Ptolemaeus of Commagene

Ptolemaeus (Greek: Πτολεμαῖος; 201 BC – 130 BC) was initially the satrap of Commagene, later becoming its first king in 163 BC. He belonged to the Orontid dynasty, founded by Orontes I. Ptolemaeus' father was King Orontes IV of Armenia, son of Arsames I.

Ptolemaeus was the last satrap (governor) of the state of Commagene, a province in the Seleucid Empire. He served under the Syrian Greek kings Antiochus III the Great, Seleucus IV Philopator, Antiochus IV Epiphanes and Antiochus V Eupator.

Ptolemaeus served as Satrap of Commagene until 163 BC. When the Seleucid Empire began to disintegrate, Ptolemaeus asserted his sovereignty and made Commagene an independent kingdom in 163 BC.^[1] Ptolemaeus declared Samosata, the capital of Commagene under the Seleucid rule, as the capital of his new kingdom.^[1]

Ptolemaeus was a relative to King Mithridates I of Parthia. Also, according to fragments of inscribed reliefs found at Mount Nemrut, archaeologists have discovered that Ptolemaeus was a descendant of King Darius I of Persia. Ptolemaeus died in 130 BC and his wife is unknown. His son and successor was Sames II Theosebes Dikaios.

References

Sources

• Babaie, Sussan; Grigor, Talinn (2015). Persian Kingship and Architecture: Strategies of Power in Iran from the Achaemenids to the Pahlavis. I.B.Tauris. pp. 1–288. ISBN 9780857734778.
• Canepa, Matthew (2010). "Achaemenid and Seleukid Royal Funerary Practices and Middle Iranian Kingship". In Börm, Henning; Weisehöfer, Josef (eds.). Commutatio et Contentio: Studies in the Late Roman, Sasanian, and Early Islamic Near East in Memory of Zeev Rubin. Dusseldorf: Wellem. pp. 1–21.
• Kaizer, Ted, ed. (2022). A Companion to the Hellenistic and Roman Near East. John Wiley & Sons.
• Erskine, Andrew; Llewellyn-Jones, Lloyd; Wallace, Shane (2017). The Hellenistic Court: Monarchic Power and Elite Society from Alexander to Cleopatra. The Classical Press of Wales. ISBN 978-1910589625.
• Garsoian, Nina (2005). "Tigran II". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
• Marciak, Michał (2017). Sophene, Gordyene, and Adiabene: Three Regna Minora of Northern Mesopotamia Between East and West. BRILL. ISBN 9789004350724.
• Sartre, Maurice (2005). The Middle East Under Rome. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674016835.

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This page was last edited on 6 October 2023, at 03:00