Cotys, king of Thrace, opposes Ariobarzanes of…

Cotys, king of Thrace, opposes Ariobarzanes of Phrygia, and his ally, the Athenians, on their revolt  from Persian rule.

He goes to war with the Athenians soon after for the possession of the Thracian Chersonese.

Athens, now that she cannot trust Iphicrates to protect her interests, organizes a rebellion against Cotys, led by his treasurer Miltokythes.

Iphicrates, having retired to Thrace, fights also for the Thracian king against Athens: with the help of Charidemus, a Greek mercenary leader from Euboea who had served under Iphicrates at Amphipolis, he bribes the Athenian military and naval commanders to suppress the rebellion.

Charidemus, captured by the Athenians, is taken into their service and receives their citizenship, but in 362, he is discharged.

After participating in the revolt of satraps in Persia, he again joins Cotys, and returns to Athens in 361 with a treaty from Cotys, proclaiming him an ally.

Cotys has successfully retained his kingdom.

By 359 BCE, Cotys controls the whole Chersonese peninsula.

During the same year he makes an alliance with the new Macedonian king, Philip II.

In 358 BCE, he is murdered by two of Plato’s students from Aenus, Python and Heraclides.

Thought previously as advisers to the King, they murdered him during a feast in his palace, under the pretext that he had wronged their father.

Upon their return to Athens, they are proclaimed honorary citizens and rewarded with gold wreaths.

On Cotys' murder, Charidemus becomes guardian to the dead king's young son, Cersobleptes, in conjunction with Berisades and Amadocus II, who are probably his brothers.

He is very young at this time, and the whole management of his affairs is assumed by Charidemus, who is connected by marriage with the royal family.

The area controlled by Cersobleptes is east of the river Hebrus.

The Odrysian empire splits itself in three smaller kingdoms, of which this one, with the capital at Seuthopolis, is to survive the longest.