Vier Gesandte des Königs Deiotaros in Rom (45 v. Chr.)

Abstract

Having sided with Pompey at the Battle of Pharsalos (48), the Tolistobogian King Deio­taros not only had to pay heavy indemnities to Caesar, but was also stripped of Armenia Minor and the Trokmian tetrarchy (47). The latter was given to Mithradates of Pergamon, who, how­ever, died soon thereafter in his attempt to conquer the Bosporan Kingdom (46). Since Caesar’s regime remained under pressure through republican rebels in Syria (46–43), Africa (49–46) and Spain (45), Deiotaros seized his opportunity to ask the dictator to return him the Trok­mian territory. To this end, he sent out two ambassadors, Blesamios and Artignos (not Anti­­gonos, as is commonly held) (46). The king’s Tektosagen rivals tried to thwart his plan al­beit; they dispatched prince Kas­tor to accuse Deiotaros of attempted murder of Caesar and con­spiracy with Caecilius Bassus, the rebel in Syria. The Tolistobogian responded with send­ing out a second embassy, which con­sisted of his friends Hieras and Dorylaos. Our main source for these events is Cicero’s speech in defence of the king, held in Nov. 45 before the dictator. The present paper focuses on the four envoys of Deio­taros: the pieces of information provided by Cicero, including the implications of their Celtic or intercultural names, allows us to throw uni­que glimpses into the Tolistobogian court of the mid–1st century BC.