[1] Tryphaena was the only known daughter and the youngest child of Roman client rulers Polemon Pythodoros and Pythodorida of Pontus.

Her maternal grandparents were the wealthy Greek friends of the late Roman Triumvir Pompey Pythodoros of Tralles, and Antonia.

Through her maternal grandmother she was a direct descendant of Mark Antony and his second wife Antonia Hybrida Minor.

In the ancient Greek city of Cyzicus (now in modern Turkey) which became second her residence, Tryphaena and her children have left a number of inscriptions.

Some of these inscriptions mention her and reveal her descent, for example: After the death of Augustus in 14 AD, Tryphaena ordered and commissioned at her expense the restoration of Cyzicus.

In 19 AD Roman Emperor Tiberius opened a murder investigation into Cotys’ death.

[4] During the trial Tryphaena accused Rhescuporis II of killing her husband and forcing him to exile himself from his own kingdom.

The son of Rhescuporis II, Rhoemetalces III, was spared by Tiberius and allowed him to return to Thrace.

Her circle assisted in the political preservation of the Roman Empire's borders and affairs of the client states.

Tryphaena was appointed by Caligula in 38 AD to serve as a priestess in the cult of Julia Drusilla.

In 42 AD, she was appointed by Claudius to serve as a priestess in the cult of late Roman Empress Livia Drusilla.

In Christian literature, the Acts of Paul and Thecla set a Queen Tryphaena, a relative of the emperor, in the city of Antioch of Pisidia; the Epistle to the Romans (16:12) mentions a person named Tryphena, sends his greeting and adds ’who works in the Lord’s service’.