Paerisades II and the Bosporan Kingdom: Historical and Numismatic Insights

Introduction

Paerisades II (also Parysades) was a king of the Bosporan Kingdom of the Spartocid dynasty who reigned from 284 to 245 BC. Sources disagree about his parentage; some identify him as a son of Spartokos III, while others connect him with Satyros II, and certain accounts report that a Paerisades, described as the youngest son of Satyros II, survived the Bosporan civil war and sought refuge in Scythia with king Agarus, a figure some traditions equate with the later king.

Documentary traces of his rule emphasize external diplomacy and numismatics. He dispatched an embassy to the court of Ptolemy II of Egypt, recorded in 253/254 BC, and is attested as a donor at Delos, where a valuable phiale was offered in 250 BC; Greek correspondence also records ambassadors from him visiting the Ptolemaic court. He issued coinage for the kingdom.

Modern researchers place the onset of a pronounced monetary deterioration in the Bosporan realm within his reign from the 270s BC; surviving coin series from the mid third century show reduced weights, cruder striking, and increased lead in copper alloys, trends visible in hoard material attributed to the period.

Paerisades II died in 245 BC after a reign of about thirty-nine years. He was succeeded by his presumed elder son Spartokos IV, whose short rule was followed by Paerisades’s younger son Leukon II, who is reported to have slain his brother. Paerisades II is principally remembered in the sources for his Hellenistic diplomatic contacts and for numismatic evidence that marks a turning point in Bosporan coinage.