According to the "Augustan History", Odaenathus was assassinated by a cousin named Maeonius. In the "Augustan History", Odaenathus' son from his first wife was named Herodes and was crowned co-ruler by his father. The "Augustan History" claims that Zenobia conspired with Maeonius for a time because she did not accept her stepson as his father's heir (ahead of her own children). The "Augustan History" does not suggest that Zenobia was involved in the events leading to her husband's murder, and the crime is attributed to Maeonius' moral degeneration and jealousy. This account, according to the historian Alaric Watson, can be dismissed as fictional. Although some modern scholarship suggests that Zenobia was involved in the assassination due to political ambition and opposition to her husband's pro-Roman policy, she continued Odaenathus' policies during her first years on the throne.