Aripharnes

Aripharnes (fl. 310–309 BC) or Arypharnasha the Thataean was ruler of the Sarmatian tribe of Siraces and took part in the First Bosporan Civil War of 310-309 between king Satyros II and his brother Eumelos, a pretender to the throne.

At first, all three claimants to the throne, Satyros, Prytanis, and Eumelos seeked Aripharnes to back them to the throne. Aripharnes then ordered each of the lads to hurl a javelin into their father's corpse. Satyros and Prytanis did so, but Eumelos refused. There, Aripharnes proclaimed Eumelos "King of the Cimmerians". He and Eumelos fought Satyrus at the Battle of River Thatis in which he and Eumelos and were defeated by the opposing army of Satyrus. After losing the battle, he retreated to his settlement Siracena, in where another battle took place in which Satyros was mortally wounded. Meniscus, the mercenary captain in charge of Satyros's mercenaries, broke off the siege and took the body of Satyros to Panticapaeum for a royal burial. After this war, Aripharnes is no longer mentioned during Eumelos's later campaigns as king of the Bosporus.