Palacus
king of Crimean Scythia
Palacus (Ancient Greek: Πάλακος, romanized: Pálakos; Latin: Palacus) was the king of Crimean Scythia Minor who succeeded his father, Skilurus. Resuming the latter's war against Mithridates VI, he attempted to besiege Chersonesos but was defeated by Pontic forces under Diophantus. Enlisting the assistance of the Rhoxolani under Tasius, Palacus launched an invasion of the Crimea. The invaders were defeated by Diophantus and accepted Mithridates as their overlord. Palacus was the last Scythian king whose name is attested in classical sources.
References
Content of this page in part derives from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia article on the same subject.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Palacus” is king of Crimean Scythia. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Palacus, king and Crimean, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “king of Crimean Scythia” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2665090. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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Three-step research path
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This entry incorporates text from “Palacus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.