Nysa or Nyssa was a Princess from the Kingdom of Cappadocia

Cappadocia

Cappadocia is a historical region in Central Anatolia, largely in Nevşehir Province.In the time of Herodotus, the Cappadocians were reported as occupying the whole region from Mount Taurus to the vicinity of the Euxine...

 in Anatolia

Anatolia

Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...

.

Nysa was a monarch of Greek Macedonian

Macedonia (Greece)

Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of Greece in Southern Europe. Macedonia is the largest and second most populous Greek region...

 and Persian ancestry

Persian people

The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...

. She was the daughter and first born child of the Monarchs Ariarathes VI of Cappadocia

Ariarathes VI of Cappadocia

Ariarathes VI Epiphanes Philopator , King of Cappadocia, was the youngest son of Ariarathes V of Cappadocia and Nysa of Cappadocia.He reigned about 14 years . He was a child at his succession, and for this reason the power was kept by his mother who acted as his regent...

 and Laodice of Cappadocia

Laodice of Cappadocia

Laodice of Cappadocia, also known as Laodice was a Princess from the Kingdom of Pontus.Laodice was a monarch of Persian and Greek Macedonian ancestry. She was the daughter; first born child of the Pontian Monarchs Laodice VI and Mithridates V Euergetes who reigned 150-120 BC. Among her siblings,...

. The parents of Nysa were cousins and her younger brothers were the Kings Ariarathes VII of Cappadocia

Ariarathes VII of Cappadocia

Ariarathes VII Philometor , King of Cappadocia, was the first son of King Ariarathes VI of Cappadocia and his wife Laodice of Cappadocia. Ariarathes VII had an older sister called Nysa and a younger brother called Ariarathes VIII of Cappadocia....

 and Ariarathes VIII of Cappadocia

Ariarathes VIII of Cappadocia

Ariarathes VIII Epiphanes , King of Cappadocia, was the second son of Ariarathes VI of Cappadocia and wife Laodice of Cappadocia. Ariarathes VIII had an older sister called Nysa and an older brother called Ariarathes VII 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

Ariarathes V of Cappadocia

Ariarathes V Eusebes Philopator was son of the preceding king Ariarathes IV of Cappadocia and Antiochis. Previously called Mithridates, he reigned 33 years, 163–130 BC, as king of Cappadocia. He was distinguished by the excellence of his character and his cultivation of philosophy and the liberal...

  and mother of Ariarathes VI. She was born and raised in Cappadocia.

At an unknown date, Nysa married as his first wife Greek King Nicomedes III of Bithynia

Nicomedes III of Bithynia

Nicomedes III Euergetes was the king of Bithynia, from c. 127 BC to c. 94 BC. He was the son and successor of Nicomedes II of Bithynia by an unnamed woman....

 , 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

Seleucid Empire

The Seleucid Empire was a Greek-Macedonian state that was created out of the eastern conquests of Alexander the Great. At the height of its power, it included central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, today's Turkmenistan, Pamir and parts of Pakistan.The Seleucid Empire was a major centre...

, the Antipatrid dynasty

Antipatrid dynasty

The Antipatrid dynasty was a Macedonian dynasty founded by Cassander, the son of Antipater, who declared himself King of Macedon in 302 BC. This dynasty did not last long; in 294 BC it was overthrown by the Antigonid dynasty, whose members proved to be more effective rulers.Members of the...

 and the Antigonid dynasty

Antigonid dynasty

The Antigonid dynasty was a dynasty of Hellenistic kings descended from Alexander the Great's general Antigonus I Monophthalmus .-History:...

. Through marriage, she became Queen of Bithynia.

Nysa bore Nicomedes III two sons and a daughter: Nicomedes IV of Bithynia

Nicomedes IV of Bithynia

Nicomedes IV Philopator, was the king of Bithynia, from c. 94 BC to 74 BC. He was the first son and successor of the Monarchs Nicomedes III of Bithynia and Nysa and had a sister called Nysa....

  who reigned as king from c. 94 BC to about 74 BC; Socrates Chrestus

Socrates Chrestus

Socrates Chrestus was a Greek Prince and King of Bithynia.Socrates was the second son born to the Monarchs Nysa and Nicomedes III of Bithynia. He had a sister called Nysa and his eldest brother was his father’s heir Nicomedes IV of Bithynia...

  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