Nicomedes_II

Nicomedes II of Bithynia

Nicomedes II of Bithynia

King of Bithynia

Nicomedes II Epiphanes (Greek: Νικομήδης ὁ Ἐπιφανής "Nicomedes God-Manifest") was the king of Bithynia from 149 to c. 127 BC. He was fourth in descent from Nicomedes I. Nicomedes II was the son and successor of Prusias II and Apame IV. His parents were related as they were maternal cousins.

Quick Facts King of Bithynia, Reign ...

Life

He was so popular with the people that his father sent him to Rome to limit his influence. However, in Rome, he also gained favor from the Roman Senate, forcing Prusias to send an emissary named Menas with secret orders to assassinate him.[1] But the emissary revealed the plot, and persuaded the prince to rebel against his father.[2]

Supported by Attalus II Philadelphus, king of Pergamon, he was completely successful, and ordered his father to be put to death at Nicomedia.[3] During his long reign Nicomedes adhered steadily to the Roman alliance, and assisted them against the pretender to the throne of Pergamon Eumenes III. He was succeeded by his son Nicomedes III.

Nicomedes introduced the Bithynian era for numbering years on his coins. This system was to last in parts of the Greek world down to the 4th century AD.[4]

References

  1. [1]
    Appian. The Mithridatic Wars. He sent Menas as his fellow ambassador, and told him if he should secure a remission of the payments to spare Nicomedes, but if not, to kill him at Rome.
  2. [2]
    Appian. The Mithridatic Wars.
  3. [3]
    Appian. The Mithridatic Wars. Prusias fled to the temple of Zeus, where he was stabbed by some of the emissaries of Nicomedes.
  4. [4]
    Jakob Munk Højte, "From Kingdom to Province: Reshaping Pontos after the Fall of Mithridates VI", in Tønnes Bekker-Nielsen (ed.), Rome and the Black Sea Region: Domination, Romanisation, Resistance (Aarhus University Press, 2006), 15–30.
Preceded by King of Bithynia
149 BC – 127 BC		 Succeeded by
Stub icon

This biography of a member of a Middle Eastern royal house is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Stub icon

This Turkish biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Nicomedes_II, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.