Isias

Isias, surnamed Philostorgos or Philostorgus (Greek: η Ισίας Φιλόστοργος, meaning Isias the loving one) was a Princess of Cappadocia who lived in the 1st century BC. Through her marriage to King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene, she became the Queen of Commagene. Very little is known on her. She was half Persian and half Greek. Isias was the daughter of King Ariobarzanes I of Cappadocia and his wife Queen Athenais Philostorgos I, while her brother was King Ariobarzanes II of Cappadocia.

Isias and Antiochus I had five children who were:

• Son, Mithridates II of Commagene - who succeeded Antiochus I after his death in 38 BC
• Daughter, Laodice, who married King Orodes II of Parthia
• Son, Antiochus II of Commagene
• Daughter, Antiochis of Commagene
• Daughter, Athenais who married King Artavasdes I of Media Atropatene

She appeared to have died of unknown causes sometime between the late 30s or early 20s BC. Isias was buried along with her daughter and her granddaughter on a burial site called the Karakuş Tumulus.

Isias’ name also appears in another honorific inscription dedicated by Mithridates II at the tomb of her other daughter Laodice:

The great King Mithridates, the son of the great king Antiochus and queen Isias, dedicated this image to the unfading memory of queen Laodice, the king’s sister and the wife of Orodes, the king of kings, and to her own honour.

After the Kingdom of Commagene was annexed in 72 by the Roman Emperor Vespasian, the vault of the tomb has been looted.

Sources

• http://www.guide-martine.com/southeastern3.asp
• http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0412.html
• Campbell-Scott, Roger. "Nimrud Dagh - A Sacred Mountain in Anatolia", in Vanished Civilizations: The Hidden Secrets of Lost Cities and Forgotten Peoples, pp. 194–197. Reader’s Digest Services P/L, Hong Kong, 1988. ISBN 0-276-42658-4.