Tiberius Julius Theothorses
Encyclopedia
Tiberius Julius Theothorses, also known as Thothorses or Fophors 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...

.

Theothorses was the second-born son to the Bosporan King Teiranes
Tiberius Julius Teiranes
Tiberius Julius Teiranes, possibly known as Gaius Julius Teiranes or Teiranes was a prince and Roman Client King of the Bosporan Kingdom....

 and his mother was an unnamed woman. He 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....

. His eldest brother was prince Sauromates IV
Tiberius Julius Sauromates IV
Tiberius Julius Sauromates IV, also known as Sauromates IV was a prince and Roman Client King of the Bosporan Kingdom.Sauromates IV was the first born son to the Bosporan King Teiranes and an unnamed mother. His younger brother was prince Theothorses and was of Greek, Iranian and Roman ancestry...

, who co-ruled briefly with his father before his death in 276.

In 278, during his father's reign, Theothorses was elevated by Teiranes to co-ruler. In 279, Teiranes died and Theothorses succeeded him as the sole ruler of the Bosporan Kingdom, reigning from 278 until his death around 308/309. On coins his royal title is in Greek: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΘΟΘΩΡΣΟΥ or of King Thothorses. Theothorses' reign was a contemporary to the Crisis of the Third Century
Crisis of the Third Century
The Crisis of the Third Century was a period in which the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the combined pressures of invasion, civil war, plague, and economic depression...

 and the Tetrarchy
Tetrarchy
The term Tetrarchy describes any system of government where power is divided among four individuals, but usually refers to the tetrarchy instituted by Roman Emperor Diocletian in 293, marking the end of the Crisis of the Third Century and the recovery of the Roman Empire...

 in the Roman Empire.

During his reign, large amounts of lead were added to the bronze coinage that was minted in the Bosporan Kingdom. Otherwise, little is known on the life and reign of Theothorses. The name of Theothorses' wife is unknown. They had the following children:
  • Prince Rhescuporis VI
    Tiberius Julius Rhescuporis VI
    Tiberius Julius Rhescuporis VI, sometimes known as Rhescuporis VI was a prince and the last Roman Client King of the Bosporan Kingdom.Rhescuporis VI was the first born son to the Bosporan King Theothorses and his mother was an unnamed woman. He was of Greek, Iranian and Roman ancestry. His younger...

    . Rhescuporis VI became a co-ruler with his father in 303 and later succeeded him.
  • Prince Rhadamsades
    Tiberius Julius Rhadamsades
    Tiberius Julius Rhadamsades, sometimes known as Rhadamsades was a prince and Roman Client King of the Bosporan Kingdom.Rhadamsades was the second born son to the Bosporan King Theothorses and an unnamed woman. He was of Greek, Iranian and Roman ancestry. His eldest brother was prince Rhescuporis...

    . After the death of Theothorses, Rhadamsades succeeded his father as second co-ruler with his brother, Rhescuporis VI.
  • Possibly Nana of Iberia
    Nana of Iberia
    Nana was a Queen Consort of Caucasian Iberia as the second wife of Mirian III in the 4th century. She is regarded as saint by the Georgian Orthodox Church for her role in conversion of the Iberians to Christianity....

    , who became Queen of Caucasian Iberia
    Caucasian Iberia
    Iberia , also known as Iveria , was a name given by the ancient Greeks and Romans to the ancient Georgian kingdom of Kartli , corresponding roughly to the eastern and southern parts of the present day Georgia...

    and later a Christian saint.


The sons of Theothorses were the last kings to rule the Bosporan Kingdom.

External Link


Sources

  • http://www.museum.com.ua/en/faces/tsar/index.html
  • http://www.museum.com.ua/en/istor/sev-vost/bospor/bospor.htm
  • http://www.pontos.dk/publications/papers-presented-orally/oral-files/Sme_coinage_alloys.htm
  • (French) Settipani, Christian (2006), Continuité des élites à Byzance durante les siècles obscurs. Les princes caucasiens et l'Empire du VIe au IXe siècle, p. 406. De Boccard, ISBN 2701802261
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