Pharsanzes

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Tiberius Julius Pharsanzes
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Pharsanzes
Ininthimeus
(?)

Pharsanzes (

Rhescuporis V
(r. 240–276). As a result, Pharsanzes is most frequently believed to have been a rival claimant or usurper, though some researchers believe he was a co-ruler granted power by Rhescuporis V.

Biography

Pharsanzes is known only from coinage and as a result, little historical information is known of his reign.[1][2] The origin of his name is disputed and it has been variously interpreted as of Iranian (Sarmatian-Alan, perhaps meaning "Power of Farn")[2] or Gothic roots.[3] His coins are comparatively rarer than coins of most other Bosporan kings.[2]

Pharsanzes's coins place his reign as only encompassing a single year, 253–254, a period otherwise wholly encompassed by the reign of another king,

Sauromates III[6] (r. 229–232),[4] Pharsanzes might have been a closer relative of Ininthimeus.[5] Another conjectural suggestion is that the kingdom might have briefly been divided into two, with Pharsanzes ruling the eastern side of the Bosporus and later being deposed by Rhescuporis V again.[7]

Among those who believe him to have been a usurper, views on whether Pharsanzes seized power violently or was reluctantly granted it by Rhescuporis V to avert civil war also differ. M. M. Choref believes Pharsanzes took power with the support of the various barbarian tribes in the kingdom.[2] Other researchers have proposed that Pharsanzes was responsible for inviting various barbarian groups into the kingdom to aid him in taking the throne;[5] circumstantial evidence may lend support to this idea, since the appearance of larger numbers of barbarians in the Bosporus coincides with his reign[1] and the number of coins of Pharsanzes at sites inhabited by Gothic tribes is much greater than at other sites.[2] His barbarian-aided takeover of the kingdom could perhaps have been the conflict during which the city of Tanais was destroyed.[1][2]

If Pharsanzes was a usurper, the appearance of coins minted by Rhescuporis V again after 254 indicates that he was defeated. It is possible that Rhescuporis V defeated him with the aid of Germanic mercenaries since Germanic archaeological finds also begin appearing in the Bosporus around this time.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Yartsev, Sergey V. (2014). "К ВОПРОСУ ОБ ОБСТОЯТЕЛЬСТВАХ ПРИХОДА К ВЛАСТИ НА БОСПОРЕ ЦАРЯ ФАРСАНЗА" [On the coming to power of King Farsanza of the Bosporus]. Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (in Russian) (389).
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Beydin, G. V. (2016). "Готы на Боспоре: находки монет царя Фарсанза в ареале черняховской культуры" [Goths in the Bosporus: finds of coins of King Farsanz in the area of the Chernyakhov culture]. Древности. Харьковский историко-археологический ежегодник. 13: 138–149.
  3. ISBN 978-90-04-29590-2
    .
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-0-904173-16-1
    .
  5. ^ a b c Yartsev, Sergey V. (2019). "The Invasion of the Borans into the Bosporus in the 3rd Century AD" (PDF). Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews. 7 (6).
  6. ISBN 978-2-7018-0226-8
    .
  7. ISSN 0929-077X
    .
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Rhescuporis V
 King of the Bosporus
253–254 		Succeeded by
Rhescuporis V
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