 The fact of appointment of a new ruler in Colchis is also known to Strabo, but he does not specify the dynast's name.As Aristarchus's extant drachms confirm he was "over Colchis", but he was not a king despite being so called by the 4th-century historian Eutropius.Aristarchus was probably one of the local aristocrats, "skeptouchoi" ("sceptre-bearers"), who chose to side with the Romans during the war with Mithridates.