Timolaus of Palmyra | |
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Born | 3rd century |
Died | c. 272 |
Nationality | Palmyra |
Parents |
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Timolaus of Palmyra (Latin: Timolaus) was reportedly a 3rd century Palmyrene nobleman, son of the king of kings Odaenathus (r. 252-267) and augustus Zenobia (r. 267-272). Little is known about him, and all the existing information comes from speculation. Such is the doubt of his existence that some scholars try to associate him with Vaballathus (r. 267-272), another of the sons of Odaenathus and Zenobia. Some authors believe he is an individual made up by the Historia Augusta , the only historical source that cites him, and some speculate that he is in fact a historical figure. He appears only in 267, at the time of his father's assassination.
Timolaus was the son of Odaenathus and his second wife Zenobia, grandson of Hairan I, great-grandson of Vaballathus, and great-great-grandson of Nasor. [1] He was the half-brother of Hairan I, the fruit of Odaenathus' relationship with a previous wife. He also had two sisters, whose names are not known. It is known, however, that they married respectively the emperor Aurelian (r. 270-275) and a Roman senator. Timolaus was also the brother of Vaballathus, Hairan II, and Septimius Antiochus. [2] The Historia Augusta (HA) cites him as having another brother, Herodian, whose existence is questioned. Some think Herodian was a variant of Hairan II's name. [3] [4]
There are doubts as to the existence of Timolaus. Some authors suggest that he may be a fabrication, [3] [4] a de facto individual (whose name, recorded here in Latinized form, has the Palmyrene variant Taimallat), or a distortion of the name Vaballathus. [5]
Nothing is known about his life, having been mentioned only in 267, in the context of the murder of Odaenathus and Hairan I. The versions of the events are many, but in one of them, presented by the Historia Augusta (which also cites two other versions), his murderer was Maeonius, a cousin or nephew of Odaenathus, having carried out the crime at the behest of Zenobia. According to the source, Zenobia resented that Hairan II (Herenian) and Timolaus were in a lower position than her godson and therefore orders Maeonius to kill them. [6]
The Historia Augusta mentions that Zenobia assumed the throne on their behalf, dressed them in purple, as emperors, and led them in public meetings which she attended in the likeness of Dido, Semiramis, and Cleopatra. The HA itself indicates that how they died is uncertain and presents two versions: in the first, they were killed by Aurelian at the time of the conquest of the Palmyrene Empire (272); in the second, they died of natural causes, as there were still at the time the work was written (4th century), noble descendants of Zenobia in Rome.
The HA further asserts that such was Timolaus' eagerness for Roman studies that, in a short time, he allegedly fulfilled the declaration of his professor of languages, who said that he was indeed capable of making him the greatest of Latin rhetoricians. [7]
The 260s decade ran from January 1, 260, to December 31, 269.
Septimia Zenobia was a third-century queen of the Palmyrene Empire in Syria. Many legends surround her ancestry; she was probably not a commoner and she married the ruler of the city, Odaenathus. Her husband became king in 260, elevating Palmyra to supreme power in the Near East by defeating the Sasanian Empire of Persia and stabilizing the Roman East. After Odaenathus' assassination, Zenobia became the regent of her son Vaballathus and held de facto power throughout his reign.
Aurelian was a Roman emperor, who reigned during the Crisis of the Third Century, from 270 to 275. As emperor, he won an unprecedented series of military victories which reunited the Roman Empire after it had nearly disintegrated under the pressure of barbarian invasions and internal revolts. Born in modest circumstances, near the Danube River, he entered the Roman army in 235 and climbed up the ranks. He went on to lead the cavalry of the emperor Gallienus, until Gallienus' assassination in 268. Following that, Claudius Gothicus became emperor until his own death in 270. Claudius' brother Quintillus ruled the empire for three months, before Aurelian became emperor.
Year 267 (CCLXVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Paternus and Arcesilaus. The denomination 267 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Marcus Aurelius Claudius "Gothicus", also known as Claudius II, was Roman emperor from 268 to 270. During his reign he fought successfully against the Alemanni and decisively defeated the Goths at the Battle of Naissus. He died after succumbing to a "pestilence", possibly the Plague of Cyprian that had ravaged the provinces of the Empire.
Septimius Odaenathus was the founder king (Mlk) of the Palmyrene Kingdom who ruled from Palmyra, Syria. He elevated the status of his kingdom from a regional center subordinate to Rome into a formidable state in the Near East. Odaenathus was born into an aristocratic Palmyrene family that had received Roman citizenship in the 190s under the Severan dynasty. He was the son of Hairan, the descendant of Nasor. The circumstances surrounding his rise are ambiguous; he became the lord (ras) of the city, a position created for him, as early as the 240s and by 258, he was styled a consularis, indicating a high status in the Roman Empire.
Septimius Vaballathus was emperor of the Palmyrene Empire centred at Palmyra in the region of Syria. 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.
The Battle of Immae was fought in 272 between the Roman army of Emperor Aurelian, and the armies of the Palmyrene Empire, whose leader, Queen Zenobia, had usurped Roman control over the eastern provinces.
The Palmyrene Empire was a short-lived breakaway state from the Roman Empire resulting from the Crisis of the Third Century. Named after its capital city, Palmyra, it encompassed the Roman provinces of Syria Palaestina, Arabia Petraea, and Egypt, as well as large parts of Asia Minor.
Zabdas was a 3rd-century Syrian general who led the forces of Queen Zenobia of Palmyra during her rule as regent of her son Vaballathus and her subsequent rebellion against the Roman Emperor under the short-lived independent Palmyrene Empire. He led Palmyra's expeditions in the middle east which included annexing territory spanning from Roman Egypt to Asia Minor.
Maeonius, or Maconius, was a fictional usurper who, according to the Historia Augusta, briefly ruled over Palmyra. He is included in the list of the Thirty Tyrants.
Septimius Antiochus was a Roman usurper in Syria during the 3rd century.
The Siege of Tyana occurred in 272 CE. The forces of the Roman Emperor Aurelian were seeking to conquer the Palmyrene Empire.
Palmyra is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early second millennium BC. Palmyra changed hands on a number of occasions between different empires before becoming a subject of the Roman Empire in the first century AD.
Septimius Herodianus or Hairan I was a son and co-king of Odaenathus of Palmyra. Through his father's marriage to Zenobia, Hairan I had two half-brothers, Hairan II and Vaballathus.
Hairan II was a Palmyrene prince, the son of king Odaenathus and, possibly, his second wife Zenobia.
Septimius Haddudan was a 3rd-century Palmyrene official, the only known Palmyrene senator other than Odaenathus, and a priest and symposiarch of the god Bel, who is known to have opposed the rule of Queen Zenobia of Palmyra and aided the Roman Empire during their wars against the queen.
Odaenathus, the king of Palmyra from 260 to 267 CE, has been identified by modern scholars as the subject of sculptures, seal impressions, and mosaic pieces. His city was part of the Roman Empire, and he came to dominate the Roman East when in 260 he defeated Shapur I, the Sasanian emperor of Persia, who had invaded the Roman Empire. Odaenathus besieged the Sasanian capital Ctesiphon in 263, and although the city did not fall, the campaign led to a full restoration of Roman provinces taken by Shapur I. In the aftermath of his Persian war, Odaenathus assumed the title King of Kings, which was a challenge to the Persian monarch's claims of authority in the region. Odaenathus ruled the Roman East unopposed with imperial consent. In 267, he was assassinated alongside his eldest son Herodianus while conducting a campaign against Germanic raiders in Bithynia; he was succeeded by his son Vaballathus under the regency of the widow queen Zenobia.