Bust of Sauromates II (r. AD 172–210) from the Acropolis Museum

The Bosporan kings were the rulers of the Bosporan Kingdom, an ancient Hellenistic Greco-Scythian state centered on the Kerch Strait (the Cimmerian Bosporus) and ruled from the city of Panticapaeum. Panticapaeum was founded in the 7th or 6th century BC; the earliest known king of the Bosporus is Archaeanax, who seized control of the city c. 480 BC as a usurper.[1] The Archaeanactid dynasty ruled the city until it was displaced by the more long-lived Spartocid dynasty in 438 BC.[1] After ruling for over three centuries, the Spartocids were then displaced by the Mithridatic dynasty of Pontus and then its offshoot the Tiberian-Julian dynasty. The Tiberian-Julian kings ruled as client kings of the Roman Empire until late antiquity.

After several successive periods of rule by groups such as the Sarmatians, Alans, Goths and Huns,[2] the remnants of the Bosporan Kingdom were finally absorbed into the Roman Empire by Justinian I in the 6th century AD following a revolt against the Hunnic ruler Gordas.[3][4]

List of kings

Joint rulers are indicated with indentation.

Archaeanactid dynasty (c. 480–438 BC)

Main article: Archaeanactid dynasty

The number of successors of Archaenax and their names are not known.[a] His family ruled until c. 438 BC.[1]

Spartocid dynasty (438–111 BC)

Main article: Spartocid dynasty
Coin of Hygiainon
Bust of a late 2nd century BC Bosporan ruler, perhaps Paerisades V

Scythian rule (111–110 BC)

Mithridatic dynasty (110 BC–AD 8)

Main article: Mithridatic dynasty
Bust of Mithridates VI Eupator of Pontus, who also ruled as Mithridates I of the Bosporus

Tiberian-Julian dynasty (8–341)

Coin of Rhoemetalces
Coin of Rhescuporis III

Later rulers (341–527)

The end of Rhescuporis VI's reign is believed to have marked the end of the Tiberian-Julian dynasty. Details of the Bosporan Kingdom are scant thereafter but it appears to have undergone several successive periods of rule by Sarmatians, Alans, Goths and Huns.[2] There was probably a continuous sequence of rulers[2] but few names are known.[b]

Mugel's rule in the Bosporus was brief; shortly after Gordas's death Justinian I sent an army to place the Bosporus under Roman rule.[3][4][20] Mugel thereafter ruled only Patria Onoguria in the north.

Family tree

This family tree covers the rulers of the Mithridatic and Tiberian-Julian dynasties. Owing to much of the sequence of Tiberian-Julian rulers being based on coinage, the relationships within the Tiberian-Julian dynasty (especially for later rulers) are largely conjectural and speculative. Conjectural and speculative lines of descent are marked with dotted lines. Though genealogical information is completely unknown for kings after Cotys III, the repeating names lead most researchers to believe that the later kings until at least 341 were part of the same continuous dynasty.[1]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Peter Truhart's Regents of Nations (2000) speculatively reconstructed the Archaeanactid dynasty as follows: Archaeanax (c. 480–470 BC), Paerisades (I) (c. 470–450 BC), Leukon (I) (c. 450–440 BC) and Sagauros (c. 440–438 BC).[5]
  2. ^ In addition to the three certain names listed below, some authors speculate that Rhescuporis VI's immediate successors were two kings named Sauromates, i.e. Sauromates V and Sauromates VI. This is based on the writings of 10th-century emperor Constantine VII. Constantine's writings describe a post-Rhescuporis VI conflict with the Bosporans which is won by the Romans and notes that this victory meant that "the kingship of the Sauromati [was] finished".[19]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Schneider, Helmuth (2007). Brill's New Pauly: Chronologies of the ancient world : names, dates and dynasties. Brill. p. 112. ISBN 978-90-04-15320-2.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Astakhov, Ivan Alekseevich (2021). "Changes in the Ethnic Pictures and its Impact on the Internal Political Situation in the Bosporus after Rheskuporis VI". Laplage em Revista (International). 7 (3A): 245–252. doi:10.24115/S2446-6220202173A1397p.245-252. S2CID 239216873. Archived from the original on 2022-09-10. Retrieved 2022-05-07.
  3. ^ a b Frolova, N. (1999). "The Question of Continuity in the Late Classical Bosporus On the Basis of Numismatic Data". Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia. 5 (3): 179–205. doi:10.1163/157005799X00188. ISSN 0929-077X.
  4. ^ a b c Lawler, Jennifer (2015). Encyclopedia of the Byzantine Empire. McFarland. p. 137. ISBN 978-1-4766-0929-4.
  5. ^ Truhart, Peter (2000). Regents of Nations: Antiquity worldwide. Saur. p. 378. ISBN 978-3-598-21543-8.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Rostovtzeff, Michael Ivanovitch (1993). Skythien und der Bosporus, Band II: wiederentdeckte Kapitel und Verwandtes (in German). Franz Steiner Verlag. p. 223. ISBN 978-3-515-06399-9.
  7. ^ Kinzl, Konrad H. (11 January 2010). A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley. p. 145. ISBN 9781444334128.
  8. ^ a b Mayor, A., (2009), The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome’s deadliest enemy, Princeton University Press, p. 345
  9. ^ Barclay Head. "Ancient coins of Pontus". Digital Historia Numorum: A manual of Greek numismatics. Retrieved 2015-03-19.
  10. ^ a b Rostovtzeff, M., Queen Dynamis of Bosporus, JHS, pp. 100-105
  11. ^ a b c Minns, E., H., Scythians and Greeks, A Survey of Ancient History and Archaeology p. 592 [1]
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Mitchiner, Michael (1978). The Ancient & Classical World, 600 B.C.-A.D. 650. Hawkins Publications. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-904173-16-1.
  13. ^ Numismatic Literature. American Numismatic Society. 1979. p. 28.
  14. ^ Choref, Michael (2020). "К истории правления Хедосбия" [To the History of the Reign of Chedosbios]. Stratum Plus Journal (in Russian). 6: 231–240.
  15. ^ a b Yartsev, Sergey V. (2019). "The Invasion of the Borans into the Bosporus in the 3rd Century AD" (PDF). Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews. 7 (6).
  16. ^ Beydin, G. V. (2016). "Готы на Боспоре: находки монет царя Фарсанза в ареале черняховской культуры" [Goths in the Bosporus: finds of coins of King Farsanz in the area of the Chernyakhov culture]. Древности. Харьковский историко-археологический ежегодник. 13: 138–149.
  17. ^ a b Frolova, Nina; Ireland, Stanley (1995). "A Hoard of Bosporan Coins in the Period Third Century BC to AD 238 from Ancient Gorgippia (Anapa) 1987". The Numismatic Chronicle. 155: 21–42. ISSN 0078-2696. JSTOR 42668787.
  18. ^ Smekalova, T. N. (2018). "Evolution of the Composition of Monetary Alloys of Ancient Greek States on the Black Sea Shores Based on the Data of X-Ray Fluorescent Spectroscopy with the Example of Bosporos Cimmerian". Crystallography Reports. 63 (6): 1043–1050. doi:10.1134/S1063774518060299. ISSN 1562-689X. S2CID 104376080.
  19. ^ a b Nadel, Benjamin (1977). "Literary Tradition and Epigraphical Evidence : Constantine Porphyrogenitus' Information on the Bosporan Kingdom of Emperor Diocletian Reconsidered". Dialogues d'histoire ancienne. 3 (1): 87–114. doi:10.3406/dha.1977.2690.
  20. ^ a b Stevenson, Walter (2020). The Origins of Roman Christian Diplomacy: Constantius II and John Chrysostom as Innovators. Routledge. p. 190. ISBN 978-1-315-41500-0.
  21. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae Settipani, Christian (2006). Continuité des élites à Byzance durant les siècles obscurs: les princes caucasiens et l'Empire du VI:e au IX:e siècle (in French). Paris: De Boccard. p. 408. ISBN 978-2-7018-0226-8.
  22. ^ a b "Le Bosphore Cimmérien - Suite". antikforever.com. Retrieved 2022-05-09.
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