500 Francs CFA Zenobia

Zenobia was the third-century queen of Palmyra who broke from Rome and briefly ruled a breakaway empire stretching from Egypt to Anatolia before Aurelian crushed her forces at Immae in 272 AD. She was never captured in battle — she fled toward Persia and was taken at the Euphrates. Togo's CFA-denominated commemorative series from this period leaned heavily on ancient world figures with no particular connection to West Africa, a pattern common among smaller issuers generating collector revenue rather than circulating currency.