Hairan II was a Palmyrene prince, the son of king

Odaenathus Septimius Odaenathus ( Palmyrene Aramaic: , , vocalized as ; ar, أذينة, translit=Uḏaina; 220 – 267) was the founder king ( ''Mlk'') of the Palmyrene Kingdom who ruled from Palmyra, Syria. He elevated the status of his kingdom from a r ...

and, possibly, his second wife

Zenobia Septimia Zenobia ( Palmyrene Aramaic: , , vocalized as ; AD 240 – c. 274) 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 ...

Seal RTP 736

The existence of Hairan was established by the discovery of a lead seal (code named RTP 736). The seal bears the images of two priests, one on each side. On one of the sides, the name of Odaenathus' son and successor

Vaballathus Septimius Vaballathus ( Palmyrene Aramaic: , , vocalized as ; ar, وهب اللات, translit=Wahb Allāt; 259 – c. 274 AD) was emperor of the Palmyrene Empire centred at Palmyra in the region of Syria. He came to power as a child under his ...

was engraved under the image as a legend, while the name of Hairan was engraved on the other side. The name of Odaenathus was engraved on both sides. No name of a mother was engraved and the seal is undated.

King Herodianus and Hairan II

Odaenathus had another son,

Hairan I Septimius Herodianus or Hairan I ( 240 – 267) 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. Life Hairan was born to Odaenathus and his fi ...

, who appeared in different inscriptions dated from 251 AD onward. On a lead seal, the name of Septimius Herodianus, king of kings, appears; scholars argue whether Septimius Herodianus was Hairan I or II. The ''

Augustan History The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, designated heirs and usurpers from 117 to 284. Supposedly modeled on the sim ...

'' mentions that Odaenathus had many sons, including one named Herodes (from an earlier marriage) and another named Herennianus. According to

Henri Arnold Seyrig Henri Arnold Seyrig (; 10 November 1895 – 21 January 1973) was a French archaeologist, numismatist, and historian. He was the general director of antiquities of Syria and Lebanon since 1929, and director, for more than twenty years, of the ...

, Hairan II must be identical with Herennianus and he was an older brother of Vaballathus and did not reign. Seyrig distinguishes Hairan I from the Hairan on seal RTP 736.

Andreas Alföldi András (Andreas) Ede Zsigmond Alföldi (27 August 1895 – 12 February 1981) was a Hungarian historian, art historian, epigraphist, numismatist and archaeologist, specializing in the Late Antique period. He was one of the most productive 20th- ...

also suggested that Septimius Herodianus is Herennianus; another seal associated with the seal of Septimius Herodianus represented a woman crowned with laurel leaf who, according to Alföldi, can only be Zenobia. Hence, Septimius Herodianus is the son of Zenobia and Odaenathus. In the view of Alföldi, Odaenathus's eldest son, Herodes of the ''Augustan History'', would not have been called King of Kings during his father's lifetime and Septimius Herodianus briefly succeeded his father. Udo Hartmann argues that Septimius Herodianus is the same as Hairan I and that Herodianus is the Greek version of Hairan and that "Herodes" is a corruption of Hairan. David S. Potter disagrees and believes that Septimius Herodianus is Zenobia's son, identical with Hairan II and different from Hairan I.

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* * * * * * {{refend Rulers of Palmyra 3rd-century monarchs in the Middle East 3rd-century Arabs Septimii Palmyrene Empire