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welcomed Boniface, and, faced with two great generals, she removed Aetius and elevated her favorite to
the patricianate. Outraged, Aetius gathered an army and stormed over the Alps. At Arminium the two
met, and Aetius was defeated. Though victorious, Boniface was wounded and died three months later.
Aetius left Italy, gained the alliance of RUGILA, the king of the Huns, and returned to negotiate with
Galla Placidia. Boniface's wife was compelled to marry Aetius and thus to deliver up the army of
Boniface to him.
¤ BOSPORUS KINGDOM Domain located on the north shore of the Black Sea and one of the most
important buffer states for Rome. The Bosporus kingdom controlled the region opposite Asia Minor and
was closely connected to PONTUS, which it once ruled. The kingdom was of interest to the Romans for
several reasons. The fields of the Ukraine and southern Russia (Crimea), though populated by the
nomadic SARMATIANS, provided the bulk of the agricultural resources for Asia Minor. More important
were the geopolitical realities of the Black Sea area. The Bosporus buffered the Roman provinces from
potential invaisons by the Sarmatians and the SCYTHIANS, who inhabited all of the Crimea and much of
the Steppes. Parthian expansion was also checked there.
After the battle of ZELA in 47 B.C., Asander, the slayer of Mithridates of Pergamum, gained the throne
and ruled for the next 30 years. In 17 B.C., Emperor Augustus desired greater control and assigned to
AGRIPPA the task of finding a reliable king. Agrippa compelled Dynamis, the daughter of Pharnaces, who
was defeated by Caesar at Zela, to marry Polemo of Pontus. The marriage proved unsuccessful, and
Polemo was ousted in favor of Dynamis and her new husband, the Sarma tian Aspurgus.
After Emperor GAIUS CALIGULA gave the Bosporus lands to Polemo II of Pontus, Emperor Claudius, in
39 A.D., decided upon one of Aspurgus' two sons, Mithridates (the other was Cotys). Mithridates, however,
had to share his rule with a Thracian stepmother, Gepaepyris (the natural mother of Cotys). Cotys alerted
Claudius in 44 or 45 A.D. that Mithridates planned rebellion. Didius Gallus, the governor of Moesia,
removed Mithridates and installed his brother on the throne. Mithridates, however, found Sarmatian allies
but was defeated in battle and sent to Rome.
By 62 A.D., the coinage of Cotys ceased being issued, an indication of the loss of independence. Nero,
planning to conquer the Sarmatians, annexed the kingdom. Cotys was dead, deposed or reduced to a
figurehead. Roman occupation of the region lasted until Nero's fall in 68 A.D., and Cotys's son
Rhescuporis regained a client status. Semi-independent once more, the Bosporus continued its trade with
Asia Minor, despite the arrival in the 1st century A.D. of the ALANS. Although the Scythians were