Maeonius killed him. Theories of instigators and motives Roman conspiracy: the seventh-century historian John of Antioch accused Gallienus of being behind the assassination. A passage in the work of the Anonymus post Dionem speaks of a certain "Rufinus" who orchestrated the assassination on his own initiative, then explained his actions to the Emperor who condoned them. This account has Rufinus ordering the murder of an older Odaenathus out of fear that he would rebel, and has the younger Odaenathus complaining to the Emperor. Since the older Odaenathus (Odaenathus I) has proven to be a fictional character, the story is ignored by most scholars. However, the younger Odaenathus could be an oblique reference to Vaballathus and Rufinus could be identified with Cocceius Rufinus, the Roman governor of Arabia in 261–262. The evidence for such a Roman conspiracy is weak. Family feud: according to Zonaras, Odaenathus' nephew misbehaved during a lion hunt. He made the first attack and killed the animal to the dismay of the King. Odaenathus warned his nephew, who ignored the warning and repeated the act twice more, causing the King to deprive him of his horse, a great insult in the East. The nephew threatened Odaenathus and was put in chains as a result. Herodianus asked his father to forgive his cousin and his request was granted. However, as the King was drinking, the nephew approached him with a sword and killed him along with Herodianus. The bodyguard immediately executed the nephew. Zenobia: the wife of Odaenathus was accused by the Augustan History of having formerly conspired with Maeonius, as Herodianus was her stepson and she could not accept that he was the heir to her husband instead of her own children. However, there is no suggestion in the Augustan History that Zenobia was directly involved in her husband's murder; the act is attributed to Maeonius' degeneracy and jealousy. Those accounts by the Augustan History can be dismissed as fiction. The hints in modern scholarship that Zenobia had a hand in the assassination out of her desire to rule the empire and her dismay at her husband's pro-Roman policy can be dismissed as there was no reversal of that policy during the first years following Odaenathus' death. Persian agents: the possibility of a Persian involvement exists, but the outcome of the assassination would not have served Shapur I unless a pro-Persian monarch was established on the Palmyrene throne.