Etazeta of Bithynia
{{Infobox royalty|
name = Etazeta of Bithynia|
title = |
succession = Queen regent of Bithynia|
reign = c. 255-254 BC|
reign-type = Regency|
predecessor = Nicomedes I|
successor = Ziaelas|
birth_date = |
death_date = }}
Etazeta (Greek: Εταζέτα; fl. 255 BC – 254 BC) was the second wife of Nicomedes I, king of Bithynia. After his death, she was a regent of Bithynia.{{Cite book |last=Clinton |first=Henry Fynes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lao2AQAAMAAJ&dq=Etazeta+bithynia&pg=PA583 |title=Fasti Hellenici: The Civil and Literary Chronology of Greece, from the Earliest Accounts to the Death of Augustus |date=1834 |publisher=University Press |language=en}}{{Citation |last=Gabelko |first=Oleg |title=BITHYNIA AND CAPPADOCIA |work=The Hellenistic Court |pages=319–342 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1z27gr0.19 |access-date=2024-03-21 |publisher=The Classical Press of Wales|doi=10.2307/j.ctt1z27gr0.19 }}
Life
Nicomedes removed his sons by his first wife from the succession; instead, the throne would go to the children he had borne with Etazeta.{{Citation |last=Delev |first=Peter |title=From Koroupedion to the Beginning of the Third Mithridatic War (281–73 BCE) |date=2015-03-16 |work=A Companion to Ancient Thrace |pages=59–74 |editor-last=Valeva |editor-first=Julia |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118878248.ch6 |access-date=2024-03-21 |edition=1 |publisher=Wiley |language=en |doi=10.1002/9781118878248.ch6 |isbn=978-1-4443-5104-0 |editor2-last=Nankov |editor2-first=Emil |editor3-last=Graninger |editor3-first=Denver}} Since Nicomedes and Etazeta's children were still very young, the king sought to strengthen his family's hold on the Bithynian throne by offering the guardianship of the infants to the sovereigns Ptolemy II of Egypt and Antigonus II of Macedonia. The city-states of Byzantium, Heraclea and Cius were added to the guardianship.{{Cite journal |last1=Tsetskhladze |first1=Gocha R. |last2=Hargrave |first2=James |last3=Avram |first3=Alexandru |date=2015 |title=The Danubian Lands between the Black, Aegean and Adriatic Seas : (7th Century BC-10th Century AD) |url=https://www.torrossa.com/en/resources/an/4732335 |language=en |pages=1–583}}
On the death of Nicomedes I in around 255 BC, Etazeta ruled on behalf of her infant sons. However, Nicomedes' first-born, Ziaelas, refused to accept his father's decision and started a war against his stepmother to conquer the kingdom.{{Cite book |last=Valverde |first=Luis Amela |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LgQuEAAAQBAJ&dq=Etazeta+Bithynia&pg=PA157 |title=Varia Nummorum XIII |date=2021-05-12 |publisher=Punto Rojo Libros |isbn=978-84-18829-96-3 |language=es}} Etazeta tried to resist and married the former king's brother, but around 254 BC she was removed by Ziaelas and forced to flee to Macedon with her sons.{{Cite book |last1=Valeva |first1=Julia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kJQvCgAAQBAJ&dq=Etazeta+Nicomedes&pg=PA63 |title=A Companion to Ancient Thrace |last2=Nankov |first2=Emil |last3=Graninger |first3=Denver |date=2020-01-29 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-119-01618-2 |language=en}}
References
{{Reflist}}
- Memnon, [http://www.attalus.org/translate/memnon1.html History of Heracleia]
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{{succession box |
title=King of Bithynia |
before=Nicomedes I |
after=Ziaelas |
years=255 BC – 254 BC}}
{{s-end}}
{{Hellenistic rulers}}
Category:3rd-century BC births
Category:3rd-century BC Greek people
Category:3rd-century BC Kings of Bithynia
Category:3rd-century BC women regents
Category:Ancient Greek regents
Category:Year of death unknown
Category:Queens consort of Bithynia
Category:3rd-century BC regents
{{Ancient-Greek-bio-stub}}