Nysa (wife of Nicomedes III of Bithynia)

Nysa or Nyssa (Greek: Νύσ(σ)α, flourished second half of 2nd century BC) was a Princess from the Kingdom of Cappadocia in Anatolia.

Nysa was a monarch of Greek Macedonian and Persian ancestry. She was the daughter and first-born child of the Monarchs Ariarathes VI of Cappadocia and Laodice of Cappadocia. The parents of Nysa were cousins and her younger brothers were the Kings Ariarathes VII of Cappadocia and Ariarathes VIII of Cappadocia. She was the namesake of her paternal grandmother Nysa of Cappadocia a previous Queen; wife of the previous King Ariarathes V of Cappadocia and mother of Ariarathes VI. She was born and raised in Cappadocia.

At an unknown date, Nysa became the first wife Greek King Nicomedes III of Bithynia, who reigned between from c. 127 BC to c. 94 BC. Nysa and Nicomedes III were distantly related as they held lineage from the Seleucid dynasty, the Antipatrid dynasty and the Antigonid dynasty. Through marriage, she became Queen of Bithynia.

Nysa bore Nicomedes III two sons and a daughter: Nicomedes IV of Bithynia who reigned as king from c. 94 BC to about 74 BC; Socrates Chrestus and a daughter called Nysa. Not much is known on the life of Nysa and she may have died towards the end of the 2nd century BC or early 1st century BC.

Sources

• http://www.ancienthistory.com/smith-bio/3180.html
• B.C. McGing, The foreign policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus, BRILL, 1986
• P. Cartledge, P. Garnsey & E.S. Gruen, Hellenistic constructs: essays in culture, history and historiography, University of California Press, 1997
• The Dynastic History of the Hellenistic Monarchies of Asia Minor According to Chronography of George Synkellos by Oleg L. Gabelko