Cotys III (
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 ...
: Κότυς, Kotys) was a king of the
Odrysians in
Thrace
Thrace (, ; ; ; ) is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe roughly corresponding to the province of Thrace in the Roman Empire. Bounded by the Balkan Mountains to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south, and the Black Se ...
in the early 3rd-century BC. His one secure attestation is an inscription from
Delphi
Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), was an ancient sacred precinct and the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient Classical antiquity, classical world. The A ...
dated to sometime between 276 and 267 BC (usually given as 270/269 BC), in which he is named as the son of
Raizdos Raizdos (Ῥαίζδος, the Latin form would be Rhaezdus) was possibly a king of the Odrysian kingdom, Odrysians in Thrace in the early 3rd century BC. He is attested in an inscription from Delphi as the father of Cotys III (Odrysian), Kotys III, ...
, his probable predecessor. Scholarship has long associated a coin type struck for a king Cotys on one side and a king Rhescuporis on the other and also a king Cotys, father of a Rhescuporis, named in a decree from Apollonia (
Sozopol
Sozopol ( ; ) List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, is an ancient seaside town located 35 km south of Burgas on the southern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. One of the major seaside resorts in the country, it is known for the ''Apollonia'' art and film ...
) with Cotys III. However, these identifications have been doubted, and some scholars have redated both the coin type and the inscription to almost three centuries later. It is therefore uncertain whether Cotys III was succeeded by a son named
Rhescuporis.
Mladjov, Rulers of Thrace, University of Michigan
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See also
*List of Thracian tribes
This is a list of ancient tribes in Thrace and Dacia () including possibly or partly Thracian or Dacian tribes, and non-Thracian or non-Dacian tribes that inhabited the lands known as Thrace and Dacia. A great number of Ancient Greek tribes lived ...
References
Bibliography
* D. Dana, Inscriptions, in: J. Valeva et al. (eds.), ''A Companion to Ancient Thrace'', Wiley, 2015: 243-264.
* P. Delev, From Koroupedion to the Beginning of the Third Mithridatic War (281-73 BCE), in: J. Valeva et al. (eds.), ''A Companion to Ancient Thrace'', Wiley, 2015: 59-74.
* J. Jurukova, ''Monetite na trakijskite plemena i vladeteli'', vol. 1., Sofia, 1992.
* M. Manov, "Dekret na Apolonija s novo datirane," ''Numizmatika, Sfragistika i Epigrafika'' 11 (2015) 167-173.
* R. Werner, in: W.-D. von Barloewen (ed.), ''Abriss der Geschichte antiker Randkulturen'', Munich, 1961: 83-150, 239-242.
{{Dacia-stub
3rd-century BC monarchs in Europe
Odrysian kings