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Aristarchus (/ˌærəˈstɑːrkəs/;Ancient Greek:Ἀρίσταρχος,Aristarkhos) was a ruler ofColchis as a client ofRome from 63 BC toc. 50 BC. He was installed by the Roman generalPompey as part of his settlement of Asia during theMithridatic Wars. Aristarchus is principally known from the works of the 1st-century historianAppian as well as the coinage issued in his name.
Aristarchus was appointed, in 63 BC, by Pompey onhis conquest of Colchis, a region on theBlack Sea, in the course of theThird Mithridatic War which pitted Rome againstMithridates VI of Pontus. Aristarchus's becoming "a dynast of the Colchians" is reported by Appian. The fact of appointment of a new ruler in Colchis is also known toStrabo, but he does not specify the dynast's name. As Aristarchus's extantdrachms confirm he was "over Colchis", but he was not a king despite being so called by the 4th-century historianEutropius.[2][3]
Aristarchus was probably one of the local aristocrats,skeptouchoi ("sceptre-bearers"), who chose to side with the Romans during the war with Mithridates. The only otherskeptouchos known by name, Olthaces, was made prisoner by Pompey and paraded in the streets of Rome as part of histriumphal procession. The extent of Aristarchus's possessions is not known. He could have sat atPhasis, at modernPoti, the end-point of Pompey's Colchian campaign, orDioscurias, an important Hellenistic city, probably near modern-daySukhumi, where one of his coins has been found. The year 12 on Aristarchus's coinage indicates that his rule in Colchis continued to at least 52 or 51 BC and probably later, until c. 47 BC, when the late king Mithridates's son,Pharnaces II, took advantage of a civil war in Rome and conquered Colchis.[2][3]
Of the seven extant silver coins issued in the name of Aristarchus, one is located at theBritish Museum, Berlin, and Paris, two in theHermitage Museum, one, unpublished, atOxford'sAshmolean Museum, and one, in Tbilisi. The find-spot of only one of the Hermitage examples is known, near Sukhumi,[3] and the other, near Igoeti in eastern Georgia in 2018.[4] The obverse depicts a male head in aradiant crown, presumablyHelios, but resembling Pompey. In the view of the Georgian numismatist Dundua, this depiction marries the traditional claim of the kings of Colchis to be descended from the sun-god to a political necessity to recognize Pompey as the source of Aristarchus's power.[2][5] The seated female figure wearing amural crown on the reverse is probablyTyche, a deity that governed the fortune and prosperity of a city, accompanied by the legend ΑΡΙΣΤΑΡΧΟ(Υ) ΤΟΥ ΕΠΙ ΚΟΛΧΙΔΟ(Σ).[2][3]