| Polemon I of Pontus | |
|---|---|
| King of Pontus | |
| Reign | 37/36 – 8 BC |
| Predecessor | Arsaces of Pontus |
| Successor | Pythodorida of Pontus |
| King of the Bosporan Kingdom | |
| Reign | 16 – 8 BC[1] or 12/13–8 BC[2] |
| Predecessor | Scribonius |
| Successor | Dynamis |
| Co-ruler | Dynamis (13 BC) |
| Died | 8 BC |
| Spouse | Dynamis Pythodorida of Pontus |
| Issue | Artaxias III Polemon II of Pontus Antonia Tryphaena (all with Pythodorida) |
| Father | Zenon |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance | Roman Republic |
| Years | 36 BC |
| Battles / wars | |
Polemon I Pythodoros (Ancient Greek:Πολέμων Πυθόδωρος; fl. 1st century BC – died 8 BC) was the Roman Client King ofCilicia,Pontus,Colchis and theBosporan Kingdom. Polemon was the son and heir of Zenon and possibly Tryphaena. Zenon and Polemon adorned Laodicea with many dedicated offerings.[3]
Polemon wasAnatolianGreek. Polemon's father, Zenon, was an orator and a prominent aristocrat fromLaodicea on the Lycus inAnatolia. Zenon supported Hybreas, an orator and prominent politician inMylasa (the chief city of Caria). Hybreas got into trouble with the Roman generalQuintus Labienus for making a sarcastic comment. Labienus marched on Mylasa. Many of its citizens were inclined to surrender. However, Zenon and Hybreas refused to yield and led their cities into a revolt. Zenon encouraged the locals to resist Labienus and KingPacorus I of Parthia, when their armies invadedSyria and Anatolia in 40 BC. Labienus sacked Mylasa. He 'shamefully maltreated' the home of Hybreas.[4] Zenon was a friend and ally of Roman TriumvirMark Antony and played a leading role during theParthian invasion.
According toAppian,Mark Antony established client kings in the eastern areas of theRoman Empire, which were under his control, on condition that they paid a tribute. InAnatolia Polemon was appointed to part ofCilicia, Darius, the son ofPharnaces II and grandson ofMithridates VI, toPontus, and Amyntas toPisidia. This was in 37 BC, before his war with Parthia, when he was making preparations for it and before he wintered in Athens in the winter of 37/36 BC.[5]
According toCassius Dio, in 36 BC Polemon took part in Mark Antony's campaign againstParthia. He was in a detachment led by Oppius Statianus which was attacked and slaughtered by the Parthians and the Medians. Polemon was the only one who was not killed. He was captured and then released for a ransom.[6] In that year, after his defeat in his war against Parthia, Mark Antony 'assigned principalities.' He gave Amyntas Galatia and addedLycaonia and parts of Pamphylia to his domain. He gave Cappadocia to Archelaus after driving out Ariarathes. In 35 BC he wanted to conduct a campaign againstArtavasdes II, the king ofArmenia. He sent Polemon toArtavasdes, the king ofMediaAtropatene to try to obtain an alliance with him. This was successful, and in 31 BC, when the agreement was finalised, Antony gave PolemonLesser Armenia as a reward.[7]
In 26 BC, Polemon, whom Cassius Dio described as the king of Pontus, “was enrolled among the friends and allies of the Roman people; and the privilege was granted the senators of occupying the front seats in all the theatres of his realm.”[8]
Strabo gave an indication of how Polemon might have become a king of Pontus. He wrote Polemon andLycomedes of Comana attacked Arsaces, one of the sons ofPharnaces II of Pontus, inSagylium because he “was playing the dynast and attempting a revolution without permission from any of the prefects …” This stronghold was seized, but Arsaces fled to the mountains where he starved because he was without provisions and without water. Pompey had ordered the wells to be obstructed by rocks to prevent robbers from hiding on the mountains. Arsaces was captured and killed.[9] Arsaces probably claimed the throne because he was the grandson ofMithridates VI of Pontus, the last king of an independentKingdom of Pontus. Sagylium was in the interior of Pontus, not far from Cappadocia and fromComana in Cappadocia, which was ruled by Lycomedes. Polemon must have assumed a royal title in Pontus due to the part he played in suppressing Arsaces. In a later passage, Cassius Dio, specified that Polemon was “the king of that part of Pontus bordering on Cappadocia …” (see below). Therefore, Pontus must have been assigned to several client kings who administered the various regions of Pontus.
Plutarch listed Polemon among the eleven subject kings who sent troops to support Mark Antony in theBattle of Actium in his battle withOctavian in 31 BC. Polemon was among the five kings who did not participate in the battle personally.[10]
In a further episode involving Polemon, Cassius Dio, referred to Polemon as "the king of that part of Pontus bordering on Cappadocia.”Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa sent Polemon against a certainScribonius who claimed to be a grandson of Mithridates VI and that he had received theBosporan Kingdom from Augustus after the death of its king, Asander. He married Asander's wife,Dynamis, the daughter of Pharnaces II, who had been entrusted with the regency of the kingdom by her husband. Thus, Scribonius controlled this kingdom. When Polemon reached theCimmerian Bosporus, Scribonius had been killed by the people, who had heard of his advance. They resisted Polemon because they were afraid that he might be appointed as their king. Polemon defeated them but was unable to quell the rebellion until Agrippa went toSinope to prepare a campaign against them. They surrendered. Polemon was appointed as their king. He married Dynamis with the support of Augustus.[11]
The date of Polemon's death is unknown. An inscription indicates that he must have been still on the throne as late 2 BC.[12] Or he died about 8 BC.[13]
Strabo wrote thatTanais, a Greek city in theMaeotian Swamp, was sacked by Polemon because “it would not obey him.” Polemon conqueredColchis. He attacked theAspurgiani, aMaeotian people, under a pretence of friendship, but they defeated him, took him alive and killed him. Strabo also wrote that after Polemon's death “his [second] wifePythodorida of Pontus [was] in power, being queen, not only of the Colchians, but also ofTrapezus andPharnacia and of the barbarians who live above these places …”[14]
Through his first wife,Dynamis, Polemon became stepfather toTiberius Julius Aspurgus, her son from her first marriage. It seems that after the death of Polemon she regained the Bosporan kingdom and she appears to have ruled until 7-8 AD.[2] Or Dynamis died in 14 BC.[1]
Polemon remarried. His second wife,Pythodorida of Pontus, was a halfAnatolian Greek andRoman noblewoman. She was the first grandchild of Antony. Strabo wrote that she was the daughter of Pythodorus of Tralles and gave some information about the two sons and the daughter of Polemon and Pythodorida.[15] They were:
Pythodorida succeeded Polemon and ruledTibareni andChaldia, extending as far asColchis. She also ruledPharnacia and Trapezus (modernTrabzon). Strabo described her as "a woman who is wise and qualified to preside over affairs of state." She marriedArchelaus of Cappadocia until his death. She was still ruling at the time of Strabo and "in possession of not only of the places above mentioned, but also of others still more charming." She possessed the cities of Sidene andThemiscyraPhanaroea, close to Pharnacia, the area between the rivers Lycus (Kelkit) and Iris (Yeşilırmak), which included the cities ofMagnopolis,Amaseia, and Cabeira (which Pompey had renamed Diospolis), Kainon Chorion, plusZelitis and Megalopolitis. Pythodoris changed the name of Diospolis toSebaste, embellished it and used it as a royal residence.[17]
| Mark Antony triumvir ∞ 2.Antonia Hybrida | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pharnaces II king of C. Bosporus 63-47 BC | Zenon ∞ Tryphaena (?) | Pythodoros of Tralles wealthy Greek | Antonia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Asander king of C. Bosporus 47-17 BC ∞Dynamis | Dynamis queen of C. Bosporus 16-8 BC ∞ 1.Asander 2.Scribonius 3.Polemon I | Polemon I king of Pontus, Cappadocia 37-8 BC ∞ 1.Dynamis 2.Pythodoris | Pythodoris queen of Pontus 8 BC-28 AD ∞ 1.Polemon I of Pontus 2.Archelaus of Cappadocia | Archelaus king of Cappadocia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| T. J. Aspurgus king of C. Bosporus 8 BC-38 AD ∞Gepaepyris | Zenon/Artaxias III king of Armenia 18-34 | J. Berenice daughter of Herod Agrippa I king of Judea | Polemon II king of Pontus, Cappadocia 38-64 | J. Mamaea daughter of Sampsigeramus II priest-king of Emessa | Antonia Tryphaena ∞Cotys III king of Thrace 12-19 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| T. J. Mithridates king of C. Bosporus 38-45 | T. J. Cotys I prince | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Appian, The Civil Wars, Penguin Classics, 1996;ISBN 978-0140445091
GreekWikisource has original text related to this article:Πολέμων Πυθόδωρος| Preceded by | King of Pontus 36–8 BC | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | King of the Bosporus 16-8 BC (withDynamis 16-14 BC) | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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