The Kings of Soli
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Soli is one of the lesser-known Cypriote kingdoms. The origins of Eunostos are not certainly known. The known or probable kings of Soli are:
Philokypros, said to have been a friend of Solon (Herodotus 5.113). This dates him in the early-mid 6th dynasty.
- Aristokypros, son of Philokypros, killed at the battle of Salamis in 498 (Herodotus 5.113). This date raises doubts as to whether his father is the friend of Solon or, more likely, a grandson of the latter.
- P....., who minted a coin datable to the mid 5th century because it was found with coins from Citum of this date. Newell places its minting at Soli on circumstantial grounds. He suggests the coin may be related to an inscription by Pnytellas son of Pnytagoras (though apparently neither is named as king), or that it may show the rule of P.... (or Pn....) apparently king of Paphos at the same period.
- Anaxagoras, a Cypriote king during the war between Evagoras of Salamis and Artaxerxes II in the late 380s and early 370s (Ctesias, Persica 72). The argument for making him king of Soli appears to be the difficulty of placing him anywhere else.
- Stasias, father of
- Stasicrates, named in GDI 17; also had a son Stasias, possibly a king, named on GDI 18. These kings are dated to the later 4th century on epigraphical grounds.
- Pasicrates, mentioned in connection with Alexander's siege of Tyre in 331 (Plutarch, Alexander 29.3) and as an ally of Ptolemy I shortly before the death of Perdiccas in 321/0 (Arrian, FrGH 156.10.6). Chronologically, he would appear to be a son of Stasicrates. It has been conjectured that they are same. His son Nicocles accompanied Alexander to India (Arrian, Indica 18.8). Stasanor, a Solian, companion of Alexander made governor of Bactria and Sogdiana in the settlement of Triparadeisos (Arrian, Successors 36), was probably also related, possibly as a brother.
- Eunostos, the son-in-law of Ptolemy I, is generally agreed to have been a son of Pasikrates, although there is no direct evidence for this.
Sources
G. F. Hill, Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Cyprus (London, 1904)
E. T. Newell, Some Unpublished Coins of Eastern Dynasts (New York, 1926)
Schiff, Eunostos RE 6 (1907) 1138
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