 Lucius Septimius Udaynath , <unk> as Odaenathus ( Aramaic : <unk> / <unk> ; Arabic : <unk> / Udaynath ; 220 – 267 ) , was the founder king ( Mlk ) of the Palmyrene Kingdom centered at the city of Palmyra , Syria . He lifted his city from the position of a regional center subordinate to Rome into the supreme power in the East . Odaenathus was born into an aristocratic Palmyrene family who had received Roman citizenship in the <unk> under the <unk> dynasty . He was the son of Hairan the descendant of Nasor . The circumstances surrounding his rise are ambiguous ; he became the lord ( Ras ) of the city , a position created for him , as early as the 240s and by 258 , he was styled a <unk> , indicating a high status in the Roman Empire . 
