Zipoites I of Bithynia

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Zipoites I (in Greek Zιπoιτης or Zιβoιτης; ruled c. 326278 BC) was the second independent ruler of Bithynia.

He succeeded his father Bas on the throne in 326 BC and reigned for forty-eight years carrying on successful wars with Lysimachus and Antiochus, the son of Seleucus I Nicator.1 In 315 BC he carried on a war against Astakos and Chalcedon, which failed for the relief sent by Antigonus I Monophthalmus' troops.2 He founded a city which was called Zipoition after him at the foot of Mount Lypedron; the exact location of both the city and the mountain is unknown.

He lived to the age of seventy-six, and left behind him four children, the eldest of whom, Nicomedes, succeeded him.3 He was the first ruler of Bithyinia to assume the title of basileus (king), action he seems to have done in 297 BC.


Preceded by
Bas
King of Bithynia
326 BC278 BC
Succeeded by
Nicomedes I

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

1 Memnon, History of Heracleia, 6, 9
2 Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca, xix. 60
3 Memnon, 12; Stephanus, Ethnica, s.v. "Zipoition"

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology by William Smith (1867).