Archelaus (Cappadocia)

Archelaus's drachm

Archelaus (* around 63 BC ; † 17 AD) was a Roman client king in Cappadocia in Asia Minor at the turn of the century . He is also called "Archelaos Sisines" or "Sisina" and was nicknamed Philopatris on his coins . He was the ancestor of two kings of Armenia .

origin

Archelaos was a great-grandson of the general of the same name of King Mithridates VI. of the great . This great-grandfather of Archelaus, discussed here , persuaded the Greeks to apostate from Rome , but was defeated by Sulla 86 BC At Chaironeia and 85 BC. Beaten at Orchomenos and fled, suspected by Mithridates, at the beginning of the Second Mithridatic War to the Romans, whom he supported against Mithridates from then on.

Archelaos' grandfather was the son of the aforementioned general, also named Archelaos . He was appointed high priest of the Pontic temple state of Komana by the Roman general Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and was later briefly (56-55 BC) King of Egypt and husband of the Egyptian ruler Berenike , the older sister of the famous Cleopatra VII.

Archelaos' father of the same name took over the lucrative office of high priest of Komana in Pontus, which was associated with a royal position. However, he was 47 BC. Deposed by the Roman general Gaius Julius Caesar as part of a political reorganization of the region.

Royalty

Because the triumvir Mark Antony 41 BC BC, shortly before his encounter with Cleopatra VII , had a short-term relationship with the beautiful Glaphyra , he is said to have elevated her son Archelaos Sisines to king of Cappadocia and rejected claims of Ariarathes X in this regard . The ancient war historian Appian puts this event in the year 41 BC. While the Roman historian Cassius Dio wrote it back to 36 BC. Dated and associated with a general political reorganization of the Orient carried out by Antonius. This was u. a. Necessary because shortly before a dangerous, only with difficulty repulsed invasion of the Parthians into Syria and Asia Minor had taken place and at that time many Roman client rulers had sided with the invaders. Beginning of 36 BC BC Antony appointed new, trustworthy men as kings in clientele kingdoms or enlarged the areas of monarchs who remained loyal to the Romans during the Parthian invasion. The greatest beneficiaries of the triumvir's administrative reform were his lover Cleopatra VII and the Jewish King Herod the Great . In addition, Polemon I. received Pontos , Amyntas Galatia and Archelaos just Cappadocia.

The historian Ulrich Wilcken interprets the different dates in Appian and Cassius Dio to the effect that Antonius 41 BC. Archelaus was appointed king of Cappadocia, but did not support him any further, so that Archelaus did not fight the last member of the old Cappadocian royal house, Ariarathes X., until 36 BC. Chr. Was able to prevail when the latter was driven out by the triumvirs. In contrast, Christoph Schäfer believes that Antonius 41 BC Ariarathes X. accepted on the Cappadocian throne and only 36 BC. Because of whose Parthian friendliness I replaced it with Archelaos. In any case, Archelaus did not become known until 36 BC. The Roman historian Tacitus stated that Archelaus ruled for 50 years until he was imprisoned in Rome in 14 AD.

The kingdom of Cappadocia extended south of Pontus and Galatia and north of Cilicia in antiquity. It was located in a rough and almost urbanless part of Asia Minor and, with its wild mountain people, represented an underdeveloped area in some respects. The main town was Mazaka. It was later renamed "Caesarea" (now Kayseri , in Turkey).

Like all client princes in the eastern half of the Roman Empire, Archelaus also supported 32/31 BC. Chr. Antonius in his dispute with Octavian, the later Emperor Augustus , about the sole rule of the Roman Empire. But the Cappadocian king changed sides in time, so that he was confirmed in his rule by Octavian after his victory (30 BC).

Archelaus came to Cappadocia as a foreign king and he must have initially encountered a certain opposition to his rule. Cassius Dio reports that Archelaus (around 23 BC) was sued by his subjects at Emperor Augustus in Rome . Archelaus asked the help of the young Tiberius (later emperor), who was just beginning his public career at that time, to avert this complaint . Tiberius managed to obtain an acquittal from the prosecution for Archelaus.

Elaiussa Sebaste on the Cilician coast

20 BC BC Augustus, who was obviously satisfied with the government achievements of Archelaus, extended his empire by a part of Cilicia . The acquisition of the Cilician coastal strip was the reason for Archelaus to move his residence from the Cappadocian Mazaka to the (much more pleasant and more accessible for travelers) Cilician island of Elaiussa (also spelled Elaioussa, Elaeusa or Eleusa), where he had a palace built. Archelaos renamed the place in honor of Emperor Augustus in "Sebaste" ( Greek for "Augustus").

Archelaos Sisinnes had a daughter Glaphyra with his first wife, whose origin and name have not been handed down to us , whom he named after her paternal grandmother. Glaphyra was her first marriage to the Jewish prince Alexander, the unhappy son of Herod the great. From this marriage there were two children: Tigranes and Alexander. Tigranes became King of Armenia as Tigranes V. A son of his brother Alexander was later (58-63 AD) as Tigranes VI. also king of Armenia.

As the Jewish historian Flavius ​​Josephus reports, Herod the Great visited Archelaus in his new residence in Elaiussa. Archelaus also stayed in Jerusalem , u. a. to act as a mediator in the difficult relationship between Herod the Great and his son Alexander (Archelaus's son-in-law), poisoned by suspicion and suspicion. Flavius ​​Josephus tells of the skill and diplomatic flair with which Archelaus managed to bring about a reconciliation between father and son. But without lasting success: 7 BC. Alexander and his brother Aristobulus were executed at the instigation of their father. Archelaus' daughter Glaphyra then received her dowry refunded and initially returned to Cappadocia. In her second marriage, Glaphyra was briefly married to the Mauritanian king Juba II .

When Tiberius, who had fallen out of favor with Augustus , stayed on the island of Rhodes for seven years as part of a voluntary exile (6 BC to 1 AD), he must also have met King Archelaos Sisines. However, despite the services that Tiberius had rendered him, the latter treated him extremely coolly, as he was given the impression that Tiberius was persona non grata at the Roman imperial court. Tiberius felt his dignity offended by this disregard and since then has harbored a deep grudge against Archelaus.

In his second marriage, Archelaus was married to Pythodoris or Pythodorida (* around 35 BC, † after 19 AD), the queen of the Kingdom of Pontus in Asia Minor. The geographer Strabo reports that she was a daughter of Pythodoros of Nysa (or Tralleis) and the second wife of the aforementioned King Polemon I of Pontus. Her father was a very wealthy man who, as governor (Asiarch) of Tralleis , had already held high political positions and had been a friend of the Roman general Pompey. Pythodoris, who is described by Strabo as a capable regent, married Archelaus after the death of her husband Polemon I († 8 BC). She remained with him in childless marriage until his death.

Scientific interests

Archelaus' second son-in-law, the Numidian King Juba II, has become known as an author of scientific works. King Archelaos (perhaps inspired by his acquaintance with Juba) has also written a mineralogical work that is quoted in his natural history by the Greek writer Diogenes Laertios and the Roman author Pliny . Judging by the quotations from Pliny, Archelaus seems to have been primarily interested in gemstones.

Old age and death

In old age Archelaus suffered from increasing gout and mental weakness. As Cassius Dio mentions, Emperor Augustus is said to have appointed an imperial administrator temporarily for this reason .

Once Tiberius had become n. Chr. Roman emperor in the year 14, he lured Archelaus by a letter from his mother to Rome and accused the aged king in the same year before the Senate for alleged unlawful innovations on. Archelaus escaped the requested death penalty because of his old age (and real or simulated dementia symptoms), but died soon afterwards (17 AD) in arrest in Rome. Tacitus leaves open whether he found natural death or committed suicide.

After the death of King Archelaus, Cappadocia was converted into a Roman province by Emperor Tiberius .

swell

• Appian: Civil Wars .
• Cassius Dio: Roman History .
• Diogenes Laertios: Lives and Opinions of the Philosophers .
• Flavius ​​Josephus: Jewish antiquities ("Antiquitates") .
• Flavius ​​Josephus: The Jewish War .
• Pliny the Elder Ä .: Natural history . Stuttgart 1840 ff. (Translated by Ph. H. Külb)
• Strabo: description of the earth .
• Suetonius: Life of the Caesars .
• Tacitus: annals .

literature

• Ulrich Wilcken and Ernst Hugo Berger: Archelaos 15 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume II, 1, Stuttgart 1895, Col. 451 f.

Remarks

1. ↑ Cf. Cassius Dio : Römische Geschichte 49, 32, 2f .; Appian , Civil Wars 5, 7.
2. ↑ Ulrich Wilcken , RE II 1, col. 451.
3. ↑ Christoph Schäfer , Cleopatra (2006), p. 122f. and 151ff.
4. ↑ Tacitus , Annalen 2, 42; on this Ulrich Wilcken, RE II 1, Sp. 451.
5. ^ Plutarch , Antonius 61.
6. ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History 51, 2, 1.
7. ^ Cassius Dio, Römische Geschichte 57, 17, 3ff .; see. Suetonius , Tiberius 8.
8. ↑ Strabo : Earth Description 12, p. 535 and 555; Cassius Dio, Roman History 54, 9, 2.
9. ↑ Cf. Flavius ​​Josephus , Jüdische Altertümer 18,139f.
10. ↑ Flavius ​​Josephus, The Jewish War 1,455f.
11. ^ Josephus, The Jewish War 1, 499–501.
12. ↑ Tacitus, Annalen 2, 42; Cassius Dio, Roman History 57, 17, 4.
13. ↑ Strabo, Earth Description 12, p. 556.
14. ↑ Diogenes Laertios : Lives and Opinions of the Philosophers 2, 17; Pliny : Natural History 37, 46; 37.95; 37, 104; 37, 107.
15. ↑ See also Ph. H. Külb in his remarks on Archelaos in the above- mentioned Pliny translation, Stuttgart 1840 ff., P. 4255
16. ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History 57, 17, 4.
17. ↑ Cf. Tacitus, Annalen 2, 42; see. Cassius Dio, Römische Geschichte 57, 17, 3ff .; Suetonius, Life of the Caesars , Book of Tiberius 37.

predecessor	Office	successor
Ariarathes X.	King of Cappadocia 36 BC Chr. – 17 AD	-