[ρχον τε Παλμυ]ρηνῶν)and
almost completely missing in inscription ([ἔξαρχον Παλμυ]ρηνῶν). It is
clear that Hairanes is described as something ‘‘of the Palmyrenes’’; but what?
Restoration depends entirely on the three lettersἔξα[.. .]. The normal res-
toration,ἔξα[ρχον], may well be correct, though it requires insertingτεto
fill up the space. It might be equally possible to restoreἔξα[ιρετός]. But
neither expression has any established usage as a technical term or in hon-
orific inscriptions (Plutarch, however, usesἔξαρχος τῶνἱερέωνforpontifex
maximus).^27 Even without the parallel from Khirbet Zif it should be clear
that we cannot base any conception of a specific role on these two restored
expressions. The context is in any case firmly Roman.
All the remaining inscriptions of the s date to the Seleucid year ,
../, that is, while Valerian was in Antioch, and not long before his
fatal campaign into Mesopotamia. The only evidence that an independent
military role on the part of Odenathus had begun before this is provided
by Malalas, who records that he attacked and pursued the retreating Persian
forces in ; but he has very probably retrojected a role which Odenathus
in fact played only in the s.^28
At any rate the honorific inscription relating to Septimius Hairanes (no. )
. L. Y. Rahmani, ‘‘A Bilingual Ossuary: Inscription from Khirbet Zif,’’IEJ ():
J. A. Fitzmyer and D. J. Harrington,A Manual of Palestinian Aramaic Texts(), ,
no. A. See also Y. Yadin, ‘‘A Note on the Bilingual Ossuary Inscription from Khirbet Zif,’’
IEJ (): –.
. Plutarch,Numa.
. See Millar (n. ), –.