Pythodoris II or Pythodorida II (reigned AD 38–46) was a client ruler of the
Odrysian kingdom
The Odrysian Kingdom (; Ancient Greek: ) was a state grouping many Thracian tribes united by the Odrysae, which arose in the early 5th century BC and existed at least until the late 1st century BC. It consisted mainly of present-day Bulgaria an ...
of
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 ...
under Roman rule, in association with her father's cousin
Rhoemetalces III
Rhoemetalces III ( grc-gre, Ῥoιμητάλκης) was a King of the Sapaean Thracians. He was the son of the Monarch Rhescuporis II. In association with his wife Pythodoris II (daughter of his cousin Cotys III), they were client rulers of the S ...
.
Pythodoris succeeded her mother
Antonia Tryphaena
Antonia Tryphaena also known as Tryphaena of Thrace or Tryphaena (her name in Greek: ἡ Ἀντωνία Τρύφαινα or Τρυφαίνη, 10 BC – 55 AD) was a Pontian Princess and a Roman Client Queen of Thrace. She co-ruled with her son ...
and brother
Rhoemetalces II
Rhoemetalces II was a Client Ruler in association with his mother Antonia Tryphaena of the Sapaean kingdom of Thrace under the Romans. He ruled from 19 until 38 AD.Cotys VIII, and was named after her maternal grandparents and her paternal grandmother.
In 38, after the death of Rhoemetalces II, Tryphaena abdicated the throne at the request of the Roman emperor
Caligula
Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), better known by his nickname Caligula (), was the third Roman emperor, ruling from 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the popular Roman general Germani ...
. Caligula put Rhoemetalces III on the Thracian throne.
Rhescuporis II
Rhescuporis II was king of the Sapaean kingdom of Thrace from 12 to 19 AD. He ruled half of the kingdom in succession to his brother Rhoemetalces I, and briefly ruler of the entire realm thereafter, usurping the other half from nephew Cotys VIII ...
, the father of Rhoemetalces III, had murdered and usurped the throne of Pythodoris' father. Caligula and Tryphaena arranged for Pythodoris to marry Rhoemetalces III to repair past dynastic rifts. The plan did not succeed. Pythodoris II and Rhoemetalces III reigned together as client rulers of Thrace from 38 until 46, when the latter was murdered by insurgents or on the orders of his wife. The subsequent fate of Pythodoris II is unknown. She seems not to have had any children with her father's cousin. Pythodoris and Rhoemetalces III were the last monarchs of Thrace. Under Caligula's successor
Claudius
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Drusus and Antonia Minor ...
, the kingdom was made a
Roman province
The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...