Cotys
- I A ruler of the coast of Thrace B. C. 382-356, son-in-law of Iphicrates, Nep. Iphicr. 3, 4; id. Timoth. 1, 2; Val. Max. 3, 7, ext. 7.—
- II Cotys II., king of the Odrysae, an ally of Perseus in his war against Rome, Liv. 42, 29, 12; 42, 51, 10; 42, 67, 4; Eutr. 4, 6.—
- III Cotys III., king of the Odrysae, Cic. Pis. 34, 84; Caes. B. C. 3, 4; 3, 36; Luc. 5, 54.—
- IV Cotys V., grandson of III., Tac. A. 2, 64 sqq.; 4, 5.—
- V A brother of Mithridates, prince of the Bosporus, Tac. A. 12, 15; 12, 18.
or Cotytto (Κότυς or Κοτυττώ), a Thracian divinity, whose festival, the Cotyttia (Dict. of Ant. s. v.), resembled that of the Phrygian Cybele, and was celebrated on hills with riotous proceedings. In later times her worship was introduced at Athens and Corinth, and was connected, like that of Dionysus, with licentious frivolity. Her worship appears to have spread even as far as Italy and Sicily. Those who celebrated her festival were called βάπται, from the purifications which were originally connected with the solemnity. (Strab. x. p.470; Hesych. Suid. s. vv. Κότυς, Διασώτης; Horat. Epod. 17.56; Juv. 2.92; Virg. Catal. 5.19; A. Meineke, Quaest. Scen. p. 41, &c.) [L.S]
(Κότυς).
1. A king of Paphlagonia, seems to have been the same whom Xenophon (Xen. Anab. 5.5.12, &c.) calls Corylas. Otys also is only another form of the name. A vassal originally of the Persian throne, he had thrown off his allegiance to Artaxerxes II., and, when summoned to court, as a test probably of his loyalty, had refused obedience. He therefore listened readily to the recommendation of Spithridates to enter into alliance with Sparta, and having met Agesilaus for this purpose on his entrance into Paphlagonia, he left with him a considerable reinforcement for his army. For this service Agesilaus rewarded Spithridates by negotiating a marriage for his daughter with Cotys, B. C. 395. (Xen. Hell. iv. 50.3, &c.) The subject of the present article has been identified by some with Thyus, whom Datames conquered and carried prisoner to Artaxerxes about B. C. 364; but this conjecture does not appear to rest on any valid grounds. (See Schneider, ad Xen. Hell. l.c.) [Thyus.]
2. King of Thrace from B. C. 382 to 358. (See Suid. s.v. where his reign is said to have lasted twenty-four years.) It is not, however, till towards the end of this period that we find anything recorded of him. In B. C. 364 he appears as an enemy of the Athenians, the main point of dispute being the possession of the Thracian Chersonesus, and it was at this time that he first availed himself of the aid of the adventurer Charidemus on his desertion from the Athenian service [see p. 684b.]. He also secured the valuable assistance of Iphicrates, to whom he gave one of his daughters in marriage, and who did not scruple to take part with his father-in-law against his country. (Dem. c. Aristocr. pp. 663, 669, 672; Pseudo-Aristot. Econ. 2.26; Nep. Iphicr. 3; Anaxandr. apud Athen. iv. p. 131.) In B. C. 362, Miltocythes, a powerful chief, revolted from Cotys, and engaged the Athenians on his side by promising to cede the Chersonesus to them; but Cotys sent them a letter, outbidding his adversary in promises, and the Athenians passed a decree in the king's favour. It has been thought that this was the same decree which conferred on him the gift of citizenship. (See Thirlwall's Greece, vol. v. p. 217; Ep. Phil. ad Ath. p. 161, where he is called " Sitalces.") The effect of it certainly was so to discourage Miltocythes that he abandoned the struggle, while Cotys, having gained his point, never dreamed of fulfilling his promises. (Dem. c. Aristocr. p. 655, c. Polycl. 1207.) [Autocles, No. 2.] In the same year he vigorously opposed Ariobarzanes and the other revolted satraps of the western provinces. Here again he shewed his hostility to Athens, which sided with the rebels, while another motive with him for the course he took seems to have been, that the satraps protected the cities on the Hellespont, over which he desired to establish his own authority. Having besieged Sestus, which belonged to Ariobarzanes, he was compelled, apparently by Timotheus, to raise the siege; but the town soon after revolted from Athens and submitted to Cotys, who, having in vain tried to persuade Iphicrates to aid him [Iphicrates], again bought the services of Charidemus, made him his son-in-law, and prosecuted the war with his assistance. (Xen. Ages, 2.26; Nep. Timoth. 1; Dem. de Rhod. Lib. p. 193, c. Aristocr. pp. 663, 664, 672-674.) [Charidemus.] This appears to have occurred in B. C. 359, and in the same year, and not long after Philip's accession, we find him supporting the claims of the pretender Pausanias to the Macedonian throne; but the bribes of Philip induced him to abandon his cause. (Diod. 16.2, 3.) For his letter to Philip, perhaps on this occasion, see Hegesand. apud Athen. vi. p. 248. In B. C. 358, he was assassinated by Python or Parrhon and Heracleides (two citizens of Aenus, a Greek town in Thrace), whose father he had in some way injured. The murderers were honoured by the Athenians with golden crowns and the franchise of the city. (Arist. Polit. 5.10, ed. Bekk.; Dem. c. Aristocr. pp. 659, 662, 674 ; Plut. ad v. Colot. 32; D. L. 3.46, 9.65.) Cotys, from the accounts we have of him, was much addicted to gross luxury, and especially to drunkenness, the prevalent vice of his nation. His violence and cruelty were excessive, almost, in fact, akin to madness. He is said to have murdered his wife, of whom he was jealous, with circumstances of the most shocking barbarity; on one occasion also he persuaded himself, or chose to assert, that he was the bridegroom of the goddess Athena, and, having drunk deeply at what he called the nuptial feast, he put to death two of his attendants successively, who had not presence of mind or courtly tact sufficient to fall in with his mad humour. (Theopomp. apud Athen. xii. pp. 531, 532; Suid. s.v. Plut. Reg. et Imp. Apophth.)
3. A king of the Odrysae in Thrace. He was originally an ally of Rome, but was forced into an alliance against her with Perseus, to whom he gave hostages for his fidelity, and supplied a force of 2000 men. When Perseus was conquered by Aemilius Paullus in B. C. 168, Bites, the son of Cotys, was taken prisoner and carried to Rome, and his father sent ambassadors to offer any sum of money for his freedom, and to account for his own conduct in having sided with Macedonia. The Roman senate did not admit the excuse of Cotys as a valid one, but they made a flourish of generosity, and released the prince unransomed. Cotys is honourably recorded as differing widely from the generality of his countrymen in sobriety, gentleness, and cultivation of mind. (Plb. 27.10, 30.12; Suid. s.v. Liv. 42.29, 51, 57, 59, 67, 43.18, 45.42.)
4. A king of Thrace, took part against Caesar with Pompey, and sent him a body of auxiliaries under his son Sadales in B. C. 48. (Caes. Civ. 3.4; Lucan. Phars. 5.54.)
5. Son of Rhoemetalces, king of Thrace. On the death of Rhoemetalces his dominions were divided by Augustus between his brother Rhescuporis and his son Cotys. Rhescuporis desired to subject the whole kingdom to himself, but did not venture on palpable acts of aggression till the death of Augustus. He then openly waged war against his nephew, but both parties were commanded by Tiberius to desist from hostilies. Rhescuporis then, feigning a wish for friendly negotiation, invited Cotys to a conference, and, at the banquet which followed, he treacherously seized him, and, having thrown him into chains, wrote to Tiberius, pretending that he had only acted in self-defence and anticipated a plot on the part of Cotys. He was, however, commanded to release him, and to come to Rome to have the matter investigated, whereupon (A. D. 19) he murdered his prisoner, thinking, says Tacitus, that he might as well have to answer for a crime completed as for one half done. Tacitus speaks of Cotys as a mall of gentle disposition and manners, and Ovid, in an epistle addressed to him during his exile at Tomi, alludes to his cultivated taste for literature, and claims his favour and protection as a brother-poet. (Tac. Ann. 2.64-67, 3.38; Vell. 2.129; Ov. ex Pont. 2.9.)
6. A king of a portion of Thrace, and perhaps one of the sons of No. 5. (See Tac. Ann. 2.67.) In A. D. 38, Caligula gave the whole of Thrace to Rhoemetalces, son of Rhescuporis, and put Cotys in possession of Armenia Minor. In A. D. 47, when Claudius wished to place Mithridates on the throne of Armenia, Cotys endeavoured to obtain it for himself, and had succeeded in attaching some of the nobles to his cause, but was compelled by the commands of the emperor to desist. (D. C. 59.12; Tac. Ann. 11.9.)
7. King of the Bosporus, which he received from the Romans on the expulsion of his brother Mithridates. As only a few cohorts under Julius Aquila had been left in the country to support the new king, who was himself young and inexperienced, Mithridates endeavoured to recover his dominions by force of arms, A. D. 50; but he was conquered and carried prisoner to Rome. (Tac. Ann. 12.15_21.)
The second of the coins figured on p. 777a. belongs to this Cotys, who is sometimes called Cotys I., king of the Bosporus. The coin given below belongs to Cotys II., who reigned under Hadrian, and is mentioned by Arrian in his Periplus. The obverse represents the head of Cotys, the reverse that of Hadrian. (Eckhel, ii. pp. 376, 378.)
[E.E]
(Κότυς). The name of several kings of Thrace. Ovid, during his exile at Tomi, addressed an epistle to one of them. (Ex Pont. ii. 9.)
- Hdt. 4.45
- Paus. 2.27.6