Septimius Antiochus (died after 273) was a

Roman usurper Roman usurpers were individuals or groups of individuals who obtained or tried to obtain power by force and without legitimate legal authority. Usurpation was endemic during the Roman imperial era, especially from the crisis of the third century ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

during the

3rd century The 3rd century was the period from 201 ( CCI) to 300 (CCC) Anno Domini (AD) or Common Era (CE) in the Julian calendar.. In this century, the Roman Empire saw a crisis, starting with the assassination of the Roman Emperor Severus Alexander ...

. In 272 AD Emperor

Aurelian Aurelian ( la, Lucius Domitius Aurelianus; 9 September 214 October 275) 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 t ...

had defeated the breakaway Kingdom of Palmyra; its king

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 re ...

and his mother

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, ...

were in Roman captivity. In 273 AD another rebellion against Roman rule broke out in Palmyra. The rebels first approached Aurelian's governor Marcellinus to become emperor, but he pretended to consider the offer as he sent a letter to Aurelian warning of the rebellion. While the rebels were waiting they decided to elevate Septimius Antiochus, the reputed son of Zenobia, to the purple. Receiving Marcellinus's letter, the Emperor reacted quickly, and in the spring of 273 the city was brought back under Roman rule. Aurelian punished the city heavily, but allegedly spared Antiochus. Antiochus claimed to be descended from Queen

Cleopatra VII Cleopatra VII Philopator ( grc-gre, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ}, "Cleopatra the father-beloved"; 69 BC10 August 30 BC) was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler.She was also a ...

of Egypt, and the kings of Syria. There is some doubt as to his relationship to Zenobia. He may be unrelated, claiming kinship for political purposes; he may be her father, also named Antiochus; he may be indeed her biological son, or possibly an adopted son; he may be a son of Zenobia by someone other than Odaenathus, in which case he would have been quite young, perhaps as young as five.

References

Sources

Zosimus, ''Historia Nova'' 1,60-61
Rulers of Palmyra Septimii Year of birth unknown Palmyrene Empire 3rd-century people {{AncientRome-bio-stub