Palacus or Palakus was the king of Crimean Scythia who succeeded his father, Skilurus. Resuming the latter's war against

Mithridates the Great 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 ...

, he attempted to besiege Chersonesos but was defeated by Pontic forces under Diophantus. Enlisting the assistance of the Rhoxolani under

Tasius Tasius is the name given by Strabo to the king of the Rhoxolani, a Sarmatian tribal group. Around 100 BCE, Tasius led an invasion of Crimea in support of the Scythian warlord Palacus Palacus or Palakus was the king of Crimean Scythia who succee ...

, Palacus launched an invasion of the

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

. The invaders were defeated by Diophantus and accepted Mithridates as their overlord. Palacus was the last Scythian king whose name is attested in classical sources.

References

*''Content of this page in part derives from the

Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; ) is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Bolshaya rossiyskaya e ...

article on the same subject.'' Scythian rulers Ancient Crimea 2nd-century BC rulers {{Europe-royal-stub