What is "gepaepyris"

Gepaepyris (, flourished 1st century) was a Thracian Princess and a Roman Client Queen of the Bosporan Kingdom.

Gepaepyris was the first daughter and was among the children of Roman Client Rulers of Thrace, Cotys VIII and Antonia Tryphaena. Her maternal grandparents were Roman Client Rulers Polemon Pythodoros and Pythodorida of Pontus, while her paternal grandparents were Roman Client Rulers Rhoemetalces I and Pythodoris I of Thrace. Through her maternal grandmother, she was a descendant of Roman Triumvir Mark Antony and was related to various members of the Julio-Claudian dynasty (her maternal grandmother, was the first grandchild of Roman Triumvir Mark Antony). Gepaepyris was of Persian, Greek and Roman descent.

Gepaepyris is not mentioned by any ancient sources. What is known of this Thracian Princess, has come from surviving inscriptions from the Bosporan Kingdom, the ancient Greek city of Cyzicus (modern Turkey) and numismatic evidence. Cyzicus became the second residence for her family, where Gepaepyris grew up. From coins we know, her royal title was of Queen Gepaepyris.

Little is known on the life of Gepaepyris. She married, the Roman Client King of the Bosporan Kingdom, Tiberius Julius Aspurgus, who was of Greek and Iranian ancestry. The Bosporan Kingdom was the longest known surviving Roman Client Kingdom. Aspurgus was the son of Bosporan Queen Dynamis from her first marriage to General and Bosporan King Asander.

The mother of Aspurgus was the genuine heir to the Bosporan Kingdom. Dynamis was the daughter of the Roman Client King of Pontus and Bosporan, Pharnaces II, and her mother was a Sarmatian woman. The paternal grandparents of Dynamis were Mithridates VI of Pontus and his first wife, his sister Laodice. Gepaepyris seems to have been the only child from the family of Cotys VIII and Antonia Tryphaena to have children. Gepaepyris bore Aspurgus two sons:

• Tiberius Julius Mithridates - he was named in honor of Mithridates VI of Pontus and died in 68
• Tiberius Julius Cotys I - he was named in honor of his late maternal grandfather Cotys VIII

Through Cotys I, Gepaepyris and Aspurgus had various descendants ruling the Bosporan Kingdom until the mid-4th century. These included descendants that bore Thracian ancestral monarch names such as Cotys, Rhoemetalces and Rhescuporis. When Aspurgus died in 38, Gepaepyris ruled with their first son Mithridates the Bosporan Kingdom until 45. Later, her other son Cotys I succeeded her and Mithridates.