KINGDOM of BOSPORUS Sauromates I 90AD RARE Chair Crown Shield Greek Coin i53585

Item: i53585

Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

Kingdom of Bosporus

Sauromates I
– King:
90-124 A.D.
Bronze ’48 Nummia’ 22mm (7.64 grams) Struck circa 90-124 A.D.

Reference: Sear GIC 5457; B.M.C.13.60,25; MacDonald 408

BACIΛЄWC CAYPOMATOY, Chair surmounted by
crown, between shield and spear (on left)
and human-headed sceptre on right.
MH within wreath.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured,

Authenticity.

Tiberius Julius Sauromates I Philocaesar Philoromaios Eusebes, also
known as Sauromates I (Greek:
Τιβέριος Ἰούλιος Σαυροματης Α’ Φιλόκαισαρ
Φιλορώμαίος Eυσεbής, Philocaesar Philoromaios Eusebes, means
lover of Caesar, lover of Rome who is the Pius one, flourished the second
half of the 1st century and the first half of the 2nd century, died 123) was a
prince and
Roman Client King
of the
Bosporan Kingdom
.

Sauromates I was the son and heir of the Bosporan King
Rhescuporis I
by an unnamed wife. He was of
Greek
,
Iranian
and
Roman ancestry
. The name Sauromates is a
name of Sarmatian
origin. His paternal grandparents
were the previous ruling Bosporan Monarchs
Cotys I
and
Eunice
.

Through his paternal grandfather, Sauromates I was a descendant of the Roman
Triumvir Mark Antony
from his second marriage to his
paternal cousin Antonia Hybrida Minor (second daughter of
Roman Republican
Politician
Gaius Antonius Hybrida
, Antony’s paternal
uncle), thus Sauromates I was related to various members of the
Julio-Claudian dynasty
. He was also a
descendant of Roman Client Rulers
Polemon I of Pontus
,
Pythodorida of Pontus
and
Cotys VIII
of
Thrace
. Through his paternal grandfather,
Sauromates I was a descendant of
Greek Macedonian Kings:

Antigonus I Monophthalmus
,
Seleucus I Nicator
and
Regent
,
Antipater
. These three men served under King
Alexander the Great
. He is also descended from
the Monarchs
Mithridates VI of Pontus
and his first wife,
his sister
Laodice
and the previous Bosporan King
Asander
.

When Rhescuporis I died in 90, Sauromates I succeeded his father as Bosporan
King and reigned until his own death in 123. He was a contemporary of the
Roman Emperors

Domitian
,
Nerva
,
Trajan
and
Hadrian
. Sauromates I continued his father’s
legacy of rebuilding the Bosporan Kingdom. In 68, Rhescuporis I had restored the
Bosporan Kingdom, previously a part of the
Roman province
of
Moesia
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 I or Sauromates I established
Phanagoria
as the new capital city of the
Bosporan Kingdom. From the late 1st century,
Panticapaeum
, the original capital city, had
gradually lost its importance. Phanagoria became the new capital city because of
the increasing popularity of the city’s titulary goddess,
Aphrodite
, and her cult.

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 married an unnamed woman and had a son called
Cotys II
. 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