Lycomedes of Comana

Lycomedes of Comana (Greek: Λυκομήδης; fl. 1st century BC) was a Bithynian nobleman of Cappadocian Greek descent who ruled Comana, Cappadocia in the second half of the 1st century BC.[1]

Biography

In 47 BC, Lycomedes was probably about 50 years old when he was named by Roman dictator, Gaius Julius Caesar, the priest of the goddess Bellona in the temple-state of Comana,[2][3] and sovereign, therefore, of the surrounding country.[4] The predecessor of Lycomedes was Archelaus, the grandson of the Pontic general Archelaus.[5] Strabo reports that with Roman client King Polemon I of Pontus, Lycomedes besieged a fortress held by Arsaces, a rebel chief who was guarding the sons of King Pharnaces II of Pontus, until Arsaces surrendered.[6]

Later Lycomedes was a supporter of Roman triumvir Mark Antony, who at some point enlarged the territory of Lycomedes' kingdom.[7] Due to Lycomedes’ partisanship with Mark Antony, he was deposed by Octavian after the Battle of Actium.[8] He was succeeded as priest and ruler, briefly, by the brigand-king Cleon of Gordiucome, and more permanently by Dyteutus.[9]

Lycomedes had married a Pontian princess called Orsabaris,[10] the youngest daughter of King Mithridates VI of Pontus,[11] who bore Lycomedes a daughter named Orodaltis.[10]

See also

References

Citations
  1. Erciyas 2006, p. 49.
  2. Julius Caesar. De Bello Alexandrino, 66.
  3. Syme & Birley 1995, pp. 166–169.
  4. Elder 1867.
  5. Lindsay 2005, p. 197.
  6. Strabo. Geographia, XII.
  7. Huzar 1978, p. 159.
  8. Elder 1867 citing Strabo (Geographia, XII), Cassius Dio (Historia Romana, LI.2) and Appian (Mithridatic Wars, 114).
  9. Cramer 1832, "Section V. Pontus", 307–308.
  10. Gabelko 2009, p. 49.
  11. Mayor 2010, p. 114.

Sources
  • Cramer, John Antony (1832). A Geographical and Historical Description of Asia Minor. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Elder, Edward (1867). "LYCOME'DES (Λυκομήδης) 4.". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 2. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company. p. 846.
  • Erciyas, Deniz Burcu (2006). Wealth, Aristocracy and Royal Propaganda under the Hellenistic Kingdom of the Mithradatids in the Central Black Sea Region of Turkey. Leiden: Brill Publishers. ISBN 90-04-14609-1.
  • Gabelko, Oleg L. (2009). "The Dynastic History of the Hellenistic Monarchies of Asia Minor According to the Chronography of George Synkellos". In Højte, Jakob Munk (ed.). Mithridates VI and the Pontic Kingdom. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press. pp. 47–62. ISBN 978-87-793-4443-3. Archived from the original on 2011-03-16.
  • Huzar, Eleanor Goltz (1978). Mark Antony: A Biography. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0-8166-0863-6.
  • Lindsay, Hugh (2005). "12. Amasya and Strabo's patria in Pontus". In Dueck, Daniela; Lindsay, Hugh; Pothecary, Sarah (eds.). Strabo's Cultural Geography: The Making of a Kolossourgia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 180–199. ISBN 0-521-85306-0.
  • Mayor, Adrienne (2010). The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-06-911-5026-0.
  • Syme, Ronald; Birley, Anthony Richard (1995). Anatolica: Studies in Strabo. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-814943-3.
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