The Last Years of the Reign of the Bosporan King Fofors in the Context of the Internal Political Struggle in the Roman Empire during the Tetrarchy

Abstract

The object of the study is the history of the ancient civilization of the Northern Black Sea region, as part of the Roman world during the early dominant period. The subject of the study is the history of the Bosporan Kingdom in the last years of the reign of King Fofors in 303/304–309/310, in the context of relations with the Roman Empire during the new system of government – tetrarchy. The author examines in detail such an aspect of the topic as the internal political struggle in the Roman Empire of that time and its impact on the events that took place on the Bosporus. Particular attention is paid to the political struggle of two opposing factions for supreme power in the Bosporan Kingdom at the specified time. The main conclusions of the study are related to the factors of the strengthening of the influence of the Roman Empire on the northern periphery of the ancient world in the last years of the Bosporan king Fofors. It is obvious that during this period, virtually any conflict in the internal life of the empire, to one degree or another, exerted its influence on the course of the history of the Bosporan state. Thus, the fall of the power of Fofors on the Bosporus became possible only after the Bosporan king lost Roman support, first Diocletian, and then Galerius. In 309/310, Fofors was replaced by a new tsar, Radamsad, who may have been a protege of Maximin II Daza, who was actively preparing a plot to seize supreme power in the empire just during these years. The main contribution of the author to the study of the topic is the first revealed pattern of the history of Bosporus during the reign of Fofors. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that for the first time in historiography, this tense moment of Bosporan history is viewed through the prism of the internal political struggle in the Roman Empire during the tetrarchy (293-313).