Orodaltis ( el, Ωροδάλτις 1st century BC), was an ancient princess who may have ruled the city of

Prusias ad Mare Prusias may refer to : ;People *Two kings of ancient Bithynia ** Prusias I of Bithynia ** Prusias II of Bithynia ;Places and jurisdictions * Prusias ad Hypium, city in the Roman province of Honorias * ''Prusias'' and ''Prusias ad Mare'', former al ...

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

. She was a contemporary to the first Roman Emperor

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...

, who ruled from 27 BC to 14 AD.

Life

Orodaltis is a name of Iranian origin. She was of

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

and Greek ancestry. Orodaltis was the daughter of

Lycomedes of Comana Lycomedes of Comana ( gr, Λυκομήδης; fl. 1st century BC) was a Bithynian nobleman of Cappadocian Greek descent who ruled Comana, Cappadocia in the second half of the 1st century BC. Biography In 47 BC, Lycomedes was probably about 50 ye ...

a nobleman from

Bithynia Bithynia (; Koine Greek: , ''Bithynía'') was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), adjoining the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, and the Black Sea. It bordered Mysia to the southwest, Pa ...

who was of

Cappadocia Cappadocia or Capadocia (; tr, Kapadokya), is a historical region in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It largely is in the provinces Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde. According to Herodotus, in the time of the Ionian Revo ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

descent, who was the priest of the goddess Bellona and priest-ruler of the temple-state of

Comana, Cappadocia Comana was a city of Cappadocia ( el, τὰ Κόμανα τῆς Καππαδοκίας) and later Cataonia ( la, Comana Cataoniae; frequently called Comana Chryse or Aurea, i.e. "the golden", to distinguish it from Comana in Pontus). The Hittit ...

who ruled as priest-ruler from 47 BC until after 30 BC and his wife

Orsabaris Orsabaris, also spelt as Orsobaris ( el, , meaning in Persian: ''brilliant Venus'', flourished 1st century BC) was a Princess of the Kingdom of Pontus. She was a Queen of Bithynia by marriage to Socrates Chrestus and later married to Lycomedes of ...

. The mother of Orodaltis, Orsabaris was a princess from the

Kingdom of Pontus Pontus ( grc-gre, Πόντος ) was a Hellenistic kingdom centered in the historical region of Pontus and ruled by the Mithridatic dynasty (of Persian origin), which possibly may have been directly related to Darius the Great of the Achaemeni ...

, who was the youngest daughter born to King

Mithridates VI of Pontus Mithridates or Mithradates VI Eupator ( grc-gre, Μιθραδάτης; 135–63 BC) was ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus in northern Anatolia from 120 to 63 BC, and one of the Roman Republic's most formidable and determined opponents. He was an e ...

from an unnamed woman from the concubine of Mithridates VI.

Potential reign

Coins minted after 72 BC have been found at the Bithynian city of

, which inscribes the names of Orodaltis and Orsabaris. The city of Prusias ad Mare was the city that the Pontian paternal ancestors of Orsabaris originated from. An example of coinage that survives, that bears the name of Orodaltis is on one coin, on the obverse side inscribes in Greek: ''ΩΡΟΔΑΛΤΙΔΟΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΛΥΚΟΜΗΔΟΥΣ ΘΥΓΑΤΡΟΣ'', which means ''of Orodaltis, daughter of King Lycomedes'', showing the head of Orodaltis. On the reverse side of the coin, is inscribed in Greek: ''ΠΡΟΥΣΙΕΩΝ ΠΡΟΣ ΘΑΛΑΣΣΗ''. The portraits on her surviving coinage shows, Orodaltis would still have been young in 22 BC and it is unlikely that she would have died before this date. Oradaltis may have been dethroned by Augustus at an unknown date during his administrative reforms of Anatolia. The Romans had approved the status of Orodaltis and her family, as they ruled over Comana and possibly Prusias ad Mare for a substantial period. Orodaltis and her mother could be viewed as potential successors of Mithridates VI on the Pontian throne. However, the Kingdom of Pontus at the time became a Roman Client State who was ruled by her maternal uncle

Pharnaces II of Pontus Pharnaces II of Pontus ( grc-gre, Φαρνάκης; about 97–47 BC) was the king of the Bosporan Kingdom and Kingdom of Pontus until his death. He was a monarch of Persian and Greek ancestry. He was the youngest child born to King Mithridate ...

; the sons of Pharnaces II and eventually by

Polemon I of Pontus Polemon I Pythodoros ( grc-gre, Πολέμων Πυθόδωρος; fl. 1st century BC – died 8 BC) was the Roman Client King of Cilicia, Pontus, Colchis and the Bosporan Kingdom. Polemon was the son and heir of Zenon and possibly Tryphaena. Ze ...

References

{{reflist

Sources

* A. Mayor, The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome's deadliest enemy, Princeton University Press, 2009
The Dynastic History of the Hellenistic Monarchies of Asia Minor According to Chronography of George Synkellos by Oleg L. Gabelko
Anatolian Greeks Ancient Persian people People from Bithynia Roman client rulers 1st-century BC women rulers Ancient Persian women 1st-century BC Greek people Ancient Greek princesses 1st-century BC Iranian monarchs 1st-century BC births 1st-century BC rulers in Europe