Palmyrene Empire (269-273)
| Battle: Immae (Syria) | Aurelian/Zenobia+Zabdas | 272 |
| Battle: Daphne (=Harbiye) | Romans/Palmyrenes | 272 |
| Battle: Emesa (=Homs) | Aurelian/Zenobia+Zabdas | 272 |
In 271, Zenobia started operations in Asia Minor. Her forces occupied Ankara (Galatia) and Tyana (Cappadocia), marking the greatest extent of Palmyrene expansion. About this time Zenobia proclaimed her independence of Rome by setting up her son Vaballathus as emperor and herself as empress.
In 272 Aurelian sent a fleet under the future emperor 19Aurelius Probus (50; fl.272-282) to reconquer Egypt, restore the corn supply to Rome and divert the Palmyrene forces, while he (Aurelian) crossed the Bosporus into Asia Minor, recaptured Ankyra and Tyana, and pursued the Palmyrenes back to Syria Coele.
Antioch was the key to the control of Roman East. Zenobia’s army had drawn up on the Orontes Plain, north of the city and west of the Lake of Antioch, barring Aurelian’s direct route to Antioch. Not prepared to confront Zenobia’s heavy cavalry (clibanarii) on the open plain, Aurelian followed the road east of the lake, threatening to outflank the enemy. Zenobia’s general Zabdas countered the threat by sending cavalry to intercept the Roman legions in the plain east of the lake.
The Palmyrene cavalry in the blistering heat of the summer day were burdened by the weight of their armour on both horse and man. The Roman light forces manoeuvred at speed around their opponents and then retired before sudden Palmyrene attacks. After a few hours of this, the battle had moved east to the small village of Immae. The heavy cavalry were exhausted and the Roman cavalry charged. All the enemy horsemen that had not already fallen from their mounts were now knocked off their mounts. The Roman infantry then advanced and massacred the helpless enemy at close quarters.
The surviving Palmyrenes fell back to Antioch and, aware that the people were now hostile, they retired south during the night to Emesa. Aurelian entered Antioch to a hero’s welcome. On the road south a few Palmyrenes had positioned themselves as a rearguard on a hill overlooking the suburbs of Daphne (=Harbiye). The legionaries locked their shields together in the famous ‘tortoise’ formation and ascended the hill through a hail of missiles and routed the enemy.
In the plain outside Emesa, Zenobia and Zabdas were able to put up a force of seventy thousand Palmyrenes and their allies. Against them Aurelian brought forces from the Empire including club-men recruited from Palestine.
When the battle opened, the Roman cavalry gave way before the Palmyrene heavy cavalry. The latter chased the retiring cavalry, but their own troop lines became disrupted, the foot soldiers having probably followed too quickly. The Roman infantry promptly smashed and routed Zenobia’s forces, and the club-men turned their weapons onto the armoured clibanarii who fled in disorder back into the city.
Zenobia, her main strength destroyed, retreated to Palmyra. After a siege the city was captured and she was taken prisoner. Meanwhile, Probus had brought Egypt back into Roman hands. Aurelian returned to Europe and in the spring he began a campaign against the Carpi, only to hear of a renewed uprising at Palmyra. He hurried back and caught the Palmyrenes, who had elevated a man called Antiochus to the throne, completely unawares. Aurelian suppressed the uprising then proceeded to Egypt to put down a possibly related disturbance by a certain Firmus. With the East secure, Aurelian returned to Italy where he beat off more Alamannic incursions.
Aurelian now had the opportunity to bring Gaul back under Roman control. Victorinus had been assassinated and in the confusion after his death, a short-lived claim to the Gallic throne may have been made by a man named Domitianus, but Victorinus was succeeded by Tetricus (r.271-274), the last ruler of the Gallic Empire.
End of the Gallic Empire
| Battle: Chalons-sur-Marne (France) | Aurelian/Tetricus | 274 |
Aurelian led an army across the Alps and marched northwards through Gaul. In spring 274 he met and battled Tetricus near Chalons-sur-Marne in northeast France. Tetricus possessed only a tenuous hold over his troops and during the fighting he betrayed his troops and surrendered himself to Aurelian. Within a few months Aurelian had gained control of the Gallic Empire and reunited it with Rome, for which he received the title restitutor orbis (‘Restorer of the World’).
The currency having been reduced in value, causing inflation, Aurelian reformed the silver coinage. Informers were punished, debts cancelled, bread and corn rationed fairly, and Aurelian sought to foster religious unity around a new cult deus sol invictus (‘Unconquered Sun God’).
In the summer, Britain’s rulers submitted voluntarily to Rome. Later in the year Aurelian dealt with a disorder at Lugdunum and then went north to fight off an invasion of Raetia by the Juthungi. In summer 275 he set off for Asia, but he was murdered in Thracia by his soldiers in a military coup.
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