Bosporan era

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Coin of Rhescuporis III with the Bosporan era date KPh (i.e., 520, which is AD 223/4) below the effigy. INC-1944-r Stater Bosporskoe tsarstvo Riskuporid III (revers).png
Coin of Rhescuporis III with the Bosporan era date Κ Φ (i.e., 520, which is AD 223/4) below the effigy.

The Bosporan era (BE or AB), [lower-alpha 1] also called the Bithynian era, Pontic era or Bithyno-Pontic era, [lower-alpha 2] was a calendar era (year numbering) used from 149 BC at the latest until at least AD 497 in Asia Minor and the Black Sea region. It originated in the Bithynian Kingdom and was also used in the Pontic Kingdom and, for the longest time, in the Bosporan Kingdom. The calendar era begins with the assumption of the royal title by Zipoetes I of Bithynia in October 297 BC (in the Gregorian calendar), [lower-alpha 3] which marks the start of its year one. [3] [4] The Bosporan year began at the autumnal equinox. [2]

Contents

The earliest evidence for the use of the Bithynian era is some coins dating from 149/8 BC, when Nicomedes II overthrew his father, Prusias II. Since earlier Bithynian coins carry no date, it is possible that the calendar was invented on this occasion. The era was adopted in Pontus under Mithridates VI, who introduced it onto the Pontic coinage sometime before 96/95 BC, [lower-alpha 4] replacing the Seleucid era used up to then. Since Pontus and Bithynia were rivals at the time, the most likely date for the introduction of the Bithynian era into Pontus was during the brief alliance between the two countries during the invasion of Paphlagonia in 108 BC. [4]

The Bithyno-Pontic era fell out of use in northern Asia Minor following the Roman conquest in 63 BC. There is no evidence that it was suppressed by Roman authorities. Rather, the local authorities preferred to adopt new eras commemorating their joining the Roman province of Bithynia et Pontus. The province thus had several dating systems in use, including the Seleucid era, but the Bithyno-Pontic era was not among them. [4]

There is no evidence from Asia Minor of the Bithyno-Pontic era ever being used on anything other than coins. Inscriptions, however, survive from the northern shore of the Black Sea, the region that fell under the Bosporan Kingdom in the first four centuries AD. [4] In the Bosporus, the era was used in conjunction with the months of the Macedonian calendar. The first Bosporan coins bearing the era are from the reign of Mithridates VI's son, Pharnaces II, who never controlled Pontus and whose kingdom was thus restricted to the Cimmerian Bosporus. His coins were minted in Bosporus, but were of the Pontic type. The first distinctly Bosporan coins, which bear Bosporan era dates, are from 281 BE (17/16 BC) and were issued by Queen Dynamis. [2]

The earliest inscription dated with the Bosporan era can be read either 325 BE (AD 29) or else 313 (17) and mentions the reigning king, Aspurgus. [2] While the Bosporan series of coins ends with Rhescuporis VI in AD 341, [4] the latest inscription is from 794 BE (AD 497/8). [2]

Notes

  1. The abbreviation AB comes from the Latin Anno Bithyniae or Anno Bospori, lit. 'in the Bithynian [Bosporan] year'. [2]
  2. Ellis Minns argues for "Bosporan era" because it remained in use in the Bosporus much longer than anywhere else. [2]
  3. Early in the 20th century the start date of the calendar was revised by some to 298 BC, but this realignment has been abandoned. [3]
  4. There is a Pontic tetradrachm dated to 202 BE; the first stater dates to 205 BE (93/92 BC). [2]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bithynia</span> Region in Anatolia

Bithynia was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor, adjoining the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, and the Black Sea. It bordered Mysia to the southwest, Paphlagonia to the northeast along the Pontic coast, and Phrygia to the southeast towards the interior of Asia Minor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pontus (region)</span> Region in the eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pharnaces II of Pontus</span> Bosporan king from 63 to 47 BC

Pharnaces II of Pontus was the king of the Bosporan Kingdom and Kingdom of Pontus until his death. He was a monarch of Persian and Greek ancestry. He was the youngest child born to King Mithridates VI of Pontus from his first wife, his sister Queen Laodice. He was born and raised in the Kingdom of Pontus and was the namesake of his late double great grandfather Pharnaces I of Pontus. After his father was defeated by the Romans in the Third Mithridatic War and died in 63 BC, the Romans annexed the western part of Pontus, merged it with the former Kingdom of Bithynia and formed the Roman province of Bithynia and Pontus. The eastern part of Pontus remained under the rule of Pharnaces as a client kingdom until his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bosporan Kingdom</span> Greco-Scythian state near Sea of Azov (c. 438 BC–c. AD 527)

The Bosporan Kingdom, also known as the Kingdom of the Cimmerian Bosporus, was an ancient Greco-Scythian state located in eastern Crimea and the Taman Peninsula on the shores of the Cimmerian Bosporus, centered in the present-day Strait of Kerch. It was the first truly 'Hellenistic' state, in the sense that a mixed population adopted the Greek language and civilization, under aristocratic consolidated leadership. Under the Spartocid dynasty, the aristocracy of the kingdom adopted a double nature of presenting themselves as archons to Greek subjects and as kings to barbarians, which some historians consider unique in ancient history. The Bosporan Kingdom became the longest surviving Roman client kingdom. The 1st and 2nd centuries AD saw a period of a new golden age of the Bosporan state. It was briefly incorporated as part of the Roman province of Moesia Inferior from AD 63 to 68 under Emperor Nero, before being restored as a Roman client kingdom. At the end of the 2nd century AD, King Sauromates II inflicted a critical defeat on the Scythians and included all the territories of the Crimean Peninsula in the structure of his state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Mithridatic War</span> 1st-century BC military conflict between the Roman Republic and the Kingdom of Pontus

The First Mithridatic War was a war challenging the Roman Republic's expanding empire and rule over the Greek world. In this conflict, the Kingdom of Pontus and many Greek cities rebelling against Roman rule were led by Mithridates VI of Pontus against Rome and the allied Kingdom of Bithynia. The war lasted five years and ended in a Roman victory, which forced Mithridates to abandon all of his conquests and return to Pontus. The conflict with Mithridates VI later resumed in two further Mithridatic Wars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Third Mithridatic War</span> War between King Mithridates VI of Pontus and the Roman Republic

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingdom of Pontus</span> 281 BC–62 AD kingdom in northern Anatolia

Pontus was a Hellenistic kingdom centered in the historical region of Pontus in modern-day Turkey, and ruled by the Mithridatic dynasty of Persian origin, which may have been directly related to Darius the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty. The kingdom was proclaimed by Mithridates I in 281 BC and lasted until its conquest by the Roman Republic in 63 BC. The Kingdom of Pontus reached its largest extent under Mithridates VI the Great, who conquered Colchis, Cappadocia, Bithynia, the Greek colonies of the Tauric Chersonesos, and for a brief time the Roman province of Asia. After a long struggle with Rome in the Mithridatic Wars, Pontus was defeated.

Gepaepyris was a Thracian princess, and a Roman Client Queen of the Bosporan Kingdom, the longest known surviving Roman Client Kingdom. She ruled in AD 37/38–39.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asander (king)</span> King of the Bosporan Kingdom

Asander, named Philocaesar Philoromaios was a Roman client king of the Bosporan Kingdom. He was of Greek and possibly of Persian ancestry. Not much is known of his family and early life. He started his career as a general under Pharnaces II, the king of the Bosporus. According to some scholars, Asander took as his first wife a woman called Glykareia, known from one surviving Greek inscription, "Glykareia, wife of Asander".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mithridates VI Eupator</span> King of Pontus from 120 to 63 BC

Mithridates or Mithradates VI Eupator was the ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus in northern Anatolia from 120 to 63 BC, and one of the Roman Republic's most formidable and determined opponents. He was an effective, ambitious and ruthless ruler who sought to dominate Asia Minor and the Black Sea region, waging several hard-fought but ultimately unsuccessful wars to break Roman dominion over Asia and the Hellenic world. He has been called the greatest ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus. He cultivated an immunity to poisons by regularly ingesting sub-lethal doses; this practice, now called mithridatism, is named after him. After his death, he became known as Mithridates the Great.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cappadocia (Roman province)</span> Roman province located in modern-day Turkey

Cappadocia was a province of the Roman Empire in Anatolia, with its capital at Caesarea. It was established in 17 AD by the Emperor Tiberius, following the death of Cappadocia's last king, Archelaus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bithynia and Pontus</span> Roman province located in modern-day Turkey

Bithynia and Pontus was the name of a province of the Roman Empire on the Black Sea coast of Anatolia. It was formed during the late Roman Republic by the amalgamation of the former kingdoms of Bithynia and Pontus. The amalgamation was part of a wider conquest of Anatolia and its reduction to Roman provinces.

Dynamis, nicknamed Philoromaios, was a Roman client queen of the Bosporan Kingdom during the Late Roman Republic and part of the reign of Augustus, the first Roman Emperor. Dynamis is an ancient Greek name which means the “powerful one”. She was a monarch of Iranian and Greek Macedonian ancestry. She was the daughter of King Pharnaces II of Pontus and his Sarmatian wife. She had an older brother called Darius and a younger brother called Arsaces. Her paternal grandparents had been the monarchs of the Kingdom of Pontus, Mithridates VI of Pontus and his first wife Laodice, who was also his sister. Dynamis married three times. Her husbands were Asander, a certain Scribonius and Polemon I of Pontus. According to Rostovtzeff, she also had a fourth husband, Aspurgos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sauromates II</span> King of the Bosporan Kingdom from c.172 to c.210

Tiberius Julius Sauromates II Philocaesar Philoromaios Eusebes, also known as Sauromates II was a Roman client king of the Bosporan Kingdom. His coins are known from the period 172–210, probably accounting for his entire reign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingdom of Bithynia</span> Ancient Hellenistic kingdom in northwest Turkey

The Kingdom of Bithynia was a Hellenistic kingdom centred in the historical region of Bithynia, which seems to have been established in the fourth century BC. In the midst of the Wars of the Diadochi, Zipoites assumed the title of king (basileus) in 297 BC. His son and successor, Nicomedes I, founded Nicomedia, which soon rose to great prosperity. During his long reign, as well as those of his successors, Prusias I, Prusias II and Nicomedes II, the Kingdom of Bithynia prospered and had a considerable standing and influence among the minor monarchies of Anatolia. But the last king, Nicomedes IV, was unable to maintain himself in power against Mithridates VI of Pontus. After being restored to his throne by the Roman Senate, he bequeathed his kingdom through his will to the Roman republic in 74 BC and it became the province of Bithynia et Pontus in 63 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mithridatic dynasty</span> Former dynasty of Pontus (281 - 47 BC)

The Mithridatic dynasty, also known as the Pontic dynasty, was a hereditary dynasty of Persian origin, founded by Mithridates I Ktistes in 281 BC. The origins of the dynasty were located in the highest circles of the ruling Persian nobility in Cius. Mithridates III of Cius fled to Paphlagonia after the murder of his father and his predecessor Mithridates II of Cius, eventually proclaiming the Kingdom of Pontus, and adopting the epithet of "Ktistes". The dynasty reached its greatest extent under the rule of Mithridates VI, who is considered the greatest ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pontic coinage</span>

Pontic coinage probably began during reign of Mithridates II of Pontus. Early Pontic coinage imitated coinage with Alexander the Great's portraits. Later coinage is well known for its high decree of realism in portraits of the Pontic kings who were proud of their Iranian ancestry. Pontic coin portraitry developed isolated from wider Hellenistic tradition. However, Mithridates V and his son Mithridates VI partially abandoned oriental influences in the coin portraitry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bithynian coinage</span>

Bithynian coinage refers to coinage struck by the Kingdom of Bithynia that was situated on the coast of the Black Sea.

References

  1. "Review of B. de Koehne, Déscription du musée de feu le prince Basile Kotschoubey d'après son catalogue manuscrit et recherches sur l'histoire et la numismatique des colonies grecques en Russie ainsi que des royaumes du Pont et du Bosphore Cimmérien (1857)", Antiquarisk tidsskrift5 (1855–57), 313.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Ellis Hovell Minns, Scythians and Greeks: A Survey of Ancient History and Archaeology on the North Coast of the Euxine from the Danube to the Caucasus (Cambridge University Press, 1913), 590–91.
  3. 1 2 William H. Bennett, "The Death of Sertorius and the Coin", Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte10/4 (1961), 459–72, esp. 460–61.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Jakob Munk Højte, "From Kingdom to Province: Reshaping Pontos after the Fall of Mithridates VI", in Tønnes Bekker-Nielsen (ed.), Rome and the Black Sea Region: Domination, Romanisation, Resistance (Aarhus University Press, 2006), 15–30.

Further reading