Pythodoris of Pontus

{{short description|Roman client queen of Pontus (30/29 BC-38 AD)}} {{redirect|Pythodoris|Thracian ruler|Pythodoris II}} {{Infobox royalty | name = Pythodoris | title = | succession = Queen regnant of Pontus | reign = 8 BC – 38 AD | predecessor = Polemon I as King | successor = Polemon II as King | succession1 = Queen consort of Pontus, Bosporus and Cilicia | reign1 = 13/12 BC – 8 BC | reign-type1 = Tenure | succession2 = Queen consort of Cappadocia | reign2 = 8 BC – 17 AD | reign-type2 = Tenure | spouse = King Polemon I of Pontus King Archelaus of Cappadocia | issue = Artaxias III of Armenia Polemon II of Pontus Antonia Tryphaena, Queen of Thrace | father = Pythodoros of Tralles | mother = Antonia | birth_date = 30 BC or 29 BC | birth_place = Smyrna (modern-day İzmir, Turkey) | death_date = AD 38 (aged 67 or 68) | death_place = Pontus (modern-day Anatolia, Turkey) | burial_place = | house = | full name = }}

'''Pythodoris of Pontus''' ({{langx|grc|Πυθοδωρίς}}, 30 BC or 29 BC – 38), also spelled '''Pythodorida''' (Πυθοδωρίδα),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Karolidēs |first=Paulos |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1gUpAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA330 |page=330|title=Kappodokika: ētoi, Pargmateia historikē kai archaeologikē peri Kappodokias |year=1874 |publisher=typois E. Misaēlidou |language=el}}</ref> was a Roman client queen of Pontus, the Bosporan Kingdom, Cilicia, and Cappadocia.

==Origins and early life== According to an honorific inscription dedicated to her in Athens in the late 1st century BC, her royal title was '''Queen Pythodoris Philometor''' ({{langx|el|ΒΑΣΙΛΙΣΣΑ ΠΥΘΟΔΩΡΙΣ ΦΙΛΟΜΗΤΩΡ}}).<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110608131054/http://www.csad.ox.ac.uk/csad/Images/00/Image05.html An Athenian Honorific Inscription dedicated to Queen Pythodoris, which is displayed at the Epigraphical Museum (inventory no. EM 9573) in Athens, Greece]</ref> ''Philometor'' means "mother-loving" and this title is associated with the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt.

Pythodoris was born and raised in Smyrna (modern İzmir, Turkey). She was the daughter and only child of the wealthy Ionian, and friend to the late triumvir Pompey, Pythodoros of Tralles and a woman named Antonia. This Antonia was thought by Theodore Mommsen to be the daughter of Mark Antony, but recent scholarship has revealed the assertion to be problematic. Domitilla Campanile suggests it is more likely the father of this Antonia was the child of Gaius Antonius or Lucius Antonius, brothers of the more famous Marcus. <ref>{{cite journal |last1=Campanile |first1=Domitilla |title=PITODORIDE E LA SUA FAMIGLIA |journal=Studi Classici e Orientali |date=2010 |issue=56 |pages=57–85 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24190204 |access-date=22 August 2025}}</ref>

==Queen== The successive marriages of Pythodoris illustrate how elite women, like Rome's client states, were shuffled around in the game of power politics. 13 or 12 BC,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ramsay |first=Sir William Mitchell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Iu3RAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA427 |title=The Church in the Roman Empire Before A.D. 170 |date=1893 |publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons |pages=427 |language=en|quote=Pythodoris, born about 33, married King Polemon B.C. 13 or 12,}}</ref> Pythodoris married King Polemon Pythodoros of Pontus as his second wife. By this marriage she became Queen of Pontus and the Bosporan Kingdom.

Pythodoris and Polemon had two sons and one daughter, who were: * Zenon, also known as Zeno-Artaxias or Artaxias III, who became King of Armenia in 18 AD and reigned until his death in 35 AD * Marcus Antonius Polemon Pythodoros, also known as Polemon II of Pontus * Antonia Tryphaena who married King of Thrace, Cotys VIII

When her husband Polemon died, Pythodoris was recognized as queen in her own right.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Magie |first=David |author-link=David Magie |url=https://archive.org/details/RRAM01Magie1950/page/n502/mode/1up |page=486 |title=Roman Rule in Asia Minor |volume=1 |date=1950 |publisher=Princeton University Press |language=en}}</ref> Pythodoris was able to retain Colchis and Cilicia but not the Bosporan Kingdom which was granted to her first husband's stepson, Aspurgus. She then married King Archelaus of Cappadocia. Archelaus and Pythodoris had no children. Through her second marriage, she became Queen of Cappadocia. Pythodoris had moved with her children from Pontus to Cappadocia to live with Archelaus. When Archelaus died in 17, Cappadocia became a Roman province and she returned with her family back to Pontus.

In later years, Polemon II assisted his mother in the administration of the kingdom. Following her death, Polemon II succeeded to the throne. Pythodoris was remembered by a friend and contemporary, the Greek geographer Strabo, who is said to have described Pythodoris as a woman of virtuous character. Strabo considered her to have a great capacity for business and that under Pythodoris' rule Pontus had flourished.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Strabo, Geography, BOOK XII., CHAPTER III., section 29 |author= |work=perseus.tufts.edu |date= |access-date=17 March 2023 |url= https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239%3Abook%3D12%3Achapter%3D3%3Asection%3D29 |quote=The Tibareni, however, and Chaldæi, extending as far as Colchis, Pharnacia, and Trapezus, are under the government of Pythodoris, a prudent woman, and capable of presiding over the management of public affairs. She is the daughter of Pythodorus of Tralles. She was the wife of Polemo, and reigned conjointly with him for some time. She succeeded, after his death, to the throne. (...) Of the sons of Pythodoris, one as a private person, administers, together with his mother, the affairs of the kingdom, the other has been lately made king of the Greater Armenia. Pythodoris however married Archelaus, and remained with him till his death. At present she is a widow, and in possession of the countries before mentioned, and of others still more beautiful, of which we shall next speak.}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

== Further reading == *Macurdy, G., Two Studies on Women in Antiquity: Vassal Queens and Some Contemporary Women in the Roman Empire - Portraits of Royal Ladies on Greek Coins, Johns Hopkins Press, 1937; ASIN: B000WUFYY0

==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110608131054/http://www.csad.ox.ac.uk/csad/Images/00/Image05.html An Athenian Honorific Inscription dedicated to Queen Pythodoris, which is displayed at the Epigraphical Museum (inventory no. EM 9573) in Athens, Greece]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pythodoris Of Pontus}} Category:1st-century BC births Category:38 deaths Category:Monarchs of Pontus Category:Queens of Pontus Category:Ancient Greek queens regnant Category:Remarried queens consort Category:Roman client monarchs Category:1st-century BC queens regnant Category:1st-century queens regnant Category:1st-century BC kings of Pontus Category:1st-century kings of Pontus