 Palmyra was an autonomous city subordinate to Rome and part of Syria Phoenice province . Odaenathus descended from an aristocratic family , albeit not a royal one as the city was ruled by a council and had no tradition of hereditary monarchy . <unk> inscriptions from Palmyra record the title of the Palmyrene ruler as " Ras " in Palmyrene and <unk> in Greek , meaning the " Lord of Palmyra " . The title was created for Odaenathus , and was not a usual title in the Roman Empire or a part of the traditional Palmyrene governance institutions ; whether it indicated a military or a priestly position is unknown , but the military role is more likely . 
