ROMAN COIN

270

Base silver radiate of Aurelian and Vabalathus of Palmyra, struck at Antioch, AD 270-1. RIC V, pt 1, no. 381The eight officinae which had struck coins in the name of Claudius under the Palmyrene rulers were increased to nine when Vabalathus struck the series bearing his own portrait on the one side and that of Aurelian on the other, the ninth officina being sometimes indicated by the letter AH. Current thinking regarding the duality of portraits indicate that the coins were struck as an admission of vassalage to an emperor, whose great power must have been felt by the eastern ruler to be menacing, and issued rather as a peace offering than as an insult.