Scribonius: Usurper of the Bosporan Kingdom and Roman Intervention

Introduction

Scribonius was a short-lived usurper of the Bosporan Kingdom active in the late 1st century BC, variously dated c. 17–14 BC. His origin is not recorded in the surviving sources. He claimed descent from Mithridates VI of Pontus and used that claim to press a claim on the Bosporan throne.

Around 17–16 BC Scribonius raised an uprising that won over portions of the Bosporan army; the reigning king Asander subsequently starved himself to death. To consolidate power Scribonius compelled the widow queen Dynamis to marry him and presented himself as the legitimate successor through his asserted lineage.

His seizure of power drew the attention of Rome. Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, acting for Augustus in the eastern provinces, dispatched Polemon of Pontus with forces to depose him. Before Polemon could establish control the Bosporans killed Scribonius, after which Dynamis resumed rule alone for a time. Polemon then took the throne with Roman backing and married Dynamis to legitimise his rule.

Scribonius’s brief rule is recorded chiefly as a destabilising usurpation that provoked direct Roman intervention in Bosporan succession; his death ended his claim but precipitated the installation of a Roman-backed monarch.