Cotys II (
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
: Κότυς, Kotys) was a possible king of the
Odrysians
The Odrysian Kingdom (; Ancient Greek: ) was a state grouping many List of ancient tribes in Thrace and Dacia, Thracian tribes united by the Odrysae, which arose in the early 5th century BCE, BC and existed at least until the late 1st century BC. ...
in
Thrace
Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to t ...
in the late 4th or early 3rd century BC. His one secure attestation is in an inscription from
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
dated to 330 BC; the inscription honored Reboulas, brother of Cotys and son of Seuthes. This is generally interpreted to mean that Cotys, not yet king, was the son of
Seuthes III
Seuthes III ( grc, Σεύθης, Seuthēs) was a king of Odrysian kingdom, Odrysia, a part of Thrace, during the late 4th century BC (securely attested between 324 and 312 BC).
Historical background
Following the campaigns of Philip II of Macedo ...
by a marriage earlier than that to Berenike (since their four sons did not include a Cotys or a Reboulas). Building on this interpretation of the evidence, a certain Gonimase (Gonimasē), wife of a Seuthes, buried in a tomb near Smjadovo, has been proposed as Seuthes III's earlier wife and mother of Cotys and Reboulas. However, the Athenian inscription precedes the first clear attestation of Seuthes III by about seven years, and various scholars have proposed
Seuthes I Seuthes I (; grc, Σεύθης, ''Seuthēs'') was king of the Odrysians in Thrace from 424 BC until at least 411 BC.
Seuthes was the son of Sparatocos (Sparadocus), and the grandson of Teres I. While his father Sparadocus is the first Odrysian mo ...
,
Seuthes II Seuthes II ( grc, Σεύθης, ''Seuthēs'') was a ruler in the Odrysian kingdom of Thrace, attested from 405 to 387 BC. While he looms large in the historical narrative thanks to his close collaboration with Xenophon, most scholars consider Seuthe ...
, and even a non-reigning Seuthes as the father of Cotys and Reboulas. One scholar conjectures that Cotys was an elder son of Seuthes III but did not live to succeed his father, dying during the siege of Callatis (
Mangalia
Mangalia (, tr, Mankalya), ancient Callatis ( el, Κάλλατις/Καλλατίς; other historical names: Pangalia, Panglicara, Tomisovara), is a city and a port on the coast of the Black Sea in the south-east of Constanța County, Northern ...
) in 310 BC. While it is likely that Cotys II was a Thracian ruler in this period, it is not possible to establish his precise relationship (chronologically and genealogically) to Seuthes III. The overall chronology and the names suggest the possibility that Cotys II may have been the father of
Raizdos Raizdos (Ῥαίζδος, the Latin form would be Rhaezdus) was possibly a king of the Odrysians in Thrace in the early 3rd century BC. He is attested in an inscription from Delphi as the father of Kotys III, who was king sometime between 276 and ...
and grandfather of the latter's son
Cotys III.
Mladjov, Rulers of Thrace, University of Michigan
/ref>
See also
*List of Thracian tribes
This is a list of ancient tribes in Thrace and Dacia ( grc, Θρᾴκη, Δακία) including possibly or partly Thracian or Dacian tribes, and non-Thracian or non-Dacian tribes that inhabited the lands known as Thrace and Dacia. A great number o ...
References
* K. J. Beloch, ''Griechische Geschichte'', vol. 3:2, Berlin, 1923.
* D. Dana, Inscriptions, in: J. Valeva et al. (eds.), ''A Companion to Ancient Thrace'', Wiley, 2015: 243-264.
* P. Delev, “Filip II i zalezăt na Goljamoto Odrisko carstvo v Trakija,” ''Šumenski universitet “Episkop Konstantin Preslavski,” Trudove na katedrite po istorija i bogoslovie'' 1 (1997) 7-40.
* P. Delev, Thrace from the Assassination of Kotys I to Koroupedion (360-281 BC), in: J. Valeva et al. (eds.), ''A Companion to Ancient Thrace'', Wiley, 2015: 48-58.
* M. Manov, "The Hellenistic Tomb with Greek Inscription from Smyadovo, Bulgaria - Reconsidered," ''Journal of Ancient History and Archaeology'' 6/3 (2019) 99-118.
* M. Tačeva, ''The Kings of Ancient Thrace,'' vol. 1, Sofia, 2006.
3rd-century BC rulers
Odrysian kings
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