Rhescuporis V

{{Short description|King of Roman client state Bosporus from 240 to 276}}

{{Infobox royalty

| name = Rhescuporis V

| image = Coin of Rhescuporis V.png

| caption = Coin of Rhescuporis V

| succession = King of the Bosporus

| reign = 240–276

| predecessor = Ininthimeus

| successor = Teiranes

| reg-type1 = Co-regents

| regent1 = Pharsanzes (253–254)
Sauromates IV (276)
Teiranes (276)

| dynasty = Tiberian-Julian

| father = Sauromates III (?)

| birth_date = {{circa}} 225 (?)

| death_date = 276 (aged {{circa}} 51?)

| issue = Sauromates IV (?)
Theothorses (?)

}}

Rhescuporis V ({{langx|el|Τιβέριος Ἰούλιος Ῥησκούπορις|translit=Tiberios Ioulios Rheskoúporis}}), also transliterated as Rheskuporis{{Cite journal |last=Astakhov |first=Ivan Alekseevich |date=2021 |title=Changes in the Ethnic Pictures and its Impact on the Internal Political Situation in the Bosporus after Rheskuporis VI |journal=Laplage em Revista (International) |volume=7 |issue=3A |pages=245–252 |doi=10.24115/S2446-6220202173A1397p.245-252 |doi-broken-date=12 July 2025 |s2cid=239216873 |doi-access=free }} or Rheskouporis,{{Cite book |last1=Vlasov |first1=Vladimir |title=Exploring the Cemetery of Neyzats |last2=Smokotina |first2=Anna |last3=Khrapunov |first3=Igor |publisher=DOLYA Publishing House |year=2013 |editor-last=Khrapunov |editor-first=Igor |chapter=The Cultural Layer Overlying the Cemetery of Neyzats |journal=The Black Sea Archaeology in Translation |issn=1893-2134}} was the king of the Bosporan Kingdom, a Roman client state, from 240 to 276. The reign of Rhescuporis V overlaps with those of several other Bosporan kings; Pharsanzes (253–254), Sauromates IV (276) and Teiranes (276–278). It is unclear what their relationships and status were relative to each other and if they were co-rulers or rival contenders for the throne.

Biography

Rhescuporis V became king of the Bosporan Kingdom in 240, succeeding Ininthimeus. Because the late Bosporan kings are known only from coinage, the precise relationship between the rulers is not known. Ininthimeus is variously thought to have been either a member of the ruling Tiberian-Julian dynasty (perhaps the son of Cotys III){{Cite web |title=Le Bosphore Cimmérien - Suite |url=http://antikforever.com/Asie_Mineure/Divers/bosphore_b.htm |access-date=2022-05-09 |website=antikforever.com}} or a foreign usurper, perhaps of Sarmatian descent.{{Cite journal |last=Yartsev |first=Sergey V. |date=2019 |title=The Invasion of the Borans into the Bosporus in the 3rd Century AD |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/276513411.pdf |journal=Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews |volume=7 |issue=6}} According to a 249 inscription left by Rhescuporis V at Panticapaeum, he claimed the throne of the Bosporan Kingdom by hereditary right.{{Cite book |last=Minns |first=Ellis H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ll4MAQAAMAAJ |title=Scythians and Greeks: A Survey of Ancient History and Archaeology on the North Coast of the Euxine from the Danube to the Caucasus |date=1913 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |pages=608 |isbn=9780722224588 |language=en}} The French genealogist Christian Settipani believes Rhescuporis V to have been born {{Circa}} 225 as the son of the previous king Sauromates III ({{Reign|229|232}}).{{Cite book |last=Settipani |first=Christian |title=Continuité des élites à Byzance durant les siècles obscurs: les princes caucasiens et l'Empire du VI:e au IX:e siècle |publisher=De Boccard |year=2006 |isbn=978-2-7018-0226-8 |location=Paris |pages=408 |language=French |author-link=Christian Settipani}}

Little is known from the reign of Rhescuporis V but the fact that the period during which he minted coins overlaps with the reigns of several other kings suggests that he was either faced with numerous usurpers or that he frequently co-ruled with relatives. The first king to be contemporary with Rhescuporis V was Pharsanzes, whose coins are known from 253 to 254. Whether Pharsanzes was a usurper or not is disputed, though he is most frequently believed by historians to have been a rival contender rather than a co-ruler,{{Cite journal |last=Beydin |first=G. V. |date=2016 |title=Готы на Боспоре: находки монет царя Фарсанза в ареале черняховской культуры |trans-title=Goths in the Bosporus: finds of coins of King Farsanz in the area of the Chernyakhov culture |url=https://periodicals.karazin.ua/drevnosti/article/view/4857 |journal=Древности. Харьковский историко-археологический ежегодник |volume=13 |pages=138–149}} perhaps a closer relative of Ininthimeus or an unrelated foreigner.

Rhescuporis V is sometimes thought to have co-ruled with a king named "Synges" from 258 to 276.{{Cite book |last=Mitchiner |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zuQLAQAAMAAJ |title=The Ancient & Classical World, 600 B.C.-A.D. 650 |date=1978 |publisher=Hawkins Publications |isbn=978-0-904173-16-1 |pages=69 |language=en}} The identification of Synges is doubtful since it is based on a rare type of coins out of which only a single one preserves a partial inscription. This inscription was read as "Synges" by the numismatist Bernhard Karl von Koehne in the mid-19th century but was considered fanciful by Aleksandr Zograf in 1977.{{Cite book |last=Zograf |first=Aleksandr Nikolaevich |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mXsaAAAAYAAJ |title=Ancient Coinage: The ancient coins of the northern Black Sea littoral |date=1977 |publisher=British Archaeological Reports |isbn=978-0-904531-87-9 |pages=335 |language=en}}

More securely attested co-rulers are known from Rhescuporis V's final year, 276, when he ruled together with the two other kings Teiranes and Sauromates IV.{{Cite journal |last1=Abramzon |first1=M. G. |last2=Baryshnikov |first2=M. P. |last3=Efimova |first3=Yu. Yu. |last4=Koptseva |first4=N. V. |last5=Saprykina |first5=I. A. |last6=Smekalova |first6=T. N. |date=2020-05-01 |title=X-Ray Microanalysis of the Surface of AD 286/287 Staters of Thothorses: New Data on the Silvering Process of Bosporan Coins |url=https://doi.org/10.1134/S1027451020030027 |journal=Journal of Surface Investigation: X-ray, Synchrotron and Neutron Techniques |language=en |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=529–533 |doi=10.1134/S1027451020030027 |s2cid=220392070 |issn=1819-7094|url-access=subscription }} Christian Settipani believes Teiranes to have been Rhescuporis V's brother and it is possible that Sauromates IV was Rhescuporis V's son.{{Cite journal |last=Nadel |first=Benjamin |date=1977 |title=Literary Tradition and Epigraphical Evidence : Constantine Porphyrogenitus' Information on the Bosporan Kingdom of Emperor Diocletian Reconsidered |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/dha_0755-7256_1977_num_3_1_2690 |journal=Dialogues d'histoire ancienne |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=87–114 |doi=10.3406/dha.1977.2690}} Settipani additionally believes that the later king Theothorses (279–309) was a younger son of Rhescuporis V.

Sauromates IV also died in 276 after less than a year as co-ruler, leaving Teiranes as Rhescuporis V's sole successor.