Bithynia's Prusian dynasty occupied an awkward position throughout the Hellenistic period — nominally independent, perpetually squeezed between Pergamon, Pontus, and the encroaching Romans, and tactically shifting alliances to survive. Prusias I famously sheltered Hannibal after the Carthaginian general fled Rome's reach following Zama, a decision that eventually cost him Roman goodwill. Prusias II took the opposite approach, personally humiliating himself before the Roman Senate in 167 BC, earning the nickname Philoromaios — friend of the Romans — while his own son Nicomedes conspired with Rome to depose him.
Attribution to one king or the other remains unresolved without die study against dated parallels.
Bithynia's Prusian dynasty occupied an awkward position throughout the Hellenistic period — nominally independent, perpetually squeezed between Pergamon, Pontus, and the encroaching Romans, and tactically shifting alliances to survive. Prusias I famously sheltered Hannibal after the Carthaginian general fled Rome's reach following Zama, a decision that eventually cost him Roman goodwill. Prusias II took the opposite approach, personally humiliating himself before the Roman Senate in 167 BC, earning the nickname Philoromaios — friend of the Romans — while his own son Nicomedes conspired with Rome to depose him.
Attribution to one king or the other remains unresolved without die study against dated parallels.