Bosporan Wars of Expansion
| Bosporan wars of expansion | ||||||||
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| Belligerents | ||||||||
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Archaeanactids Heraclea Pontica Theodosia Sindike Kingdom Maeotians Ixomatae Dandarioi Psessoi Greek Mercenaries? Phanagoria. Hermonassa |
Panticapaeum Scythians Arcadian Mercenaries |
Athens Nymphaeum Kimmerikon |
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| Commanders and leaders | ||||||||
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Tynnichus of Heraclea Tirgatao Oktamasades of Sindia Memnon of Rhodes |
Satyros I † Seleukos † Leukon I Gorgippos I Hekataios Metrodoros † |
Gylon of Cerameis | ||||||
Pantikapaian Victory, Establishment of Bosporan Kingdom
From 438 BC through 350 BC, the Bosporan Kingdom waged a series of wars of expansion in the Cimmerian Bosporus and the surrounding territories. Bosporan expansion began after Spartokos I, possibly a Thracian mercenary, usurped the Greek dynasty of Archaeanactids in about 438 BC and founded the dynasty that would rule the Bosporan Kingdom for three centuries. Throughout his seven-year reign, he established an aggressive expansionist foreign policy that was followed by his sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons long after his death.
It is possible that Spartokos I was a Thracian mercenary who usurped the Archaeanactids, a Greek dynasty of Bosporan rulers who had ruled for 40 years. Although disputed, some sources say that Spartokos may have been related to the Odrysian royal dynasty as some members included the names of "Sparatokos" and may have sought influence in other parts of the Black Sea, but this is unlikely to be true. Spartokos I had only reigned for 7 years, leaving his son, Satyrus I to carry on his foreign policy. Satyrus had involved himself with foreign policy of the neighboring Sindike Kingdom, and was interested in Nymphaeum as well.
Gylon, the maternal grandfather of Demosthenes, was an Athenian official in charge of the Athenian garrison at Nymphaeum which was a city that was possibly part of the Delian League. Satyros had bribed Gylon into giving him Nymphaeum, a city which was in the interests of the . This resulted on the exile of Gylon, as he was regarded as a "traitor" by the Athenians. Gylon had received "The Gardens" from Satyros as part of their deal. Around this time, Phanagoria lost it's independence. Gylon also married a Scythian woman of nobility. Their daughter, Kleoboule, would go on to become the mother of Demosthenes.Kimmerikon also seems to have fallen into Bosporan influence shortly during or after the taking of Nymphaeum.
Satyros was delving into Sindian affairs, offering his daughter to marry Hekataios, the king of the Sindians. Satyros told him to kill his other wife, Tirgatao, but instead, he sent her to a tower and imprisoned her there. Tirgatao and managed to escape to her tribe, the Ixomatae and married her father's successor and rallied many tribes to her aid and ravaged the lands of Satyros. Satyros sued for peace, offering one of his sons, Metrodoros, as a hostage. Tirgatao agreed and ended her war against Satyros, only to have an assassination attempt organized by Satyros, upon learning of this, she killed her hostage and began another war against Satyros.
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