Glaphyra

Glaphyra (Greek: Γλαφύρα; born around 35 BCE-died around 7 CE) was an Anatolian Princess from Cappadocia and through marriage was related to the Herodian Dynasty.

Family and early life

Glaphyra was a royal princess of Greek, Armenian and Persian descent. Her father was the Roman ally king Archelaus of Cappadocia, her only natural sibling was her younger brother Archelaus of Cilicia. Her paternal grandfather was a Roman ally and priest-king Archelaus of the temple state of Comana, Cappadocia, while her paternal grandmother, for whom she was named, was the hetaera Glaphyra. The priest-kings of Comana were descended from Archelaus, the favorite high-ranking general of Mithridates VI of Pontus, who may have married a daughter of Mithridates VI.

Glaphyra's mother, the first wife of Archelaus, was an Armenian Princess whose name is unknown and who died by 8 BCE. She may have been a daughter of King Artavasdes II of Armenia, son of Tigranes the Great and Cleopatra of Pontus, a daughter of Mithridates VI from his first wife his sister Laodice. If so, Glaphyra’s parents may have been distant relatives.

Glaphyra (hetaera)

Glaphyra (Greek: Γλαφύρα) was a Hetaera, a form of courtesan, who lived in the 1st century BC. Glaphyra was famed and celebrated in antiquity for her beauty, charm and seductiveness. Her marriage to Archelaus the elder of Cappadocia gave her political power. Her later affair with Mark Antony occasioned a vulgar poem from Octavian Caesar.

Marriage to Archelaus

Glaphyra was a Greek woman from Cappadocia from obscure origins. Glaphyra had married a Cappadocian Greek nobleman called Archelaus, the High Priest Ruler of the temple state of Comana, Cappadocia. Archelaus was the High Priest of the Roman Goddess of War, Bellona. Through her marriage to Archelaus, Glaphyra became a ruler of the temple state. Archelaus' father of the same name had descended from King Mithridates VI of Pontus.

Glaphyra bore Archelaus two sons:

In 47 BC the Roman Dictator Gaius Julius Caesar after the conclusion of his military victory against the Triumvir Pompey, deprived and deposed Archelaus of his office of high priest and rule over Comana. Archelaus was replaced by another Greek nobleman called Lycomedes. Pompey was their family patron and it was he who appointed his father as High Priest Ruler of the temple state of Comana. Sometime later Archelaus had died at an unknown date. After the death of Archelaus, Glaphyra remained in Cappadocia with her sons. Glaphyra could be seen as the widow of the dynast of Comana.