Polemon I.

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Polemon I. Eusebes (* around 65 BC; † 8 or 7 BC) was from 37 to 8/7 BC. King of Pontus and from 34 to 30 BC. King of Lesser Armenia and 14 to 8/7 BC. BC King of the Bosporan Empire .

Career under Antonius

Polemon came as the son of the rhetor Zenon of a very wealthy and respected family from Laodikeia on Lykos in Phrygia . Zenon had stood since the 1960s BC. In a friendly relationship with Rome. At the beginning of 40 BC After the invasion of the Parthians under the leadership of the Roman defector Quintus Labienus and the Parthian king's son Pakoros in Asia Minor , Zenon and Polemon successfully defended Laodikeia against the dreaded enemies of Rome. During the year 39 BC Publius Ventidius Bassus succeeded in driving out the Parthians again. Since Polemon had distinguished himself through prudence and great courage in the defense of Laodicia, he was 39 BC. BC by the triumvir Marcus Antonius , who then administered the east of the Roman Empire, appointed vassal ruler over part of Cilicia and southern Lycaonia with the city of Iconium . Since there was still the risk that the Parthians would attack again, Polemon was probably primarily responsible for defending them.

In the winter of 37/36 BC BC Antony prepared a campaign against the Parthian Empire itself and previously undertook an administrative reform to secure Roman supremacy in Asia Minor and Syria, from which his lover, the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra , in particular , benefited. In Central and East Asia Minor, he set up three large, dependent principalities that were supposed to guarantee border protection to the east. The triumvir appointed Polemon King of Pontus, whose previous ruler Darius, a grandson of the great enemy of the Romans, Mithridates VI. , had fallen from grace. However, the alien Polemon had no connections to the Pontic royal house of the Mithradatids.

36 BC Antony undertook the Parthian campaign, which was to be a complete failure. He advanced quickly and besieged Phraaspa , the capital of Media Atropatene , whose king Artavasdes was allied with the Parthian king Phraates IV . Meanwhile, another part of Antony's army, commanded by Polemon and Oppius Statianus and carrying the siege engines, slowly followed. The Parthian-Median armed forces suffered a heavy defeat for the troops accompanying Antonius' entourage. While Oppius fell and the Armenian king, also known as Artavasdes , fled, Polemon was captured, but was soon regained his freedom against payment of a ransom. Without a siege device, it was not possible to capture Phraaspas, so that Antonius had to withdraw with heavy losses. He blamed the allied Armenian king for the catastrophe.

Polemon had won the trust of the Median king; and when the latter got into an argument with the allied Parthian king over the distribution of booty after the victory over the Romans, he concluded an alliance with Antony through the mediation of Polemons. 34 BC In BC the triumvir appointed Polemon in recognition of his mediation activities as ruler of Lesser Armenia west of the Euphrates , which Polemon now ruled in addition to the kingdom of Pontus. Apparently, the border guard of Asia Minor to the east was now mainly the task of polemons, so that Polemons stayed behind in his empire and only sent a contingent of troops when 32 BC. The final battle between Antonius and his triumvirate colleague Octavian was imminent and many other eastern clientele rulers accompanied Antonius to the west.

Career under Augustus

After Antony and Cleopatra in 31 BC Having lost the decisive battle at Actium in the following year and committed suicide, the victor and now sole ruler Octavian, who was soon to call himself Emperor Augustus, allowed most of the orders issued by Antonius in Asia Minor to remain in place. So Polemon was allowed to keep Pontus despite his support for Antonius, but had to keep Lesser Armenia in 30 BC. Cede to the Medieval king Artavasdes. He probably received the area around Zela for this , where he built a statue of Augustus. He was also born in 26 BC. Recognized as a friend and ally of Rome.

There is no record for the following years of Polemon's reign. Next, it is known that Augustus charged him with the expulsion of the usurper Scribonius from the Bosporan Empire on the northern shore of the Black Sea . However, Scribonius was murdered even before Polemon's intervention. By killing Scribonius, the tribes of the Crimea had hoped that Rome would no longer intervene. But with the support of Augustus, Polemon was supposed to take control of the Bosporan Empire. This measure met with resistance from the local population, so that Polemon Augustus' powerful friend and general Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa asked for support. This appeared 14 BC. BC with a Roman fleet off Sinope , whereupon Polemon was recognized as a Bosporan ruler. In order to gain more acceptance, Polemon now married the 50-year-old Bosporan Queen Dynamis , a granddaughter of Mithridates VI.

The marriage did not lead to the consolidation of Polemon's government, since Dynamis apparently did not want to renounce her royal rights and was probably already 13 BC. In the interior of the country fled to tribes loyal to her by her side. She received help in particular from an Aspourgos who was probably her son. Thereupon Polemon married Pythodoris , a granddaughter of Mark Antony. The couple had three children: the eldest son of unknown name was his mother's minister when she became Queen of Pontus after Polemon's death; the younger son named Zenon ruled under the throne name Artaxias III from 18 AD. over Greater Armenia; and the daughter Antonia Tryphaina became the wife of King Kotys VIII of Thrace.

From some inscriptions it can be concluded that Polemon was only accepted as king of the Bosporan Empire by the Greek cities of Chersonese. Dynamis presumably initiated revolts against his rule. Polemon undertook military campaigns inland and, among other things, devastated the city of Tanais , which was at the mouth of the Don . When he tried to conquer the tribe of the Aspurgianoi (perhaps including followers of Aspourgos), he was captured and died. Numismatic evidence allows the year of his death to be fixed at 8/7 BC. Chr.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Strabo 12, p. 578
  2. ↑ Strabo 12, p. 568; 14, p. 660; see. Appian , Civil Wars 5.75.
  3. ↑ Cassius Dio 49.25.4; see. Plutarch , Antonius 38; Appian, Civil Wars 5.75.
  4. ↑ Plutarch, Antonius 38; Cassius Dio 49.25.4; on this Christoph Schäfer , Kleopatra , 2006, p. 164 and Michael Grant , Kleopatra , German 1998, p. 207.
  5. ↑ Cassius Dio 49,33,1 f .; see. Plutarch, Antonius 52.1 ff.
  6. ^ Plutarch, Antonius 61.
  7. ↑ Cassius Dio 54,9,2.
  8. ^ Christian Marek : History of Asia Minor in antiquity. Munich 2010, p. 402 f.
  9. ↑ Cassius Dio 53.25.1 f.
  10. ↑ Cassius Dio 54,24,4-7.
  11. ↑ Christian Marek ( Geschichte Kleinasiens in der Antike. München 2010, p. 384) does not believe, however, that Antonia , the mother of Pythodoris, was actually a daughter of Mark Antony.
  12. ↑ Strabo 12,3,29, p. 556.
  13. ↑ Strabon 11, p. 493.
  14. ↑ Strabon 11, p. 495; 12, p. 555.
personal data
SURNAME Polemon I.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Polemon I. Eusebes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION King of Pontus (37-8 / 7 BC)
DATE OF BIRTH around 65 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 8 v. BC or 7 BC Chr.