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 63 to 68 AD 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.
The Spartocids or Spartocidae was the name of a Hellenized Thracian dynasty that ruled the Hellenistic Kingdom of Bosporus between the years 438–108 BC. They had usurped the former dynasty, the Archaeanactids, who were tyrants of Panticapaeum from 480 to 438 BC. The throne of the Bosporan Kingdom was usurped by Spartokos I in 438 BC, after whom the dynasty is named.
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.
Leucon I of Bosporus also known as Leuco, was a Spartocid ruler of the Bosporan Kingdom who ruled from 389 to 349 BC. He was arguably the greatest ruler of the Bosporan Kingdom.
Leucon II of Bosporus, also known as Leuco, seems to have been the second son of Paerisades II and a Spartocid ruler of the Bosporan Kingdom in 240 BC.
Gorgippus was a son of Satyrus I and was a Spartocid joint ruler with his brother Leucon of the Bosporan Kingdom. He situated himself on the Asiatic side of the kingdom, in Gorgippia where he ruled until, presumably, his death in 349 BCE.
The Bosporan Kingdom waged a series of wars of expansion in the Cimmerian Bosporus and the surrounding territories from around 438 BC until about 355 BC. Bosporan expansion began after Spartokos I, the first Spartocid took power and during his seven-year reign, established an aggressive expansionist foreign policy that was followed by his successors.
Paerisades I also known as Birisades, Pairisades, and Parysades was a Spartocid king of the Bosporan Kingdom from 342 to 310/9 BC.
Paerisades V was the son of Paerisades III and Kamasarye Philoteknos. He was last Spartocid ruler of the Bosporan Kingdom and ruled from 125 to c. 109 BC after the death of his brother Paerisades IV Philometor. With his death, ended a dynasty of Bosporan kings that had ruled the Bosporan Kingdom for over 3 centuries, starting in 438 BC with his ancestor Spartokos I.
Paerisades IV Philometor seems to have been a Spartocid king of the Bosporan Kingdom from c. 150 to 125 BC.
Paerisades III was a son of Leukon II and Alkathoe, he also succeeded his brother Spartokos V as Spartocid king of the Bosporan Kingdom from 180 to 150 BC. He co-ruled with Kamasarye II.
Paerisades II or Parysades was king of the Bosporan Kingdom from 284 to 245 BC. He may have been a son of either Spartokos III, or Satyros II.
Camasarye II Philoctenus or Comosarye was a daughter of Spartokos V and a Spartocid queen of the Bosporan Kingdom from 180-160/150 BC. She was the wife of her cousin Paerisades III and a granddaughter of Leucon II. She co-ruled with Paerisades III.
The Battle of Labrytae was a battle around 380 BC that occurred nearly directly after Octamasades usurped the Sindian throne from his father Hecataeus and attacked and took the city of Labrytae, presumably a city under Bosporan rule. Leukon, the ruler of the Bosporan Kingdom, had made war upon Oktamasades on behalf of Hekataios, who was a vassal of the Bosporans prior to his removal from the throne.
Spartocus IV was a Spartocid king of the Bosporan Kingdom from 245 to 240 BC.
Sopaios or Sopaeus or Sinopeus was a powerful Bosporan minister to Satyros I, the father of queen Theodosia, and father-in-law to Leukon I.
The Bosporan–Sindian War was a war between the Sindike Kingdom and its allied tribes against the Bosporan Kingdom in the 4th century BC. The war took place amidst the wars of expansion and took the life of the brother of Leukon and Gorgippos, Metrodoros.
Spartocus I was the founder and first ruler of the Spartocid dynasty in the Bosporan Kingdom. He usurped the former rulers of the Bosporus, the Archaeanactids, after being a mercenary under their command sometime in 438 BC.
Octamasades was briefly a king of the Scythian tribe of the Sindians and a son of Hecataeus and Tirgatao. He usurped the throne from his father some time in 383 BC after his failed war against Octamasades' mother, Tirgatao.
