Sapaeans
Thracian tribe based close to the Greek city of Abdera.
title: "Sapaeans" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["thracian-tribes", "ancient-tribes-in-the-balkans", "ancient-thrace", "ancient-greece"] description: "Thracian tribe based close to the Greek city of Abdera." topic_path: "general/thracian-tribes" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapaeans" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Thracian tribe based close to the Greek city of Abdera. ::
Sapaeans, Sapaei or Sapaioi (Ancient Greek, "Σαπαίοι") were a Thracian tribe close to the Greek city of Abdera. One of their kings was named Abrupolis Pausanias, Description of Greece,Achaia,7.10.1,"Perseus, the son of Philip, who was at peace with Rome in accordance with a treaty his father Philip had made, resolved to break the oaths, and leading an army against the Sapaeans and their king Abrupolis, allies of the Romans, made their country desolate. These Sapaeans Archilochus5 mentions in an iambic line.The Macedonians and Perseus were conquered because of this wrong done to the Sapaeans, and afterwards ten Roman senators were sent to arrange the affairs of Macedonia in the best interests of the Romans. When they came to Greece, Callicrates curried favour with them, no form of flattery, whether in word or in deed, being too gross for him to use. One member of the commission, a most dishonorable man, Callicrates so captivated that he actually persuaded him to attend the meeting of the Achaean League." and had allied himself with the Romans. They ruled Thrace after the Odrysians until its incorporation by the Roman Empire as a province. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/OdrysianKingdom.jpg" caption="Approximate location of the Sapaioi"] ::
Sapaean Kings of Thrace
Main article: Thracian kings
- Cotys I son of Rhoemetalces
- Rhescuporis I son of Cotys I 48 BC-41 BC
- Cotys II son of Rhescuporis I 42 BC – 15 BC :*Thrace becomes a client state of Rome at 11 BC
- Rhoemetalces I son of Cotys II 15 BC – 12 AD
- Rhescuporis II son of Cotys II in western Thrace; 12–18 AD deposed
- Cotys III son of Rhoemetalces I in eastern Thrace 12–18 murdered
- Rhoemetalces II son of Cotys III and Tryphaena 18–26 :* Roman caretaker rules Rhoemetalces III part of Thrace 26-38
- Antonia Tryphaena (Queen), co-ruler of Rhoemetalces II
- Rhoemetalces III son of Rhescuporis II 38–46 :* 46 to the Roman Empire
- Pythodoris II (Queen), co-ruler of Rhoemetalces III
Family tree of Sapaean kings of Thrace
References
References
- Pausanias's Description Of Greece V4: Commentary On Books VI-VIII by James G. Frazer,2006, page 132: "... 10. 6. led an army against . . . Abrupolis, king of the Sapaeans etc. The Sapaeans were a Thracian tribe in the neighbourhood of Abdera..."
- [https://docs.google.com/a/umich.edu/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=dW1pY2guZWR1fGltbGFkam92fGd4OjY4NTI4YzA0NjUxZmNhOGM Thracian Kings, University of Michigan]
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