Octamasadas (

Scythian The Scythians ( or ) or Scyths (, but note Scytho- () in composition) and sometimes also referred to as the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people who had migrated during the 9th to 8th centuries BC fr ...

;

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

: ,

romanized In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and transcription, ...

: ;

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: ) was a

king, the son of King

Ariapeithes Ariapeithes (Scythian: ; ) was a king of the Scythians in the early 5th century BCE. Name Ariapeithes's name originates from the Scythian name , and is composed of the terms , meaning "Aryan" and "Iranian," and , meaning "decoration" and "adornme ...

, who lived around 446 BC. He came to power after he deposed and replaced his half-brother

Scyles Scyles, Skyles, or Scylas ( Scythian: ; , romanized: ; Latin: ), was a Scythian king who lived in the 5th century BC. He is mentioned in the histories of Herodotus as having been an admirer of Greek culture and traditions, which led to his falli ...

. Octamasadas was the son of Teres I’s daughter, making Octamasadas Teres’ grandson. Teres I was the father of Sitalces (431–424 BC) and Sparadocus (448–440 BC), Thracian kings.

Name

The name () is the Hellenisation of the

language name , meaning "possessing greatness through his words."

Rise to power

Octamasadas became king after the Scythians broke out into revolt. The Scythians revolted because then-king Scyles, Octamasadas' half-brother, admired Grecian culture and did not behave in a traditional Scythian fashion. When Scyles heard of this revolt, he fled to Thrace. After hearing that his brother had fled to Thrace, Octamasadas gathered his army and headed for Thrace. When Octamasadas arrived at the river Ister, the Thracian army was waiting for him. The two sides were about to engage in battle when Sitalces sent a message to Octamasadas by a herald. Sitalces proposed a trade; Sitalces would surrender Scyles if Octamasadas handed over one of Sitalces' brothers, who had taken refuge with the Scythians because he feared Sitalces. Octamasadas/ accepted the terms and surrendered his own uncle to Sitalces. After the exchange, Sitalces left with his brother, while Octamasadas beheaded Scyles as soon as he received him. This

rapprochement In international relations, a rapprochement, which comes from the French word ''rapprocher'' ("to bring together"), is a re-establishment of cordial relations between two countries. This may be done due to a mutual antagonist, as the German Empire ...

between the Scythians and the Thracians – though tragic for Scyles - led to the stabilization among these players as regional powers along with the Thracian Spartocids, which resulted to a period of economic prosperity.

References

(translation by George Campbell Macaulay, 1852–1915)
The History of Herodotus at Fordham University
Scythian kings People from the Bosporan Kingdom 5th-century BC monarchs {{hist-stub