Sauromates I
This article includes a improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (August 2020) ) |
T. J. Sauromates I | |
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King of the Bosporus | |
Reign | 93 - 123 |
Predecessor | T. J. Rhescuporis I |
Successor | T. J. Cotys II |
Died | 123 |
Issue | T. J. Cotys II |
Dynasty | Tiberian-Julian |
Father | T. J. Rhescuporis I |
Sauromates I (
Sauromates I was the son and heir of the Bosporan king
Through his paternal grandfather, Sauromates I was a descendant of the Roman Triumvir
When Rhescuporis II died in 93, Inferior, as a semi-independent Roman Client State. On coins, his royal title is in Greek: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣΑΥΡΟΜΑΤΟΥ or of King Sauromates.
Sauromates I is mentioned in the letters of Roman Senator Pliny the Younger. About 103, Pliny served as the Roman Governor of Bithynia. Sauromates I sent his ambassador (legatus) to travel to Bithynia to deliver two letters to Pliny. The nature of these letters is unknown. The first letter requested Pliny, for a messenger to use a diploma (a permit to use an official wagon) to assist the messenger's journey, which Pliny respected. The second letter was for Trajan. Pliny learned no more than that it contained news which Trajan needed to know. An imperial freedman called Lycormas took the second letter from Bithynia to Rome for Trajan, a journey that would have taken 6–8 weeks.
Either Rhescuporis II or Sauromates I established
In 105, Sauromates I, entrusted and appointed a priest as an official to oversee the restoration of the porticos at the temple at Hermonassa. Out of his personal religious devotion in 110, he erected a temple dedicated to Aphrodite in Gorgippia. In an honorific inscription dedicated to Sauromates I, found in Nicaea, Sauromates I was given the honorific title Ktistes or Founder. He was awarded this title because of his goodness, generosity and his contributions throughout the Bosporan and Anatolia.
At Panticapaeum, there is in Latin an honorific inscription, dedicating and honoring Sauromates I:
- ‘King Tiberius Julius Sauromates, an outstanding friend of Emperor and the populus Romanus‘.
Sauromates I had at least one son, Cotys II.[1] Cotys II would succeed his father. Through his son, Sauromates I would have three descendants ruling the Bosporan that would bear his name.
See also
- Bosporan Kingdom
- Roman Crimea
Sources
- ^ ISBN 978-2-7018-0226-8.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-904173-16-1.
- The supreme gods of the Bosporan Kingdom: Celestial Aphrodite and the Most High God By Yulia Ustinova Edition: illustrated Published by BRILL, 1999 ISBN 978-90-04-11231-5
- Rome, the Greek world, and the East By Fergus Millar, Hannah M. Cotton, Guy M. Rogers Edition: illustrated Published by UNC Press, 2004 ISBN 978-0-8078-5520-1