Roman–Bosporan War
A war of succession in the Bosporan Kingdom in which the Sarmatian peoples of the Kuban steppe took opposite sides: the Aorsi helped Rome and its client Cotys I, the Siraces backed the deposed king Mithridates.
- Date
- 45–49year known · duration: ≈ 4 years
- Place
- Uspe, stronghold of the Siracesapproximate locationtoday: Kuban lowland near the Beysug Estuary, Krasnodar Krai, Russia (location uncertain) · Eastern Europe
- Participants
- Bosporan Kingdom, Roman Empire, Sarmatians
- Threads
- Eastern Europe and Rus’ before the Baptism (1st–10th c.)
- Also known as
- Bosporan War; Siege of Uspe; Осада Успы
In 45 the emperor Claudius replaced the Bosporan king Mithridates (numbered III or VIII in different traditions) with his brother Cotys I and withdrew most of the Roman troops. Mithridates allied himself with Zorsines, king of the Siraces, and rebelled. Cotys and the Roman commander Gaius Julius Aquila won over Eunones, king of the Aorsi. As Tacitus tells, the Aorsi and the Romans besieged and took the Siraces’ town of Uspe, Zorsines made peace, and Mithridates surrendered to Eunones and was sent to Rome in 49, where Claudius spared his life.
The episode is one of the few detailed glimpses of the Sarmatian world north of the Black Sea in the 1st century AD. The dates 45–49 rest on Bosporan coins of Cotys and on Tacitus. The site of Uspe is unknown; one hypothesis places it near the Beysug Estuary, where it is marked approximately.
Connections
Same participants
- Zarubintsy culturec. 200 BC – c. 200 · Eastern Europevia Sarmatians
- Death of Augustus19 August 14 · Western and Central Europevia Roman Empire
- Boudica’s revoltbetween 60 and 61 · Western and Central Europevia Roman Empire
- Chernyakhov culturebetween 200 and 250 – between 400 and 430 · Eastern Europevia Sarmatians
Adjacent events in the thread
- The Goths settle in Oiumc. 180 – c. 230 · Eastern Europe
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within 25 years of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Boudica’s revoltbetween 60 and 61
- Roman conquest of Britain43 – between 83 and 84
- Great Fire of Rome19 July 64 – c. 27 July 64
Middle East and Egypt
- Siege of JerusalemApril 70 – 8 September 70
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Roman–Bosporan War
- Wikipedia (Russian): Сираки
- Wikipedia (Russian): Аорсы
- Wikipedia (Russian): Боспорское царство
- Tacitus. Annals, XII.15–21.
- Sulimirski T. The Sarmatians. — London: Thames and Hudson, 1970.
- Wikidata: Q27962835