A fabulous coin Joe, representing a classic "what would have happened if?" in
history. You can see the
style is more Persian than
Roman. If the Palmyrene Empire
had defeated
Rome and established itself as a power in late
antiquity, there is no telling what the modern world would like now.
Alternatively, if they
had remained as allies perhaps
Persia could never have been a threat to
Rome again. Your coin issued by
Zenobia in the name of her son Vaballathus's indicates they were initially supporters of
Rome by acknowledging
Aurelian as emperor.
Just on a
side note, the Osprey
military history series did a cracking
good book dealing with Palmyrene Empire. It is
still easy to
pick up and has a wonderful cover picture of what Vaballathus's father Odaenathus, and Mother
Zenobia may have looked like, based on the surviving evidence.
Best regards,
Steve
