The Usurper Vabalathus

CNG 97, Lot: 717. Estimate $750. Sold for $1400. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Vabalathus. Usurper, AD 268-272. Antoninianus (20mm, 3.35 g, 12h). Antioch mint, 4th officina. 2nd emission, circa March-May AD 272. IM C VHABALATHVS AVG, radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / IVЄNVS AVG, Hercules standing right, with lion’s skin draped over left arm, holding club set on ground in right hand, Apples of the Hesperides in left. RIC V 4; Bland, Coinage 20j-k (dies O26/RIve v); BN 1265 var. (star to right). Good VF, dark gray patina, earthen deposits, minor marks and areas of porosity. Rare.

The son of Odenathus, the ruler of the rich eastern trade center Palmyra, and his wife Zenobia, Vabalathus was declared king following the murder of his father in AD 267. Since he was still in his minority, Zenobia took over as regent, using the position and the confusion following the death of Gallienus to expand Palmyrene power. In AD 269, the Palmyrenes seized control of Egypt and with it the Roman grain supply. To bolster her position, Zenobia laid claims to an illustrious ancestry, including Cleopatra VII of Egypt and the legendary Dido of Carthage.

The emperor Aurelian recognized the threat posed by Zenobia and Vabalathus and launched a campaign. In AD 272, Palmyra was sacked and both Zenobia and Vabalathus were captured as they tried to make their way to Persia. The two were to be brought to Rome and paraded in Aurelian’s triumph in AD 274, but apparently only Zenobia survived the journey. According to later tradition, Aurelian, impressed by her beauty and dignity, not only freed her but granted her a villa in Tibur, where she spent the rest of her life.