Æ 13 - Pseudo Autonomous

Palmyra's autonomous bronze issues of the third century occupy an awkward classificatory space — struck under local civic authority rather than by the imperial mint, they predate and in some cases overlap with the brief period of Palmyrene imperial ambition under Odaenathus and Zenobia. The city's position as a caravan nexus between Roman Syria and Parthian-controlled Mesopotamia gave its civic institutions enough economic independence to strike small bronzes for local market use without waiting on Rome's authorization.

Zenobia's defeat by Aurelian in 272 AD and the subsequent sack of Palmyra effectively ended all local minting.