Tiberius Julius Sauromates II Philocaesar Philoromaios Eusebes, also known as Sauromates II 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...

.

Sauromates II was the son and heir of the Bosporan King Eupator

Tiberius Julius Eupator

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

 by an unnamed woman 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

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....

 ancestry. Sauromates II was named in honor of Sauromates I

Tiberius Julius Sauromates I

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

, a paternal ancestor of his and a previous Bosporan King.

When Eupator died in 174, Sauromates II succeeded his father. Sauromates II reigned as Bosporan King from 174 until his death in 210/211. On coins his royal title is in Greek: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣΑΥΡΟΜΑΤΟΥ or of King Sauromates. 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 Marcus Aurelius, Commodus

Commodus

Commodus , was Roman Emperor from 180 to 192. He also ruled as co-emperor with his father Marcus Aurelius from 177 until his father's death in 180. His name changed throughout his reign; see changes of name for earlier and later forms. His accession as emperor was the first time a son had succeeded...

, Pertinax

Pertinax

Pertinax , was Roman Emperor for three months in 193. He is known as the first emperor of the tumultuous Year of the Five Emperors. A high ranking military and Senatorial figure, he tried to restore discipline in the Praetorian Guards, whereupon they rebelled and killed him...

, Didius Julianus

Didius Julianus

Didius Julianus , was Roman Emperor for three months during the year 193. He ascended the throne after buying it from the Praetorian Guard, who had assassinated his predecessor Pertinax. This led to the Roman Civil War of 193–197...

, Septimius Severus

Septimius Severus

Septimius Severus , also known as Severus, was Roman Emperor from 193 to 211. Severus was born in Leptis Magna in the province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary succession of offices under the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Severus seized power after the death of...

 and Caracalla

Caracalla

Caracalla , was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. The eldest son of Septimius Severus, he ruled jointly with his younger brother Geta until he murdered the latter in 211...

.

In 193, Sauromates II was engaged in military campaigns against the Scythians and Sirachi tribes. Sauromates II was successful in beating these tribes. This is known from an inscription found in Tanais

Tanais

Tanais is the ancient name for the River Don in Russia. Strabo regarded it as the boundary between Europe and Asia.In antiquity, Tanais was also the name of a city in the Don river delta that reaches into the northeasternmost part of the Sea of Azov, which the Greeks called Lake Maeotis...

 dedicating and celebrating the King’s military victories. Little is known on the life and reign of Sauromates II. According to surviving coinage, he appeared to be a religious person who was involved in the worship of the Goddess Aphrodite

Aphrodite

Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation.Her Roman equivalent is the goddess .Historically, her cult in Greece was imported from, or influenced by, the cult of Astarte in Phoenicia....

 and her cult.

Sauromates II married an unnamed woman from this marriage had two sons Rhescuporis II

Tiberius Julius Rhescuporis II

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

 and Cotys III

Tiberius Julius Cotys III

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

. Rhescuporis II succeeded Sauromates II in 210/211, while Cotys III served as future King.

External Link

• Coinage of Sauromates II

Sources

• Rome, the Greek world, and the East, by Fergus Millar, Hannah M. Cotton and Guy M. Rogers, Vol 2: Government, Society & Culture in the Roman Empire
• http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/3062.html
• http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/3063.html