Quick Facts
Biography
Nikias was a ruler of the island of Kos who died circa 20 BCE, labeled a tyrant. The Nazareth Inscription, once thought by some to be connected to Jesus, was likely proclaimed by Augustus in the wake of the descration of his tomb.
Coins created during Nikias's rule begin after the period 50 BCE. The coins show a "young man with rather curly hair, broad forehead, hooked nose, some sparse chin hair, and a serious expression conveyed by his eyes and the downward line of his lips." The style of the coins is possibly influenced by Augustus.
Nikias is described by Strabo as a tyrant who was opposed by the "renowned harper" Theomnestus.
Aelian reports in his Varia Historia that a Nicippus (apparently the same as Nikias) had a sheep that gave birth to a lion, which was a sign that he should be king. This story is seen as a literary tradition that may point to Nikias coming from low birth.
The epigrammatist Crinagoras of Mytilene wrote:
Tell me not that death is the end of life.
The dead, like the living, have their own causes of suffering.
Look at the fate of Nicias of Cos.
He had gone to rest in Hades, and now his dead body has come again into the light of day.
For his fellow-citizens, forcing the bolts of his tomb, dragged out the poor hard-dying wretch to punishment.
