Tiberius Julius Eupator Philocaesar Philoromaios Eusebes, also known as Eupator was a prince and Roman

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 Client King of the Bosporan Kingdom

Bosporan Kingdom

The Bosporan Kingdom or the Kingdom of the Cimmerian Bosporus was an ancient state, located in eastern Crimea and the Taman Peninsula on the shores of the Cimmerian Bosporus...

.

Eupator was the son and heir of the Bosporan King Rhoemetalces

Tiberius Julius Rhoemetalces

Tiberius Julius Rhoemetalces Philocaesar Philoromaios Eusebes, also known as Rhoemetalces or Rhoimetalces was a prince and Roman Client King of the Bosporan Kingdom....

 by an unnamed wife and was of Greek

Greeks

The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....

, Iranian

Iranian peoples

The Iranian peoples are an Indo-European ethnic-linguistic group, consisting of the speakers of Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family, as such forming a branch of Indo-European-speaking peoples...

 and Roman ancestry

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

. Eupator means in Greek "born of a noble father", and was an honorific epithet also shared by his ancestors King Mithridates VI of Pontus

Mithridates VI of Pontus

Mithridates VI or Mithradates VI Mithradates , from Old Persian Mithradatha, "gift of Mithra"; 134 BC – 63 BC, also known as Mithradates the Great and Eupator Dionysius, was king of Pontus and Armenia Minor in northern Anatolia from about 120 BC to 63 BC...

, Seleucid King Antiochus V

Antiochus V

Antiochus V Eupator , was a ruler of the Greek Seleucid Empire who reigned 163-161 BC, ....

 Eupator and the Ptolemaic Prince Ptolemy Eupator

Ptolemy Eupator

Ptolemy Eupator was the son of Ptolemy VI Philometor and Cleopatra II, and for a short time in 152 BCE reigned as co-ruler with his father. It is thought that Ptolemy Eupator died in August of that same year....

.

When Rhoemetalces died in 153, Eupator succeeded him. Eupator reigned as Bosporan King from 153 until his death in 174. On coinage his royal title is in Greek: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΕΥΠΑΤΟΡΟΣ or of King Eupator. He was a contemporary to the rule of the Roman Emperor

Roman Emperor

The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...

s Antoninus Pius

Antoninus Pius

Antoninus Pius , also known as Antoninus, was Roman Emperor from 138 to 161. He was a member of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty and the Aurelii. He did not possess the sobriquet "Pius" until after his accession to the throne...

, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus

Lucius Verus

Lucius Verus , was Roman co-emperor with Marcus Aurelius, from 161 until his death.-Early life and career:Lucius Verus was the first born son to Avidia Plautia and Lucius Aelius Verus Caesar, the first adopted son and heir of Roman Emperor Hadrian . He was born and raised in Rome...

.

Eupator is mentioned in the writings of Lucian

Lucian

Lucian of Samosata was a rhetorician and satirist who wrote in the Greek language. He is noted for his witty and scoffing nature.His ethnicity is disputed and is attributed as Assyrian according to Frye and Parpola, and Syrian according to Joseph....

 (Alexander 57). Lucian had witnessed envoys sent by Eupator to travel to 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:...

 to pay the Bosporan Kingdom’s yearly tribute to Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

. Apart from this, little is known on his life and reign as King. Eupator married an unnamed woman from this marriage had a son called Sauromates II

Tiberius Julius Sauromates II

Tiberius Julius Sauromates II Philocaesar Philoromaios Eusebes, also known as Sauromates II was a prince and Roman Client King of the Bosporan Kingdom....

who succeeded him in 174.

External Link

• Coinage of Eupator

Sources

• Rome and the friendly king, by David Braund, Revision of thesis (Ph.D.) -- Cambridge 1984
• http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/1204.html
• http://www.livius.org/am-ao/antiochus/antiochus_v_eupator.html
• http://web.archive.org/web/20091027102132/http://geocities.com/christopherjbennett/ptolemies/eupator.htm