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.
Zorsines was a 1st-century King of the Siraces mentioned in Tacitus' Annals of the Roman Empire (XII.15-19) around 50 AD, a people he reports as residing somewhere between the Caucasus mountains and the Don river.
Polemon I Pythodoros was the Roman Client King of Cilicia, Pontus, Colchis and the Bosporan Kingdom. Polemon was the son and heir of Zenon and possibly Tryphaena. Zenon and Polemon adorned Laodicea with many dedicated offerings.
Antonia Tryphaena also known as Tryphaena of Thrace or Tryphaena was a Pontian Princess and a Roman Client Queen of Thrace. She co-ruled with her son Rhoemetalces II.
Cotys IX or Kotys IX was a Thracian prince and the Roman Client King of Lesser Armenia. Cotys was the second son of Roman Client rulers of Thrace Cotys VIII and Antonia Tryphaena. His paternal grandparents were loyal Roman Client Rulers Rhoemetalces I and Pythodoris I of Thrace, while his maternal grandparents Roman Client Rulers Polemon Pythodoros and Pythodorida of Pontus. His maternal grandmother Pythodorida of Pontus was the first grandchild of Roman Triumvir Mark Antony. Thus through his maternal grandmother, Cotys was related to various members of the Julio-Claudian dynasty.
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.
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".
Tiberius Julius Aspurgus Philoromaios was a prince and Roman client king of the Bosporan Kingdom.
Tiberius Julius Cotys I Philocaesar Philoromaios Eusebes, also known as Cotys I of the Bosporus, was a Roman client king of the Bosporan Kingdom.
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.
Tiberius Julius Sauromates II Philocaesar Philoromaios Eusebes, also known as Sauromates II (Greek: Τιβέριος Ἰούλιος Σαυρομάτης Β΄ Φιλοκαῖσαρ Φιλορωμαῖος Eὐσεβής, Philocaesar Philoromaios Eusebes, the epithets meaning "friend of Caesar, friend of Rome, pious one," was a Roman client king of the Bosporan Kingdom. His coins are known from the period 172–210, probably accounting for his entire reign.
Cotys III was the Sapaean Roman client king of eastern Thrace from 12 to 18 AD.
The Crimean Peninsula was under partial control of the Roman Empire during the period of 47 BC to c. 340 AD. The territory under Roman control mostly coincided with the Bosporan Kingdom . Rome lost its influence in Taurica in the mid third century AD, when substantial parts of the peninsula fell to the Goths, but at least nominally the kingdom survived until the 340s AD. The Eastern Roman Empire, the eastern part of the Roman Empire that survived the loss of the western part of the empire, later regained Crimea under Justinian I. The Byzantine Empire controlled portions of the peninsula well into the Late Middle Ages.
Eunice was the queen of the Bosporan Kingdom by marriage to King Cotys I. She appears to have been regent during the minority of her son Rhescuporis I in 68–69.
The Aorsi, known in Greek sources as the Aorsoi (Ἄορσοι), were an ancient Iranian people of the Sarmatian group, who played a major role in the events of the Pontic Steppe from the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD.
The Roman–Bosporan War was a lengthy war of succession that took place in the Cimmerian Bosporus, probably from 45 to 49. It was fought between the Roman client-king Tiberius Julius Cotys I and his allies King Eunones of the Aorsi and the Roman commander Gaius Julius Aquila against the former king Tiberius Julius Mithridates and his ally King Zorsines of the Siraces.
Gaius Julius Aquila was the name of a number of people who lived during the Roman Empire.
The Tiberian-Julian dynasy was the third and last dynasty of the kingdom of the Cimmerian Bosporus. The members of it bare the names Tiberius Julius before their names, on behalf of the Roman Emperor Tiberius. The first member of the family is Tiberius Julius Aspurgus.
