Cotys IV

{{Short description|2nd-century BCE king of the Odrysians}}

Cotys IV (Ancient Greek: Κότυς, Kotys) was a king of the Odrysians in Thrace from before 171 until after 166 BC. He was the son of Seuthes V and succeeded either his father or another king, Amadocus III, who was captured by the Macedonians in 184 BC (it is unclear whether Amadocus III and Cotys IV ruled the same political formation and whether kingship was unitary).[https://sites.google.com/a/umich.edu/imladjov/chronologies Mladjov, Rulers of Thrace, University of Michigan] While the survival of a specifically Odrysian state past the mid-3rd century has been doubted,Delev 2018: 193 Cotys IV is described as an Odrysian by Polybius and Livy,Polybius 30.17.1: "At this time Cotys, the king of the Odrysae, sent envoys to Rome to beg that his son might be given back to him and also to defend his action in having joined Perseus."; Livy 42.51.10: "Cotys, the son of Seuthes and king of the Odrysae, had come in with a picked force of 1000 horse and about the same number of infantry." although the term may have been used in a less than specific sense.

During the Third Macedonian War (171-168 BC), Cotys IV was initially an ally of the Macedonian king Perseus, sending a force of a thousand cavalry and a thousand infantry to his ally,Livy 42.51.10. which contributed to the initial Macedonian victory over the Romans at Callinicus in 171 BC. However, following an attack on Cotys' kingdom by another Thracian ruler, Autlesbis (of the Caeni?Delev 2015: 68.), and the Attalid commander Corrhagus, allies of Rome, Cotys and his force were allowed to return to defend their homelands by Perseus, who gave them half of the promised pay.Livy 42.67.4-5. Nevertheless, Cotys IV was able to assist Perseus again at the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC, although the allies were defeated by the Romans, and Cotys and his forces followed Perseus in his flight from the battlefield.Livy 44.42.2. When Perseus embarked for Samothrace, the Thracians, possibly including those of Cotys, refused to follow and returned to their homes.Livy 44.45.13. Later Perseus planned to flee from Samothrace to Cotys, but had to surrender to the Romans.Livy 45.6.2. Cotys' son Bithys (the same name is usually spelled Beithys in Thracian inscriptions) had been left a hostage at Perseus' court and ended up among the Macedonian royal captives of the Romans at Carseoli. Cotys sent envoys to the Roman senate to ransom his son, claiming he had been forced to support Perseus. The Roman senate pardoned his actions and released his son without taking the ransom.Polybius 30.17.1-4; Livy 45.42.4-12: "Bithys the son of Cotys, king of the Thracians, was sent together with the hostages to Carseoli, to be interned there... A few days later a deputation from Cotys arrived with a sum of money for the ransom of his son and the other hostages. They were admitted to an audience of the senate, and they especially urged that it was not of his own will that Cotys had assisted Perseus; he had been compelled to give hostages, and they implored the senate to allow them to be ransomed for such a sum as the senate should name. The senate instructed the praetor to tell them in reply that the senate bore in mind the friendly relations which had existed between Rome and Cotys and the ancestors of Cotys and the Thracian nation. The giving of hostages was itself the offense, and could not be alleged as an excuse, for the Thracians had nothing to fear from Perseus, even had he kept the peace, much less when he was engaged in a war with Rome. However, although Cotys had preferred the favor of Perseus to the friendship of Rome, they would treat him according to their own dignity rather than by his deserts; they would send back his son and the hostages. The beneficent acts of the people of Rome were gratuitous; they preferred to leave the value of them in the hearts of those who received them rather than to exact a cash payment for them. Three commissioners were appointed - T. Quinctius Flamininus, C. Licinius Nerva and M. Caninius Rebilus - to conduct the hostages back to Thrace, and each of the Thracian envoys received a present of 2000 ases. Bithys was taken with the rest of the hostages from Carseoli and sent to his father." The grateful Cotys now became a Roman ally.Polybius 30.17.4; Delev 2015: 67. The lenient treatment of Cotys IV by the Roman government in 167 BC is attributed to its desire to secure a useful ally in the region, given both past experience and potential current threats.Chiranky 1982: 461-470. A decree from Abdera usually dated to c. 166 BC shows Cotys, apparently bolstered by this new alliance with Rome, expanding his territory and encroaching upon Abdera's.Delev 2015: 67. This is generally considered to be the last mention of Cotys IV in the source material, but doubts have been raised regarding the date of the Abdera decree and whether anyone but a Sapaean Cotys could have encroached upon Abdera.Chiranky 1982: 470-481. It is not known when Cotys IV ceased to reign or who succeeded him: his son Bithys is not securely attested as ruler, unless perhaps mentioned under the orthography "Byzes" in c. 146 BC; a certain Teres (V or VI) is attested as reigning in 148 BC, but he may have belonged to a different branch of the dynasty or to a different Thracian kingdom.Delev 2015: 67-68; Delev 2018: 194; [https://sites.google.com/a/umich.edu/imladjov/chronologies Mladjov, Rulers of Thrace, University of Michigan] The name "Cotys" appears among both the so-called Odryso-Astaean and Sapaean kings of Thrace, which may indicate descent from Cotys IV (particularly for the former), but there is no absolute proof for such a link.Delev 2018: 194.

Polybius and Diodorus eulogize Cotys, describing him as a man of striking appearance and martial qualities, worthy of friendship, sober and polite, unlike other Thracians.Polybius 27.12; Diodorus 30.3.

According to a creative and eclectic reconstruction of the pedigree of Thracian rulers that has gained uncritical acceptance in many "descents from Antiquity" personal genealogy projects online, Cotys IV married Semestra and had a son, Dyegilos, who married Apama, daughter of Prusias II of Bithynia and his wife Apama III. Their son Sothimus married Athenais, daughter of Attalus III of Pergamon and wife Berenice, and their son was Cotys I of the Sapaeans.[https://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/thrace.wps.htm David Hughes, Kings of Thrace] Of these, Diegylis (c. 145 BC) is attested as king of the Caeni, while Sothimus (c. 88 BC) is usually identified as a king of the Maedi.Delev 2015: 69-70.