Aspurgos – the king of Bosporan state (9/8 BC – AD 38)

The dedication of king Aspurgos from Gorgippia AD 6/7, which was published in 2018 (“Bulletin of Ancient History”, № 3), allows to revise some of the established ideas about the reign of the lord of the Bosporus. Aspurgos calls himself the son of “the great king of Asandrokhos” in the inscription. The title “great king” was worn by Asandros (49/48 – 21/20 BC), whom many researchers have considered as the father of Aspurgos. Only the legitimate ruler of the Bosporan kingdom could bear this Achaemenes title. Asandros legitimized his rule and gained access to the Pontic regalia, one of them was the title of “great king”, through his marriage with Dynamis, the daughter of Pharnakes and the granddaughter of Mithridates Eupatoros. Therefore, we have one more argument in favor of the identity of king Asandros and king Asandrokhos as one man. Aspurgos owns the royal title in the inscription and bears the epithet “friend of the Romans”. It is obvious that he received the title and concluded an alliance with Rome earlier than AD 6/7. It is known that in the Bosporan gold coins are minted with monograms , , from 9/8 BC – AD 9/10 (Fig. 1). As many scholars believe, the name of Dynamia hides in the monograms. However, the last three years of issue of the coins with the monograms fall on the documented years of the reign of Aspurgos from AD 6/7 – 9/10. These data give ground for the conclusion that the coinage of gold coins marked the monograms took place during the reign of Aspurgos. The issue of gold coins with the monograms KNE (Fig. 4), ΠΑΡ, ΠΑ in the Bosporus from AD 10/11 – 13/14 also falls on the reign of Aspurgos. In 9/8 BC Aspurgos, using the support of the Aspurgianai and, as the author thinks, the Syrako-Meotians, eliminated the Roman protégé Polemon I (14 – 9/8 BC), who ruled the Bosporus. Since Aspurgos occupied the Bosporan throne against the will of Augustus. The lord of Rome forbade Aspurgos not only to indicate his portrait and his monogram on Bosporan gold coins, but also, as it is assumed, to mention the name of his father Asandros in official documents. The possible course of strong position of Augustus conceals in that these two Bosporan lords were guilty of eliminating three Roman henchmen (Mithridates of Pergamon, Scribonius, Polemon) on the Bosporan throne. The name Asandros (=Asandrokhos) was forgotten in the history of the Bosporus. The Bosporan kings Kotis I, Reskuporides I, Sauromates I traced their origin to Aspurgos. So well, the new documentary evidence confirms the hypothesis that Aspurgos ruled to the Bosporan kingdom from 9/8 BC – AD 38. He was the legitimate heir, the son of Asandros and Dynamis. Aspurgos spent most of AD 14 in Rome, as he was looking for a meeting with Augustus. He returned to the Bosporus in the early of October of AD 14. One of the reasons for his trip was the desire to obtain the consent of Augustus to marry Gepaipyria, the Thracian princess and the granddaughter of Polemon I and Antonina Tryphena. The marriage may have been sanctioned by Augustus and confirmed by Tiberius. Tiberius allowed Aspurgos put his royal monogram on the Bosporan gold coins, and on the reverse side of the copper coins – a portrait of Aspurgos. It is possible before his marriage to Gepaipyria in AD 15/16 Aspurgos was married to a Syracian princess. It was probably she was an offspring of Mithridates Eupatoros or his son Pharnakes. This dynastic alliance was the result of the allied relations between Aspurgos and the Syraco-Meotians, lived on the right bank of the Kuban near the northeastern borders of the Bosporus. They provided significant support to Aspurgos in his struggle for the Bosporan throne with Polemon. It was this military-political alliance, sealed by the marriage of Aspurgos and the Syracian princess, which forced Augustus, as it seems, to keep the royal throne for the recalcitrant Bosporan. Many scholars have believed that Mithridates III and Kotis I were born in wedlock of Aspurgos and Gepaipyria. However, after the death of Aspurgos in AD the late 37 – the early 38 year, Gepaipyria occupied the Bosporan throne. It is in all probability, Mithridates, the eldest son of Aspurgos, left the Bosporus in that time because of his voyage to Rome. A number of researchers have believed that this happened due to the infancy of the royal heirs. The image of king Mithridates III, containing on the front side of the Bosporan copper coins of AD 39 year, refutes this opinion (Fig. 5). The king depicts as a mustachioed and bearded man, with long hair. The iconography of the king’s portrait corresponds to the age category “an adult man”, according to ancient canons over 25 years old. The image gives reason to believe that Mithridates was born before the marriage of Aspurgos and Gepaipyria. It is apparently that Mithridates III was born in the marriage of Aspurgos and the Syracian princess. He was the last representative of the “Pontic” line of the royal family of the Bosporus in AD I century.