Pythodoris II or Pythodorida II (Greek: Πυθοδωρίς; reigned AD 38–46) was a client ruler of the Odrysian kingdom of Thrace under Roman rule, in association with her father's cousin Rhoemetalces III.[1]
Pythodoris succeeded her mother Antonia Tryphaena and brother Rhoemetalces II. She was a daughter of Tryphaena and the former Thracian King Cotys VIII, and was named after her maternal grandparents and her paternal grandmother.
In 38, after the death of Rhoemetalces II, Tryphaena abdicated the throne at the request of the Roman emperor Caligula. Caligula put Rhoemetalces III on the Thracian throne.[1] Rhescuporis II, the father of Rhoemetalces III, had murdered and usurped the throne of Pythodoris' father.[2] Caligula and Tryphaena arranged for Pythodoris to marry Rhoemetalces III to repair past dynastic rifts. The plan did not succeed. Pythodoris II and Rhoemetalces III reigned together as client rulers of Thrace from 38 until 46, when the latter was murdered by insurgents or on the orders of his wife.[3][4] The subsequent fate of Pythodoris II is unknown. She seems not to have had any children with her father's cousin. Pythodoris and Rhoemetalces III were the last monarchs of Thrace. Under Caligula's successor Claudius, the kingdom was made a Roman province.
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editReferences
edit- ^ a b Popova, Ruja (2018). "Antonia Tryphaena: a Hellenistic Queen in the Network of the Roman Imperial System". ORPHEUS. Journal of Indo-European and Thracian Studies (25): 69–102. ISSN 0861-9387.
- ^ Shillam, Matthew William (2017). Imperial Matchmaker: The Involvement of the Roman Emperor in the Arrangement of Marriages between Client Kings (Thesis). University of New England.
- ^ Graafstal, Erik P. (November 2023). "Roman 'Grand Strategy' in Action? Claudius and the Annexation of Britain and Thrace". Britannia. 54: 23–50. doi:10.1017/S0068113X23000016. ISSN 0068-113X. S2CID 257963399.
- ^ Kirov, Slavtcho (2007). "La Bellum Thracium". Thracia (in French) (17): 203–216. ISSN 0204-9872.
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