Abrupolis (

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

,"Αβρουπόλις") (fl. 2nd century BC) was a king of the Thracian

Sapaei Sapaeans, Sapaei or Sapaioi (Ancient Greek, "Σαπαίοι") were a Thracian tribe close to the Greek city of Abdera, Thrace, Abdera. One of their kings was named Abrupolis and had allied himself with the Ancient Rome, Romans. They Sapaean kingdo ...

, and ally of the Romans. He attacked the

dominions The term ''Dominion'' is used to refer to one of several self-governing nations of the British Empire. "Dominion status" was first accorded to Canada, Australia, Dominion of New Zealand, New Zealand, Dominion of Newfoundland, Newfoundland, Un ...

of Perseus of Macedon, eldest son of the recently deceased

Philip V of Macedon Philip V ( grc-gre, Φίλιππος ; 238–179 BC) was king ( Basileus) of Macedonia from 221 to 179 BC. Philip's reign was principally marked by an unsuccessful struggle with the emerging power of the Roman Republic. He would lead Macedon ag ...

, around 179 BC, and laid them waste as far as Amphipolis, as well as overrunning the gold mines of

Mount Pangaeus The Pangaion Hills (; ; Homeric Greek: Nysa; also called Pangaeon, Pangaeum) are a mountain range in Greece, approximately 40 km from Kavala. The highest elevation is 1,956 m at the peak of Koutra. The Aegean Sea lies to the south and ...

. He was afterwards driven out of his holdings by Perseus, the conflict of which helped ignite the

Third Macedonian War The Third Macedonian War (171–168 BC) was a war fought between the Roman Republic and King Perseus of Macedon. In 179 BC, King Philip V of Macedon died and was succeeded by his ambitious son Perseus. He was anti-Roman and stirred anti-Roman f ...

, since Rome took issue with the ousting of an ally from his territories. While some ancient (and modern) writers considered Abrupolis's routing by Perseus a primary cause of the Third Macedonian War, other, later Roman writers, and modern scholars, tended to look upon it as an act of self-defense,

Appian Appian of Alexandria (; grc-gre, Ἀππιανὸς Ἀλεξανδρεύς ''Appianòs Alexandreús''; la, Appianus Alexandrinus; ) was a Greek historian with Roman citizenship who flourished during the reigns of Emperors of Rome Trajan, Hadr ...

, ''History of the Macedonian Wars'', from Constantine Porphyrogenitus, ''The Embassies'' §18, §22. with Rome merely using it as one pretext for a quarrel with Perseus.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abrupolis Third Macedonian War Thracian kings 2nd-century BC rulers in Europe