Aripharnes (

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

310–309 BC) or Arypharnasha the Thataean was king of the

Sarmatian The Sarmatians (; ; Latin: ) were a large confederation of Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Iranian Eurasian nomads, equestrian nomadic peoples who dominated the Pontic–Caspian steppe, Pontic steppe from about the 5th century BCE to the 4t ...

tribe of

Siraces The Siraces (, , also ''Siraceni'' and ''Seraci'' ) were a hellenized Sarmatian tribe that inhabited Sarmatia Asiatica; the coast of Achardeus at the Black Sea north of the Caucasus Mountains, Siracena is mentioned by Tacitus as one of their ...

and took part in the First Bosporan Civil War of 310-309 between king Satyros II and his brother Eumelos, a pretender to the throne.

Succession

At first, all three claimants to the throne, Satyros, Prytanis, and Eumelos sought Aripharnes to back them to the throne. Aripharnes then ordered each of the lads to hurl a javelin into their father's corpse. Satyros and Prytanis did so, but Eumelos refused. There, Aripharnes proclaimed Eumelos "King of the Cimmerians".

Military history

Aripharnes and Eumelos fought Satyrus at the Battle of River Thatis, but they were defeated by the numerically inferior Satyric army. Afterward, he retreated with Eumelos to his settlement Siracena. The settlement was besieged by Satyros and after a lengthy siege, he was mortally wounded. Meniscus, the mercenary captain in charge of Satyros's mercenaries, broke off the siege and took the body of Satyros to

Panticapaeum Pantikapaion ( , from Scythian 'fish-path'; ) was an ancient Greek city on the eastern shore of Crimea, which the Greeks called Taurica. The city lay on the western side of the Cimmerian Bosporus, and was founded by Milesians in the late 7t ...

for a royal burial. After this war, Aripharnes is no longer mentioned during Eumelos's later campaigns as king of the Bosporus.

References

{{reflist Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Sarmatian monarchs