Prusias I Cholus (lived c. 243 BC – 182 BC, reigned c. 228 BC – 182 BC) was a king of Bithynia

Bithynia

Bithynia was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor, adjoining the Propontis, the Thracian Bosporus and the Euxine .-Description:...

. The son of Ziaelas of Bithynia

Ziaelas of Bithynia

Ziaelas , third king of Bithynia, was a son of Nicomedes I and Ditizele.After Nicomedes I died, his second wife Etazeta became ruler on behalf of her infant sons. The grown-up Ziaelas, excluded from the throne, had previously fled to Armenia and taken refuge at the court of King Arsames I in Sophene...

, he formed a marriage alliance with Demetrius II of Macedon

Demetrius II of Macedon

Demetrius II Aetolicus son of Antigonus Gonatas and Phila, reigned as king of Macedonia from the winter of 239 to 229 BC. He belonged to the Antigonid dynasty and was born in 275 BC. There is a possibility that his father had already elevated to him to position of power equal to his own before his...

, receiving the latter's daughter, Apama III

Apama III

For other uses of this name see, Apama Apama III, sometimes known as Apame III was a Greek Princess from the Antigonid dynasty....

, as his wife.

Prusias fought a war against Byzantium

Byzantium

Byzantium was an ancient Greek city, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas . The name Byzantium is a Latinization of the original name Byzantion...

 (220 BC), then defeated the Galatia

Galatia

Ancient Galatia was an area in the highlands of central Anatolia in modern Turkey. Galatia was named for the immigrant Gauls from Thrace , who settled here and became its ruling caste in the 3rd century BC, following the Gallic invasion of the Balkans in 279 BC. It has been called the "Gallia" of...

ns that Nicomedes I

Nicomedes I of Bithynia

Nicomedes I , second king of Bithynia, was the eldest son of Zipoetes I, whom he succeeded on the throne in 278 BC.-Overview:He commenced his reign by putting to death two of his brothers but the third, subsequently called Zipoetes II, raised an insurrection against him and succeeded in maintaining...

 had invited across the Bosphorus. He expanded the territories of Bithynia in a series of wars against Attalus I

Attalus I

Attalus I , surnamed Soter ruled Pergamon, an Ionian Greek polis , first as dynast, later as king, from 241 BC to 197 BC. He was the second cousin and the adoptive son of Eumenes I, whom he succeeded, and was the first of the Attalid dynasty to assume the title of king in 238 BC...

 of Pergamum and Heraclea Pontica

Heraclea Pontica

Heraclea Pontica , an ancient city on the coast of Bithynia in Asia Minor, at the mouth of the river Lycus. It was founded by the Greek city-state of Megara c.560-558 and was named after Heracles who the Greeks believed entered the underworld at a cave on the adjoining Archerusian promontory .The...

 on the Black Sea

Black Sea

The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...

. Philip V of Macedon

Philip V of Macedon

Philip V was King of Macedon from 221 BC to 179 BC. Philip's reign was principally marked by an unsuccessful struggle with the emerging power of Rome. Philip was attractive and charismatic as a young man...

 granted him the ports of Keios

Cius

Cius or Kios , later renamed Prusias ad Mare after king Prusias I of Bithynia, was an ancient Greek city bordering the Propontis , in Bithynia , and had a long history, being mentioned by Aristotle, and Strabo. It was colonized by the Milesians and became a place of much commercial importance...

 and Myrleia

Apamea Myrlea

Apamea Myrlea, or Apamea Myrleon, was an ancient city on the Sea of Marmara, in Bithynia, Anatolia; the ruins are now found a few kilometers south of Mudanya, Bursa Province in the Asian part of Turkey.-Names:...

 in 202, which he renamed Prusias and Apameia respectively. Although he granted sanctuary to Hannibal, who fought against the Attalids for him, he remained neutral during the Roman Republic

Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...

's war with Antiochus III the Great

Antiochus III the Great

Antiochus III the Great Seleucid Greek king who became the 6th ruler of the Seleucid Empire as a youth of about eighteen in 223 BC. Antiochus was an ambitious ruler who ruled over Greater Syria and western Asia towards the end of the 3rd century BC...

. Apama III bore Prusias I a son called Prusias II

Prusias II of Bithynia

Prusias II Cynegus was the king of Bithynia. He was the son and successor of Prusias I and Apama III....

, who succeeded him, and a daughter, born c. 223 BC, who was the first wife of her maternal half-uncle Philip V.

Source

• Habicht, Christian, s.v. Prusias I., RE. Bd. ХХШ, 1. 1957