There are people who claim they can build up an immunity to venom by deliberately injecting themselves with small amounts, just like the so-called "poison king," Mithridates.
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Mithridates VI, who ruled Pontus, a Persian satrapy on the Black Sea, during the second and first centuries B.C., survived a poisoning attempt by his mother, Queen Laodice, after his father was poisoned.
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" According to Pliny the Elder, the Greco-Persian king Mithridates VI, who ruled twenty-two nations in the first century B.C., "administered their laws in as many languages, and could harangue in each of them.
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Mithridates IV was of Persian and Greek Macedonian ancestry. He was born to Mithridates III of Pontus and Laodice.Callatay, The First Royal Coinage of Pontos (from Mithridates III to Mithridates V) p.21 Mithridates IV had two siblings: a brother, Pharnaces I of Pontus, and a sister, Laodice.
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68 He left the kingdom to the joint rule of Mithridates' mother, Laodice VI, Mithridates, and his younger brother, Mithridates Chrestus. Neither Mithridates nor his younger brother were of age, and their mother retained all power as regent for the time being.Mayor, p. 69 Laodice VI's regency over Pontus was from 120 BC to 116 BC (even perhaps up to 113 BC) and favored Mithridates Chrestus over Mithridates.
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These three men served under King Alexander the Great. Mithridates was named in honor of his ancestor King Mithridates VI of Pontus. Mithridates VI was the paternal grandfather, of his paternal grandmother Dynamis. Little is known on the early life of Mithridates.
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Laodice was of Greek Macedonian and Persian ancestry. She was the daughter of Laodice and Mithridates III of Pontus.Callatay, The First Royal Coinage of Pontos (from Mithridates III to Mithridates V) p.21 Her brothers were Mithridates IV of Pontus and Pharnaces I of PontusMcGing, The foreign policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus p.
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Mithridates IV of Pontus, sometimes known by his full name Mithridates Philopator Philadelphus,McGing, The foreign policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus p.35 (, "Mithridates the father-loving, brother-loving"; died ) was a prince and sixth ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus.
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Mithridates had Machares killed, and Mithridates took the throne of the Bosporan Kingdom. Mithridates then ordered conscription and preparations for war. In 63 BC, Pharnaces II of Pontus, one of his sons, led a rebellion against his father, joined by Roman exiles in the core of Mithridates' Pontic army. Mithridates withdrew to the citadel in Panticapaeum, where he committed suicide.
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Mithridates turned to a local tribesman called Eunones, to help him. Eunones, sent envoys to Rome to Claudius with a letter from Mithridates. In Mithridates’ letter to the Emperor, Mithridates greeted and addressed him with great honor and respect from one ruler to another ruler. Mithridates asked Claudius for a pardon and to be spared from a triumphal procession or capital punishment.
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Cassius Dio, Roman History, 47.25.5 Mithridates of Pergamon overthrew Asander and became Mithridates I of the Bosporus.
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Mithridates I of Media Atropatene, sometimes known as Mithridates I and Mithridates of Media (100 BC-66 BC) was a King of Media Atropatene. Although Mithridates I was a Median Prince, little is known on his lineage and his life. In or before 67 BC, Mithridates I married an unnamed Armenian Princess from the Artaxiad Dynasty who was a daughter of the Armenian King Tigranes the Great and his wife, Cleopatra of Pontus.Cassius Dio, 36.14 Mithridates I ruled from 67 to c.
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Mithridates married an obscure Seleucid princess called Laodice.Getzel, Hellenistic settlements in Europe, the islands and Asia Minor p. 387Grainger, A Seleukid prosopography and gazetteer p.50 By this wife, he had three children: Mithridates IV of Pontus,Callatay, The First Royal Coinage of Pontos (from Mithridates III to Mithridates V) p.
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Mithridates I of the Bosporus sometimes known as Mithridates II of the Bosporus and Mithridates of Pergamon (flourished 1st century BC), was a nobleman from Anatolia. Mithridates was one of the sons born to King Mithridates VI of Pontus from his mistress, the Galatian Princess Adobogiona the Elder. He also had a full-blooded sister called Adobogiona the Younger. The Pontic prince was of Persian, Macedonian and Galatian ancestry.
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Asia Minor and surrounding region, 89 BC. In 120 BC, Mithridates V, the king of Pontus was poisoned by unknown figures.Mayor, The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome’s deadliest enemy p.68 The conspirators were probably working for his wife Laodice.Philip Matyzak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's Indomitable Enemy, p. 6 In his will Mithridates V left the kingdom to the joint rule of Laodice, Mithridates VI and Mithridates Chrestus.
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There is a painting on display at the Bibliothèque nationale de France of Laodice and Mithridates. The painting is titled Mithridates poisons Laodice, his wife/sister; Mithridates wins a duel. In The Grass Crown, the second in the Masters of Rome series, Colleen McCullough, the Australian writer, describes in detail the various aspects of Mithridates VI's life.
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Claudius wasn't sure how to punish or deal with Mithridates. Mithridates was captured and brought to Rome as a prisoner. He was displayed as a public figure beside the platform in the Roman Forum along with his guards and his expression remained undoubted. Claudius was impressed with Mithridates’ mercy from his letter and allowed Mithridates to live.
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In response, Chersonesos forged an alliance with Mithridates VI of Pontus. Skilurus died during a war against Mithridates, a decisive conflict for supremacy in the Pontic steppe. Soon after his death, the Scythians were defeated by Mithridates (ca. 108 BC).
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During Mithridates' absences, Laodice had lovers. Laodice became pregnant and gave birth to a son. To conceal her unfaithfulness to Mithridates VI, Laodice plotted to have her husband poisoned. However, Mithridates returned to Pontus suddenly and without warning, catching Laodice with her lovers.
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Archelaus was descended from King Mithridates VI of Pontus. According to Strabo, Archelaus claimed to be a son of Mithridates VI, but this claim is not plausible. Chronologically, Archelaus may have been a maternal grandson of the Pontic King; his father, Mithridates VI's favorite general, may have married one of the daughters of Mithridates VI. There is a possibility that the mother of Archelaus may have been a Pontic princess, one of the daughters born from the concubine of Mithridates VI.
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Pharnaces was killed in this battle. Strabo wrote that Asander then took possession of the Bosporus.Strabo. Geography, 4.3 In response, Julius Caesar gave a tetrarchy in Galatia and the title of king to Mithridates of Pergamon. This Mithridates became Mithridates I of the Bosporus.
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Mithridates was captured and taken to Rome as a prisoner. He was displayed as a public figure beside the platform in the Roman Forum along with his guards and his expression remained undoubted. Mithridates appealed to the Emperor for mercy to be spared from a triumphal procession or capital punishment. Claudius was impressed with Mithridates’ mercy from his letter and allowed Mithridates to live.
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36 Coins from the joint reign of Laodice and Mithridates IV display a fine double portrait, and they adapted a Ptolemaic model for coinage.Callatay, The First Royal Coinage of Pontos (from Mithridates III to Mithridates V) p.21 An example of a coin from their joint reign shows on the obverse side a draped bust of Mithridates IV and Laodice. The reverse side shows their royal titles in Greek: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΜΙΘΡΑΔΑΤΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΒΑΣΙΛΙΣΣΗΣ ΛΑΟΔΙΚΗΣ ΦΙΛΑΔΕΛΦΩΝ, which means "of King Mithridates and Queen Laodice Philadelphoi".
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The coinage of Wadfradad II shows influence from the coins minted under Mithridates I. Mithridates I died in , and was succeeded by his son Phraates II.
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Mithridates gave both royal funerals.Mayor, p. 100 Mithridates first married his younger sister Laodice, aged 16.Getzel, Hellenistic settlements in Europe, the islands, and Asia Minor p.
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Lucullus was assembling his legions in northern Phrygia, when Mithridates advanced rapidly through Paphlagonia into Bithynia, where he joined his naval forces and defeated the Roman fleet commanded by Cotta at the Battle of Chalcedon. Having besieged Cotta in Chalcedon, Mithridates continued west towards Cyzicus, in Mysia. Lucullus went to relieve Cotta and then moved on to Cyzicus, which Mithridates was besieging. The city held out and Mithridates withdrew suffering heavy losses at the Battles of the Rhyndacus and Granicus in 72 BC. After a series of naval defeats Mithridates fell back to Pontus.
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Zenobia was a daughter of King Mithridates of Armenia by his wife, a daughter of King Pharasmanes I of Iberia, who was Mithridates' own brother. At the same time, she was a wife of Rhadamistus who was Pharasmanes' son.Javakhishvili, p. 159Tacitus, XII, 46 Zenobia's father Mithridates reigned in Armenia until her husband and Mithridates' nephew and son-in-law Rhadamistus usurped the Armenian throne by the sudden invasion.
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By the time of Mithridates VI, we are told that the Pontic army had troops armed in the Roman fashion and by 86 BC Mithridates had created an army of 120,000 such troops.Plutarch, Life of Luc. 7.4 This was after an alliance between Mithridates and Sertorius, an enemy of Sulla, in which Sertorius sent a military mission to reorganize Mithridates' army along Roman lines.Peter Green (1990), Alexander to Actium, p.
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Broughton, pg. 99 Mithridates left Cotta under siege at Chalcedon while he himself marched his main army westwards. Lucullus caught Mithridates besieging Cyzicus and established a counter-siege successfully trapping Mithridates' army before the city. Famine and disease did the work for Lucullus at the Siege of Cyzicus.
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She was a daughter of King Mithridates II of Pontus and his wife Laodice. Her sister was Laodice of Pontus and her brother was Mithridates III of Pontus.
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When Mithridates VI became the sole ruler of Pontus, Laodice and her brother were practically strangers. The last time Mithridates VI had seen Laodice, she was a young girl. Sometime after Mithridates VI became sole King of Pontus, he married her. Through their marriage, Laodice became a Queen of Pontus.
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Laodice was the second daughter of the Pontic monarchs Laodice VI and Mithridates V of Pontus. Her father was assassinated in about 120 BC in Sinope, poisoned at a lavish banquet he was hosting.Mayor, The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome’s deadliest enemy p.68 In the will of her father, Mithridates V left the kingdom to the joint rule of her mother and her brothers: Mithridates VI and Mithridates Chrestus.
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Nicomedes III was soon expelled by Mithridates VI, who restored upon the throne Ariarathes VII. However, Ariarathes VII objected to his father's assassin, and ally of Mithridates VI, Gordius, having a role in the government of Cappadocia. So Mithridates VI had Ariarathes VII killed in 101 BC. Mithridates VI then put onto the Cappadocian throne his own 9 year old son, Ariarathes IX of Cappadocia, with Gordius as the regent for the young king.
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Afterwards, Mithridates and NicomedesIII both sent embassies to Rome. The Roman Senate decreed that Mithridates had to withdraw from Cappadocia and Nicomedes from Paphlagonia. Mithridates obliged, and the Romans installed Ariobarzanes in Cappadocia. In 91/90BC, while Rome was busy in the Social War in Italy, Mithridates encouraged his new ally and son-in-law, King Tigranes the Great of Armenia, to invade Cappadocia, which he did, and Ariobarzanes fled to Rome.
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Nysa was of Greek Macedonian and Persian ancestry. She was the daughter of Pharnaces I of Pontus and queen Nysa. Her brother was Mithridates. who became Mithridates V of Pontus.
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Mithridates installed a military garrison in Histria, which probably caused the third destruction of the city in the Hellenistic period. During the rule of Mithridates staters are minted in Histria.
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Mithridates IV (also spelled Mithradates IV; Mihrdāt) was a Parthian king from to 57 to 54 BC. He was the son and successor of Phraates III (). Mithridates IV's reign was marked by a dynastic struggle with his younger brother, Orodes II, who eventually emerged victorious and had Mithridates IV executed, thus succeeding him.
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In 87 BC, Hybrida accompanied Lucius Cornelius Sulla on his campaign against Mithridates VI of Pontus either as a military tribune or as a legatus. Two years prior, the Mithridatic Wars had begun due to a dispute between Mithridates and Nicomedes III of Bithynia over the Roman province of Cappadocia. Mithridates invaded and conquered both Bithynia and Cappadocia before moving on to invade the Roman province of Asia,Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's indomitable Enemy, pp 38-42. here he massacred all Roman citizens he could find,Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's indomitable Enemy, pp 44-47.
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Callatay, The First Royal Coinage of Pontos (from Mithridates III to Mithridates V) p.16 On another coin she issued, she appears on the obverse as a veiled bust, and on the reverse having her Greek royal title ΒΑΣΙΛΙΣΣΗΣ ΛΑΟΔΙΚΗΣ - ΕΠΙΘΑΝΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΦΙΛΑΔΕΛΦΟΥ which means "of Queen Laodice illustrious and sibling-loving". On the side of her royal title is a double cornucopia and a six-rayed star.Callatay, The First Royal Coinage of Pontos (from Mithridates III to Mithridates V) p.16 Laodice is the only queen with the epithet ἐπιφᾰνής (epiphanes) on a Greek coin.Callatay, The First Royal Coinage of Pontos (from Mithridates III to Mithridates V) p.21 She was honored with a statue and an inscription on the Greek island of Delos.
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Extent of the Pontic Kingdom under Mithridates VI Eupator. Before the reign of Mithridates (Darkest purple), after his conquests (purple), after his conquests in the Mithridatic Wars (pink). Mithridates VI Eupator, or Mithridates VI of Pontus, came to rule over the Pontic kingdom in 113 B.C. at the age of 11, when his father was assassinated. The Pontic kingdom is roughly located in the north-eastern quadrant of modern-day Turkey bordering against the Black Sea.
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Gabinius then arranged a conference with Mithridates and Ariobarzanes I to reconcile them. Mithridates betrothed his four-year-old daughter to Ariobarzanes and stipulated that Ariobarzanes was to retain the part of Cappadocia he held at the time and also have another part.Appian, The Mithridatic Wars, 65-66 Murena was recalled to Rome.Cicero, On Pompey's Command, 8 Mennon wrote that when Mithridates sent his envoys to Murena, he ignored them because they were mostly Greek philosophers who disparaged Mithridates.
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Mithridates followed up this success with a combined land and sea assault in which he captured most of Cotta's fleet. Mithridates left Cotta under siege and marched his main army westward taking city after city until he reached the Roman-allied city of Cyzicus.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's indomitable Enemy, pp 103-104.
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Bithynia had been a buffer state between Rome and Pontus. Its removal caused Mithridates to march his armies westwards and invade Roman territory.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's indomitable Enemy, p.101.
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Probably making use of the vile winter weather, Mithridates was able to break through Lucullus' stranglehold and marched his army towards Lampsacus.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's Indomitable Enemy, pp 111-112.
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Mithridates VI began his career of military expansion first to the east, in modern-day Georgia, and soon after followed the coast of the Black Sea to the north. Around 108 B.C. the Bosporan Kingdom was also peacefully incorporated into Mithridates VI growing Pontic Kingdom when Pairisades V handed its control to Mithridates VI. By 100 B.C the Scythians had been subdued by Mithridates, here he recruited Scythian cavalry which he employed into his later campaigns to the south. Mithridates' influence extended onto the north of the Black Sea and included the cities of Odessos, Nesebar, Histria (Istros), Tomis, Kallatis and Byzantion. Having subjugated Scythia, Mithridates turned his attention to the south and began conquering the neighbouring lands of Bithynia and Cappadocia while the Romans were embroiled in the Social War (91–88 BC), Rome attempted to force Mithridates into releasing the territory back to their respective kings urging the king of Bithynia to retaliate by invading Pontus and seizing loot to give to Rome. By 90 B.C., however, Mithridates had successfully defeated the king before attacking Pergamon and killing a Roman envoy.
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Mithridates IV was forced to flee from to Roman Syria. He took refuge with Aulus Gabinius, the Roman proconsul and governor of Syria. Mithridates IV then returned to invade Parthia with Gabinius in support. The Roman proconsul marched with Mithridates IV to the Euphrates, but turned back to restore another ruler, Ptolemy XII Auletes of Egypt, to his throne.
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Coinage has survived issued by Mithridates IV alone as well as coins issued with Laodice. The coins issued with his sister-wife display a fine double portrait and they adapted a Ptolemaic model for coinage.Callatay, The First Royal Coinage of Pontos (from Mithridates III to Mithridates V) p.21 The coinage draws attention to his Persian and Greek origins.
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He was the son of King Mithridates III of Pontus and his wife Laodice, whom he succeeded on the throne.Justin, Epitome of Pompeius Trogus, xxxviii. 5, 6 Pharnaces had two siblings: a brother called Mithridates IV of Pontus and a sister called Laodice who both succeeded Pharnaces.McGing, The foreign policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus p.
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This led many states in Asia Minor which had sided with Rome to switch allegiance. Mithridates drove all the Roman garrisons out of Cappadocia. Sulla disapproved of a war against Mithridates because he had not broken the treaty. Aulus Gabinius was sent to tell Murena that the order not to fight Mithridates was to be taken seriously.
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In 63 BC, Pharnaces, the youngest son of Mithridates, led a rebellion against his father, joined by Roman exiles in the core of Mithridates's Pontic army. Mithridates VI withdrew to the citadel in Panticapaeum, where he committed suicide. Pompey buried Mithridates VI in a rock-cut tomb in either Sinope or Amasia, the capital of the Kingdom of Pontus.
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After his defeat at the hands of Lucius Cornelius Sulla during the First Mithridatic War (89-85 BC) Mithridates had rebuilt his power and armies.Matyszak, Mithridates, p. 99. In 74 BC, Nicomedes IV the king of Bithynia died, the Romans claimed he had left them his kingdom in his will and took control of Bithynia.Matyszak, Mithridates, p. 100.
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Menchares, one of the sons of Mithridates and his governor of the Bosporian Kingdom, supplied Heraclea and its defenders from his dominions north of the Black Sea. Unfortunately for Mithridates, Menchares decided to abandon his father's cause and started negotiations with Lucullus. In exchange for the status of 'Friend and Ally' he halted his supply shipments.Matyszak, Mithridates, p.
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Triarius arrived first reinforcing Hadrianus and assuming command of the combined army. Mithridates pulled his forces back towards Comana and awaited the Romans.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great: Rome's Indomitable Enemy, p. 141. Plutarch and Appian claim Triarius wanted to defeat Mithridates before Lucullus could arrive and take the glory for himself, but this is in dispute.
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Nicomedes fled to Rome and got the support of the Romans who promised to restore him to his throne.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's Indomitable Enemy, pp. 26-27. Mithridates main ally, his son-in-law Tigranes, had once again invaded Cappadocia and driven Ariobarzanes from his throne.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's Indomitable Enemy, p. 28.
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Adobogiona (fl. c. 90 BC - c. 50 BC) was a Galatian princess from Anatolia. Adobogiona bore Mithridates VI two children: a son called Mithridates of Pergamon and a daughter called Adobogiona the Younger.
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165 Monime was a beautiful, intelligent woman and was much talked about among the Greeks. When King Mithridates VI of Pontus and his army successfully captured her native city in 89/88 BC, her beauty made a great impression on Mithridates VI. He was strongly drawn to her, as he was attracted to powerful personalities whose intelligence complemented his own. Mithridates VI thought of making Monime the jewel of his harem, and began negotiations with Philopoemen. Mithridates VI offered him 1500 gold pieces.
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Mithridates of Armenia (; , fl. 1st century) was a Pharnavazid prince of the Kingdom of Iberia who served as a King of Armenia under the protection of the Roman Empire. Mithridates was installed by Roman emperor Tiberius, who invaded Armenia in AD 35. When the Parthian prince Orodes, son of Artabanus II of Parthia, attempted to dispossess Mithridates of his newly acquired kingdom, Mithridates led a large Armenian and Iberian army and defeated the Parthians in a pitched battle (Tacitus, Annals. vi. 32-35).
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Mithridates V married the Greek Seleucid Princess Laodice VI, who was the daughter of Antiochus IV Epiphanes and Laodice IV.Walbank, Cambridge ancient history: The hellenistic world, Volume 7 p.491 Mithridates V and Laodice VI were related, thus he was connected to the Seleucid dynasty. Laodice bore Mithridates V eight children: Laodice of Cappadocia, Mithridates VI of Pontus, Mithridates Chrestus, Laodice, Nysa (sometimes spelt as Nyssa), Roxana and Statira. Roxana and Statira were compelled to kill themselves with poison after the fall of the Kingdom of Pontus in 63 BC. Nysa was taken prisoner by the Romans and made to march in the triumphs of two Roman generals.
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387 She appears to have had no children with her husband. Surviving coins that were issued by Laodice, and coins that were jointly issued by her and Mithridates IV, show that she reigned as Queen of Pontus with her brother sometime between around 162 BC and the 150s BC.Callatay, The First Royal Coinage of Pontos (from Mithridates III to Mithridates V) p.15Gabelko, The Dynastic History of the Hellenistic Monarchies of Asia Minor According to Chorography of George Synkellos p.9 From the coinage, it appears very likely that Laodice was co-regent with Mithridates IV.McGing, The foreign policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus p.
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Lucius Cornelius Sulla assumed command of the Roman war effort in 87 BC and soundly defeated Mithridates VI and his allies in 85 BC. His attention needed in Rome due to rising political challenges, Sulla imposed mild terms on Mithridates VI: Mithridates was to relinquish his control over Bithynia and Cappadocia, reinstating Ariobarzanes I and Nicomedies IV as Roman client-kings. In return, Rome allowed Mithridates VI to retain his rule over Pontus. When Nicomedes IV died in 74 BC, he bequeathed the Kingdom of Bithynia to the Roman Republic. His death caused a power vacuum in Asia Minor, allowing Mithridates VI to invade and conquer the leaderless kingdom.
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5 Mithridates of Pergamon overthrew Asander and became Mithridates I of the Bosporus. According to Mayor, Asander and Dynamis were exiled and during their time in exile they were sheltered by her mother’s Sarmatian tribe.
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As a result, Mithridates was back in control of Pontus.Lee Fratantuono, Lucullus, the Life and Campaigns of a Roman Conqueror, p.108; Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's Indomitable Enemy, pp 140-142; Mayor, p.
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Mithridates was portrayed by Furio Meniconi in the 1963 film Cleopatra.
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Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's indomitable enemy, pp.159-162.
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Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's Indomitable Enemy, pp 112-113.
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Mithridates VI tied a purple and gold ribbon around the head of Monime, the pair withdrew to the private rooms of the palace at Sinope. They married in 89/88 BC and through her marriage to Mithridates VI, Monime became his second wife and Queen of Pontus. Her father received his gold from Mithridates VI and was appointed overseer in Ephesus. Monime bore Mithridates VI a child, a daughter called Athenais.Mayor, The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome’s deadliest enemy p.
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Mithridates returned to Pontus where he was able to regain power after the Battle of Zela . Eventually, the Roman Senate sent Pompey the great to replace Lucullus and finish off Mithridates. Pompey was successful, and Mithridates was defeated at the Battle of Lycus in 66 BC, while Tigranes submitted a few months later. In 63 BC, the third Mithridatic war finally ended when Mithridates, at the age of 68, committed suicide after his son rebelled at Phanagoria, along the eastern shore of the Cimmerian Bosporus.
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Cappadocia was then briefly ruled by Nicomedes III of Bithynia (127– 94 BC), marrying Ariarathenes's widow, Laodice. Mithridates VI then ousted Nicomedes, replacing him with Aríarathes VI's son Ariarathes VII (116–101 BC), his mother Laodice acting as regent. Mithridates also had him killed and replaced with Mithridates own son, as Ariarathes IX (101–96 BC). In 97 BC there was a rebellion against this proxy monarchy and Ararathes VII's brother known as Ariarathes VIII was called upon but swiftly dealt with by Mithridates.
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After sending envoys to Claudius, Mithridates pleaded mercy in front of the Roman Emperor himself. Claudius deemed Mithridates's actions deserving of extreme penalties. However, Mithridates said that "I have not been sent, but have come back to you; if you do not believe me, let me go and pursue me" Claudius was impressed by the good-will of Mithridates, and let him live.
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His father sent Mithridates to Pergamon to be educated, where he became a leading citizen of that city. Mithridates was a tetrarch over the Trocmi tribe. In the winter of 48/47 BC, Caesar was under siege in Alexandria by the armies of Achillas, guardian and general for King Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator. Mithridates raised an army and came to Caesar’s relief.
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The quicker it was dealt with, the faster he would be able to settle political matters in Rome. With this in mind, Lucullus and his navy refused to help Fimbria, and Mithridates 'escaped' to Lesbos. Later at Dardanus, Sulla and Mithridates met personally to negotiate terms. With Fimbria re-establishing Roman hegemony over the cities of Asia Minor, Mithridates' position was completely untenable.
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The Second Mithridatic War began when Rome tried to annex a province that Mithridates claimed as his own. In the Third Mithridatic War, first Lucius Licinius Lucullus and then Pompey the Great were sent against Mithridates and his Armenian ally Tigranes the Great.Lane Fox, The Classical World, p. 363 Mithridates was finally defeated by Pompey in the night-time Battle of the Lycus.
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Hera is holding a sceptre in the right hand, while Zeus laureate holds a sceptre in his right hand and a thunderbolt in his left hand.Callatay, The First Royal Coinage of Pontos (from Mithridates III to Mithridates V) p.15 The choice of coinage is a declaration of Hellenism.McGing, The foreign policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus p.
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Mithridates I then punished Elymais for aiding Demetrius, and made Persis a Parthian vassal. Mithridates I was the first Parthian king to assume the ancient Achaemenid title of King of Kings. Due to his accomplishments, he has been compared to Cyrus the Great (), the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Mithridates I died in 132 BC, and was succeeded by his son Phraates II.
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Xiphares (; c. 85 – 65 BC) was a Pontian prince, who was the son of King Mithridates VI of Pontus from his concubine and later wife, Stratonice of Pontus. His mother turned over the stronghold of Mithridates at Coenum that had been entrusted to her protection to the Roman forces under Pompey. In revenge, Mithridates had Xiphares killed, leaving his corpse unburied.
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Coin of Mithridates V, Ecbatana mint Mithridates V ( Mihrdāt) was a Parthian contender from 129 to 140. His son, Vologases IV of Parthia (147-191), took the throne after the death of Vologases III in 147.
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In Pliny the Elder's account of famous polyglots, Mithridates could speak the languages of all the twenty-two nations he governed."Mithridates, who was king of twenty-two nations, administered their laws in as many languages, and could harangue each of them, without employing an interpreter:" Pliny the Elder, Natural History, VII, 24. This reputation led to the use of Mithridates' name as title in some later works on comparative linguistics, such as Conrad Gessner's Mithridates de differentis linguis (1555), and Adelung and Vater's Mithridates oder allgemeine Sprachenkunde (1806–1817).Johann Christoph Adelung & Johann Severin Vater, Mithridates, oder allgemeine Sprachenkunde mit dem Vater Unser als Sprachprobe in bey nahe fünf hundert Sprachen und Mundarten, Mithridites was also fluent in the ancient language of the Persians and would practice it on any Persian prisoners he had not yet killed or tortured.
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Nysa and Mithridates, were engaged to the Egyptian Greek Pharaohs Ptolemy XII Auletes and his brother Ptolemy of Cyprus. In 63 BC, when the Kingdom of Pontus was annexed by the Roman general Pompey, the remaining sisters, wives, mistresses, and children of Mithridates VI in Pontus were put to death. Plutarch, writing in his Lives (Pompey, v.45), states that Mithridates' sister and five of his children took part in Pompey's triumphal procession on his return to Rome in 61 BC. The Cappadocian Greek nobleman and high priest of the temple-state of Comana, Cappadocia, Archelaus was descended from Mithridates VI. He claimed to be a son of Mithridates VI;Strabo 17.1.
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Vologases III was succeeded by Mithridates V's son Vologases IV in 147.
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Xenophon "Cyropaedia", VIII 8.4 MithridatesII remained as ruler after Alexander's conquests and was a vassal to Antigonus I Monophthalmus, who briefly ruled Asia Minor after the Partition of Triparadisus. Mithridates was killed by Antigonus in 302BC under suspicion that he was working with his enemy Cassander. Antigonus planned to kill Mithridates' son, also called Mithridates (later named Ktistes, 'founder') but DemetriusI warned him and he escaped to the east with six horsemen.Appian "the Mithridatic wars", II Mithridates first went to the city of Cimiata in Paphlagonia and later to Amasya in Cappadocia.
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After Nicomedes III of Bithynia married Laodice, he tried to intervene in the region by sending troops; Mithridates swiftly invaded, placing his nephew Ariarathes VII of Cappadocia on the throne of Cappadocia. War soon broke out between the two, and Mithridates invaded with a large Pontic army, but AriarathesVII was murdered in 101BC before any battle was fought. Mithridates then installed his eight-year-old son, Ariarathes IX of Cappadocia as king, with Gordius as regent. In 97 Cappadocia rebelled, but the uprising was swiftly put down by Mithridates.
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But in the end he arranged for Datames' murder in 362 BC. Similarly, Mithridates gave his own father Ariobarzanes of Phrygia over to his Persian overlord, so Ariobarzanes was crucified in 362 BC. Presumably he was not the same Mithridates who accompanied the younger Cyrus in c. 401 BC - there is no proof of this. Neither is he the Mithridates mentioned by Xenophon as satrap of Cappadocia and Lycaonia in the late 5th century BC. Between 362 and 337 BC the family fiefdom of Cius in Mysia was held by Ariobarzanes II (possibly Mithridates' brother).
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After his defeat at the hands of Lucius Cornelius Sulla during the First Mithridatic War (89-85 BC) Mithridates had rebuilt his power and armies.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's Indomitable Enemy, p. 99. In 74 BC, Nicomedes IV the king of Bithynia died, the Romans claimed he had left them his kingdom and took control of Bithynia.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's Indomitable Enemy, p. 100.
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He was the first king to widely recruit Greek mercenaries in the Aegean, he was honored at Delos, and he depicted himself as Apollo on his coins. Mithridates was assassinated at Sinope in 121/0, the details of which are unclear.McGing, 36–39. Because both the sons of Mithridates V, MithridatesVI and Mithridates Chrestus, were still children, Pontus now came under the regency of his wife Laodice.
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In 86 BC, Mithridates VI, through the agency of one of his generals, deported the inhabitants of Chios, the capital city of the Greek island of Chios. Then Mithridates distributed the land to Pontian settlers he brought in. At some point, Mithridates VI met Berenice, who was a citizen from the capital of Chios. She became one of his mistresses and eventually his third wife.
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Since this wasn't deemed enough to transform Cappadocia in a satellite of Pontus, Mithridates V Euergetes' son, Mithridates VI, murdered Ariarathes using Gordius, a Cappadocian nobleman. On his death the kingdom was briefly ruled by Ariarathes' widow and then seized by King Nicomedes III of Bithynia, who married Laodice, the king's widow. Nicomedes III was soon expelled by Mithridates VI, who placed upon the throne Ariarathes VII.
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In 82 BC Murena seized 400 villages which belonged to Mithridates, who chose to wait for the return of the ambassadors, rather than retaliate. Murena returned to Phrygia and Galatia loaded with the plunder. He was reached by, Calidius, a messenger of the senate who ordered him to stop the hostilities because Mithridates had not broken the peace treaty. Murena ignored this and invaded Mithridates’ territory.
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Appian, The Mithridatic War, 98 Mithridates VI the Great of Pontus in the Louvre, Paris Cassius Dio wrote that Mithridates kept withdrawing because his forces were inferior. Pompey entered Lesser Armenia, which was not under Tigranes' rule. Mithridates did the same and encamped on a mountain that was difficult to attack. He sent the cavalry down for skirmishes, which caused a large number of desertions.
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Coin of Mithridates IV In 57 BC, Orodes and his elder brother Mithridates IV murdered Phraates III. Mithridates IV was at first supported by Orodes, however, this was short-lived. The two brothers quickly fell out, and Orodes revolted with the support of the Suren clan.; ; They both assumed the title of King of Kings to demonstrate their claims of superiority over each other.
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The rise of Mithridates offered some hope of independence to the cities of Greece. The Athenian people made Athenion the ambassador to Mithridates on the basis of his skill at oratory and experience of the east. Mithridates had other ideas. Winning the ambassador by banquets and promises he sent him back to Athens, where he set up headquarters in front of the Stoa of Attalus.
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Mithridates drove all the Roman garrisons out of Cappadocia. Aulus Gabinius was sent to reinforce the order to stop fighting and to meet Mithridates and Ariobarzanes I to reconcile them.Appian, Mithridaric Wars, 65–66. Murena was recalled to Rome.
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66 BC. Mithridates I is mentioned in the ancient sources, in the last campaign against the Roman General Lucullus in 67 BC.Cassius Dio, 35.14 He was supporting Tigranes, when his father-in-law went to war against the Romans to invade Cappadocia in 67 BC.Azerbaijan iii. Pre-Islamic History, Atropates, Persian satrap of Media, made himself independent in 321 B.C. Thereafter Greek and Latin writers named the territory as Media Atropatene or, less frequently, Media Minor: Parthian period There is a possibility that Mithridates I was present with Tigranes the Great and the King Mithridates VI of Pontus, when Tigranes and Mithridates VI were defeated by Lucullus at the Arsanias River in 66 BC.Ancient Library article on Mithridates, page 1094 Mithridates I appeared to have died in c. 66 BC, as his relative Darius I was King of Media Atropatene in c. 65 BC.Azerbaijan iii.
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The lull allowed Mithridates and Tigranes to retake part of their respective kingdoms.
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Appian, Mithridatic Wars 90. Around 67 BC, during the Third Mithridatic War, Attidius joined a conspiracy to assassinate Mithridates. The plot was discovered, and the Pontic king put him to death. In recognition of his rank, Mithridates forbade his torture.
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Previously, the war against Mithridates (commonly known as the Third Mithridatic War) had been conducted by Lucius Licinius Lucullus. By the winter of 68–7 BC, Lucullus had ejected Mithridates from his kingdom of Pontus and had invaded the Armenian empire of Mithridates' ally, Tigranes the Great. However, Lucullus was forced to halt his advances when his discontented legions (the 'Fimbrian Legions', many of whom who had been in the East since the command of Gaius Flavius Fimbria in 86 BC) mutinied under the leadership of Publius Clodius Pulcher.A.N. Sherwin-White, 'Lucullus, Pompey, and the East', in The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume IX, 2nd edition (Cambridge: 1994), pp. 239–243 Mithridates and Tigranes took advantage and renewed their offensives, Mithridates invading Pontus while Tigranes invaded Cappadocia.
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Tigranes remained a hostage at the Parthian court until , when Mithridates II released him and appointed as the king of Armenia. Tigranes ceded an area called "seventy valleys" in the Caspiane to Mithridates II, either as a pledge or because Mithridates II demanded it. Tigranes' daughter Ariazate had also married a son of Mithridates II, which has been suggested by the modern historian Edward Dąbrowa to have taken place shortly before he ascended the Armenian throne as a guarantee of his loyalty. Tigranes would remain a Parthian vassal until the end of the 80s BC. The following year, Mithridates II attacked Adiabene, Gordyene and Osrhoene and conquered these city states, shifting the western border of the Parthian realm to the Euphrates.
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Two inscriptions unearthed at Armazi, Georgia. One bilingual in Aramaic and Greek. The Greek inscription identifies Mithridates I as the son of the "great king" Pharasmanes (P'arsman), apparently the Pharasmanes I of Iberia of Tacitus’s Annals (In the same work Tacitus also mentions Mithridates I himself). The stone inscription in Greek speaks of Mithridates I as "the friend of the Caesars" and the king "of the Roman-loving Iberians".
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Laodice bore Mithridates II a child, the prince and future King Mithridates III of Commagene. Laodice is only known through from an inscription of a funerary altar found in the Turkish village of Sofraz of a local wealthy leading family, which dates around the mid-1st century AD. The altar inscribes family members that stretches over 7 generations and includes the names: Antiochus I Theos, Mithridates II, and Laodice.
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When Lucullus arrived near Cyzicus, he decided against engaging the numerically superior Pontic army. Similarly, Mithridates was reluctant to risk battle against the capable Lucullus, who eventually managed to trap the king's army on the cyzicus peninsula in a counter-siege. The siege of Cyzicus ended when Mithridates finally withdrew his army, weakened by disease and starvation.Lee Fratantuono, Lucullus, pp 57-61; Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, pp 106-113.
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These legions combined with Nicomedes IV's army to invade Mithridates' kingdom of Pontus in 89 BC. Mithridates won a decisive victory, scattering the Roman-led forces. His victorious forces were welcomed throughout Anatolia. The following year, 88 BC, Mithridates orchestrated a massacre of Roman and Italian settlers remaining in several Anatolian cities, essentially wiping out the Roman presence in the region. 80,000 people are said to have perished in this massacre.
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Mithridates V Euergetes (Greek: Μιθριδάτης ὁ εὐεργέτης, which means "Mithridates the benefactor"; fl. 2nd century BC, r. 150–120 BC); also known as Mithridates V of Pontus, Mithradates V of Pontus and Mithradates V Euergetes,Erciyas, Wealth, aristocracy and royal propaganda under the Hellenistic kingdom of the Mithradatids in the Central Black Sea Region in Turkey p.122 was a Prince and seventh King of the wealthy Kingdom of Pontus.
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Despite losing his Roman support, Mithridates IV advanced into Mesopotamia and managed to conquer Babylonia. He ousted Orodes and briefly restored his reign as king in 55 BC, minting coins in Seleucia until 54 BC. However, king Mithridates IV was besieged by Orodes' general, Surena, in Seleucia, and after a prolonged resistance, offered battle to Orodes' forces and was defeated. Mithridates IV was afterwards executed in 54 BC by Orodes.
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107 According to Cassius Dio, Pompey made friendly proposals to Mithridates to test his disposition. Mithridates tried to establish friendly relations with Phraates III, the king of Parthia. Pompey foresaw this, established a friendship with Phraates and persuaded him to invade the part of Armenia under Tigranes. Mithridates sent envoys to conclude a truce, but Pompey demanded that he lay down his arms and hand over the deserters.
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He specified that there were three Iberian chiefs and two Albanian ones. Olthaces, the chief of the Colchians, the tyrants of the Cilicians, the female rulers of the Scythians and Menander the Laodicean, the commander of Mithridates' cavalry, were also paraded . In total, 324 people were paraded. The procession included images of Tigranes and Mithridates, who were not present, and the sons and daughters of Mithridates who had died.
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Fimbria, in pursuit, laid siege to the town, but had no fleet to prevent Mithridates' escape by sea. Fimbria called upon Sulla's legate, Lucullus, to bring his fleet around to blockade Mithridates, but it seems that Sulla had other plans. Sulla apparently had been in private negotiation with Mithridates to end the war. He wanted to develop easy terms and get the ordeal over as quickly as possible.
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Mithridates was the son of Priapatius, the great-nephew of the first Arsacid king, Arsaces I (). Mithridates had several brothers, including Artabanus and his older brother Phraates I, the latter succeeding their father in 176 BC as the Parthian king. According to Parthian custom, the reigning ruler had to be succeeded by his own son. However, Phraates I broke tradition and appointed his own brother Mithridates as his successor.
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After his defeat at the hands of Lucius Cornelius Sulla during the First Mithridatic War (89-85 BC) Mithridates had rebuilt his power and armies.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's Indomitable Enemy, p.99. Then, in 74 BC, Nicomedes IV the king of Bithynia died and the Romans claimed he had left his kingdom to Rome in his will.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's indomitable Enemy, p.100.
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The Cappadocian monarchy then fell victim to the ambitions of Pontus. Ariarathes' son, Ariarathes VI (130–116 BC) was related to the Pontine monarchy through his mother Nysa of Cappadocia. His uncle, Mithridates V of Pontus (150–120 BC) had the young king married to his daughter Laodice in order to bring Cappadocia under his control. Mithridates V's son, Mithridates VI (120–63 BC) then had Ariarathes murdered.
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Nicomedes IV's brother, Socrates Chrestus, assisted by Mithridates VI, defeated Nicomedes IV's army in 90 BC, and Nicomedes IV was forced to flee to Italy. He was restored to his throne by Manius Aquillius due to Rome's influence in the region.Smith, p. 1197 However, Aquillius encouraged Nicomedes IV to raid Mithridates VI's territory, prompting Mithridates VI to retaliate again in 88 BC. Nicomedes IV fled once again to Rome.
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162-163 During the First Mithridatic War, Diodorus, a strategos and supporter of Mithridates VI, King of Pontus, had the members of the city council killed and granted control of the city to Mithridates. Following the completion of the conquest of the province of Asia in 88 BC, Mithridates ordered the execution of all Roman settlers. At Adramyttium, the Romans were driven into the sea, where they were slaughtered.Magie (2015), pp.
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His ally Mithridates later turned against and fought the Romans in 47 / 48 AD who had put him on the throne earlier in 41. Mithridates eluded the Romans and managed to recover his kingdom. The Aorsi under Prince Eunones, sent by Gaius Julius Aquila and Cotys was sent after Mithridates and his lands, later clashed with Zorsines, sieging Uspe in 49 AD (The town offered 10,000 slaves for their capitulation but the assault continued as the Romans declined). Zorsines finally decided to leave Mithridates to rule his paternal lands, after giving hostages to the Romans and thus making peace.
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Whatever his true intentions, the Greek cities (including Athens) defected to the side of Mithridates and welcomed his armies in mainland Greece, while his fleet besieged the Romans at Rhodes. Neighboring King of Armenia Tigranes the Great established an alliance with Mithridates and married one of Mithridates’ daughters, Cleopatra of Pontus. They would support each other in the coming conflict with Rome. The Romans responded by organising a large invasion force to defeat him and remove him from power. The First Mithridatic War, fought between 88 BC and 84 BC, saw Lucius Cornelius Sulla force Mithridates VI out of Greece proper.
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A coin depicting Mithridates VI Where his ancestors pursued philhellenism as a means of attaining respectability and prestige among the Hellenistic kingdoms, Mithridates VI made use of Hellenism as a political tool. Both Greeks, Romans and Asians were welcome at his court. As protector of Greek cities on the Black Sea and in Asia against barbarism, Mithridates VI logically became protector of Greece and Greek culture, and used this stance in his clashes with Rome.McGing, p. 64 Strabo mentions that Chersonesus buckled under the pressure of the barbarians and asked Mithridates VI to become its protector (7.4.3. c.308).
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Appian wrote that Murena marched across Cappadocia and attacked Comana, a town which belonged to Mithridates, because of suspicions that the latter was preparing for war against the Romans. Mithridates was fitting a fleet and raising an army to deal with a rebellion by the Colchians and the tribes around the Cimmerian Bosphorus (the Kerch Strait). It was the scale of these preparations and the fact that Mithridates had not restored the whole of Cappadocia to their king, Ariobarzanes I, who was a Roman ally, which led to this impression. Mithridates sent envoys to invoke the peace treaty.
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The northern Black sea shores of the Pontic Kingdom (actual Crimea and Kerch peninsula) shown as part of the empire of Mithridates VI of Pontus. After his defeat by Roman General Pompey in 66 BC, King Mithridates VI of Pontus fled with a small army from Colchis (modern Georgia) over the Caucasus Mountains to Crimea and made plans to raise yet another army to take on the Romans. His eldest living son, Machares, regent of Cimmerian Bosporus, was unwilling to aid his father, so Mithridates had Machares killed, acquiring the throne for himself. Mithridates then ordered the conscriptions and preparations for war.
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The Roman proconsul marched with Mithridates IV to the Euphrates, but turned back to restore another ruler, Ptolemy XII Auletes of Egypt, to his throne. Despite losing his Roman support, Mithridates IV advanced into Mesopotamia and managed to conquer Babylonia. He ousted Orodes and briefly restored his reign as king in 55 BC, minting coins in Seleucia until 54 BC. However, king Mithridates IV was besieged by Orodes' Surenid general, Surena, in Seleucia, and after a prolonged resistance, offered battle to Orodes' forces and was defeated. Mithridates IV was afterwards executed in 54 BC by Orodes.
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By now, Rome had also sent a force under Valerius Flaccus, to apprehend Sulla and deal with Mithridates. Flaccus' army passed through Macedonia, crossed the Hellespont and landed in Asia, where many of the Greek cities were in rebellion against Mithridates. This rebellion was prompted in no small part by Mithridates' harsh treatment of the islanders of Chios, whom he ordered into slavery after they allegedly kept back loot collected from the previously massacred Romans of the island. After crossing the Hellespont, Flaccus was killed in a mutiny led by Flavius Fimbria, who went on to defeat Mithridates and recapture Pergamum.
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Tetradrachm of Mithridates II, Seleucia mint Since the early 2nd-century BC, the Arsacids had begun adding obvious signals in their dynastic ideology, which emphasized their association with the heritage of the ancient Achaemenid Empire. Examples of these signs included a fictitious claim that the first Arsacid king, Arsaces I () was a descendant of the Achaemenid King of Kings, Artaxerxes II (). Achaemenid titles were also assumed by the Arsacids, including the title of "King of Kings" by Mithridates I (). However, the title was only infrequently used by Mithridates I, and it was first under Mithridates II, from c.
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Mithridates could do nothing to stop the despoiling of his lands for he had to rebuild his army. He eventually assembled 40,000 men (4,000 cavalry) near Cabira and waited for Lucullus.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great: Rome's Indomitable Enemy, p. 119; Appian, Mithridatica, 78.
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35 The star and crescent are also present with his full name.McGing, The foreign policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus p.35 The obverse had a portrait of him alone.McGing, The foreign policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus p.
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Later, however, Mithridates would appoint Phraates II as his successor. The appointment was nevertheless in accordance with Mithridates I’s vision of a king that would strengthen the empire. Particularly strong was his desire to conquer Media and the rest of the Haron fortress.
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The eastern extent of the Parthian Empire under Mithridates II reached as far as Arachosia.
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Mithridates VI quelled an uprising in the region in 83 BC and gave Colchis to his son Mithridates, who, soon being suspected in having plotted against his father, was executed. During the Third Mithridatic War, Mithridates VI made another of his sons, Machares, king of Bosporus and Colchis, who held his power, but only for a short period. On the defeat of Mithridates VI of Pontus in 65 BC, Colchis was occupied by Pompey,Pompey, Nic Fields p29 who captured one of the local chiefs (sceptuchus) Olthaces, and installed Aristarchus as a dynast (63–47 BC). On the fall of Pompey, Pharnaces II, son of Mithridates, took advantage of Julius Caesar being occupied in Egypt, and reduced Colchis, Armenia, and some part of Cappadocia, defeating Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus, whom Caesar subsequently sent against him.
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Flaccus soon took over the war against Mithridates, which Sulla interpreted as a threat; Sulla then moved to intercept Flaccus. Flaccus was disliked by his soldiers and many deserted to Sulla. That any remained was due to the legate Fimbria, who used his popularity and influence with the troops to convince them to stay. This did not benefit Flaccus for long though, as Fimbria later had the army rebel against Flaccus and continue against Mithridates under his own leadership. Fimbria tried to offer peace with Sulla, but Sulla and Mithridates were already in negotiations which were favorable to both parties, therefore negating any necessity for Fimbria’s offer to Mithridates. After confirming peace with Mithridates, Sulla went to negotiate with Fimbria, at which point Fimbria’s army deserted to Sulla and Fimbria committed suicide.
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With Mithridates VI again having designs on Roman protectorates in Asia Minor, including Bithynia, Rome launched a third war against Pontus. Dispatching Consul Lucius Licinius Lucullus to Asia, Rome drove Pontus and its ally Armenia out of Asia proper, reasserted Roman dominance over Anatolia by 71 BC, and conquered the Kingdom of Pontus. Mithridates VI then fled to his ally the Kingdom of Armenia, which was invaded by Lucullus in 69 BC. Despite his initial successes, however, Lucullus was under able to bring the war against Pontus to a close as Mithridates VI remained at-large. Recalling Lucullus, the Senate dispatched Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus ("Pompey") to the East to finally defeat Mithridates VI. Arriving in Asia Minor in 65 BC, Pompey decisively defeated Mithridates VI in the Caucasus Mountains of Kingdom of Armenia.
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The brothers of Laodice were both too young to rule and their mother retained all power as regent.Mayor, The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome’s deadliest enemy p.69 Laodice VI's regency over Pontus was from 120–116 BC (even perhaps up to 113 BC). Laodice VI favoured Mithridates Chrestus over Mithridates VI. During her mother's regency, Mithridates VI had escaped from her plots against him and had gone into hiding.
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The tombs contain big stone grave chambers inside. The area is called "Valley of the Kings" in respect to the kingdom's size as the largest in northern Anatolia and its glorious past for hundreds of years during the Hellenistic period. Five king tombs are situated in the Maidens' Palace area and belong to Mithridates I (died 266 BC), Ariobarzanes (died 250 BC), Mithridates II (died c. 210 BC), Mithridates III (died c.
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Mithridates, still unwilling to fight a decisive engagement, now began a retreat to Lesser Armenia, where he expected aid from his ally Tigranes the Great. Because of his now weakened cavalry, the retreat turned into an all-out rout, and most of the Pontic army was destroyed or captured. These events led Machares, the son of Mithridates and ruler of the Crimean Bosporus, to seek an alliance with Rome. Mithridates fled to Armenia.
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Justin wrote that Mithridates drove Nicomedes IV out of Bithynia. He probably wrote this because it was Mithridates who engineered Socrates' usurpation. Nicomedes IV fled to Rome and asked the Romans for help. The Roman senate decreed that both Nicomedes IV and Ariobarzanes I of Cappadocia, who had been deposed and driven out of Cappadocia by Mithridates, be able to return to rule their states and commissioned Manius Aquillius and Manlius Maltinus to enforce this.
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Justin, Epitome of Pompeius Trogus' Philippic Histories, 38.1 In 100 BC, after the murder of Ariarathes VII the Cappadocians revolted against Mithridates VI and called his for brother, Ariarathes VIII of Cappadocia, who was in Pergamon for his education, to return to Cappadocia to become king. Mithridates invaded Cappadocia and drove him out. Ariarathes VIII died in 96 BC. With his death his dynasty died out. Nicomedes III now feared that Mithridates would invade Bithynia.
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Upon arriving in Italy, the Senate sent a delegation to Pontus, demanding Mithridates restore Nicomedes IV to his throne. Though the Social War was still raging in Italy, Rome was able to successfully restore both kings due to the Republic's growing influence in the region. Once restored to his throne, the Senate encouraged Nicomedes IV to raid Mithridates VI's territories. Mithridates VI invaded Bithynia in 88 BC, again forcing Nicomedes IV to flee to Rome.
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Mithridates removed his mother and brother from the throne, imprisoning both, becoming the sole ruler of Pontus.Mayor, p. 394 Laodice VI died in prison, ostensibly of natural causes. Mithridates Chrestus may have died in prison also, or may have been tried for treason and executed.
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Mithridates could do nothing to stop the despoiling of his lands for he had to rebuild his army. He eventually assembled 40,000 men (4,000 cavalry) near Cabira and waited for Lucullus.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great: Rome's Indomitable Enemy, p. 119; Appian, Mithridatic Wars, 78.
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The Valerians now became the Fimbrians.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's Indomitable Enemy, pp 81-82.
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It ended automatically, however, with the death of Mithridates in 63 BC, the mission being complete.
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Upon learning of the defeat, Mithridates decided to head for Pontus in order to raise another army. As Mithridates awaited his fleet at Pitane on the northwestern coast of Asia Minor, the Fimbrians surprised him again, appearing at the gates of Pitane and besieging the town. Soon after, a Roman fleet arrived under the command of Lucius Licinius Lucullus, a legate of Sulla's. Although this fleet could have completed the encirclement and prevented Mithridates from escaping Pitane, Sulla—the chief political opponent of Fimbria's faction in Rome—had signed a separate armistice with Mithridates and Lucullus did not interfere when the Pontic fleet arrived to evacuate the king.
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Mithridates or Mithradates VI ( or ; ;The spelling "Mithridates" was the Roman Latin version, but "Mithradates", the spelling used in Greek inscriptions and Mithridates' own coins, is regaining precedence, see e.g. Oxford Classical Dictionary, 3d ed. 135–63 BC), also known as Mithradates the Great (Megas) and Eupator Dionysius, was king of Pontus and Armenia Minor in northern Anatolia from about 120–63 BC. Mithridates is remembered as one of the Roman Republic’s most formidable and successful enemies, who engaged three of the prominent generals from the late Roman Republic in the Mithridatic Wars: Sulla, Lucullus and Pompey. He has been called the greatest ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus.
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10; Eutropius, Breviarium, iv. 20 Mithridates V also increased the power of the Kingdom of Pontus by the marriage of his eldest child, his daughter Laodice of Cappadocia to King Ariarathes VI of Cappadocia. The end of his reign can only be approximately determined based on statements concerning the accession of his son Mithridates VI, which is assigned to the year 120 BC, signaling the end of the reign of Mithridates V. Mithridates V was assassinated in about 120 BC in Sinope, poisoned by unknown persons at a lavish banquet which he held.Mayor, The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome’s deadliest enemy p.
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When Mithridates fell out with Nicomedes over control of Cappadocia, and defeated him in a series of battles, the latter was constrained to openly enlist the assistance of Rome. The Romans twice interfered in the conflict on behalf of Nicomedes (95–92 BC), leaving Mithridates, should he wish to continue the expansion of his kingdom, with little choice other than to engage in a future Roman-Pontic war. By this time Mithridates had resolved to expel the Romans from Asia.Philip Matyzak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's Indomitable Enemy, pp 19-24 The next ruler of Bithynia, Nicomedes IV of Bithynia, was a figurehead manipulated by the Romans.
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Mithridates III () was the fourth King of Pontus, son of Mithridates II of Pontus and Laodice. Mithridates had two sisters: Laodice III, the first wife of the Seleucid King Antiochus III the Great, and Laodice of Pontus. He may have ruled in an uncertain period between 220 BC and 183 BC. Nothing is known of him since the years just cited, because the kingdom of Pontus disappears from history. His same existence is contested by certain historians, even if it is necessary to account for Appian's indication of Mithridates VI of Pontus as the eighth king of the dynasty and the sixth of the name.
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Following his ascension to the throne of Kingdom of Pontus, Mithridates VI of Pontus focused on expanding his kingdom. Mithridates' neighbours, however, were Roman client states, and expansion at their expense would inevitably lead him to conflict with Rome. After successfully incorporating most of the coast around the Black Sea into his kingdom, he turned his attention towards Asia Minor, in particular the Kingdom of Cappadocia, where his sister Laodice was Queen. Mithridates had his brother-in-law, Ariarathes VI, assassinated by Gordius (a Cappadocian nobleman who was allied with Mithridates) leaving the kingdom in the hands of Laodice, who ruled as regent for her son Ariarathes VII of Cappadocia.
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109/8 BC onwards, that the use of the title became a regular feature. The new title was used both on coins and engravings (attested in Greek as BAΣIΛEΥΣ BAΣIΛEΩN), and also Babylonian accounts, where it is attested as šar šarrāni. Mithridates II was more determined than his predecessors as heir and guardian of Achaemenid heritage. Drachm of Mithridates II wearing a diadem Drachm of Mithridates II wearing a tiara, minted at Rhages between 96-92 BC At the start of his reign, Mithridates II briefly used the Greek title Soter ("Saviour") at the start of his reign, which was used on his coin mints in Ecbatana and Rhages.
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123 Prior to the feast, Mithridates VI's servants warned him of Laodice's plots and they named Laodice's co-conspirators. Feeling betrayed, Mithridates cursed his late mother for raising such a treacherous daughter, and had Laodice and her collaborators executed immediately, although he spared Laodice's new born son.
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Monime rejected the offer and held out for more. Monime demanded from Mithridates VI a marriage contract and insisted that he give her a royal Diadem and the title of Queen. Because he found Monime irresistible, Mithridates VI agreed. The royal scribes prepared the marriage contract.
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Appian, Mithridatica, XI.72; Plutarch, Life of Lucullus, 8. Since Mithridates had superior numbers Lucullus refused to give battle, he decided to starve his enemy into submission. Lucullus blockaded Mithridates' huge army on the Cyzicus peninsula and let famine and plague do his work for him.
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Three drug jars for mithridatum. Mithridates' father was assassinated by poisoning, according to some at his mother's orders. After this, Mithridates's mother held regency over Pontus until a male heir was of age. Mithridates was in competition with another brother, whom his mother favored, for the throne.
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Thus the pair's earlier "reign" during the abortive campaign of 116 proved Sanatruces' sole taste of kingship. His father's longtime rival Vologases III took over Mithridates' realm, but another son of Mithridates, Vologases IV, eventually came to the throne after the death of Vologases III in 147.
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Mithridates and Nicomedes of Bithynia both invaded Paphlagonia and divided it amongst themselves. A Roman embassy was sent, but it accomplished nothing. Mithridates also took a part of Galatia that had previously been part of his father's kingdom and intervened in Cappadocia, where his sister Laodice was queen. In 116 the king of Cappadocia, AriarathesVI, was murdered by the Cappadocian noble Gordius at the behest of Mithridates, and Laodice ruled as regent over the sons of Ariarathes until 102BC.
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Mithridates was given rich presents by the king, as defeating Cyrus secured Artaxerxes' position as king. However, it was Artaxerxes' wish that all men think it was he and he alone who had slain Cyrus, thus Mithridates was given the rewards for conveying the horse trappings of Cyrus to the king. A while later when invited to a banquet, Mithridates then boasted that he was the one that killed Cyrus, not realizing that he was inducing his own undoing.
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Having made his way to Nicomedia, Cotta watched in frustration as Mithridates marched on taking Nicaea, Lampsacus, Nicomedia and Apameia, all major cities in the region. Only nearby Cyzicus held to the Roman cause, probably because many of its citizens (serving in Cotta's army as auxiliaries) had died fighting against Mithridates at Chalcedon. The Pontic army marched on Cyzicus and began a siege.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's indomitable Enemy, pp 106-113; Plutarch Life of Lucullus, 8.
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They threw their purses at Lucullus's feet and accused him that he was the only one making a personal profit of this war and told him to continue it on his own.Plutarch, Life of Lucullus, 35. Since his army refused to campaign against Mithridates, Lucullus withdrew to Galatia leaving Mithridates to consolidate his power and rebuild his army in Pontus. In 66 BC, the Senate sent Pompey (who had been lobbying for the command against Mithridates) to succeed Lucullus.
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35 Another coin from his joint rule with his sister-wife highlights his Greek origins. On one side is a draped bust of Mithridates IV and Laodice; on the reverse side, their royal titles in Greek: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΜΙΘΡΑΔΑΤΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΒΑΣΙΛΙΣΣΗΣ ΛΑΟΔΙΚΗΣ ΦΙΛΑΔΕΛΦΩΝ which means of King Mithridates and Queen Laodice Philadelphoi.McGing, The foreign policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus p.35 Philadelphoi is the plural for the Greek word Philadelphus which means sibling-loving.
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On the side of their royal titles, the coin depicts Mithridates IV and Laodice struck in the image of the Greek patron gods Zeus and Hera, who are standing facing front. Hera is holding a sceptre in her right hand, while Zeus laureate holds a sceptre in his right hand and a thunderbolt in his left.Callatay, The First Royal Coinage of Pontos (from Mithridates III to Mithridates V) p.15 The choice of coinage is a declaration of Hellenism.
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The battle was forced, and Mithridates' army easily won. Appian, a Greek historian, states that Aquillius lost about 10,000 infantry, and another source states a loss of 4,000 cavalry. As Aquillius fled, 300 were being taken prisoner and were eventually led to Mithridates, who treated them fairly and some even joined Mithridates' side. Apart from being outnumbered, an additional reason Aquillius lost was that his army was largely consisted troops from Bithynia, exiles from Cappadocia, Paphlagonians, and Galatians.
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Both Crassus and Ariarathes V fell in battle against Eumenes III. Ariarathes V's death resulted in his minor son, Ariarathes VI, occupying the Cappadocian throne. King Mithridates V of Pontus exerted control over Cappadocia by betrothing his daughter Laodice to Ariarathes VI. Mithridates V would later launch a military invasion of Cappadocia, forming the kingdom into a protectorate of the Kingdom of Pontus. Though nominally independent, Pontic influence over Cappadocia was continued by his son Mithridates VI of Pontus.
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Early coin of Mithridates I. The reverse shows a seated archer carrying a bow, whilst the obverse shows a portrait of Mithridates I wearing a soft cap (bashlyk) Since the early 2nd century BC, the Arsacids had begun adding obvious signals in their dynastic ideology, which emphasized their association with the heritage of the ancient Achaemenid Empire. Examples of these signs included a fictitious claim that the first Arsacid king, Arsaces I () was a descendant of the Achaemenid King of Kings, Artaxerxes II (). Achaemenid titles were also assumed by the Arsacids; Mithridates I was the first Arsacid ruler who adopted the former Achaemenid title of "King of Kings". Though Mithridates I was the first to readopt the title, it was not commonly used among Parthian rulers until the reign of his nephew and namesake Mithridates II, from c.
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Kohn challenges this assertion slightly, suggesting that a Roman General, Fimbria, had defeated Mithridates in 84 B.C. while Sulla and his army defeated the Greeks, who had allied themselves with Mithridates, in 85 B.C. A few years later a Roman General Murena invaded Mithridate's land, sparking the Second Mithridatic War, in the Kizil Irmak River area. Mithridates emerged victorious in this encounter around 82 B.C. During the 70s B.C. Mithridates came to further blows with Rome now against the Roman General Lucullus who forced Mithridates out of Pontus. Mithridates was now forced to flee to Armenia where he sought refuge with his son-in-law, King Tigranes I "the Great" of Armenia, who after refusing to surrender to the Romans was also be invaded by Lucullus and his army. Tigranocerta fell to the Romans during this campaign after a battle in the autumn of 69 B.C., the following year Lucullus attempted to continue the subjugation of Armenia, however, his army was unprepared for the mountainous region and climate.
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Mithridates I Ctistes (in Greek Mιθριδάτης Kτίστης; reigned 281–266 BC), also known as Mithridates III of Cius, was a Persian nobleman and the founder (this is the meaning of the word Ctistes, literally Builder) of the Kingdom of Pontus in Anatolia. Mithridates is said to have been of the same age as Demetrios Poliorketes, which means he was born in the mid-330s BC. In 302 or 301 BC, shortly after having executed the young man's father and predecessor Mithridates II of Cius, the diadoch Antigonus became suspicious of the son who had inherited the family dominion of Cius, and planned to kill the boy. Mithridates, however, received from Demetrius Poliorketes timely notice of Antigonus's intentions, and fled with a few followers to Paphlagonia, where he occupied a strong fortress, called Cimiata. He was joined by numerous bodies of troops from different quarters and gradually extended his dominions in Pontus and created the foundations for the birth of a new kingdom, which may be judged to have risen about 281 BC when Mithridates assumed the title of basileus (king).
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Mithridates then deposed NicomedesIV from Bithynia, placing Socrates Chrestus on the throne.Cambridge Ancient v. 9, 141–144.
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The other conspirators were tortured and executed. Mithridates also killed all of the plotters' families and friends.
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Orobius (identified as Lucius Orbius) was a Roman general, who defeated the supporters of Mithridates at Delos.
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Murena attacked Mithridates in 83 BC, provoking the Second Mithridatic War from 83 BC to 81 BC. Mithridates defeated Murena's two green legions at the Battle of Halys in 82 BC before peace was again declared by treaty. When Rome attempted to annex Bithynia (bequested to Rome by its last king) nearly a decade later, Mithridates VI attacked with an even larger army, leading to the Third Mithridatic War from 73 BC to 63 BC. Lucullus was sent against Mithridates and the Romans routed the Pontic forces at the Battle of Cabira in 72 BC, driving Mithridates to exile into King Tigranes' Armenia. While Lucullus was preoccupied fighting the Armenians, Mithridates surged back to retake his kingdom of Pontus by crushing four Roman legions under Valerius Triarius and killing 7,000 Roman soldiers at the Battle of Zela in 67 BC. He was routed by Pompey's legions at the Battle of the Lycus in 66 BC. After this defeat, Mithridates VI fled with a small army to Colchis (modern Georgia) and then over the Caucasus Mountains to Crimea and made plans to raise yet another army to take on the Romans. His eldest living son, Machares, viceroy of Cimmerian Bosporus, was unwilling to aid his father.
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The next year Lucullus invaded Pontus. Here he finally allowed the Fimbrians to plunder and pillage.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, p.118. Mithridates' army disintegrated after the Battle of Cabira, whereupon the Pontic king fled east to the court of his son-in-law king Tigranes II of Armenia.
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Pompey took the mountain and had wells sunk. He then besieged Mithridates' camp for 45 days. However, Mithridates managed to escape with his best men. Pompey caught up with him by the River Euphrates, lined up for battle to prevent him from crossing the river and advanced at midnight.
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The city was partly destroyed by Mithridates. The governor of Bithynia, Cotta, had fled to Chalcedon for safety along with thousands of other Romans. Three thousand of them were killed, sixty ships captured, and four ships destroyed in Mithridates' assault on the city.Appian. Mithrid. 71; Plut. Luc. 8.
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Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's Indomitable Enemy, pp. 25-26; Plutarch, Life of Sulla, 5. In Bithynia Nicomedes III had died. He was succeeded by his son Nicomedes IV. Unfortunately for Nicomedes IV, his bastard half-brother, Socrates Chrestus, supported by Mithridates drove him from his kingdom.
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Definitive proof does not place the Cyclades in the province of Asia until the time of Vespasian and Domitian. In 88 BC, Mithridates VI of Pontus, after expelling the Romans from Asia Minor, took an interest in the Aegean. His general Archelaus took Delos and most of the Cyclades, which he entrusted to Athens due to their declaration of favour for Mithridates. Delos managed to return to the Roman fold. As a punishment, the island was devastated by Mithridates’ troops.
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Bust of Mithridates VI from the Louvre Mithridates VI Eupator, 'the Good Father', followed a decisive anti-Roman agenda, extolling Greek and Iranian culture against ever-expanding Roman influence. Rome had recently created the province of Asia in Anatolia, and it had also rescinded the region of Phrygia Major from Pontus during the reign of Laodice. Mithridates began his expansion by inheriting Lesser Armenia from King Antipater (precise date unknown, c.115–106) and by conquering the Kingdom of Colchis.
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Mithridates plotted to overthrow him, but his attempts failed and Nicomedes IV, instigated by his Roman advisors, declared war on Pontus. Rome itself was involved in the Social War, a civil war with its Italian allies. Thus, in all of Roman Asia Province there were few Roman troops available. The Romans therefore mustered a great number of Asian levies and combined with Nicomedes' army they invaded Mithridates' kingdom in 89 BC. Mithridates won a decisive victory, scattering the Roman-led forces.
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After a difficult journey around the eastern half of the Black Sea, Mithridates arrived in the Bosporan Kingdom and made himself its king after murdering his son. Pompey, busy establishing Roman rule in the east, left him to his own devices. In 63 BC, while Mithridates was planning another campaign against Rome, his army rebelled and crowned Pharnaces, one of his many sons, king. Cornered, Mithridates tried to poison himself but this failed, and he was instead killed by his Gallic bodyguard.
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He once again called upon the Romans to honour the letter of the Treaty and help Mithridates punish his attackers, or at least honour its spirit and to stand aside while Mithridates himself took his revenge.Appian Mith.14 Through Pelopidas' skill in presenting the case, Mithridates' attempt to embarrass and even discredit the Roman representatives succeeded. The latter had made a show of listening fairly to both sides and were now embarrassed by the obvious injustice done to a nominal friend and ally.
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Pompey buried Mithridates in the rock-cut tombs of his ancestors in Amasya, the old capital of Pontus.
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173 During the reign of Antiochus IV, in the late 2nd century BC, Hyrcania still formed part of the Seleucid Empire.Strootman (2015) After Mithridates' conquest of Media in 148 BC, Hyrcanians launched an unsuccessful revolt, which was crushed by Mithridates shortly afterwards.Rawlinson (1873) Hyrcania served as a royal retreat and Mithridates retired there in 141 BC. In 139 BC, Demetrius II launched an invasion of the Arsacid Empire only to be defeated and captured, following which he was provided a princely residence in Hyrcania and married to Rhodogune, daughter of Mithridates. In 129 BC, the Saka tribes invaded and pillaged Hyrcania, alongside other eastern provinces, and defeated and killed two successive Arsacid kings.
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Laodice (Greek: η Λαοδίκη), was a Greek woman who lived in the 1st century BC. She had married the Greek King from the Kingdom of Commagene, Mithridates II of Commagene, the first son and heir to Greek King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene and Greek Queen Isias of Commagene. Mithridates II reigned as King of Commagene from 38 BC-20 BC. Laodice through her marriage to Mithridates II became Queen of Commagene. Little is known on her and her origins. There is a possibility like Mithridates II; Laodice was a descendant of Seleucus I Nicator, the founder of the Seleucid Empire, and a general of the ancient Macedonian king, Alexander the Great.
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Map of the Kingdom of Pontus, Before the reign of Mithridates VI (dark purple), after his conquests (purple), his conquests in the first Mithridatic wars (pink) and Pontus' ally the Kingdom of Armenia (green). Mithridates VI was a prince of Persian and Greek ancestry. He claimed descent from Cyrus the Great, the family of Darius the Great, the Regent Antipater, the generals of Alexander the Great as well as the later kings Antigonus I Monophthalmus and Seleucus I Nicator. Mithridates was born in the Pontic city of Sinope, and was raised in the Kingdom of Pontus. He was the first son among the children born to Laodice VI and Mithridates V of Pontus (reigned 150–120 BC).
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According to Justin, Mithridates II avenged the death of his "parents or ancestors" (ultor iniuriae parentum), which indicates that he fought and defeated the Tocharians, who had killed Artabanus I and Phraates II. Mithridates II also reconquered western Bactria from the Scythians. Parthian coinage and scattered reports imply that Mithridates II ruled Bactra, Kampyrtepa, and Termez, which means that he had reconquered the very lands that been conquered by his namesake Mithridates I (). Control over the middle Amu Darya including Amul was vital for the Parthians, in order to thwart incursions by nomads from Transoxiana, particularly from Sogdia. Parthian coins continued to be minted in western Bactria and in the middle Amu Darya until the reign of Gotarzes II ().
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According to Shayegan, this was done to emphasize the association of the Parthians with their Achaemenid predecessors. Several hypothesis' have been proposed regarding the end of Gotarzes' rule: According to Gholamreza F. Assar, Gotarzes' died in 87 BC and was succeeded by Orodes I, whose throne was shortly usurped by a brother of Gotarzes, named Mithridates III. According to M. Rahim Shayegan and Alberto M. Simonetta, Gotarzes died in 80 BC and was succeeded by Orodes I. Simonetta suggests that Mithridates III was not a contender of the throne during the reign of Orodes I, but that of Gotarzes, who eventually defeated Mithridates III in 87 BC. Shayegan, to the contrary of Assar and Simonetta, does not support the existence of Mithridates III, and has suggested that it was Gotarzes, and not Mithridates III, who defeated and captured the Seleucid king Demetrius III Eucaerus () in 87 BC.
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Mithridates II (also spelled Mithradates II or Mihrdad II; Mihrdāt) was king of the Parthian Empire from 124 to 91 BC. Considered one of the greatest of his dynasty to ever rule, he was known as Mithridates the Great in antiquity. Mithridates II was crowned king after the abrupt death of his predecessor Artabanus I. Inheriting a declining empire that was reeling from military pressure in both the east and west, Mithridates II quickly stabilized the situation in Mesopotamia by gaining the allegiance of Characene, and subduing the insurgent Kingdom of Elymais and also the Arabs, who had continuously raided Babylonia. Mithridates II was the first Parthian king to extend Parthian rule into Caucasus, where the kingdoms of Armenia, Iberia, and possibly Caucasian Albania became Parthian vassal states. To the east, he defeated and conquered the nomadic tribes in Bactria who had killed both of his predecessors.
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Pompey took most of Tigranes' empire in the east but allowed him to remain as king of Armenia. Meanwhile, Mithridates was organizing a defense of the Crimea when his son Pharnaces led the army in revolt; Mithridates was forced to commit suicide or was assassinated.Cambridge Ancient v. 9, 249–54.
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The Romans twice interfered in the conflict on behalf of Nicomedes (95–92 BC), leaving Mithridates, should he wish to continue the expansion of his kingdom, with little choice other than to engage in a future Roman-Pontic war. By this time Mithridates had resolved to expel the Romans from Asia.
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This was followed by a rebellion by Pharnaces.Appian, The Mithridatic War, 108-109 Appian wrote that Pharnaces conspired against his father. The conspirators were captured and tortured. However, Mithridates was persuaded to spare Pharnaces. The latter feared his father's anger and knew that Mithridates’ soldiers were not keen on the expedition.
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Mithridates antagonised Rome by seeking to expand his kingdom, and Rome for its part seemed equally eager for war and the spoils and prestige that it might bring.Matyszak, The Enemies of Rome, p. 76 In 88, Mithridates ordered the killing of a majority of the 80,000 Romans living in his kingdom.
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The year after Lucullus left office, troubles arose again in Asia. The king of Bithynia, Mithridates' rival, had died and left his kingdom to the Romans. The Senate accepted the offer. Mithridates judged that this was the right moment for the uprising and counterattack he had been planning secretly for years.
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Plutarch, Life of Lucullus, 5.2–6.5 This was a highly sought after command for Mithridates ruled very rich lands.
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Cornelius L.f. P.n. Sull]a Felix, dictator, [over king Mithridates,] 4, 3 k.Feb. {27th & 28th January}; [L. Licinius L.f.
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Archelaus regrouped and attacked a second time at the Battle of Orchomenus in 85BC but was once again defeated and suffered heavy losses. As a result of the losses and the unrest they stirred in Asia Minor, as well as the presence of the Roman army now campaigning in Bithynia, Mithridates was forced to accept a peace deal. Mithridates and Sulla met in 85BC at Dardanus. Sulla decreed that Mithridates had to surrender Roman Asia and return Bithynia and Cappadocia to their former kings.
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Epigraphic evidence also shows extensive Hellenistic influence in the interior. During the reign of Mithridates II, Pontus was allied with the Seleucids through dynastic marriages. By the time of Mithridates VI Eupator, Greek was the official language of the kingdom, though Anatolian languages continued to be spoken. The kingdom grew to its largest extent under Mithridates VI, who conquered Colchis, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, Bithynia, Lesser Armenia, the Bosporan Kingdom, the Greek colonies of the Tauric Chersonesos and, for a brief time, the Roman province of Asia.
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The Scythians and their allies the Rhoxolanoi suffered heavy losses at the hands of the Pontic general Diophantus and accepted Mithridates as their overlord.Philip Matyzak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's Indomitable Enemy, pp 13-18 The young king then turned his attention to Asia Minor, where Roman power was on the rise. He contrived to partition Paphlagonia and Galatia with King Nicomedes III of Bithynia. Yet it soon became clear to Mithridates that Nicomedes was steering his country into an anti-Pontic alliance with the expanding Roman Republic.
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Bust of Mithridates IV At the end of his term, Flaccus was made governor of the province of Asia as a countermeasure to Sulla's military operations and his diplomatic efforts toward Mithridates VI of Pontus, Rome's chief foreign adversary of the period.Brennan, The Praetorship in the Roman Republic, p. 526. Although Sulla acted illegally and had even been declared a public enemy (), Cinna apparently recognised that the threat of Mithridates required Roman co-operation.Robin Seager, "Sulla," in The Cambridge Ancient History (Cambridge University Press, 1994), vol.
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Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's Indomitable Enemy, p. 140. The Romans had not expected Mithridates to strike at them in Pontus, Lucullus and the bulk of his army had left for Northern Mesopotamia where they were laying siege to Nisibis. Marcus Fabius Hadrianus, whom Lucullus had left in command of Pontus, tried to defeat Mithridates in battle, but was routed. Hadrianus sent out desperate messengers to his commander, Lucullus, and to Gaius Valerius Triarius, his fellow legate, who was nearby bringing reinforce to Lucullus.
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The First Mithridatic War (89–85 BC) was a war challenging Rome's expanding Empire and rule over the Greek world. In this conflict, the Kingdom of Pontus and many Greek cities rebelling against Rome were led by Mithridates VI of Pontus against the Roman Republic and the Kingdom of Bithynia. The war lasted five years and ended in a Roman victory which forced Mithridates to abandon all his conquests and return to Pontus. The conflict with Mithridates VI would continue in two further Mithridatic Wars.
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During the time of the First Mithridatic War, a group of Mithridates' friends plotted to kill him. These were Mynnio and Philotimus of Smyrna, and Cleisthenes and Asclepiodotus of Lesbos. Asclepiodotus changed his mind and became an informant. He arranged to have Mithridates hide under a couch to hear the plot against him.
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Pompey moved his camp to a wooded area for protection. He set up a successful ambush. When Pompey was joined by more Roman forces Mithridates fled to the 'Armenia of Tigranes.' In Plutarch's version the location of the mountain is unspecified and Mithridates abandoned it because he thought that it had no water.
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Mithridates despised the situation. He mistrusted Cotys I, Aquila and attempted to regain his throne. Mithridates was able to entice the leaders of the local tribes and deserters into his allies. He was able to seize control of the local tribes and collect an army to declare war on Cotys I and Aquila.
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150 BC) who allied himself with Rome and her allies, including Pergamon. Mithridates IV was succeeded by his nephew, Mithridates V (c. 150 – 120 BC), son of Pharnaces I. He assisted the Romans in suppressing the revolt by the pretender of Pergamon, Eumenes III. In exchange he received Phrygia from the Romans.
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Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great: Rome's Indomitable Enemy, p. 116 and p. 118; Fratantuono, Lucullus: The Life and Campaigns of a Roman Conqueror, pp. 75–76. In the spring of 67 BC, Mithridates, who had been driven out of his kingdom by Lucullus, suddenly returned and he caught the Romans off guard.
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Mithridates II invaded Elymais and captured Susa. Then he confronted Pittit in a final battle, where he defeated him and conquered Elymais. Around the same time, Hyspaosines died, and the Parthian commander Sindates was appointed as the governor of Characene. It was first under Mithridates II that Parthian rule extended into the Caucasus.
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In August/September 80 BC, Mithridates III was dethroned in Babylon, and was shortly afterwards expelled from Susa by Orodes. Mithridates III may have survived this event and managed to flee to the north, where he continued fighting until he died the following year. Other scholars, however, do not support the existence of a Mithridates III ruling in the 80s BC.; ; According to Shayegan, the existence of rival kings such as Mithridates III during this period "repose primarily upon numismatic evidence, may find scant support in the literary and documentary sources, and can be contradicted by a diverging interpretation of the period's coinage." Shayegan deduced that Gotarzes I reigned till his death in , and was succeeded by Orodes I. Orodes I reigned during a period coined in scholarship as the "Parthian Dark Age," which refers to a period of three decades in the history of Parthian Empire starting from the death (or last years) of Mithridates II ().
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Eunones quickly sided with the Pro-Roman faction, as Aquila pointed out the strength of Rome to that of Mithridates.
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McGing, Brian Charles. The Foreign Policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 1986 (), p. 51.
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In the Mithridatic War, it was attacked by Archelaus, the general of Mithridates VI of Pontus, but he was repulsed.
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In 74BC Rome mobilized its armies in Asia Minor, probably provoked by some move made by Mithridates, but our sources are not clear on this. In 73 Mithridates invaded Bithynia, and his fleet defeated the Romans off Chalcedon and laid siege to Cyzicus. Lucullus marched from Phrygia with his five legions and forced Mithridates to retreat to Pontus.Cambridge Ancient v. 9, 229–36. In 72BC Lucullus invaded Pontus through Galatia and marched north following the river Halys to the north coast, he besieged Amisus, which withstood until 70BC. In 71 he marched through the Iris and Lycus river valleys and established his base in Cabeira. Mithridates sent his cavalry to cut the Roman supply line to Cappadocia in the south, but they suffered heavy casualties.
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After the raid Mithridates sent his spokesman Pelopidas to the Roman legates and commanders to make a complaint, apparently against Pergamon.Appian Mith.12. Nicomedes was not present and was represented by envoys, so certainly not in Bithynia. At the same time Mithridates continued with his war preparations, trusting especially in his existing alliance with Tigranes of Armenia, although the more distant connection with Parthia was now without use because his ally Mithridates II had been slain by his rival Sanatruk attacking from the east in summer 91 BC, and a serious internal war persisted between Sanatruk and Mithridates' eldest son and heir Gotarzes I. Eventually the Parthian internal conflict was to seize the entire attention of Tigranes too, but this could not yet be known.
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First performed on January 13, 1673 at the Hotel de Bourgogne, Mithridates follows Bajazet and precedes Iphigenia in Racine's work. The subject is drawn from ancient history. Mithridates VI Eupator reigned over the kingdom of Pontus, around the Black Sea. Famous for having gradually accustomed to poisons through mithridatization, he long resisted the Romans.
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Leto was intensely worshipped in Lycia, Anatolia.Appian tells of Mithridates' intention to cut down the sacred grove at the Letoon to serve in his siege of Patara on the Lycian coast; a nightmare warned him to desist. (Appian, Mithridates, 27). In Delos and Athens she was worshipped primarily as an adjunct to her children.
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Despite ruling Lesser Armenia, King Mithridates VI was an ally of Armenian King Tigranes the Great, to whom he married his daughter Cleopatra.Hewsen, 41 f. Eventually, however, the Romans defeated both King Mithridates VI and his son- in-law, Armenian King Tigranes the Great, during the Mithridatic Wars, bringing Pontus under Roman rule.Hewsen, 42.
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McGing, The foreign policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus p.35 Perseus is standing, and wearing a chlamys, pointed curved helmet and winged boots. In his left hand, he holds the harp and his right hand holding the head of Medusa.McGing, The foreign policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus p.
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Cotys I's brother despised the situation and mistrusted him and Aquila. Mithridates attempted to regain his throne. Mithridates was able to entice the leaders of the local tribes and deserters into becoming his allies. He was able to seize control of the local tribes and collect an army to declare war on Cotys and Aquila.
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The Battle of Orchomenus was fought in 85 BC between Rome and the forces of Mithridates VI of Pontus. The Roman army was led by Lucius Cornelius Sulla, while Mithridates' army was led by Archelaus. The Roman force was victorious, and Archelaus later defected to Rome. The battle ended the Mithridatic invasion of Europe.
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The people of Kos distinguished themselves by insisting that the Romans on the island, who were granted sanctuary, were not to be harmed. After Kos Mithridates went on to Mytilene on Lesbos which also surrendered without a fight. The next target was the island of Rhodes.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome Indomitable Enemy, p. 47.
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Hierax died in 226 BCE. In 222 BCE, Mithridates II gave his daughter Laodice in marriage to the Seleucid king Antiochus III. Another of his daughters, also named Laodice, was married about the same time to Achaeus, the cousin of Antiochus. In 220 BC, Mithridates declared war upon the wealthy and powerful city of Sinope.
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1 There, Ptolemy XII and Ptolemy of Cyprus seem to have been captured by Mithridates VI of Pontus in 88 BC, at the outbreak of the First Mithridatic War. Ironically, their father had reclaimed the Egyptian throne around the same time. They were held by Mithridates as hostages until 80 BC. At some point during this period, probably in 81 or 80 BC, they were engaged to two of Mithridates' daughters, Mithridatis and Nyssa.Appian, Mithridatica 16.111 Meanwhile, Ptolemy IX died in December 81 BC and was succeeded by Berenice III.
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Karcz, 2004, p. 770-773 The narrative mentions that when the earthquake took place, Mithridates VI of Pontus was attending a festival of the goddess Ceres in the Bosporus. The text is thought to describe a visit of Mithridates to the Cimmerian Bosporus (modern Kerch Strait), located at the Sea of Azov and the peninsula of Crimea.Karcz, 2004, p. 770-773 The text does not clarify whether Mithridates himself experienced the earthquake, or merely heard news about it.Karcz, 2004, p. 770-773 Chronographia by John Malalas briefly mentions the earthquake.
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Laodice married Mithridates II, as a part of a political alliance between the Seleucid Empire and the Kingdom of Pontus. In 245 BC, her mother and Seleucus II were in the Third Syrian War Third Syrian War. To gain support from the Kingdom of Pontus, Laodice was given to Mithridates II in marriage and as a marriage gift, Phrygia was transferred as well. Through her marriage Laodice became Queen of Pontus. Mithridates’ marriage to Laodice was one of the most important events of his reign and was an ambitious marriage policy he initiated.
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Modern drug regulation has historical roots in the response to the proliferation of universal antidotes which appeared in the wake of Mithridates' death. Mithridates had brought together physicians, scientists, and shamans to concoct a potion that would make him immune to poisons. Following his death, the Romans became keen on further developing the Mithridates potion's recipe. Mithridatium re-entered western society through multiple means. The first was through the Leechbook of the Bald (Bald's Leechbook), written somewhere between 900 and 950, which contained a formula for various remedies, including for a theriac.
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Mithridates, himself of mixed Persian and Greek ancestry, presented himself as the protector of the Greeks against the 'barbarians' of Rome styling himself as "King Mithridates Eupator Dionysus" and as the "great liberator". Mithridates also depicted himself with the anastole hairstyle of Alexander and used the symbolism of Herakles, from whom the Macedonian kings claimed descent. After a long struggle with Rome in the Mithridatic wars, Pontus was defeated; part of it was incorporated into the Roman Republic as the province of Bithynia, while Pontus' eastern half survived as a client kingdom.
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In Pontus Pompey caught up with and defeated Mithridates' army at the Battle of the Lycus, but the Pontic king escaped yet again.John Leach, Pompey the Great, pp 79-80; Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, pp 150-151. Unable to catch Mithridates, Pompey decided to attack Mithridates's allies: Tigranes, the Caucasian Iberians and the Caucasian Albanians. Before he advanced into Armenia, Pompey reduced the numbers of his army and granted some of his long- serving soldiers (almost certainly including the Fimbrians) their discharge, settling them in a new city called Nicopolis.
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With Sophene, it was to serve as an important centre for the transmission of Hellenistic and Roman culture in the region. Details are sketchy, but Mithridates Callinicus is thought have accepted Armenian suzerainty during the reign of Tigranes II the Great. Mithridates and Laodice's son was King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene (reigned 70 –38 BC). Antiochus was an ally of the Roman general Pompey during the latter's campaigns against Mithridates VI of Pontus in 64 BC. Thanks to his diplomatic skills, Antiochus was able to keep Commagene independent from the Romans.
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In 83 BC Murena attacked Comana, a town which belonged to Mithridates, because of suspicions that the latter was preparing for war against the Romans. Mithridates was fitting a fleet and raising an army to deal with a rebellion by the Colchians and the tribes around the Cimmerian Bosphorus. It was the scale of these preparations and the fact that he had not restored the entirety of Cappadocia to its king, Ariobarzanes I, who was a Roman ally, which led to this impression. Mithridates sent envoys to invoke the peace treaty.
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The legend of Alexander's Iberian campaign has also been preserved in Armenian historical tradition, particularly in The History of the Armenians by Moses of Chorene (probably the 5th century). Moses speaks of "Mithridates, satrap of Darius" (identifiable with Mithridates I of Pontus) installed by Alexander to rule over the Georgians. Professor Giorgi Melikishvili has drawn several parallels between the stories of the Azon of the Georgian chronicles and the Mithridates of the Armenian tradition.Kavtaradze, Giorgi L. Georgian Chronicles and the raison d'étre of the Iberian Kingdom (Caucasica II)., pp. 177-237.
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Mithridates V succeeded his paternal aunt Laodice and paternal uncle Mithridates IV of Pontus Justin, Epitome of Pompeius Trogus, xxxviii. 5 on the Pontian throne, but the circumstance of his accession is uncertain. Mithridates V continued the alliance with the Roman Republic started by his predecessors. He supported them with some ships and a small auxiliary force during the Third Punic War (149–146 BC)Appian, The foreign wars, Mithridatic Wars 10 and at a subsequent period rendered them useful assistance in the war against the King of Pergamon, Eumenes III (131–129 BC).
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Philip Matyzak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's Indomitable Enemy, pp 25-47 The Romans responded by organising a large invasion force (this time sending their own legions) to defeat him and remove him from power. The First Mithridatic War, fought between 88 BC and 84 BC, saw Lucius Cornelius Sulla force Mithridates out of Greece proper. After being victorious in several battles Sulla, being declared an outlaw by his political opponents in Rome, hurriedly concluded peace talks with Mithridates. As Sulla returned to Italy Lucius Licinius Murena was left in charge of Roman forces in Anatolia.
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In the aftermath of the Battle of Zela, Caesar made him king of the Bosporan Kingdom, by commanding him to declare war on his niece Dynamis and her husband Asander (who were then the ruling monarchs) to seize the kingship for himself. Dynamis and Asander were defeated by Mithridates and his army, and Mithridates became King of the Bosporus. However, after Caesar’s death in 44 BC, the Bosporan Kingdom was restored to Dynamis and Asander by Caesar’s great nephew and heir, Octavian (future Roman Emperor Augustus). Sometime after Mithridates abdicated, he died.
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When Aspurgus died in 38, Mithridates had become joint ruler with his mother, Gepaepyris. Sometime before 45, the Roman Emperor Claudius, had given Mithridates the whole Bosporan Kingdom to rule. Claudius recognised and appointed him as the legitimate Bosporan King. In 45 for unknown reasons Claudius, deposed Mithridates from the Bosporan throne and replaced him with his younger brother Cotys I. Claudius had withdrawn the Roman garrison under Aulus Didius Gallus from the Bosporan Kingdom and a few Roman cohorts were left with the Roman Knight Gaius Julius Aquila in the Bosporan.
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Tiberius Julius Mithridates Philogermanicus Philopatris, sometimes known as Mithridates III of the Bosporan (, Philopatris means lover of his country, flourished 1st century, died 68) was a Roman Client King of the Bosporan Kingdom. Mithridates was the first son of Roman Client Monarchs Aspurgus and Gepaepyris. page 590 His younger brother was prince and future King Cotys I. He was a prince of Greek, Iranian and Roman ancestry. He was the first grandchild and grandson of Bosporan Monarchs Asander and Dynamis and Roman Client Rulers of Thrace, Cotys VIII and Antonia Tryphaena.
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After securing mainland Asia Minor Mithridates moved on to the islands of the Aegean. He first invaded the island of Kos, a very lucrative conquest (and probably the main reason for the invasion) as the Ptolemies of Egypt and many other nations and people (like the Jews of Alexandria) had stashed part of their treasury there. The people of Kos did not put up a fight and received Mithridates as a liberator not a conqueror. Besides the treasuries Mithridates got a hold of young prince Ptolemy Auletes, who was being held safe on Kos.
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Map of Babylonia and its surroundings in the 2nd-century BC Turning his sights on the Seleucid realm, Mithridates I invaded Media and occupied Ecbatana in 148 or 147 BC; the region had recently become unstable after the Seleucids suppressed a rebellion led by Timarchus.; ; Mithridates I afterwards appointed his brother Bagasis as the governor of the area. This victory was followed by the Parthian conquest of Media Atropatene. In 141 BC, Mithridates I captured Babylonia in Mesopotamia, where he had coins minted at Seleucia and held an official investiture ceremony.
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He explained to his officers that the best way to defeat a large army is to stamp on its stomach. He then ordered his men to conduct a counter-siege, they did so and even succeeded in cutting off Mithridates' supply lines while keeping their own open.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's Indomitable Enemy, pp 108-109. Mithridates attempted to convince the Cyzicans that the Roman army was his own reserve, but Lucullus was able to get one of his men into the city and he convinced them otherwise.
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In the meantime the Roman presence in Anatolia was steadily growing. As with Pergamon Nicomedes who had no heirs, bequeathed Bithynia to Rome. This provided the opportunity for Mithridates to invade Bithynia and precipitated the Third Mithridatic War (74–63 BC). Mithridates' position was considerably weakened following the fall of Armenia to Rome in 66 BC. Pompey had dislodged Mithridates from Pontus by 65 BC, who now retreated to his northern domains but was defeated by rebellion in his own family and died, possibly by suicide, ending the Pontine Kingdom as it then existed.
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In response to the ousting of Nicomedes IV and Mithridates VI's growing power, the Senate declared war against Pontus and sent the Consul Lucius Cornelius Sulla east to defeat Mithridates VI. Rome's victory over Mithridates VI in 85 BC and the subsequent Treaty of Dardanos secured Rome as the major power in Anatolia, restored Nicomedes IV to his throne, and further brought Bithynia into closer ties with the Republic. From 80 BC to 78 BC, during the dictatorship of Sulla, Julius Caesar fled to Bithynia to avoid being killed in Sulla's proscription.
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The Senate then sent Pompey the Great to the East in order to bring the war to a close. Upon his defeat by Pompey, Mithridates VI again fled to Armenia. Tigranes, however, refused to receive him. Mithridates VI was then forced to flee north across the Black Sea to the Bosporan Kingdom under the rule of his son Machares, bringing the war to an effective end in 65 BC. When Machares refused to launch a new war against Rome, Mithridates VI had him killed and assumed the Bosporan throne for himself.
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Finally in 64-63 B.C., Pompey pushed Mithridates into the Crimean peninsula where he committed suicide ending the Third Mithridatic War.
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Antela- Bernardez suggests that after the Delian debacle Mithridates sacked all the peripatetics and elevated his own man, Aristion, to tyrant.
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Hidden Expedition: The Curse of Mithridates is the 15th game in the series. The game was released on October 27, 2017.
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It is probable that Gracchus was trying to reserve land for Roman taxation rather than have the revenues go to Mithridates.
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According to the 2nd-century Roman historian Justin, Phraates I had made his decision after noticing Mithridates' remarkable competence.Justin, xli. 41.
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The Senate in special session declared war on Mithridates, formulating a mandate to be given to the consuls of the year.
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The Coupe des Ptolémées (Cabinet des Médailles, Paris) Famous collectors begin with King Mithridates VI of Pontus (d. 63 BC), whose collection was part of the booty of Pompey the Great, who donated it to the Temple of Jupiter in Rome.Pliny, see below. Whether he was right to claim Mithridates as the first collector is dubious.
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McGing, The foreign policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus p. 21 Through his political alliance and marriage to Laodice, Mithridates II allied himself to the most important royal house in Asia, gaining impressive recognition for Pontus as a political power in the Hellenistic world. This marriage also strengthened the pro-Seleucid orientation of Pontus foreign policy.
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In 37, Mithridates was arrested by the Roman emperor Caligula for unknown reasons and Orodes in 37 was restored to his Armenian Kingship. He reigned from 37 until 42 and little is known on his reign. In 42, the Roman Emperor Claudius replaced Orodes for unknown reasons and installed again Mithridates as the new Roman Client King of Armenia.
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In 83 BC one of Mithridates' generals, Archelaus, defected to the Romans. Archelaus convinced Lucius Licinius Murena, the Roman general tasked with protecting Bithynia, that Mithridates was planning another war with Rome. Murena marched his army, including the Fimbrians, across the river Halys into Pontic territory. This operation was less an invasion than a large-scale raid for plunder.
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55; Sallust, Historiae III, fr.16. Lucullus had planned to invade Pontus before going after Mithridates himself, but he received word that his colleague, the proconsul Marcus Aurelius Cotta, had been defeated in battle and was now under siege in Chalcedon. Lucullus altered his plans and marched to Cotta's rescue. Meanwhile, Mithridates had moved on to besieging Cyzicus.
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Mithridates fled and Pharnaces was proclaimed king by the troops. Mithridates sent messengers to ask his son for permission to withdraw safely. When they did not return, he tried to poison himself. However, it did not have an effect on him because he was used to taking small portions of poison as a protection against poisoners.
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Pompey went back to Amisus (Samsun). Here he found many gifts from Pharnaces and many dead bodies of the royal family, including that of Mithridates. Pompey could not look at Mithridates' body and sent it to Sinope. Before he departed for Rome Pompey paid his army, the sum distributed amounted, we are told, to 16,000 talents (384,000,000 sesterces).
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Through his maternal grandmother Antonia Tryphaena, he was a descendant of Roman triumvir Mark Antony. Tryphaena was the first great granddaughter born to the triumvir. Through Tryphaena, Mithridates was also related to various members of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Through Aspurgus, Mithridates was a descendant of the Greek Macedonian Kings: Antigonus I Monophthalmus, Seleucus I Nicator and Regent, Antipater.
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McGing, The foreign policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus p.35 Philadelphoi is the nominative plural of the Greek word philadelphos which means "sibling-loving". On the side of their royal titles, presents Mithridates IV and Laodice struck in the image of the Greek Patron Gods Zeus and Hera. Zeus and Hera are standing facing front.
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Inschriften von Ilion 10. In 74 BC the Ilians once again demonstrated their loyalty to Rome by siding with the Roman general Lucullus against Mithridates VI.Plutarch, Lucullus 10.3, 12.2. Following the final defeat of Mithridates in 63–62, Pompey rewarded the city's loyalty by becoming the benefactor of Ilion and patron of Athena Ilias.Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 46.1565.
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Mithridates left his army to its fate and fled by ship to Nicomedia.Appian, Mithridatica, 74; Plutarch, Life of Lucullus, 9-12 Having made his way to Nicomedia, Cotta watched in frustration as Mithridates, learning that his fleet had been destroyed by Lucullus, escaped the city and sailed down the Bosporus to the town of Heraclea Pontica.
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Merv became a stronghold of Parthian dominance in the northeast. Some of Mithridates I's bronze coins portray an elephant on the reverse with the legend "of the Great King, Arsaces." The Greco-Bactrians minted coins with images of elephants, which suggests that Mithridates I's coin mints of the very animal was possibly to celebrate his conquest of Bactria.
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180; Appian Mithridates, 71; Plutarch. Lucullus, 8. Leaving Cotta under siege in Chalcedon, Mithidates moved on and started taking cities in Bithynia.
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I, 1923, pg. 180Appian Mithridates. 71; Plutarch. Lucullus. 8 There Cotta was forced to remain until Lucullus could come to his rescue.
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Priapatius was the father of three Arsacid kings, Phraates I (), who was his oldest son and successor, Mithridates I (), and Artabanus I ().
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Mithridates went further east and Murena returned to Asia.Memnon, History of Heracleia, 26 This war was followed by the Third Mithridatic War.
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Having defeated Mithridates and Tigranes of Armenia, Pompey then turned to neutralising Mithridates' remaining allies to the north, in Caucasian Albania and Iberia. In December 66 BC, the Albanian king, Oroeses had pre-emptively attacked the Roman forces but been defeated and then forced to submit. In pursuit of Mithridates, who had fled to Colchis, Pompey marched into the Caucasus the following year and defeated the Iberians under their king Artoces at the Battle of the Pelorus and continued on into Colchis. However, Mithridates fled ever further before him, to Panticapaeum in Crimea, and Pompey ceased his pursuit at the mouth of the River Phasis, sending on a portion of his fleet under Servilius to keep up the search, but turning himself and his army back south into Armenia.
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Mylothra mithridates is a moth in the family Autostichidae. It was described by László Anthony Gozmány in 1963. It is found in Iran.
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Plutarch also linked the worsening of the piracy problem to war and did so in more specific terms. The Third Mithridatic War (73–63 BC) against king Mithridates VI of Pontus (in modern northern Turkey) played a part in giving the pirates boldness because piracy lent itself to Mithridates’ service. This suggested that Mithridates fostered piracy as a means to weaken the Romans. Plutarch also thought that with the civil wars in Rome the Romans left the sea unguarded, which gave the pirates the confidence to lay waste islands and coastal cities in addition to attacking ships at sea.
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Tetranummia coined by Tiberius Julius Cotys I Mithridates III and Cotys I were sons of Aspurgus and Gepaepyris who were rulers of the Bosporan Kingdom. After the death of his father in 38, Mithridates III became joint- ruler with his mother Gepaepyris, and sometime between 38 and 45, Roman Emperor Claudius made him ruler of all of the Bosporan Kingdom. In 45, for reasons unknown, Claudius deposed Mithridates and made his younger brother, Cotys I, ruler of the Bosporan Kingdom. At the same time, Claudius withdrew the Roman garrison under Aulus Didius Gallus leaving only a few cohorts under Gaius Julius Aquila.
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He turned to Eunones, the only one of his enemies that was not in the conflict for personal benefit. Mithridates went to Eunones's palace and threw himself at the ruler's feet and said "Mithridates, whom the Romans have sought so many years by land and sea, stands before you by his own choice. Deal as you please with the descendant of the great Achaemenes, the only glory of which enemies have not robbed me." This act of greatly affected Eunones, and he raised the former ruler and was pleased that Mithridates had chosen the Aorsi to help him sue for mercy with Rome.
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He married early, and began at the same time to teach philosophy, which he did with great success at Messene and Larissa. On returning to Athens with a considerable fortune, he was named ambassador to Mithridates, king of Pontus, then at war with Rome, and became one of his most intimate friends and counsellors. His letters to Athens represented the power of Mithridates in such glowing colours, that his countrymen began to conceive of hopes of throwing off Roman rule. Mithridates then sent him to Athens around 88 BC, where he soon contrived, through the king's patronage, to assume the tyranny.
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This man, as it seems, had once been sent as an ambassador > from Mithridates to Tigranes, with a request for aid against the Romans. On > this occasion Tigranes asked him: "But what is your own advice to me, > Metrodorus, in this matter?" Whereupon Metrodorus, either with an eye to the > interests of Tigranes, or because he did not wish Mithridates to be saved, > said that as an ambassador he urged consent, but as an adviser he forbade > it. Tigranes disclosed this to Mithridates, not supposing, when he told him, > that he would punish Metrodorus past all healing.
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Clearchus (, Klearkhos; c. 401 BC – 353 BC; also spelled Cleärchus or Cleärch) was a citizen of Heraclea on the Euxine (Black Sea) who was recalled from exile by the oligarchy of that city to aid them in quelling the growing discontent and demands of the people. According to Justin, Clearchus reached an agreement with Mithridates of Cius to betray the city to him on the condition that Clearchus would hold the city for Mithridates as governor. But, Clearchus then came to the conclusion that he could make himself master of the city without the aid of Mithridates.
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The marriage occurred early in the reign of Seleucus II Callinicus, so he could secure Anatolia behind him, so that Seleucus II could turn his attention to war with the Egyptian Greek Pharaoh Ptolemy III Euergetes. At some point, Laodice may have influenced Mithridates II by her desire to weaken the Seleucid state, by supporting her first brother Seleucus II Callinicus in joint rule with her other brother Antiochus Hierax, who were at civil war with each other. Laodice bore Mithridates II three children, two daughters: Laodice III, Laodice of Pontus and a son Mithridates III of Pontus.
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While Mithridates was besieging Cyzicus, Lucullus and his army arrived; the Romans, with the help of some turncoats, were able to establish a counter-siege, trapping Mithridates' army on the Cyzicus peninsula. During the siege Mithridates sent his cavalry away, with the sick and the wounded, but they were ambushed and slaughtered at the river Rhyndacus. In the middle of a snowstorm, Lucullus met these forces with ten cohorts and attacked them in mid-crossing on both sides of the river. Plutarch and Appian record 15,000 men and 6,000 horses as being captured during the battle.
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In the spring of 67 BC, while Lucullus was laying siege to Nisibis, Mithridates suddenly returned to Pontus.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's Indomitable Enemy, p.140. The Romans had not expected Mithridates to strike at them in Pontus and he caught several small Roman detachments unaware. The legate Gaius Valerius Triarius who was nearby bringing two legions to reinforce Lucullus took command of all Roman forces in Pontus. After several skirmishes and small battles, a major battle took place on a plain near Zela (the Battle of Zela); the Romans were defeated, leaving 7,000 dead, including 24 tribunes and 150 centurions.
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From Ephesus, Mithridates ordered every Roman citizen in the province to be killed which led to the Asiatic Vespers, the slaughter of 80,000 Roman citizens in Asia, or any person who spoke with a Latin accent. Many had lived in Ephesus, and statues and monument of Roman citizens in Ephesus were also destroyed. But when they saw how badly the people of Chios had been treated by Zenobius, a general of Mithridates, they refused entry to his army. Zenobius was invited into the city to visit Philopoemen, the father of Monime, the favourite wife of Mithridates, and the overseer of Ephesus.
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The battle was another turning point in the war against Mithridates and forced him to withdraw from his kingdom, nearly penniless, and seek shelter with his ally, his father-in-law Tigranes of Armenia. Before fleeing from Pontus Mithridates ordered one of his eunuchs, Bacchus, to make his way to the royal palace and see to the deaths of the king's sisters, wives and concubines.Keaveney, Lucullus, A Life, p. 122. Lucullus continued the ongoing sieges throughout Pontus and organized it as a new Roman province, while Appius Claudius was sent to find Armenian allies and demand Mithridates from Tigranes.
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Marcus Aurelius Cotta, the Roman governor of Bithynia, was building up his forces when Mithridates invaded. Cotta, not ready to face Mithridates, retreated to Chalcedon, where he had the fleet to his back, and sent urgent messages to former consular colleague Lucullus, who had secured the command against Mithridates as his proconsular mission. Lucullus was in Asia, training and preparing his army to invade Pontus from the south, but he put his plans on halt and marched towards Bithynia to deal with the invasion. Unfortunately for the Romans, Cotta was drawn into a battle before the walls of Chalcedon and lost 3,000 men.
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Nomadic invasions had also reached the eastern Parthian province of Drangiana, where strong Saka dominions had been established, thus giving the rise to the name Sakastan ("land of the Saka"). These nomads had probably migrated to the area due to the pressure that Artabanus I and Mithridates II had been putting against them in the north. Sometime between 124 and 115 BC, Mithridates II sent an army led by a general of the House of Suren to recapture to the region. After Sakastan was incorporated back into the Parthian realm, Mithridates II rewarded the region to the Surenid general as his fiefdom.
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Between 116 and 113 BC Mithridates VI returned to Pontus from hiding and was hailed as King. He was able to remove his mother and brother from the Pontic throne and became the sole ruler of Pontus. Mithridates VI showed clemency towards his mother and brother, but imprisoned them both.Mayor, The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome’s deadliest enemy p.
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In 89 BC, Mithridates VI Eupator, king of Pontus, seized the Roman Province of Asia (in western Anatolia). Mithridates then sent Archelaus (his leading military commander) to Greece, where he established Aristion as a tyrant in Athens.The Roman consul Lucius Cornelius Sulla landed in Epirus (in western Greece) and marched on Athens. He marched through Boeotia on his way to Attica.
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However, not long after, Kamnaskires II aided the Seleucid ruler Demetrius II Nicator against the Parthian monarch Mithridates I (). However, Demetrius was eventually defeated and captured by the Parthians. Mithridates I then punished Elymais for aiding the Seleucids–he invaded the region once more and captured two of their major cities. The coins of Kamnaskires II Nikephoros are fully Hellenistic in style.
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106 Orodes had the support of the Parthian army. Orodes had lost his military campaign against Mithridates in which he may have been injured and returned to Parthia.Tacitus, Annals, 6.33-35Chaumont, Armenia between Rome and Iran I: the advent of Augustus to the accession of Diocletian, p.90 Mithridates then became the new Roman Client King of Armenia later in 35.
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After victory in several battles, Sulla received news of trouble back in Rome posed by his enemy Gaius Marius and hurriedly concluded peace talks with Mithridates. As Sulla returned to Italy Lucius Licinius Murena was left in charge of Roman forces in Anatolia. The lenient peace treaty, which was never ratified by the Senate, allowed Mithridates VI to restore his forces.
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Their sons were Mithridates, Arcathius, Machares and Pharnaces II of Pontus. Their daughters were Cleopatra of Pontus (sometimes called Cleopatra the Elder to distinguish her from her sister of the same name) and Drypetina (a diminutive form of "Drypetis"). Drypetina was Mithridates VI's most devoted daughter. Her baby teeth never fell out, so she had a double set of teeth.
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Mithridates sent some soldiers ahead to confront him, but these were also won over. Panticapaeum surrendered to Pharnaces and he had his father put to death. Mithridates took some poison, but this did not kill him as he was used to take large doses of poison as an antidote. He was weakened and did not manage to take his life.
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After the Battle of Cabira, Mithridates fled Pontus, he went to Armenia seeking his son-in-law king Tigranes' support. Joined by Lucullus at Nicomedia in 73 BC, Cotta was assigned the task of securing Lucullus' rear by taking Heraclea Pontica, which Mithridates had reinforced with 4,000 troops.Holmes, T. Rice, The Roman Republic and the Founder of the Empire, Vol.
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The younger Tigranes fled and at first wanted to go to Mithridates. However, since Mithridates had been defeated, he went over to the Romans and Pompey used him as a guide to advance into Armenia. When they reached Artaxata, the elder Tigranes surrendered the city and went voluntarily to Pompey's camp. The next day Pompey heard the claims of father and son.
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The king of the Arabians at Petra (Aretas III of Nabataea) wanted to become a friend of Rome. Pompey marched towards Petra to confirm him. Pompey was criticised because this was seen as an evasion of the pursuit of Mithridates and was urged to turn against him. There were reports that Mithridates was preparing to march on Italy via the River Danube.
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With Flaccus out of the way, Fimbria took complete command. The following year (85 BC) Fimbria took the fight to Mithridates while Sulla continued to operate in the Aegean. Fimbria quickly won a decisive victory over remaining Mithridatic forces and moved on the capital of Pergamum. With all vestige of hope crumbling for Mithridates, he fled Pergamum to the coastal city of Pitane.
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Murena returned to Phrygia and Galatia loaded with plunder. He was reached by a messenger of the senate who told him that the senate ordered him to leave Mithridates alone as he had not broken the treaty. However, he did not bring a decree and he was seen talking to Murena alone.Appian, The Mithridatic Wars, 64-65 Murena invaded Mithridates’ territory.
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Palacus or Palakus was the king of Crimean Scythia who succeeded his father, Skilurus. Resuming the latter's war against Mithridates the Great, 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.
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Diophantus ( Diofados), son of Asclepiodorus, of Sinope, was a general in the service of Mithridates VI of Pontus. Diophantus was active in Mithridates' campaigns in the Bosporan Kingdom and elsewhere around the Black Sea, although their chronology is disputed. An inscription found during the excavations in Chersonesos glorifies Diophantus as "the first foreign invader to conquer the Scythians".McGing, Brian Charles.
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The kingdom that Mithridates inherited in 171 BC was one of the many medium-sized powers that had risen with the decline of Seleucid Empire or had appeared on its borders. Other kingdoms were Greco-Bactria, Cappadocia, Media Atropatene, and Armenia. Mithridates I's domains encompassed present-day Khorasan Province, Hyrcania, northern Iran, and the southern part of present-day Turkmenistan.
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Bithynia served as a buffer state between Rome and Pontus; feeling threatened Mithridates marched his armies westwards and invade Roman territory.Matyszak, Mithridates, p. 101. The Senate responded by sending the consuls Lucius Licinius Lucullus and Marcus Aurelius Cotta to deal with the Pontic threat.Anthon, Charles & Smith, William, A New Classical Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography, Mythology and Geography, 1860, p. 226.
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Kartam was adopted by King Pharnavaz II. He married Pharnavaz's daughter and had two sons: Pharasmanes I and Mithridates. Kartam died in 33 BC.
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Mithridates of Iberia and Leo of Iberia. This younger Leo was father of Guaram I of Iberia. The accuracy of the descent is unknown.
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Holmes, pg. 180; Appian. Mithridates. 71; Plutarch. Lucullus. 8 Cotta was forced to remain in Chalcedon until Lucullus could to come to his rescue.
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Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great: Rome Indomitable Enemy, pp. 121–122; Lee Fratantuono, Lucullus: The Life and Campaigns of a Roman Conqueror, p. 69.
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Tigranes refused, stating he would prepare for war against the Republic. In 69 BC Lucullus marched his legions into Armenia in pursuit of Mithridates.
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McGing, The foreign policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus p. 90 Mithridates IV is first mentioned in 179 BC, as he is associated with Pharnaces I in a treaty concluded by Pharnaces I with the King of Pergamon, Eumenes II, in a manner which suggests that he shared some sovereign power.Polybius, Histories xxxiii. 12. The date of Mithridates’ accession to the Pontian throne is unknown, but he is recorded as the ruler of Pontus in 154 BC, when he is mentioned as sending an auxiliary force to assist the King of Pergamon, Attalus II Philadelphus, against the King of Bithynia, Prusias II. This was an important event as it signalled the start of a policy of friendship between the Kingdom of Pontus and the Roman Republic and her allies which would continue until Mithridates VI Eupator.
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The Mithridatic Wars were three conflicts fought by Rome against the Kingdom of Pontus and its allies between 88 BC and 63 BC. They are named after Mithridates VI, the King of Pontus who initiated the hostilities after annexing the Roman province of Asia into its Pontic Empire (that came to include most of Asia Minor) and committing massacres against the local Roman population known as the Asian Vespers. As Roman troops were sent to recover the territory, they faced an uprising in Greece organized and supported by Mithridates. Mithridates was able to mastermind such general revolts against Rome and played the magistrates of the optimates party off against the magistrates of the populares party in the Roman civil wars. Nevertheless, the first war ended with a Roman victory, confirmed by the Treaty of Dardanos signed by Lucius Sulla and Mithridates.
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These surpassed in number the collection of Mithridates dedicated by Caesar's rival Pompey. It is not known where or how Caesar obtained these six collections.
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During 88 BC siege of Rhodes by Mithridates VI a possible emergency series of large bronze coinage was struck as a result of the war.
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Cantù, p. 405Tacitus, XII, 47 Rhadamistus also killed Mithridates' wife, who was his own sister.Rawlinson, XVI, p. 1 Rhadamistus became King of Armenia in 51.
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Mithridates was at Cabira during the winter that L. Lucullus was besieging Amisus and Eupatoria.Appian, Mithrid. c. 78. Lucullus afterwards took Cabira.Plutarch, Lucullus, c. 18.
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The first Parthian tetradrachms, weighing in principle around 16 g with some variation, appear after Mithridates I conquered Mesopotamia and were minted exclusively at Seleucia.
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In Athens, anti-Roman elements were emboldened by the news and soon formed an alliance with Mithridates. A joint Pontic–Athenian naval expedition took Delos in 88BC, and granted the city to Athens. Many Greek city-states now joined Mithridates, including Sparta, the Achaean League, and most of the Boeotian League except Thespiae. Finally, in 87 BC, Lucius Cornelius Sulla set out from Italy with five legions.
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The most impressive symbol of Mithridates VI's approbation with Greece (Athens in particular) appears at Delos: a heroon dedicated to the Pontic king in 102/1 by the Athenian Helianax, a priest of Poseidon Aisios.McGing, p. 90 A dedication at Delos, by Dicaeus, a priest of Sarapis, was made in 94/93 BC on behalf of the Athenians, Romans, and "King Mithridates Eupator Dionysus".
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Lucius Licinius Murena was a Roman soldier and politician. He was notable for playing an important role in the Roman victory against the forces of Mithridates VI of Pontus at the Battle of Chaeronea in 86 BC during the First Mithridatic War and for engaging in another war, the Second Mithridatic War (83–81 BC), against Mithridates in Asia Minor without the authorisation of the Roman senate.
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Asia Minor just before the First Mithridatic War In the spring of 87 BC Sulla landed at Dyrrachium, in Illyria, at the head of five veteran legions.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's Indomitable Enemy, p. 55; Tom Holland, Rubicon, p. 69. Asia was occupied by the forces of Mithridates under the command of Archelaus. Sulla’s first target was Athens, ruled by a Mithridatic puppet; the tyrant Aristion.
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Ancient Library, Archelaus no.2 His paternal grandfather claimed to be descended from King Mithridates VI of Pontus.Ptolemaic Genealogy, Berenice IV, point19 Chronologically, his paternal grandfather may have been a maternal grandson of the Pontic King—his father Archelaus, the favorite general of Mithridates VI, may have married one of his monarch's daughters.Mayor, The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome’s deadliest enemy, p.
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The father of Artavasdes II was Tigranes the Great,Sandler, Ground warfare: an international encyclopedia, Volume 1, p. 884 who married Cleopatra of Pontus, a daughter of Mithridates VI from his first wife, his sister Laodice,Mayor, The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome’s deadliest enemy, pp. 114&138 thus Artavasdes II was a maternal grandson to Mithridates VI and Laodice.
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When Cotys and Aquila heard news of this war, they feared that the invasion was imminent. Both men knew they had the support of Claudius. Mithridates with his army engaged in war with Cotys I's army and Aquila's battalions, in a three-day war, which Cotys I and Aquila won unscathed and triumphant at the Don River. Mithridates was forced by Claudius to surrender.
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Murena replied that he did not see any treaties because Sulla had not written it down before he returned to Greece. He then began looting and then returned to Cappadocia to winter there. Mithridates sent envoys to Rome to complain. In 82 BC Murena seized 400 villages which belonged to Mithridates, who did not try to counter this, preferring to wait for the return of the ambassadors.
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Aquillius fled to Pergamum (the Roman capital of Asia), while Nicomedes and Cassius fled to the Lion's Head, a powerful stronghold in Phrygia. This enabled them to get Phrygian and other recruits to join their army. Mithridates soon followed, but they both managed to flee to Italy. As Mithridates established control over much of the Roman province of Asia, Aquillius was set to go back to Italy.
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Later the Rhodians claimed that the goddess herself appeared on the walls and heaved a massive fireball at the Sambucca after which it collapsed.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome Indomitable Enemy, p. 51. After the failed Sambucca assault Mithridates gave up on besieging Rhodes. He left a fleet to keep an eye on the Rhodians and prevent them from hindering his operations and returned to the mainland.
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Cimiatene (; ) was an ancient division of Paphlagonia, which took its name from a hill fort, Cimiata, at the foot of the range of Olgassys. Mithridates Ktistes slightly after 302 BC made this his first stronghold, and so became master of the Pontus. The territory remained a possession of the kings of Pontus until the death of Mithridates Eupator in 63 BC and the fall of the kingdom.
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Mithridates having failed to take the city before the onset of winter was forced to withdraw. Of the 300,000 who had set out for Bithynia only 20,000 effective troops made their way back to Pontus. Mithridates occupied Heraclea Pontica, blocking the northern land route into Pontus. Lucullus, not wanting to conduct another lengthy siege, left Heraclea to Cotta and prepared to invade Pontus by means of Galatia.
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Mithridates inflicted a crushing defeat on Roman forces under Lucullus' legate Triarius at the Battle of Zela in summer 67 BC.C. Steel, The End of the Roman Republic (Edinburgh: 2013), p. 141 Lucullus was promptly superseded in the command against Mithridates by the consul for 67 BC, Manius Acilius Glabrio, though Lucullus remained in the East for a while nonetheless.R. Williams, 'The Appointment of Glabrio (cos.
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Mithridates invaded and conquered Bithynia and the Roman provinces of Asia starting the First Mithridatic War.J. Hind, 'Mithridates', in Cambridge Ancient History, Volume IX (1994), pp.143–4 The East was seen by the Romans as a province providing an abundance of gold and silver. As such, two powerful Romans, Gaius Marius and the Consul Lucius Cornelius Sulla aimed at a command in the region.
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The reverse of Mithridates II's coin mints also see a major chance during his reign. Since the start of the Arsacid dynasty, the reverse of the coins had depicted a seated bowman wearing a bashlyk, which greatly resembled the coins of the Achaemenid satrap Datames (d. 362 BC). The bowman was originally depicted seated on a diphros, however, under Mithridates I this was changed to an omphalos.
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During 89–88 B.C. Mithridates further expanded his territory by peacefully incorporating many Greek city-states within Asia Minor into his kingdom and Greece itself sought his assistance in freeing itself from Roman rule. In 88 B.C., Mithridates had the Romans and Italic peoples residing in his kingdom and those that were within Asia Minor and Greece, including at Ephesus, Pergamon, Adramyttium, Caunus, Tralles and others, massacred in what is now called the "Asiatic Vespers". The Roman response to this was immediate and Mithridates was defeated in 85 B.C. by Sulla and pushed out of Greece the following year in the First Mithridatic War.
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According to modern genealogies, Ariobarzanes I was a son of a previous ruling King Mithridates I and his wife, an unnamed Armenian Princess from the Artaxiad Dynasty who was a daughter of the Armenian King Tigranes the Great and his wife, Cleopatra of Pontus,Cassius Dio, 36.14Toumanoff, Manual genealogy and chronology for the Christian Caucasus (Armenia, Georgia, Albania), p.p.81-82 which can explain the claims of Mithridates I’s descendants to the Armenian Kingship in opposition to the lasting ruling monarchs of the Artaxiad Dynasty. Another possibility in linking Ariobarzanes I as a son born to Mithridates I and his wife is through his name.
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The Seleucid ruler Demetrius II Nicator was at first successful in his efforts to reconquer Babylonia, however, the Seleucids were eventually defeated and Demetrius himself was captured by Parthian forces in 138 BC.; ; He was afterwards paraded in front of the Greeks of Media and Mesopotamia with the intention of making them to accept Parthian rule. Afterwards, Mithridates I had Demetrius sent to one of his palaces in Hyrcania. There Mithridates I treated his captive with great hospitality; he even married his daughter Rhodogune to Demetrius.; ; ; According to Justin, Mithridates I had plans for Syria, and planned to use Demetrius as his instrument against the new Seleucid ruler Antiochus VII Sidetes ().
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Under Mithridates I, the city of Nisa, which served as a royal residence of the Arsacids, was completely transformed. Renamed Mithradatkert ("Mithridates' fortress"), the city was made into a religious hub that was dedicated to promote the worship of Arsacid family. A sculpted head broken off from a larger statue from Mithradatkert, depicting a bearded man with noticeably Iranian facial characteristics, may be a portrait of Mithridates I. Ctesiphon, a city on the Tigris next to Seleucia, was founded during his reign. According to Strabo, the city was established as a camp for the Parthian troops, due to Arsacids not finding it suitable to send them into Seleucia.
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Of all Mithridates' accomplishments, his greatest one was to transform Parthia from a small kingdom into a major political power in the Ancient East. The reason behind his conquests in the west seems to have based on a plan to able to reach Syria, making the Parthians able to gain entry to the Mediterranean Sea. The modern historian Klaus Schippmann emphasises this, stating "Certainly, the exploits of Mithridates I can no longer simply be classified as a series of raids for the purpose of pillaging and capturing booty." The Iranologist Homa Katouzian has compared Mithridates I to Cyrus the Great (), the founder of the Achaemenid Empire.
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According to Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, Crete was aiding Mithridates, king of Pontus, by supplying him with mercenaries in the first century BC. Mithridates was then at war with Rome, and was proving to be a very difficult opponent. The Cretans also contributed to and were in alliance with the pirates of the Mediterranean.livius.org Pirates were a terrible problem in the Mediterranean at that time; they added the risk of kidnapping to sailing, pilfered grain from shipments to Rome, and attacked ports. Marcus Antonius Creticus, father of Marc Antony, sent legates to Crete concerning their involvement with Mithridates and the pirates; the Cretans dismissed the matter, and a war began.
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Flavius Mithridates' Latin Translation, the Hebrew Text, and an English Version, edited by Saverio Campanini with a Foreword by Giulio Busi, Torino, Nino Aragno Editore 2005.
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He was spared from any capital punishment and was exiled. Mithridates lived as a destitute exiled monarch until his death. He never married nor had children.
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Trapped against the marsh the Pontic soldiers had nowhere to run and were massacred.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates, p. 80; Lynda Telford, Sulla, p. 134; Frontinus, Stratagems, 2.3.17.
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Cambridge Ancient History vol. ix 156–8 Mithridates' problems were further complicated by a 'rogue' Roman army dispatched by Sulla's enemies in Rome, commanded by Flaccus and then by Gaius Flavius Fimbria which crossed from Macedonia through Thrace to Byzantium and ravaged western Asian Minor before inflicting a defeat on the Pontic forces on the Rhyndacus river. This finally led Mithridates to accept Sulla's terms (Treaty of Dardanos).Cambridge Ancient History vol. ix 161–2 Although Mithridates ended the war in a weak position, the Roman Republic was facing a whole series of civil wars, in which Sulla was embroiled. In the meantime Sulla set about re-organising the Roman administration in Western anatolia until 84 BC. Those cities that had resisted Mithridates were rewarded, for instance Rhodes regained the Peraea lost in the Macedonian wars. Those that had collaborated were forced to pay reparations.
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Mithridates II's last years of rule took place in a period coined in scholarship as the "Parthian Dark Age," which refers to a period of three decades in the history of Parthian Empire starting from the death (or last years) of Mithridates II. It is referred to as a "Dark Age" due to the lack of clear information on the events of this period in the empire, except a series of, apparently overlapping, reigns.; ; It is only with the beginning of the reign of Orodes II in , that the line of Parthian rulers can again be reliably traced. Coins, reliefs and Babylonian astronomical diaries label Gotarzes as the son and heir of Mithridates II. According to a heavily damaged relief at Behistun, Gotarzes had served as "satrap of satraps" under his father. After the death of Mithridates II in 91 BC, Gotarzes was proclaimed king at Babylon.
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Lucullus sent letters with garland to the Roman Senate declaring his victory and was recognized with significant accolades before joining the forces against Mithridates in the Bosporus.
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Adobogiona (fl. c. 70 BC – c. 30 BC) was an illegitimate daughter of king Mithridates VI of Pontus. Her mother was the Galatian princess Adobogiona the Elder.
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Athens was not amongst the cities that returned to Roman dominance as their tyrant Aristion, imposed by Mithridates VI was not disposed to capitulate to the invaders.
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Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, p. 126; Lee Frantatuono, Lucullus, p. 77. Tigranes sent one of his nobles, Mithrobarzanes, with 2,000-3,000 cavalry to expel the invader.
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Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's Indomitable Enemy, p. 139; Lee Fratantuono, Lucullus, the Life and Campaigns of a Roman Conqueror, pp. 104–105; Eutropius, Breviarium, 6.9.1.
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Iotapa (born c. 20 BC) was a daughter of King Mithridates III of Commagene. She reigned as Queen of Commagene after marrying her King brother Antiochus III.
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The lex Manilia (Law of Manilius) was a Roman law passed in 66 BC granting Pompey the military command in the East against Mithridates VI of Pontus.
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Laodice bore her brother four sons: Mithridates, Arcathius, Machares, Pharnaces II of Pontus and two daughters: Cleopatra of Pontus and Drypetina (a diminutive form of "Drypetis"). Laodice and Mithridates VI set about establishing good relations with the citizens of Athens and the Greek island of Delos. Laodice and her brother-husband made benefactions to the Athenians and the Delians. The exact nature of their benefactions and their voluntary donations are unknown.
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Bithynia served as a buffer state between Rome and Pontus; feeling threatened Mithridates marched his armies westwards and invade Roman territory.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's Indomitable Enemy, p. 101. The Senate responded by sending the consuls Lucius Licinius Lucullus and Marcus Aurelius Cotta to deal with the Pontic threat.Anthon, Charles & Smith, William, A New Classical Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography, Mythology and Geography, 1860, p. 226.
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36 in 2 BC. Ariobarzanes through his father was a distant relative of the Artaxiad Dynasty as he was a descendant of an unnamed Artaxiad Princess. She was a sister of King Artavasdes II of Armenia and married Ariobarzanes' paternal ancestor Mithridates, a previous ruling King of Media Atropatene.Cassius Dio, 36.14 Mithridates I had a son Ariobarzanes I of Media Atropatene. Ariobarzanes I had a son Artavasdes I of Media Atropatene.
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They stayed on garrison duty in Pontus, where they were caught off guard by Mithridates when he suddenly returned to his kingdom in 67 BC at the head of a combined Armenian-Pontic army.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, p.140. It is unclear whether the Fimbrians fought at the disastrous Battle of Zela that year, but their continued existence as two legions in 66 BC suggests that they probably did not.
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His father, Mithridates V, was a prince and the son of the former Pontic monarchs Pharnaces I of Pontus and his wife-cousin Nysa. His mother, Laodice VI, was a Seleucid princess and the daughter of the Seleucid monarchs Antiochus IV Epiphanes and his wife-sister Laodice IV. Mithridates V was assassinated in about 120 BC in Sinope, poisoned by unknown persons at a lavish banquet which he held.Mayor, p.
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De Medicina In his youth, after the assassination of his father Mithridates V in 120 BC, Mithridates is said to have lived in the wilderness for seven years, inuring himself to hardship. While there, and after his accession, he cultivated an immunity to poisons by regularly ingesting sub-lethal doses of the same.McGing, p. 43 He invented a complex "universal antidote" against poisoning; several versions are described in the literature.
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Lucius Cassius, Proconsul of Asia, had escaped to the fortified harbor in the city of the same name there with whatever refugees he could locate. All the Italians had been struck on a day pre-arranged by Mithridates. Their property was seized by forfeit under pretext of being for the public good, a motive that Appian, like Athenaeus, tears to shreds. The friends of Mithridates revelled in riches.
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The defenders did have a defense strategy, plotted between Mithridates and Archelaus, who were in relatively rapid communication by swift vessel. Mithridates dispatched a strike force of 120,000 men under his son, Arcathias (or Ariathes). He took Macedonia and Thessaly but the force was delayed by the natural death of the son. Had he succeeded in reaching Attica in a timely manner Sulla would have been pinned between three forces.
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Lee Fratantuono, Lucullus, p. 60; Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, p. 112. The disaster at the Rhyndacus combined with the famine and a plague which had struck his main army forced Mithridates to completely abandon his position, sailing north while his army marched overland. Lucullus pursued the army and defeated them at the confluence of the Aesepus and Granicus Rivers, slaughtering many (20,000 were killed while crossing the river Granicus).
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With Mithridates out of his reach Lucullus set about consolidating his hold on Pontus. Amisus, an important Greek city in Pontus, was still holding out against Murena whom Lucullus had put in charge of the siege. Mithridates had sent the Greek Callimachus, a master of siege warfare, to Amisus to help with its defence. Callimachus created a number of mechanical defensive devices which gave the Romans a lot of hardships.
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Anthon, Charles & Smith, William, A New Classical Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography, Mythology and Geography, 1860, pg. 226 According to Appian and Plutarch Lucullus had 30,000 infantry and 1,600-2,500 cavalry while Mithridates was rumoured to have as many as 300,000 men in his force.Appian, Mithridatica, XI.72; Plutarch, Life of Lucullus, 8. The original plan was that Cotta should tie down Mithridates' fleet, while Lucullus attacked by land.
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Pompey moved on to Colchis and wanted to march to the Cimmerian Bosporus against Mithridates. However, he realised that he would have to confront unknown hostile tribes and that a sea journey would be difficult because of a lack of harbours. Therefore, he ordered his fleet to blockade Mithridates and turned on the Albanians. He went to Armenia first to catch them off guard and then crossed the River Cyrnus.
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When Cotys I and Aquila heard news of this war, they feared that the invasion was imminent. Both men knew they had the support of Claudius. Mithridates with his army, engaged in war with Cotys I's army and Aquila's battalions, in a three-day war, which Cotys I and Aquila won unscathed and triumphant at the Don River. Mithridates knew that resistance was hopeless and considered an appeal to Claudius.
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After securing Lesbos Mithridates sailed his fleet to Rhodes, the Rhodian fleet moved out of their harbour and met the Pontic fleet en route. Mithridates, in personal command of the invasion force, ordered his numerically superior fleet to extend its line to envelop the Rhodian fleet. The Rhodians recognized his intentions and backed off quickly to avoid being surrounded. Eventually, without engaging, the Rhodians slipped back into their harbour.
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This changed the meaning of the title; originally being used as a symbol of political dominance over other realms, the title became known as a symbol of power and legitimacy for contenders in a royal family. Mithridates IV was forced to flee to Roman Syria. He took refuge with Aulus Gabinius, the Roman proconsul and governor of Syria. Mithridates IV then returned to invade Parthia with Gabinius in support.
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Some 4,000 cavalry and infantry fell upon the convoy; unfortunately, the Romans realized the narrow valley at the scene limited the effectiveness of their opponents' cavalry, so they counter-attacked and wiped out half the attacking force.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great: Rome's Indomitable Enemy p. 121; Lee Fratantuono, Lucullus: the Life and Campaings of a Roman Conqueror p. 69. Mithridates sought to conceal the extent of the disaster from his army.
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Tigranes assembled a large (but untrained) army and the two forces met at Tigranocerta, the kingdom's new capital, with Lucullus decisively winning the ensuing battle.Lee Frantantuono, Lucullus, the life and campaigns of a Roman conqueror, pp.89-91; Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's indomitable enemy, pp.128-136. Tigranes and Mithridates fled north to Armenia's old capital of Artaxata, where they recruited, trained and equipped a new army.
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Soon after the battle, there was a near mutiny in Lucullus' camp. His troops were worn out after marching for 960 miles (1,500 km) and fighting many battles with little to show for it. They refused to march after Tigranes and Mithridates and forced Lucullus to turn south and invade the Armenian possessions in Mesopotamia. Mithridates and Tigranes turned to guerilla warfare and soon, Armenia was back in Tigranes' hands.
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99 BC to take him to task. Amongst further turmoil in that kingdom, he again sent to Rome for support of his latest candidate as did his rival. The Senate promptly ordered Mithridates out of Cappadocia (and Nicomedes out of Paphlagonia). Mithridates appears to have withdrawn by 89 BC, while Sulla the Governor of Cilicia was dispatched to install a new Cappadocian king (Ariobarzanes I (95–c.63 BC).
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Laodice married Nicomedes III of Bithynia, whose country was Pontus' traditional enemy. Nicomedes occupied Cappadocia and Mithridates retaliated by driving him out of Cappadocia and establishing himself as patron of his nephew's kingship on the throne. When Ariarathes refused to welcome Gordius back, Mithridates invaded Cappadocia again and killed Ariarathes. He proceeded to place his son, also called Ariarathes, on the throne of Cappadocia under the guardianship of Gordius.
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Yet the greatest expansion of Parthian power and territory took place during the reign of his brother and successor Mithridates I (r. c. 171–132 BC), whom Katouzian compares to Cyrus the Great (d. 530 BC), founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Relations between Parthia and Greco-Bactria deteriorated after the death of Diodotus II, when Mithridates' forces captured two eparchies of the latter kingdom, then under Eucratides I (r. c.
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114&138 Thus Artavasdes II was a maternal grandson to Mithridates VI and Laodice. Archelaus was the maternal uncle of Glaphyra's children: Tigranes, Alexander and her unnamed daughter.
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The slaughter was terrible, and some reports estimate that only 10,000 men of Mithridates' original army survived. Sulla had defeated a vastly superior force in terms of numbers.
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Mithridates I (also spelled Mithradates I or Mihrdad I; Mihrdāt), also known as Mithridates I the Great, was king of the Parthian Empire from 171 BC to 132 BC. During his reign, Parthia was transformed from a small kingdom into a major political power in the Ancient East as a result of his conquests. He first conquered Aria, Margiana and western Bactria from the Greco-Bactrians sometime in 163–155 BC, and then waged war with the Seleucid Empire, conquering Media and Atropatene in 148/7 BC. In 141 BC, he conquered Babylonia and held an official investiture ceremony in Seleucia. The kingdoms of Elymais and Characene shortly afterwards became Parthian vassals. In BC, while Mithridates was fighting the nomadic Saka in the east, the Seleucid king Demetrius II Nicator attempted to regain the lost territories; initially successful, he was defeated and captured in 138 BC, and shortly afterwards sent to one of Mithridates I's palaces in Hyrcania.
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Machares (; in Persian: warrior;Mayor, The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome’s deadliest enemy p.114 died 65 BC) was a Pontian prince and son of King Mithridates VI of Pontus and Queen Laodice. He was made by his father ruler of the Bosporan Kingdom after Mithridates, for the second time, reduced that country, after the short war with the Roman Murena, in 80 BC. In 73 BC, Mithridates, after his defeat by the Romans at Cyzicus, applied to Machares for succours, which were at the time readily furnished; but two years afterwards the repeated disasters of Mithridates proved too much for the fidelity of Machares, and he sent an embassy to the Roman general Lucullus with a present of a crown of gold, and requested to be admitted to terms of alliance with Rome. This was readily granted by Lucullus; and as a proof of his sincerity, Machares furnished the Roman general with supplies and assistance in the siege of Sinope.
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A Roman army under Manius Aquillius arrived in Asia Minor in 90BC, which prompted Mithridates and Tigranes to withdraw. Cappadocia and Bithynia were restored to their respective monarchs, but then faced large debts to Rome due to their bribes for the Roman senators, and NicomedesIV was eventually convinced by Aquillius to attack Pontus in order to repay the debts. He plundered as far as Amastris, and returned with much loot. Mithridates invaded Cappadocia once again, and Rome declared war.Appian, II In the summer of 89 BC, Mithridates invaded Bithynia and defeated Nicomedes and Aquillius in battle. He moved swiftly into Roman Asia and resistance crumbled; by 88 he had obtained the surrender of most of the newly created province.
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Mithridates (in Greek Mιθριδάτης; lived 4th century BCE), son of Ariobarzanes prince of Cius, is mentioned by Xenophon as having betrayed his father, and the same circumstance is alluded to by Aristotle. He may or may not be the same Mithradates who accompanied the younger Cyrus, or the same Mithradates mentioned by Xenophon as satrap of Cappadocia and Lycaonia in the late 5th century BCE. During the Satraps' Revolt in the 360s BCE, Mithridates tricked Datames to believe in him, but in the end arranged Datames' murder in 362 BCE. Similarly, Mithridates gave his own father Ariobarzanes of Phrygia to the hands of the Persian overlord, so Ariobarzanes was crucified in 362 BCE.
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This calendar era began with the first Bithynian king Zipoites I in 297 BC. It was certainly in use in Pontus by 96 BC at the latest.Jakob Munk Højte, "From Kingdom to Province: Reshaping Pontos after the Fall of Mithridates VI", in Tønnes Bekker-Nielsen (ed.), Rome and the Black Sea Region: Domination, Romanisation, Resistance (Aarhus University Press, 2006), 15–30. Yet it soon became clear to Mithridates that Nicomedes was steering his country into an anti-Pontic alliance with the expanding Roman Republic. When Mithridates fell out with Nicomedes over control of Cappadocia, and defeated him in a series of battles, the latter was constrained to openly enlist the assistance of Rome.
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His sixth wife Hypsicratea, famed for her loyalty and prowess in battle, was Caucasian, and they were married from an unknown date to 63 BC. One of his mistresses was the Galatian Celtic Princess Adobogiona the Elder. By Adobogiona, Mithridates had two children: a son called Mithridates I of the Bosporus and a daughter called Adobogiona the Younger. His sons born from his concubines were Cyrus, Xerxes, Darius, Ariarathes IX of Cappadocia, Artaphernes, Oxathres, Phoenix (Mithridates’ son by a mistress of Syrian descent), and Exipodras, named after kings of the Persian Empire, which he claimed ancestry from. His daughters born from his concubines were Nysa, Eupatra, Cleopatra the Younger, Mithridatis and Orsabaris.
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He was wary of drawing into a direct engagement with Mithridates, due to the latter's superior cavalry. However, after several small battles and many skirmishes, Lucullus finally defeated him at the Battle of Cabira. He did not pursue Mithridates immediately, but instead he finished conquering the kingdom of Pontus and setting the affairs of Asia into order. His attempts to reform the rapacious Roman administration in Asia made him increasingly unpopular among the powerful publicani back in Rome. Mithridates had fled to Armenia and in 71 BC Lucullus sent his brother-in-law Appius Claudius Pulcher (later consul 54 BC) as envoy to the Armenian King of Kings Tigranes II to demand the surrender of the Pontic king.
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The bellum Mithridaticum, ("Mithridatic War") referred in official Roman circles to the mandate, or warrant, issued by the Roman Senate in 88 BC pertaining to the declaration of war against Mithridates by that body. Handed at first to the consuls, it would not end until the death of Mithridates or the declaration by the Senate that it was at an end. As there were no intermissions in the warrant until the death of Mithridates in 63 BC, there was officially only one Mithridatic War. In its final phases it was taken over by the Roman Assembly, which had precedence over the Senate, and which was convinced that the Senate could not execute the warrant.
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Approaching Mithridates' camp an engagement broke out between Pompey's vanguard and Mithridates' rearguard in a defile. According to Appian some of the Pontic cavalrymen were fighting the Romans dismounted and making a good show of it until a large contingent of Roman-allied cavalry showed up. The cavalrymen ran back to the camp to get their horses but this caused a general retreat because their companions did not know why they were running away and they did not want to stay and find out. Pompey wanting to make use of this blow to his enemy's morale and fearing Mithridates would escape during the night decided to launch an assault of the Pontic camp during the night.
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With his army destroyed Mithridates at first intended to return to the sanctuary of Armenia, but the beleaguered Tigranes was having none of it. Suspecting Mithridates of plotting with one of his own sons (also called Tigranes), he put a huge 100-talent bounty on Mithridates' head. He might have also recognized the old king's cause as lost and did not want to go down with him. With Pompey to the west, Cappadocia to the south in Roman hands, the Black Sea closed off by a Roman blockade and Armenia unwelcoming, the only way out was the northern route to the Bosporan kingdom (including parts of the Crimea) ruled by his son Machares.
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According to Lucian, he was at least eighty-four years of age at the time of his death, which makes it likely that he is the same person as the Mithridates, son of Ariobarzanes, who in his youth circumvented and put to death Datames. King Mithridates I of Pontus was his kinsman, although it is not known whether he was his son. Therefore, it is likely that he was the same Mithradates, son of Ariobarzanes prince of Cius, who is mentioned by Xenophon as having betrayed his father, and the same circumstance is alluded to by Aristotle. During the Satraps' Revolt in the 360s BC, Mithridates tricked Datames into believing in him.
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His marriage to Rhodogune was in reality an attempt by Mithridates I to incorporate the Seleucid lands into the expanding Parthian realm. Mithridates I then punished the Parthian vassal kingdom of Elymais for aiding the Seleucids–he invaded the region once more and captured two of their major cities. Around the same period, Mithridates I conquered the southwestern Iranian region of Persis and installed Wadfradad II as its frataraka; he granted him more autonomy, most likely in an effort to maintain healthy relations with Persis as the Parthian Empire was under constant conflict with the Saka, Seleucids, and the Mesenians. He was seemingly the first Parthian monarch to have an influence on the affairs of Persis.
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The failure of Lucius Licinius Lucullus to rid Rome once and for all of Mithridates brought a lot of opposition back at home, some fueled by the great Roman consul Pompey. A threat by pirates on the Roman food supply in the Aegean Sea brought Pompey once again to the forefront of Roman politics, and he drove them back to Cilicia. The powers granted Pompey after this success allowed him to not only throw back Mithridates all the way to the Bosphorus, but made neighboring Armenia a client kingdom. In the end, Mithridates committed suicide in 63 BCE, and therefore allowed Rome to add Pontus as a protectorate along with Cilicia as a Roman province.
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After two further raids with less justifiable pretexts, Mithridates retaliated, pursuing Murena and inflicting a number of defeats on Murena until Sulla (who had less territorial ambition than Murena) intervened and both antagonists withdrew to their former positions. Murena had refused to recognise the treaty on a technicality and the Senate refused to ratify it despite Mithridates' efforts. Mithridates realised Rome would remain a potential threat but nevertheless continued to respect the treaty, but made military preparations for the possibility of a third war. The next step by Rome was to restore control over the areas to the south east which they had lost in the first war (Pamphylia, Pisidia and Lycaonia).
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In the (London) Quarterly Review of late 1813-1814, Thomas Young published a review of Johann Christoph Adelung's Mithridates, oder allgemeine Sprachenkunde ("Mithridates, or a General History of Languages"), Volume I of which had come out in 1806, and Volumes II and III, , continued by Johann Severin Vater. Adelung's work described some 500 "languages and dialects" and hypothesized a universal descent from the language of paradise, located in Kashmir central to the total range of the 500. Young begins by pointing out Adelung's indebtedness to Conrad Gesner's Mithridates, de Differentiis Linguarum of 1555 and other subsequent catalogues of languages and Kashmir (red), Adelung's location of Eden. Young undertakes to present Adelung's classification.
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In retaliation, Phraates launched an invasion into Corduene (southeastern Turkey) where, according to two conflicting Roman accounts, the Roman consul Lucius Afranius forced the Parthians out by either military or diplomatic means.; Cassius Dio writes that Lucius Afranius reoccupied the region without confronting the Parthian army, whereas Plutarch asserts that Afranius drove him out by military means. Phraates III was assassinated by his sons Orodes II of Parthia and Mithridates IV of Parthia, after which Orodes turned on Mithridates, forcing him to flee from Media to Roman Syria.; see also Aulus Gabinius, the Roman proconsul of Syria, marched in support of Mithridates to the Euphrates, but had to turn back to aid Ptolemy XII Auletes (r.
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He also had to pay 2,000 talents and provide ships. Mithridates would retain the rest of his holdings and become an ally of Rome.Cambridge Ancient v. 9, 155–60.
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She was buried near her mother Isias, her sister Antiochis of Commagene and her niece Aka I of Commagene. Mithridates in her honour built and dedicated a funeral monument.
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Phraates II was born in ; he was the son of Mithridates I, the fifth Parthian king, and a noblewoman named Rinnu, who was the daughter of a Median magnate.
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218 Monime later repented her marriage to Mithridates VI, her elevation, and leaving her native city. In 72/71 BC, when her husband was compelled to abandon his dominions and took refuge in the Kingdom of Armenia, Monime was put to death at Pharnacia. Her correspondence to Mithridates VI, which was of a licentious character, fell into the hands of Roman General Pompey at the capture of the fortress at Caenon Phrourion.
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His father was descended from Mithridates VI. His mother may have been a daughter of King Artavasdes II of Armenia of the Artaxiad Dynasty. The father of Artavasdes II was Tigranes the Great,Sandler, Ground warfare: an international encyclopedia, Volume 1, p.884 who married Cleopatra of Pontus, a daughter of Mithridates VI from his first wife, his sister, Laodice.Mayor, The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome’s deadliest enemy, p.p.
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In keeping with most medical practices of his era, Mithridates' anti-poison routines included a religious component; they were supervised by the Agari, a group of Scythian shamans who never left him. Mithridates was reportedly guarded in his sleep by a horse, a bull, and a stag, which would whinny, bellow, and bleat whenever anyone approached the royal bed.Mayor, Adrienne. Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs: Biological and Chemical Warfare in the Ancient World.
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One of them, Pharnaces II, plotted against him. He won over both the men who were sent to arrest him and then the soldiers who were sent against him. in 64 BC, he obtained the voluntary submission of Panticapaeum, the city where Mithridates was staying. Mithridates tried to poison himself, but failed because he was immune due to taking ‘precautionary antidotes in large doses every day.’ He was killed by the rebels.
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Sometime before 45, the Roman Emperor Claudius gave his brother the whole Bosporan Kingdom to rule. Claudius recognised and appointed Mithridates as the legitimate Bosporan King. In 45, for unknown reasons, Claudius deposed Mithridates from the Bosporan throne and installed Cotys instead. Claudius had withdrawn the Roman garrison under Aulus Didius Gallus from the Bosporan Kingdom and a few Roman cohorts were left with the Roman knight Gaius Julius Aquila in the Bosporan.
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However, he was unable to weaken it and the city did not come under the control of the kings of Pontus until 183 BC. Earlier in his rule, Mithridates II vied with the other monarchs of Asia in sending magnificent presents to the Rhodians, after the destruction of their city by an earthquake in 227 BC. The date of his death is unknown. He was succeeded by Mithridates III, his son with Laodice.
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The Romans were marching towards Artaxata, the Kingdom's old capital, to force Tigranes to do battle. Tigranes, on Mithridates' advice, had been avoiding a battle after being defeated at Tigranocerta. He knew his untrained army was no match for the disciplined and battle-hardened Roman troops. Since the Romans' objective (Artaxata) was clear to them, Tigranes and Mithridates had been preparing and training their army for the unavoidable battle but needed time.
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Cyzicus was located on a peninsula with a very narrow connection to the mainland (like a spearpoint aimed inland). Mithridates had to ship part of his army onto the peninsula to effectively besiege the city. He took the harbour and then started to put up siegeworks. Pontic engineers under the direction of Niconides of Thessaly, Mithridates' chief engineer, began assembling a 150-foot siege tower, battering rams, catapults, and other siege weaponry, including giant crossbows.
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His grandson, Mithridates II (c. 250–210 BC) married into the Seleucid line, acquiring Phrygia as a dowry from Laodice, sister of Seleucus II. Later he was part of an alliance that defeated Seleucus at Ancyra in 239 BC. However, the alliance between the dynasties was further consolidated when he gave his daughter, Laodice III in marriage to Antiochus III, and another daughter to Antiochus'cousin, Achaeus. Mithridates II's grandson, Pharnaces I (c. 190 – c.
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Aquillius was defeated in the first direct engagement with the Romans, in Bithynia although the troops were actually raised locally. The other Roman commander was C. Cassius, governor of Asia, whose seat was at Pergamon, and as Mithridates overran the province, both fled from the mainland. Aquillius was handed back to Mithridates who executed him. Roman rule in Anatolia had been crushed, although a few areas of Asia Minor managed to hold out.
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News of Mithridates' second expulsion of Ariobarzanes (c. July 89) must have reached Rome in September, a month or two before Sulla was elected consul with Pompeius Rufus, for Plutarch records at the time of his entry into office: > Sulla regarded his consulate as a very minor matter compared with future > events. What fired his imagination was the thought of the war against > Mithridates. Here, however, he found himself opposed by Marius.
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It was a virtual "Return of Odysseus." Torquatus apparently appears at the end of it on the side of the returned Sulla, but in what capacity is also unclear. In 85 BC it appeared that Sulla had brokered a lasting deal with Mithridates ending the First Mithridatic War. Mithridates would retire to his boundaries, offer the Romans no further resistance, and pay reparations, in return for which he would be molested no more.
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Mithridates also developed trade links with cities on the western Black Sea coast.Cambridge Ancient v. 9, p. 137–138. At the time, Rome was fighting the Jugurthine and Cimbric wars.
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Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum Hypsicratea or Hipsicratea (flourished 63 BC), was a Caucasian woman who became Queen of Pontus. She ruled a confederacy of states with King Mithridates VI of Pontus.
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Iotapa (born around 20 BC-unknown date of death) was a princess of Commagene, daughter of King Mithridates III of Commagene, Queen consort of Syrian King Sampsiceramus II of Emesa.
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Remember the name. I'm ready to fight and die here. When people ask you where you ran away and left your general, tell them: at Orchomenos!'Philip Matyszak, Mithridates, p.
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The war ended in a Roman victory which forced Mithridates to abandon all his conquests and return to Pontus. Rhodes continued their alliance as a Friend and Ally of Rome.
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Mithridates I (Mihrdat I) () was the 1st-century king of Iberia (Kartli, Georgia) whose reign is evidenced by epigraphic material. Cyril Toumanoff suggests 58–106 as the years of his reign.
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Berenice of Chios ( Bereníke; died about 72/71 BC) was an obscure Greek noblewoman from the Greek island of Chios who became the third wife of King Mithridates VI of Pontus.
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When Sulla left Asia Minor to fight another civil war in Italy, he left the Fimbrians in Asia Minor to guard the Roman provinces.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, pp 89-90.
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Polybius, Histories xxv. 2. At an unknown date, Mithridates IV married his sister, Laodice.Getzel, Hellenistic settlements in Europe, the islands and Asia Minor p. 387 They appeared to have no children.
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Later in the year 66 BC, Manilius proposed a bill, the lex Manilia, granting Pompey the command in the Third Mithridatic War. From 73–68 BC, Lucius Licinius Lucullus had achieved considerable success in the East, defeating both Mithridates VI of Pontus and his ally Tigranes the Great. However, Lucullus' troops mutinied under the leadership of Publius Clodius Pulcher in 67 BC, allowing Mithridates and Tigranes to invade Pontus and Cappadocia once more.A.N. Sherwin-White, 'Lucullus, Pompey, and the East', in The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume IX, 2nd edition (Cambridge: 1994), pp. 239–243 Lucullus' immediate replacement, Manius Acilius Glabrio, was ineffective, and by the end of 67 BC Mithridates had recovered all of his former kingdom R. Williams, 'The Appointment of Glabrio (cos.
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Upon hearing the news of Cotta's defeat he set out to relieve the besieged Cotta in Bithynia.Plutarch, Life of Lucullus, 7.1–36.7 – an account of his whole governorship, by far the bulk of Plutarch's Life of Lucullus Lucullus had to fight Mithridates by land and sea therefore he assembled a large army and also raised a fleet amongst the Greek cities of Asia. With this fleet he defeated the enemy's fleet off Ilium and then off Lemnos. On land, through careful manoeuvring and trickery, he was able to trap Mithridates' army at Cyzicus. According to Appian and Plutarch Lucullus had 30,000 infantry and 1,600-2,500 cavalry while Mithridates was rumoured to have as many as 300,000 men in his force.
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After the Battle of Cabira Mithridates fled to his father-in-law Tigranes II the king of the Armenian Empire. Lucullus, busy mopping up resistance in Pontus and Armenia Minor (also part of Mithridates's former dominions), sent his brother-in-law Appius Claudius Pulcher as an emissary to the Armenian king demanding he hand over Mithridates. Since handing over his son-in-law would make him look like nothing more than a puppet of Rome Tigranes had no other choice than to refuse and prepare for war.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, pp 123-125; Lee Frantatuono, Lucullus, p. 77. In the spring of 69 BC Lucullus marched his army from Cappadocia across the Euphrates into Greater Armenia (the Armenian Empire's heartland) and the Roman-Armenian War began.
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During the war, Rome fielded two armies against Mithridates: one under Sulla and another, fighting both Sulla and Mithridates. Sulla returned in 82 BC at the head of his army, after concluding a generous peace with Mithridates, to retake the city from the domination of the Cinnan faction. After winning a second civil war and purging the Republic of thousands of political opponents and "enemies" (many of whom were targeted for their wealth), he forced the Assemblies to make him dictator for the settling of the constitution, with an indefinite term. Sulla also created legal barriers, which would only be lifted during the dictatorship of Julius Caesar some forty years later, against political participation by the relatives of those whom he ordered murdered.
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In 116 BC, the Cappadocian king Ariarathes VI was murdered by the Cappadocian noble Gordius on orders from Mithridates VI. Mithridates VI then installed his sister Laodice, Ariarathes VI's widow, as regent over for the infant Ariarathes VII, further solidifying Pontic control over the kingdom. After King Nicomedes III of Bithynia married Laodice, he tried to annex Cappadocia into his kingdom and deposed Ariarathes VII. Mithridates VI swiftly invaded, expelling Nicomedes III from the region, restoring his nephew Ariarathes VII to the Cappadocian throne, and returning Cappadocia to Pontus' sphere of influence. The Pontic king would later have Ariarathes VII murdered in 101 BC, with Mirthridates VI installing his eight-year-old son Ariarathes IX on the Cappadocian throne as his puppet king.
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Map depicting the Near East during the Hellenistic era, by Joseph Thomas (1835) At the time of his succession, the Parthian Empire was reeling from military pressures in the West and East. Several humiliating defeats at the hands of eastern nomads had sapped the strength and prestige of the kingdom. Mithridates II quickly gained the allegiance of the Characenean ruler Hyspaosines, who had originally fought the Parthians, and briefly seized Babylon in 127 BC. Hyspaosines returned the wooden throne of Arsaces to Mithridates II as a gift to the god Bel. Mithridates II now turned his eyes on Elymais, which had been originally under direct Parthian rule, but had been seized by the independent Elamite king Pittit after Artabanus I's death.
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Throughout the siege, the town offered them 10,000 slaves, an offer which the Romans travelling with the Aorsi declined, as they were too rebellious to keep in check. Within a day Zorsines made peace with his enemies to end the siege of Uspe. Meanwhile, Aquila and his cohorts were attacking the towns of Mithridates. Upon hearing that Zorsines had made peace with his enemies, Mithridates realised that he was losing and considered to whom he should seek mercy.
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Eagle-topped column Relief of Mithridates II and his sister Laodice The Karakuş Tumulus (also Karakush) is a funerary monument—a hierothesion—for Queen Isias and Princesses Antiochis and Aka I of Commagene, built by Mithridates II of Commagene in 30–20 BCE, near the modern village of Çukurtaş in Kâhta District, Adıyaman Province, Turkey. Karakuş means "black bird". The monument received this name because there is a column topped by an eagle. It is located from Kâhta, Turkey.
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In ancient times Crimea was known as "Chersonesus Taurica", from the name of the Tauri, who were descendants of the Cimmerians. Many Greek colonists settled in Taurica: their most renowned colony was Chersonesos. In 114 BCE the Bosporus kingdom accepted the overlordship of Mithridates VI Eupator, king of Pontus, as a protection from tribes of Scythians. For nearly five centuries after the defeat of Mithridates by the Roman Pompey, Crimea was under the suzerainty of Rome.
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Cicero, De Imperio Cn. Pompei, 68T.P. Wiseman, 'The Senate and the Populares', in The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume IX, 2nd edition (Cambridge: 1994), p. 335 It was also supported by Cicero, at the time serving as praetor, in his extant speech pro lege Manilia (also known as de Imperio Cn. Pompei). Pompey soon moved against Mithridates and Tigranes and had defeated both by the end of 65 BC (though Mithridates was not killed until 63 BC).
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The Seleucids had suffered heavy defeats by the Iranian Parthian Empire; in 148/7 BC, the Parthian king Mithridates I () conquered Media and Atropatene, and by 141 BC, was in the possession of Babylonia.; ; ; The events are recorded in the Babylonian astronomical Diaries. The menace and proximity of the Parthians caused Hyspaosines to declare independence. In 127 BC, Mithridates I's son and successor Phraates II met an abrupt death during his war with the nomads in the east.
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The region of Pontus was originally part of the Persian satrapy of Cappadocia (Katpatuka). The Persian dynasty which was to found this kingdom had, during the 4th century BC, ruled the Greek city of Cius (or Kios) in Mysia, with its first known member being Mithridates of Cius. His son AriobarzanesII became satrap of Phrygia. He became a strong ally of Athens and revolted against Artaxerxes, but was betrayed by his son Mithridates II of Cius.
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Pompey eliminated the pirates, and in 66 he was assigned command in Asia Minor to deal with Pontus. Pompey organized his forces, close to 45,000 legionaries, including Lucullus' troops, and signed an alliance with the Parthians, who attacked and kept Tigranes busy in the east. Mithridates massed his army, some 30,000 men and 2,000–3,000 cavalry, in the heights of Dasteira in lesser Armenia. Pompey fought to encircle him with earthworks for six weeks, but Mithridates eventually retreated north.
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These parts of Arabia later became the Roman province of Arabia Petraea. Cotys ruled in Lesser Armenia from 38 until at least 47. Sometime after 48, Roman Emperor Claudius requested Cotys to abdicate the throne and replaced him with a former Armenian King, Mithridates of Armenia. At first Cotys successfully resisted Claudius’ request, with the support of Roman and local Armenian nobles. However, on Claudius’ command, Cotys was forced to abdicate his throne so that Mithridates could replace him.
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Following the mutiny, Fimbria and his men decided to continue their journey in the hopes of defeating Mithridates and redeeming their treasonous behavior [the mutiny] in the eyes of the Roman government. Arriving in Asia Minor, the Fimbrians plundered their way towards Pergamum, Mithridates's Asian capital. When Mithridates sent an army to protect the city, Fimbria managed to take the Pontic forces by surprise and annihilated them. With the relief army destroyed, he then laid siege to Pergamum.
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Granius Licinianus, History of Rome, 29 He had an older half-brother named Nicomedes IV, and two younger half siblings named Nysa and Pylaemenes III. When Nicomedes III died in 94 BC, the Roman senate appointed Nicomedes IV to be the king of Bithynia as his successor. However, Mithridates VI, the king of Pontus, set up Socrates as a rival to Nicomedes.Memnon, History of Heracleia 22.5 Mithridates gave Socrates a splendid reception and called him Chrestus (The Good).
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Mithridates entertained ambitions of making his state the dominant power in the Black Sea and Anatolia. He first subjugated Colchis, a region east of the Black Sea, and prior to 164 BC, an independent kingdom. He then clashed for supremacy on the Pontic steppe with the Scythian King Palacus. The most important centres of Crimea, Tauric Chersonesus and the Bosporan Kingdom readily surrendered their independence in return for Mithridates' promises to protect them against the Scythians, their ancient enemies.
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King Mithridates or Antiochus I of Commagene shaking hands with Heracles Arsameia on the Nymphaios (; – "Old Castle") is an ancient city located in Old Kâhta (Eski Kâhta) in Kâhta district, Adıyaman Province, Turkey. The site is near Kâhtaçay, known in ancient times as Nymphaios. Arsameia was a royal seat of the kingdom of Commagene. It is best known for the Hierothesion of King Mithridates I Kallinikos, built for him by his son and heir Antiochos I.
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The transports had arrived sooner than expected and in considerable disorder as a result of a storm which had swept them towards Rhodes. Mithridates did not have his warfleet in position to properly protect his transports and now the Rhodians were among them burning, ramming and capturing ships. Eventually, the overwhelming weight of the Pontic warfleet caused the Rhodians to retreat, but they had done considerable damage. At this point Mithridates decided to use the Sambucca against Rhodes.
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By January, the Egyptians had begun to get the upper hand in their efforts to cut the Romans off from reinforcements and resupply. Caesar had requested reinforcements from his ally, Mithridates of Pergamum, who marched overland from Asia Minor to assist him. Arriving in the Nile delta in January, Mithridates defeated an Egyptian force sent to stop him. Caesar, getting a message that his allies were close, left a small garrison in Alexandria and hurried to meet them.
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In 72 BC, while his colleague Cotta moved on Heraclea, Lucullus marched his army through Galatia and into Pontus. The Galatians were only too happy to supply the Romans because they disliked Mithridates and were keen to see the Roman legions pass through their country without being plundered.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great: Rome's Indomitable Enemy; Plutarch, Life of Lucullus, 14. Once Lucullus was in the Pontic heartland he let his troops plunder the rich and fertile kingdom.
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After being defeated by the Romans in Asia Minor and in his native kingdom of Pontus, Mithridates VI of Pontus fled to his son-in-law Tigranes II of Armenia. Lucullus sent his brother-in-law Appius Claudius Pulcher to negotiate the surrender of Mithridates but this effort failed.Lee Frantantuono, Lucullus, the life and campaigns of a Roman conqueror, p.103. In 69 BC Lucullus suddenly marched his relatively small army into Armenia catching the Armenian king off guard.
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As a result, Rome encouraged Bithynia to attack Pontus but Bithynia was defeated.H H Scullard, From Grachi to Nero p76 Mithridates then marched into the Roman province of Asia, where he persuaded Greeks to slaughter as many Italians as possible (the Asiatic Vespers). Despite a power struggle within Rome itself, consul Cornelius Sulla went to Anatolia to defeat the Pontian king. Sulla defeated him thoroughly in and left Mithridates with only Pontus in the Treaty of Dardanos.
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In 74 BCE, another Anatolian kingdom passed under Roman control as Nicomedes IV of Bithynia instructed it to be done after his death. Making Bithynia a Roman province soon after roused Mithridates VI to once again go after more territory, and he invaded it in the same year. Rome this time sent consul Lucius Licinius Lucullus to take back control of the province. The expedition proved to be very positive as Mithridates was driven back into the mountains.
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Although Sulla was then appointed to deal with Mithridates, events moved very slowly. However, worse was to come later in 88 BC. the 'Asiatic (or 'Ephesian') Vespers', was the slaughter of tens of thousands of Romans and Italians ordered by Mithridates.Cambridge Ancient History vol. ix 143–9 Having cleansed Asia Minor of Romans, Mithridates looked further afield, his next victim that year being Rhodes, but it held out, and he moved on to the Aegean islands, taking Delos.
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Gaius Valerius Triarius (died c. 45 BC) was a First Century BC Roman politician and general, a member of the gens Valeria. During the Third Mithridatic War he served as a legate to Lucius Licinius Lucullus, the Roman commander in charge of the war effort against king Mithridates VI of Pontus. He played a pivotal role in the capture of Heraclea Pontica, but was later defeated by Mithridates at the Battle of Zela in 67 BC.
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Half of a century later, Mithridates took his life in Panticapaeum, when, after his defeat in a war against Rome, his son and heir Pharnaces and citizens of Panticapaeum turned against him.
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Mithridates is the Greek attestation of the Persian name Mihrdāt, meaning "given by Mithra", the name of the ancient Iranian sun god. The name itself is derived from Old Iranian Miθra-dāta-.
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Mithridates is the Greek attestation of the Iranian name Mihrdāt, meaning "given by Mithra", the name of the ancient Iranian sun god. The name itself is derived from Old Iranian Miθra-dāta-.
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Gaius Manilius was a Roman tribune of the plebs in 66 BCE. He is primarily known for his Lex Manilia, the bill which gave Pompey the Great command of the war against Mithridates.
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Mithridates or Mithradates () was a Persian noble. His wife was the daughter of Darius III with the sister of Pharnaces, which makes him son-in-law of Darius. Arrian, 1.15.7, 16.3 Diodorus, 17.20.
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Parthian horseman now on display at the Palazzo Madama, Turin. Mithridates I (R. 171–138 BC). The reverse shows Heracles, and the inscription ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΜΕΓΑΛΟΥ ΑΡΣΑΚΟΥ ΦΙΛΕΛΛΗΝΟΣ "Great King Arsaces, friend of Greeks".
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Sinatruces (also spelled Sinatrukes or Sanatruces) was king of the Parthian Empire from to . He was presumably a son of the Parthian ruler Mithridates I (). Sinatruces was succeeded by his son Phraates III.
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Iotapa (born in 43 BC-unknown date of death) was a princess of Media Atropatene, daughter of King Artavasdes I of Media Atropatene. She was Queen consort of King Mithridates III of Commagene.
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It was a large tower mounted on ships with bridges equipped to safely pass over city walls from sea. Meanwhile, Mithridates sailed in a quinquereme and his land forces awaited orders in Caunus.
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His strategy had been to dismember Armenia into its former kingdoms. By 67 BC the Roman forces in Pontus were coming increasingly under attack by Mithridates who scored a major victory at Zela.
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Lee Fratantuono, Lucullus: The Life and Campaigns of a Roman Conqueror, p. 62; Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great: Rome's Indomitable Enemy, p. 113. He knew he had to defeat the Pontic navy before he could move on Pontus itself.Lee Fratantuono, Lucullus: The Life and Campaigns of a Roman Conqueror, p. 62; Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great: Rome's Indomitable Enemy, p. 114; Mithridates's admirals threatened Lucullus's supply lines across the Aegean. Here was informed that thirteen Mithridatic ships were headed to Lemnos.
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When in 74 the consul Lucullus took over Cilicia, Mithridates faced Roman commanders on two fronts. The Cilician pirates had not been completely defeated, and Mithridates signed an alliance with them. He was also allied with the government of Quintus Sertorius in Spain and with his help reorganized some of his troops in the Roman legionary pattern with short stabbing swords. The Third Mithridatic war broke out when NicomedesIV of Bithynia died without heirs in 75 and left his kingdom to Rome.
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Bagasis (also spelled Bagayasha) was a Parthian prince, who played an important role in Parthian politics from 148/7 BC, where he was appointed the governor of the newly conquered region of Media by his brother and king Mithridates I (). Bagasis was initially suggested by the modern historian Gholamreza F. Assar (2005) to have ruled as king briefly in 126 BC, but he later retracted this suggestion (2009). Bagasis was survived by an unnamed son, who occupied high offices under Mithridates II ().
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When negotiations with Tigranes failed, Lucullus invaded Armenia and won victories at Tigranocerta and Artaxata. Unable to beat Lucullus in open battle, Tigranes and Mithridates began resorting to hit-and-run tactics. Winter forced Lucullus to march westward at the end of 68 BC. After 18 years of service and 960 miles (1,500 km) of marching in the last five years, the Fimbrians refused to accompany Lucullus when he marched to besiege Nisibis in northern Mesopotamia.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, p.139.
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Ariobarzanes (in Greek Ἀριoβαρζάνης; reigned 266 BC – c. 250 BC) was the second king of Pontus, succeeding his father Mithridates I Ctistes in 266 BC and died in an uncertain date between 258 and 240. He obtained possession of the city of Amastris in Paphlagonia, which was surrendered to him. Ariobarzanes and his father sought the assistance of the Gauls, who had come into Asia Minor twelve years before the death of Mithridates, to expel the Egyptians sent by Ptolemy II Philadelphus.
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Pharnaces II was raised as his father's successor and treated with distinction. However, we know little of his youth from ancient writers and find him first mentioned after Mithridates VI was defeated by the Roman general Pompey during the Third Mithridatic War. Cassius Dio and Florus wrote that Mithridates planned to attack Italy by crossing Scythia and the River Danube, according to the former, or through Thrace, Macedonia and Greece, according to the latter.Casius Dio, Roman History, 37.11Florus, Epitome of Roman History, 1.40.
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It shows one of the two kings, either Antiochos or Mithridates shaking hands with a naked Herakles, recognizable from his club. The processional way leads further beyond this site as far as the summit of the mountain. There was found the foundations of buildings with mosaic flooring, which can be dated back to the Second Century before Christ. On the basis of fragments of sculpture Dörner takes it that this is where the mausoleum of Mithridates stood, decorated with statues.
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In 72 BC, while Cotta moved against Heraclea and Triarius managed naval affairs, Lucullus marched his army through Galatia and into Pontus. The Galatians were only too happy to supply the Romans because they detested Mithridates and were keen to see the Roman legions pass through their country without being plundered.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great: Rome's Indomitable Enemy; Plutarch, Life of Lucullus, 14. Once Lucullus was in the Pontic heartland and he let his troops plunder the rich and fertile area.
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Broughton, pg. 99 By 74 BC, Vatia Isauricus had organized the territory he had conquered and incorporated it into the province of Cilicia. He was succeeded as proconsul of Cilicia by Lucius Octavius who died shortly after arriving. Octavius was succeeded by Lucius Licinius Lucullus who incorporated Vatia Isauricus' veteran troops and fleet into his army when he marched against Mithridates VI of Pontus at the outbreak of the Third Mithridatic War.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's Indomitable Enemy, p.103.
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The Roman client kings of the dynasty had descended from King Mithridates VI of Pontus and his first wife, his sister Laodice, through Aspurgus. The kings adopted a new calendar (the "Pontic era") introduced by Mithridates VI, starting with 297 BC to date their coins. Bosporan kings struck coinage throughout its period as a client state, which included gold staters bearing portraits of both the Roman emperor and Bosporan king. Like the Roman, Bosporan coinage became increasingly debased during the 3rd century.
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One of Marius' old quaestors, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, had been elected consul for the year, and was ordered by the senate to assume command of the war against Mithridates. Marius, a member of the "populares" party, had a tribune revoke Sulla's command of the war against Mithridates. Sulla, a member of the aristocratic ("optimates") party, brought his army back to Italy and marched on Rome. Sulla was so angry at Marius' tribune that he passed a law intended to permanently weaken the tribunate.
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In 67 BC, after the Battle of Zela, king Mithridates VI of Pontus had regained control of the kingdom of Pontus. Whilst the Roman commanders were involved in internal politics, Mithridates had been building up his forces and preparing for the inevitable confrontation. Unfortunately for him that confrontation did not take long to materialize in the form of Pompey, Rome's foremost commander, and a very large Roman army. Pompey first established a blockade of the whole coastline of Asia Minor.
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Secondly he convinced the new Parthian king, Phraates III, to invade Armenia, Mithridates' main ally, forcing Tigranes II of Armenia to turn his attention to protecting his own empire. Thirdly he sent three legions to secure Cappadocia to the south of Pontus. Pompey then marched his numerically superior army into his enemy's heartland. Mithridates withdrew to the centre of his mountainous kingdom, drawing Pompey after him, denying him supplies by burning the crops, and harassing him with his own superior cavalry.
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Nicomedes IV of Bithynia (94 – 74 BC) declared war on Pontus aided by Roman legions in 89 BC launching the First Mithridatic War (89–84 BC). During this period, Mithridates swept through Asia Minor occupying most of it except Cilicia by 88 BC, before Roman retaliation forced his retreat and abandonment of all the occupied territory. Mithridates still controlled his own Pontine lands and a second war by Rome (83–81 BC) was rather inconclusive and failed to dislodge him.
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There was a brief period of collaboration with Rome under Mithridates V (c. 150 – 120 BC) assisting the Romans in suppressing a revolt by the pretender of Pergamon, Eumenes III. This all changed under Mithridates VI (120 – 63 BC) whose aggressive expansionist powers swept through Anatolia but soon brought him into direct conflict with Rome and the ultimately fatal Mithridatic Wars (88–63 BC). Bithynia, the other major kingdom in western Anatolia, had varying relations with Rome, and in particular its ally Pergamon.
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He had also sent troops into Lycaonia and the southern regions of Asia to create support amongst Pisidians and Isaurians, but these were now repelled by the Galatians, under Deiotarus. Lucullus then resumed his original plan and advanced through Galatia and Paphlagonia to Pontus in 72 BC. By 71 BC he was through the Iris and Lycus valleys and into Pontus where he engaged Mithridates at Cabira. The result was disastrous for the Pontic forces, and Mithridates fled to Armenia.
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Mount Mithridat was named after Mithridates VI of Pontus. He was ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus, and a long-time antagonist of the Roman Republic via the Mithridatic Wars, until he was deceived by his son. After a long siege of Panticapaeum he tried to kill himself several times, until finally was killed by the leader of his own guardsmen. The Great Mithridates Staircase leads to the top of Mount Mithridat, in a series of flights and balustraded terraces.
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According to modern genealogies the father of Artavasdes I, Ariobarzanes I was a son of a previous ruling King Mithridates I of Media Atropatene and his wife, an unnamed Armenian Princess from the Artaxiad Dynasty who was a daughter of the Armenian King Tigranes the Great and his wife, Cleopatra of Pontus,Cassius Dio, 36.14Toumanoff, Manual genealogy and chronology for the Christian Caucasus (Armenia, Georgia, Albania), p.p.81-82 which can explain the claims of Mithridates I's descendants to the Armenian Kingship in opposition to the lasting ruling monarchs of the Artaxiad Dynasty. Another possibility in linking Artavasdes I to the marriage of Mithridates I and his wife is through his name. The name Artavasdes bears as a typical Armenian royal name and therefore, in all likelihood, Artavasdes I is a descendant of this marriage.
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During the troubled period following the death of Alexander the Great, Mithridates Ktistes was for a time in the service of Antigonus, one of Alexander's successors, and successfully maneuvering in this unsettled time managed, shortly after 302 BC, to create the Kingdom of Pontus which would be ruled by his descendants mostly bearing the same name, until 64 BC. Thus, this Persian dynasty managed to survive and prosper in the Hellenistic world while the main Persian Empire had fallen. This kingdom reached its greatest height under Mithridates VI or Mithridates Eupator, commonly called the Great, who for many years carried on war with the Romans. Under him, the realm of Pontus included not only Pontic Cappadocia but also the seaboard from the Bithynian frontier to Colchis, part of inland Paphlagonia, and Lesser Armenia.
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Coin of Tigranes the Great, the Artaxiad king of Armenia () When Phraates III came to the throne in 69 BC, he inherited an empire that could no longer be considered the supreme power in the Near East, because of the ascendancy of Armenia under Tigranes and Pontus under the latter's ally Mithridates VI Eupator (). However, this began to change; in the same year, the Roman commander Lucullus pushed Tigranes out of Syria and Cilicia, forcing him to retreat to Armenia, where Mithridates VI took refuge with him. Lucullus then marched towards Armenia, where he was likewise successful, forcing Tigranes and Mithridates VI to withdraw to the northern part of the country. From there they implored Phraates III to aid them in exchange for the lost Parthian lands of Gordyene, Adiabene, and northern Mesopotamia.
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The political context of Mithridates II's marriage: In 145 BCE Antiochus Hierax, supported by his mother Laodice I who held influence in AnatoliaJustin, Epitome of the Phillipic History of Pompeius Trogus, XXVII, demands the possession of Anatolia (Asia Minor) from his brother Seleucus II Callinicus and quickly declares his independence in order to expand his territory and his authority. Seleucus, struggling against the Ptolemaic forces in the south, has no choice but to tolerate. Mithridates II fought with his mother-in-law and Hierax and their allies, against his other brother-in-law Seleucus during a war between Seleucus and Antiochus Hierax. Eventually, Mithridates defeated Seleucus in a great battle at Ancyra in 235 BC whereby Seleucus lost twenty thousand of his troops and narrowly escaped with his own life.
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Mithridates, who anticipated a war with Rome, invaded the country in 73 BC, he defeated the first Roman governor of Bithynia the proconsul Marcus Aurelius Cotta in battle and besieged him in the city of Chalcedon. Lucullus, Cotta's consular partner, had also anticipated war and had used his influence to get the command against Mithridates, he had also gotten the proconsular governorship of the Roman province of Cilicia from which he wanted to invade Pontus. Lucullus had just arrived in Roman Asia when he got word of Cotta's plight, he took command of all Roman forces in Asia Minor and marched his army north to relieve Cotta who was still besieged at Chalchedon.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great: Rome's Indomitable Enemy; Lee Fratantuono, Lucullus: The Life and Campaigns of a Roman Conqueror.
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Bronze coin of Mithridates I, with the image of an elephant on the reverse, possibly as a celebration of the conquest of Bactria He first turned his sights on the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom which had been considerably weakened as a result of its wars against the neighbouring Sogdians, Drangianans and Indians. The new Greco-Bactrian king Eucratides I () had usurped the throne and was as a result met with opposition, such as the rebellion by the Arians, which was possibly supported by Mithridates I, as it would serve to his advantage. Sometime between 163–155 BC, Mithridates I invaded the domains of Eucratides, whom he defeated and seized Aria, Margiana and western Bactria from. Eucratides was supposedly made a Parthian vassal, as is indicated by the classical historians Justin and Strabo.
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The most prominent descendant of Mithridates I was Mithridates VI of Pontus, who between 90 and 65 BC fought the Mithridatic Wars, three bitter wars against the Roman Republic, before eventually being defeated. Mithridates VI the Great, as he was left in memory, claiming to be the protector of the Greek world against the barbarian Romans, expanded his kingdom to Bithynia, Crimea and Propontis (in present-day Ukraine and Turkey) before his downfall after the Third Mithridatic War. Nevertheless, the kingdom survived as a Roman vassal state, now named Bosporan Kingdom and based in Crimea, until the 4th century AD, when it succumbed to the Huns. The rest of the Pontus became part of the Roman Empire, while the mountainous interior (Chaldia) was fully incorporated into the Eastern Roman Empire during the 6th century.
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He next turned his attention to Anatolia where he sought to partition Paphlagonia and Galatia with King Nicomedes III of Bithynia (127 – 94 BC) in 108 BC also acquiring Galatia and Armenia Minor but soon fell out with him over control of Cappadocia and by extension his ally Rome setting the scene for the subsequent series of Mithridatic Wars (88–63 BC). Relations between the adjacent states of Pontus, Bithynia, Cappadocia and Armenia were complex. Mithridates' sister, Laodice was queen of Cappadocia, being married to Ariarathes VI (130 – 116 BC). Mithridates had his brother in law Ariarathes murdered, whereupon Laodice married Nicomedes III of Bithynia. Pontus and Bithynia then went to war over Cappadocia, and Mithridates had his nephew and new king, Ariarathes VII (116 – 101 BC) killed.
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However Mithridates VI punished her for her treason by putting their son to death before her eyes. She died by 63 BC when the Kingdom of Pontus was annexed by the Roman General Pompey.
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2, 21.3 (wrongly naming him Spithrodates) He was slain by the hand of Alexander the Great himself, at the Battle of the Granicus in 334 BC, when Alexander plunged his lance through Mithridates' face.
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Cicero, On Pompey's Command, 8. Murena was awarded a triumph for a victory over king Mithridates in 81 BC.Fasti Triumphales (Degrassi, 1954). His son, also called Lucius Licinius Murena, became consul in 62 BC.
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Blackwell Pub., Oxford – Malden (MA) 2003, p. 168. Even so, he provided a further, deliberately crafted link to the world of Homeric epic. Mithridates VI was celebrated in the city as a new Pergamus.
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There was a mutiny by the soldiers. Some of his sons were kidnapped and taken to Pompey. He became unpopular. Mithridates was mistrustful and had his wives and some of his remaining children killed.
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At Chaeronea, ambassadors from all the major cities of Greece (except Athens) met with Sulla, who impressed on them Rome's determination to drive Mithridates from Greece and Asia Province. Sulla then advanced on Athens.
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Gotarzes I ( Gōdarz) was king of the Parthian Empire from 91 BC to 87 or 80 BC. He was the son and successor of Mithridates II (), and was succeeded by his son Orodes I.
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Nicomedes and Mithridates VI of Pontus made an alliance. The latter invaded Paphlagonia and drove its ruler, who descended from Pylaemenes, out.Orosius , History against the pagans 6.2.2 The two kings partitioned it among themselves.
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The Roman Senate quickly voted it as a new province. Rome's old enemy Mithridates VI had other plans for Bithynia, however, and Nicomedes IV's death and bequeathal led directly to the Third Mithridatic War.
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Mithridates now recovered Pontus while Tigranes invaded Cappadocia.Cambridge Ancient v. 9, 240–44. In response to increasing pirate activity in the eastern Mediterranean, the senate granted Pompey extensive proconsular Imperium throughout the Mediterranean in 67BC.
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100 According to Appian's Roman History, he then ordered his Gallic bodyguard and friend, Bituitus, to kill him by the sword: Mithridates' body was buried in either Sinope or Amaseia, on the orders of Pompey.
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Many were killed, but many, including Mithridates, fled. He tried to go to Tigranes. Plutarch wrote that Tigranes forbade him from coming and put a reward on him. Cassius Dio did not mention a reward.
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Pontus; 185?–169 BC; Son of Mithridates III. The Greek inscription reads: "ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΦΑΡΝΑΚΟΥ", which means "[of] King Pharnaces". Pharnaces I (; lived 2nd century BC), fifth king of Pontus, was of Persian and Greek ancestry.
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3 Diodorus Bibliotheca historica 17.21.3 They had a son named Ariobarzanes and a daughter who married Mithridates and thus they were nephews of Pharnaces. Aretades of Cnidus FGrH 285 F1 Arrian 1.15.7, 16.3 Diodorus 17.20.
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He was speedily driven out of the kingdom by Mithridates VI, and shortly afterwards died a natural death. The death of both sons of Ariarathes VI meant that the Cappadocian royal family was extinct. So Mithridates VI placed upon the Cappadocian throne his own son Ariarathes IX, who was only eight years old. However, King Nicomedes III of Bithynia sent an embassy to Rome to lay claim to the Cappadocian throne for a youth, whom, he pretended, was a third son of Ariarathes VI and Laodice.
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Pollio, swayed by bribery from Rhadamistus, induces the Roman soldiers to threaten the capitulation of the garrison. Under this threat, Mithridates leaves the fortress in order to make peace with Rhadamistus. Rhadamistus then executes Mithridates and his sons, despite a promise of non-violence, and becomes King of Armenia. Of this usurpation, Tacitus writes "Rhadamistus might retain his ill-gotten gains, as long as he was hated and infamous; for this was more to Rome's interest than for him to have succeeded with glory".
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Fearing usurpation by Rhadamistus, his father convinced him to make war upon his uncle and claim the Armenian throne for himself. The Iberians invaded with a large army and surrounded Mithridates at the fortress of Gorneas (Garni), which was garrisoned by the Romans under the command of Caelius Pollio, a prefect, and Casperius, a centurion. Rhadamistus was unable to take the fortress by assault or by siege. Pollio, swayed by bribery from Rhadamistus, betrayed Mithridates and induced the Roman soldiers to threaten the capitulation of the garrison.
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The invasion of Mithridates VI of Pontus, the king of the Kingdom of Pontus into the Kingdom of Bithynia, an ally of Rome, coupled with the assassination of Roman Citizens in the Asiatic Vespers, caused war between Rome and Pontus. Allegedly up to 80,000 Roman citizens were massacred. Before long, Mithridates VI had won over all the Greek city states who had previously been under Roman rule. After the arrival of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, the majority of the Greek city states returned to the Roman banners.
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He gave him the Cimmerian Bosporus except for Phanagoria, which was to be independent as a reward for having been the first to rebel against Mithridates.Appian, The Mithridatic War, 110-11, 113-14 Cassius Dio also gave an account of the rebellion of Pharnaces. He wrote that as Mithridates' position became weaker, some of his associates became disaffected and some of the soldiers mutinied. Mithridates suppressed this before it caused troubles and punished some people, including some of his sons, just of the basis of suspicions.
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Mithridates, portrait in the Louvre In 88 BC, Mithridates VI made the city the headquarters in his first war against Rome, in which he was defeated. The result of this war was a stagnation in the development of the city. At the end of the war, the city was stripped of all its benefits and its status as a free city. Instead, the city was henceforth required to pay tribute, accommodate and supply Roman troops, and the property of many of the inhabitants was confiscated.
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During the First Mithridatic War, Flavius Fimbria defeated Mithridates VI of Pontus's forces under his son also known as Mithridates along the Rhyndacus in 85 BC. During the third, Lucullus again defeated him at the Rhyndacus in 73 or 72 BC. Under Manuel I, the Byzantine Empire based their main Anatolian army at Lopadion (modern Uluabat) on the Rhyndacus. After the sack of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade, the Latin emperor Henry won another battle there against the Nicaean Empire on October 15, 1211.
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68 Mithridates V, was a great benefactor to the Hellenic culture which shows on surviving coinage and honorific inscriptions stating his donations in Athens and Delos and held the Greek God Apollo in great veneration. A bilingual inscription dedicated to him is displayed at the Capitoline Museums in Rome.Erciyas, Wealth, aristocracy and royal propaganda under the Hellenistic kingdom of the Mithradatids in the Central Black Sea Region in Turkey p.122 Mithridates V was buried in the royal tombs of his ancestors at Amasya.
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With this marriage Dynamis preserved her position of the Bosporan throne. The marriage "effectively unified the kingdoms of Pontus and the Bosporus, and the triumph voted to Agrippa by the Senate commemorated the apparent establishment of peace in the former kingdom of Mithridates."Rose, C. B., "Princes" and Barbarians on the Ara Pacis, p. 458 Mithridates VI had conquered the eastern shores of the Euxine Sea (the Black Sea), from Colchis to the Cimmerian Bosporus, thus joining the region with his kingdom of Pontus.
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He wrote that Tigranes arrested his envoys because he thought that Mithridates was responsible for a rebellion by his son. In both Plutarch and Cassius Dio Mithridates went to Colchis (on the southeastern shore of the Black Sea). Cassius Dio added that Pompey had sent a detachment to pursue him, but he outstripped them by crossing the River Phasis. He reached the Maeotis (the Sea of Azov which is connected to the north shore of the Black Sea) and stayed in the Cimmerian Bosporus.
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For this reason they call the place Epidelion. But neither Menophanes nor Mithridates himself escaped the wrath of the god. Menophanes, as he was putting to sea after the sack of Delos was sunk at once by those of the merchants who had escaped; for they lay in wait for him in ships. The god caused Mithridates at a later date to lay hands upon himself, when his empire had been destroyed and he himself was being hunted on all sides by the Romans.
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Title page from Isaac Casaubon's 1620 edition of Geographica Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus (in present-day Turkey) in around 64BC. His family had been involved in politics since at least the reign of Mithridates V. Strabo was related to Dorylaeus on his mother's side. Several other family members, including his paternal grandfather had served Mithridates VI during the Mithridatic Wars. As the war drew to a close, Strabo's grandfather had turned several Pontic fortresses over to the Romans.
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Yet Sulla, with his eyes on Rome, offered uncharacteristically mild terms. Mithridates was forced to give up all his conquests (which Sulla and Fimbria had already managed to take back by force), surrender any Roman prisoners, provide a 70 ship fleet to Sulla along with supplies, and pay a tribute of 2,000 to 3,000 gold talents. In exchange, Mithridates was able to keep his original kingdom and territory and regain his title of "friend of the Roman people." But things in the east weren't yet settled.
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22 Sulla tried to use his victory at the Battle of Orchomenus to bring about peace with Mithridates so that he could return home, and though Sulla's peace terms were not immediately accepted, Archelaus eventually managed to broker a peace between Sulla and Mithridates. After Gaius Flavius Fimbria's troops defected to Sulla (originally the troops of Flaccus, who Fimbria had led a revolt against), Fimbria committed suicide and Sulla was able to wrap up his affairs in Greece and Asia Minor, and return to Italy.
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The Sambucca was supported by other assault ships which were filled with soldiers with siege ladders. The sea attack was to coincide with an assault on the landward side, where deserters had shown the king a suitable spot for an attack. Unfortunately for Mithridates, his land forces mistook Rhodian warning signals for the signal to begin the assault and they attacked while most units were still getting into position. Mithridates pulled his army back before it was fully committed, but the damage had been done.
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The Roman governor of Asia, Lucius Cassius, had fled to the Rhodes and was marshalling the resistance against Mithridates on the island. Many surviving Romans and Italians had also fled to Rhodes and were assisting the Rhodians in bolstering their defences. When word arrived of Mithridates pending arrival the defenders destroyed all building outside their walls and prepared for the upcoming assault. During the famous Siege of Rhodes 200 years prior, Rhodes had successfully defended itself from Demetrius I of Macedon, commonly known as "Poliorcetes" (The Besieger).
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Rome had already fought two major conflicts with King Mithridates of Pontus; the so called First and Second Mithridatic Wars. During the first war, after taking the Roman province of Asia, Mithridates had slaughtered 80,000 Roman and Italian civilians (the so called Asian Vespers). This was something Rome would never forgive him, therefore the stage was set for another conflict. When in 74 BC the Kingdom of Bithynia was bequeathed to the Roman Republic (on the death of King Nicomedes IV of Bithynia) things came ahead.
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Following the Seleucid withdrawal from Mesopotamia, the Parthian governor of Babylonia, Himerus, was ordered by the Arsacid court to conquer Characene, then ruled by Hyspaosines from Charax Spasinu. When this failed, Hyspaosines invaded Babylonia in 127 BC and occupied Seleucia. Yet by 122 BC, Mithridates II forced Hyspaosines out of Babylonia and made the kings of Characene vassals under Parthian suzerainty.; ; After Mithridates extended Parthian control further west, occupying Dura-Europos in 113 BC, he became embroiled in a conflict with the Kingdom of Armenia.
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The next year, in 94 BC, Nicomedes III died and was succeeded by his son, the pro-Roman Nicomedes IV of Bithynia, as king. In 93 BC, ignoring Rome's command to not interfere with Cappadocia's independence, soldiers from the Kingdom of Armenia under Tigranes the Great, son-in-law of Mithridates VI, invaded and conquered Cappadocia at the behest of the Pontic king. With Cappadocia secured, Mithridates VI invaded Bithynia, defeating Nicomedes IV in 90 BC, annexing his kingdom. Nicomedes IV sought the protection of Rome.
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A map of Asia Minor in 89 BC at the start of the First Mithridatic War. Cappadocia, light green, is shown as a client kingdom of Pontus, dark green. In 89 BC, after having made peace arrangement with Rome and with Ariobarzanes I restored to the Cappadocian throne, Mithridates VI again invaded Cappadocia, reinstalling his son Ariarathes IX as puppet-king under Pontic rule. Mithridates' actions in Cappadocia sparked the First Mithridatic War (89-85 BC) between Rome and Pontus and its ally Armenia.
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Sakastan was also reconquered, which was given as a fiefdom to the House of Suren. In 114/113 BC, he seized Dura-Europos in Syria from the Seleucids, and by 95 BC, the northern Mesopotamian kingdoms of Adiabene, Gordyene, and Osrhoene had acknowledged his authority. Under Mithridates II, the Parthian Empire at its zenith extended from Syria and the Caucasus to Central Asia and India. It was under Mithridates II that the Parthian Empire for the first time established diplomatic relations with Rome and Han China.
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He was welcomed in many cities, where the residents chafed under Roman tax farming. In 88 Mithridates also ordered the massacre of at least 80,000 Romans and Italians in what became known as the 'Asiatic Vespers'.
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Diodorus () of Adramyttium, a rhetorician and Academic philosopher. He is known only from the account given by Strabo.Strabo, xiii. 66 He lived at the time of Mithridates (1st century BC), under whom he commanded an army.
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Because of the help Artaxerxes received from Orontes—his military commander and satrap of Armenia—he gave his daughter in marriage to him. Their descendant, the Orontid Mithridates I Callinicus married Seleucid Princess Laodice VII Thea.
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He was succeeded by his son Mithridates II, who not only finally dealt with the nomads pressuring the eastern Parthian borders, but also expanded Parthian authority in the west, transforming the Parthian Empire into a superpower.
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The Second Mithridatic War (83–81 BC) was one of three wars fought between Pontus and the Roman Republic. This war was fought between King Mithridates VI of Pontus and the Roman general Lucius Licinius Murena.
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It is the year 88 BC. The Roman Republic is under attack on several fronts; while a dangerous rebellion in Italy is being crushed by Sulla, the armies of Mithridates the Great are sweeping through Asia Minor. The young Gordianus is living in Alexandria when he receives a message telling him of the plight of his former mentor Antipater of Sidon at the court of Mithridates in Ephesus. Accompanied by his beautiful slave Bethesda he travels incognito to Ephesus to help Antipater, even though they parted on bad terms, in spite of the great danger that threatens all Roman citizens under the rule of Mithridates. Together with the Jewish spy Samson, Gordianus must try to stop a ritual sacrifice in the hope of thwarting the King's plans to have all the Romans in the lands under his sway be massacred.
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However, his lack of a navy allowed Mithridates to escape immediate danger by sea, as Lucullus, Sulla's admiral, refused to collaborate with Fimbria to prevent Mithridates sailing away from the port. Mithridates met with Sulla at Dardanus later in 85 BC, and accepted terms which restored all his gains in Asia, Cappadocia and Bithynia to their original rulers, but left him his own kingdom, in return for a huge indemnity and the loan of 70 ships to Sulla to return to Rome and face his enemies. Following this and realizing that he could not face Sulla, Fimbria fell on his sword. This left Sulla to settle Asia, which he did by imposing a huge indemnity on the Greek cities there, along with demands for five years of back taxes, thus leaving the Asian cities heavily in debt for a long time to come.
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Little is known about their relationship. There is a possibility that Mithridates VI renamed the capital city of Chios in honor of Berenice. The city bore her name until the Romans annexed the island about 85 BC.
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At the beginning of the conflict the Romans dominated the seas, which they had done since defeating the Carthaginian and Etruscan fleets. Mithridates had no significant navy, but he knew how necessary one was going to be.
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In 88 BC, King Mithridates VI of Pontus ordered the murder of all Italics in Asia Minor, resulting in the deaths of about 100,000, mainly civilians. This action provoked the Romans leading to the First Mithridatic War.
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As allies of Rome, his brother Mithridates was installed as king of Armenia by Roman emperor Tiberius, who invaded Armenia in 35. When the Parthian prince Orodes, son of Artabanus II of Parthia, attempted to dispossess Mithridates of his newly acquired kingdom, Pharasmanes led a large Iberian army and defeated the Parthians in a pitched battle (Tacitus, Annals. vi. 32-35).Grousset, History of Armenia from its origins to 1071, p.89, 106 Pharasmanes personally smashed Orod’s helmet with one blow: Orod galloped off, and the rumours of his death demoralized the Parthians.
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Asclepiodotus () of Lesbos was an ally of Mithridates VI of Pontus during the First Mithridatic War of 90-85 BC. He was close to Mithridates, and had once entertained him as a guest. In the later stages of the war, c. 85 BC, he joined with three other intimates of the king, Cleisthenes of Lesbos and Mynnio and Philotimus of Smyrna, in a conspiracy against him, but informed him of the plot, advising him to hide under a couch to hear Mynnio incriminate himself. The conspirators were tortured to death.
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He tolerated the religion of his foreign wife, and met the religious intolerance of his people with rigor, thus estranging some of his followers and sowing dissension among them. After Asinai had been poisoned by his brother's wife for his intolerant utterances, Anilai assumed the leadership of his troops. He sought to divert them with wars, and succeeded in capturing Mithridates, governor of Parthyene, and son-in-law of the king. He soon, however, released Mithridates, fearing that Artaban might take vengeance on the Babylonian Jews for his death.
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Asander was soon overthrown from the Bosporan throne. Julius Caesar gave a tetrarchy in Galatia and the title of king to Mithridates of Pergamon. He also allowed him to wage war against Asander and conquer the Cimmerian Bosporus because Asander "had been mean to his friend Pharnaces".Cassius Dio, Roman History, 42.47 When Caecilius Bassus plotted a rebellion against Caesar and gathered troops to take over Syria in late 47 BC or early 46 BC, he claimed that "he was collecting these troops for the use of Mithridates the Pergamenian in an expedition against Bosporus".
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The kingdom was proclaimed by Mithridates I in 281BC and lasted until its conquest by the Roman Republic in 63BC. The Kingdom of Pontus reached its largest extent under Mithridates VI the Great, who conquered Colchis, Cappadocia, Bithynia, the Greek colonies of the Tauric Chersonesos, and for a brief time the Roman province of Asia. After a long struggle with Rome in the Mithridatic Wars, Pontus was defeated. Part of it was incorporated into the Roman Republic as the province Bithynia et Pontus; the eastern half survived as a client kingdom.
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Map of Asia minor, 89 BC showing Roman provinces and client states as well as Pontic territory. The Kingdom of Pontus, under Mithridates VI the Great, is in green. The Kingdom of Pontus extended generally to the east of the Halys River. The Persian dynasty which was to found this kingdom had during the 4th century BC ruled the Greek city of Cius (or Kios) in Mysia, with its first known member being Ariobarzanes I of Cius and the last ruler based in the city being Mithridates II of Cius.
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As sixth and the most famous wife of Mithridates VI, she loved her husband so much that she donned a male disguise, learned warrior skills, and followed him into exile. When he was defeated and put to flight, wherever he sought refuge, even in the most remote solitude. She considered that wherever her husband was, there she would find her kingdom, her riches, and her country, which was of the greatest comfort and solace to Mithridates in his many misfortunes. She assisted him in all labours including the hazards of the war.
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After several abortive attempts to invade the Crimea, the Scythians and the allied Rhoxolanoi suffered heavy losses at the hands of the Pontic general Diophantus and accepted Mithridates as their overlord. The young king then turned his attention to Anatolia, where Roman power was on the rise. He contrived to partition Paphlagonia and Galatia with King Nicomedes III of Bithynia. It was probably on the occasion of the Paphlagonian invasion of 108 BC that Mithridates adopted the Bithynian era for use on his coins in honour of the alliance.
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Pre-Islamic History, Atropates, Persian satrap of Media, made himself independent in 321 B.C. Thereafter Greek and Latin writers named the territory as Media Atropatene or, less frequently, Media Minor: Parthian period According to modern genealogies, Mithridates I and his Armenian wife are presented in being the parents of a child, a son called Ariobarzanes IToumanoff, Manual genealogy and chronology for the Christian Caucasus (Armenia, Georgia, Albania), p.p.81-82 which can explain the claims of Mithridates I's descendants to the Armenian Kingship in opposition to the lasting ruling monarchs of the Artaxiad Dynasty.
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121; Lee Fratantuono, Lucullus: the Life and Campaigns of a Roman Conqueror p. 69. With the Romans re-supplied and his attack-force decimated (c. 2000 casualties) Mithridates decided to retreat. During the preparations for the retreat a panic broke out among his troops, Lucullus became aware of what was happening, mustered his army, and attacked Mithridates's camp at this point the Pontic army broke and disintegrated.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great: Rome's Indomitable Enemy pp 121-122; Lee Fratantuono, Lucullus: the Life and Campaigns of a Roman Conqueror p. 69.
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75; Cicero, Cassius Dio, Roman History, 36.43.2. On the approach of Pompey, Mithridates retreated into the centre of his kingdom trying to stretch and cut off the Roman supply lines but this strategy did not work (Pompey excelled at logistics). Eventually Pompey cornered and defeated the king at the river Lycus (see: battle of Lycus). As Tigranes II of Armenia, his son-in-law, refused to receive him into his dominions (Greater Armenia), Mithridates fled to Colchis, and hence made his way to his own dominions in the Cimmerian Bosporus.
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After his defeat by Pompey in 65 BC, Mithridates VI fled with a small army from Colchis to Crimea and attempted to raise yet another army to take on the Romans but failed to do so. In 63 BC, he withdrew to the citadel in Panticapaeum. His eldest son, Machares, now king of Cimmerian Bosporus, whose kingdom had been reorganized by the Romans, was unwilling to aid his father. Mithridates had Machares murdered and took the throne of the Bosporan Kingdom, intent on retaking Pontus from the Romans.
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Flavius Fimbria now marched against the armies of the king, Mithridates, soundly defeating a large force under the command of the king's identically named son at the river Rhyndacus near Miletopolis. Fimbria managed to lure the Mithridatic cavalry, which had been skirmishing with success against his legions, into a deadly ambush. To deal with the enemy infantry, Fimbria broke camp before daybreak, crossed a stream while the rain concealed the sound of the army's march, and caught the Mithridatic army sleeping. After this decisive victory, many cities in Asia defected from Mithridates to Fimbria.
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The captives led in the triumph were the leaders of the pirates, the son of Tigranes the Great with his wife and daughter, a wife of Tigranes the Great, a sister and five children of Mithridates VI, Aristobulus II, the king of the Jews, and hostages from the Caucasian Albanians, the Caucasian Iberians and the king of Commagene.Plutarch, Parallel Lives, The life of Pompey, 45 Appian gave the names of the paraded children of Mithridates VI. They were the sons Artaphernes, Cyrus, Oxathres, Darius, and Xerxes, and the daughters Orsabaris and Eupatra.
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At the start of the war, Nicomedes IV of Bithynia had lost a battle against two of Mithridates' most trusted generals (brothers Neoptolemus and Archelaus) in the Battle of the River Amnias. This battle, along with the Battle of Protopachium, would eventually lead to Rome's retreat from Asia Minor. As a result of the first battle, Manius Aquillius was sent as an ambassador to restore Nicomedes' power. Aquillius found Nicomedes retreating south with Gaius Cassius (the proconsul of Asia) and decided to patrol eastern Bithynia, where Mithridates was likely to go.
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Demetrius' engineers had created a large mechanised siege tower called the Helepolis, but despite this taunting technology Rhodes came out with a win. Demetrius' abandoned siege equipment was then used to make the well known Colossus of Rhodes. Mithridates was all quite aware of this, and he wanted to outdo Demetrius (just like he wished to outdo Alexander the Great). Mithridates had his engineers construct the sambucaRickard, J (11 December 2008), Siege of Rhodes 88 B.C. (different from the sambuca invented by Heracleides of Tarentum more than 100 years prior).
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Pompey the Great. His swift and decisive campaign against the pirates re- established Rome's control over the Mediterranean sea lanes. In the absence of a strong naval presence however, piracy flourished throughout the Mediterranean, especially in Cilicia, but also in Crete and other places, further reinforced by money and warships supplied by King Mithridates VI of Pontus, who hoped to enlist their aid in his wars against Rome.Appian, The Mithridatic Wars, § 92 In the First Mithridatic War (89–85 BC), Sulla had to requisition ships wherever he could find them to counter Mithridates' fleet.
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During the second campaign, Diophantus checked another invasion of the Scythians, who had joined their forces with the Rhoxolanoi under Tasius. At one point during these campaigns he established a stronghold at Eupatorium on the eastern shore of the Crimea. Around 107 BC, Mithridates dispatched Diophantes to Panticapaeum with the task of persuading the Bosporan king Paerisades V to cede his kingdom to Mithridates. While he was in the city, the Scythians, led by a certain Saumacus, revolted and killed Paerisades, while Diophantes barely managed to escape to Chersonesos.
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3&4 while her paternal grandmother, for whom she was named, was the hetaera Glaphyra.Syme, Anatolica: studies in Strabo p.167 The priest-kings of Comana were descended from Archelaus, the favorite high- ranking general of Mithridates VI of Pontus, who may have married a daughter of Mithridates VI.Mayor, The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome’s deadliest enemy pp.114, 138 Glaphyra's mother, the first wife of Archelaus, was an Armenian Princess whose name is unknown and who died by 8 BC.Syme, Anatolica: studies in Strabo p.
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Wadfradad II (also spelled Autophradates II) was a dynast (frataraka) of Persis in the late 2nd-century BC, ruling sometime after 138 BC. He was appointed as frataraka by the Parthian king Mithridates I (), who granted him more autonomy, most likely in an effort to maintain healthy relations with Persis as the Parthian Empire was under constant conflict with the Saka, Seleucids, and Characene. The coinage of Wadfradad I shows influence from the coins minted under Mithridates I. Wadfradad I was succeeded by Darayan I, the first of the Kings of Persis.
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109/8 BC onwards. Mithridates I's portrait on the obverse of a tetradrachm, showing him wearing a beard and a royal Hellenstic diadem on his head. The reverse shows Heracles-Verethragna, holding a club in his left hand and a cup in his right hand The Arsacid monarchs preceding Mithridates I are depicted on the obverse of their coins with a soft cap, known as the bashlyk, which had also been worn by Achaemenid satraps. On the reverse, there is a seated archer, dressed in an Iranian riding costume.
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The Siege of Heraclea (72–71 BC) was a military investment of the city of Heraclea Pontica during the Third Mithridatic War. The siege was conducted by the Roman proconsul Marcus Aurelius Cotta (by land) and the legate Gaius Valerius Triarius (by sea). They were besieging the adherents of Mithridates of Pontus who held the city for the Pontic king. Heraclea was located on the strategically important northern land route into the kingdom of Pontus and had been taken and garrisoned by Mithridates on his retreat from the Siege of Cyzicus.
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Mithridates VI of Pontus (120–63 BC) quickly set about creating his own empire. In his first thrust to extend his frontiers along the Black Sea litoral he avoided drawing the attention of Rome. Rome was preoccupied with other issues that precluded it paying attention to events east of the Province of Asia. This included the Jugurthan 111–104 BC and Cimbric Wars (113–101 BC) as well as dealing with the Scordisci. Rome, however, noticed once Mithridates turned his eye west in 108 BC, partitioning Paphlagonia with Nicomedes III of Bithynia (127–94 BC).
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A number of mainland Greek states welcomed the advance of the Pontian monarch, Sulla not having set out for Greece from Italy until 87 BC. Meanwhile, Mithridates had overcome the Roman army in Macedonia. When the two armies finally met, Sulla inflicted two defeats on the Pontic forces at the battles of Chaeronea (86 BC) and Orchomenus (85 BC) restoring Roman rule to Greece. Pontus sued for peace, faced with widespread revolts in Anatolia. Mithridates was to give up Asia and Paphlagonia, to hand back Bithynia to Nicomedes and Cappadocia to Ariobarzanes.
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When Nicomedes IV of Bithynia (94–74 BC) died, leaving his kingdom to Rome, he created not only a potential power vacuum, but further encircled Pontus. The Senate had instructed the propraetor of the province of Asia to take over Bithynia. This coincided with the death of Servilius' successor as proconsul of Cilicia, which then came under the command of Lucius Licinius Lucullus, while Bithynia was assigned to Marcus Aurelius Cotta. Both consuls were instructed to prepare to pursue Mithridates, by Cicero. By the time Lucullus arrived in 73 BC, Mithridates was anticipating him.
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The next day the Romans marched on Mithridates's camp, he met them on the plain. Mithridates first threw his entire force against one section of the advancing enemy and defeated them while holding off the rest. He then rode his cavalry round the rear of the remaining force, attacked them from the front and the rear and broke them too. The fight was long and brutal, but eventually the Mithridatic troops drove the Romans back into a trench Mithridates had constructed in preparation of the battle and had then flooded to conceal it from sight.
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While Mithridates VI was eager to fight the Romans once more, his youngest son Pharnaces II of Pontus was not and plotted to remove his father from power. His plans were discovered, but the army, not wishing to engage Pompey and his armies, supported Pharnaces. They marched on Mithridates VI and forced their former king to take his own life in 63 BC. Pharnaces II quickly sent an embassy to Pompey with offers of submission. Pompey accepted Pharnaces II's submission and, in returned, named Pharnaces II as the Roman client king of the Bosporan Kingdom.
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Marius had a Plebeian Tribune revoke Sulla's command of the war against Mithridates, so Sulla, a member of the aristocratic ("optimates") party, brought his army back to Italy and marched on Rome. Marius fled, and his supporters either fled or were murdered by Sulla. Sulla had become so angry at Marius' tribune that he passed a law that was intended to permanently weaken the Tribunate.Abbott, 103 He then returned to his war against Mithridates, and with Sulla gone, the populares under Marius and Lucius Cornelius Cinna soon took control of the city.
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By the 11 December, the Romanians recaptured Mount Mithridates. An unknown number of these Soviet troops were subsequently evacuated to Opasnoe village in the Yenikale Beachhead by the Azov Flotilla under the command of Rear Admiral Sergey Gorshkov.
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Their last king, Nicomedes IV, was unable to maintain himself against Mithridates VI of Pontus, and, after being restored to his throne by the Roman Senate, he bequeathed his kingdom by will to the Roman republic (74 BC).
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The 4,000 men strong Mithridatic garrisoned was commanded by Connacorex, one of the kings generals, and they held out for almost two years. After taking Heraclea the Romans extensively plundered the city.Fratatuono, Lucullus, p. 159; Matyszak, Mithridates, pp.
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Being convicted, he was banished from the city and lived the remainder of his life in exile. He is the father of the more famous Lucius Licinius Lucullus, who defeated Mithridates and Tigranes in the Third Mithridatic War.
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An angry Mithridates drove Nicomedes out and restored Ariarathes VII, the son of Laodice. After this he murdered Ariarathes VII of Cappadocia and installed his son on the Cappadocian throne as Ariarathes IX under the guardianship of Gordius.
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The two populares were insufficiently skilled to take on Mithridates. Cotta was removed finally by the Senate on a charge of corruption. Lucullus' men mutinied. In the confusion he lost nearly all Anatolia and was out of it.
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Cambridge University Press. (hardback), (paperback). pp 39 The name Eupatorium comes from the Greek king Mithridates Eupator, who is said to have discovered that a species in the genus could be used as an antidote to a common poison.
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Schlumberger: Der hellenisierte Orient. S. 38–39. Mithridates I. Without inscriptions and precise excavations of early Seleucid findings, Parthian buildings are often hard to distinguish. In Khurab in Iran today is a large mansion with Ionic and Doric columns.
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Eventually, of the 300,000 who had set out for Bithynia, only 20,000 effective troops remained. The siege of Cyzicus and the subsequent retreat could be considered an unmitigated disaster.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's Indomitable Enemy, pp 112-113.
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The Battle of Cabira was fought in 72 or 71 BC between forces of the Roman Republic under proconsul Lucius Licinius Lucullus and those of the Kingdom of Pontus under Mithridates the Great. It was a decisive Roman victory.
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The Great Mithridates Staircase up Mount Mithridat. Obelisk of Glory on Mount Mithridat summit. Mount Mithridat is a large hill located in the center of Kerch, a city on the eastern Kerch Peninsula of Crimea. It is in elevation.
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Mithridates therefore defended his realm. This time he had the measure of the Romans. After a number of contests Murena was forced to retreat to Phrygia. Meanwhile, Marius forced Sulla's hand, trying to kill Sulla and all his adherents.
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Strabo, Geography, 12.3.38Gabelko. O.L., The Dynastic History of the Hellenistic Monarchies of Asia Minor. p. 48 His paternal grandparents were Mithridates VI, the king of Pontus and his first wife, his sister Laodice. Hardly anything is known about Darius.
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Mithridates II's son, also called Mithridates, would proclaim himself later Mithridates I Ktistes of Pontus. As the Encyclopaedia Iranica states, the most famous member of the family, Mithradates VI Eupator, although undoubtedly presenting himself to the Greek world as a civilized philhellene and new Alexander, also paraded his Iranian background: he maintained a harem and eunuchs in true Oriental fashion; he gave all his sons Persian names; he sacrificed spectacularly in the manner of the Persian kings at Pasargadae (Appian, Mith. 66, 70); and he appointed “satraps” (a Persian title) as his provincial governors. Iranica further states, and although there is only one inscription attesting it, he seems to have adopted the title “king of kings.” The very small number of Hellenistic Greek inscriptions that have been found anywhere in Pontus suggest that Greek culture did not substantially penetrate beyond the coastal cities and the court.
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Phraates III was a son of Sinatruces (),; ; who was presumably a son of the Parthian ruler Mithridates I (). The name of the Arsacid branch established by Sinatruces on the Parthian throne has been coined by the modern historian Marek Jan Olbrycht as the "Sinatrucids", which ruled the Parthian Empire from 78/77 BC to 12 AD. After the death of Mithridates II () the Parthian Empire fell into a state of turmoil and decline; the authority of the crown had declined, while the empire lost lands to its neighbours. The Artaxiad king of Armenia, Tigranes the Great (), took advantage of the Parthians' weakness and retook the "seventy valleys" he had previously ceded to Mithridates II. He also went on to conquer the Parthian colonies of Media Atropatene, Gordyene, Adiabene, Osroene, and northern Mesopotamia.; ; Tigranes had also fought campaigns in other kingdoms, adding Syria, Cilicia and Coele-Syria to his vast kingdom.
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Phraates had sufficient warning of his coming demise to make preparations with respect to a successor. Though he had several sons, some of whom were (we must suppose) of sufficient age to have ascended the throne, he left his crown to his brother, Mithridates. He probably believed that his kingdom required the leadership of a firm ruler who could repel either Syrian or Bactrian aggression at any time; in addition, he also trusted Mithridates better than any of his sons to conduct aggressive expeditions with combined vigor and forethought, should Parthia pursue the path of conquest which it entered upon during his reign. It also appears that Phraates bore special affection toward Mithridates, since he used the name of Philadelphus ("brother-loving") upon his coins. Phraates I’s nephew Phraates II was initially passed over for succession presumably because of his immaturity, which wasn’t suitable, as the country was struggling with famine.
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Nisa was a major trading hub in the Parthian Empire. Nisa was later renamed Mithradatkirt Parthian: 𐭌𐭕𐭓𐭃𐭕𐭊𐭓𐭕 ("fortress of Mithradates") by Mithridates I of Parthia (reigned c. 171 BC–138 BC). The region was famous for the fast and beautiful horses.
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Philip Gardner (London, 1992) that, unusually, met with the approval of the poet himself.Lucas, F. L., 'Mithridates : The Poetry of A. E. Housman', Cambridge Review, 15 May 1936, p.385Lucas, F. L., The Greatest Problem, and other essays (London, 1960), p.
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The latter thought that this was done under the order of Rome and retaliated. Roman villages were attacked and loot was taken. Murena was then defeated by Mithridates in battle near the River Halys and fled to Phrygia.Appian, Mithridatic Wars, 65.
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The consular army marched across Epirus, Macedonia, and Thrace. They arrived in Byzantium with growing tensions within the ranks and officer corps.John G.F. Hind, "Mithridates," in The Cambridge Ancient History (Cambridge University Press, 2nd edition 1994), vol. 9, p. 160 online.
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If he seized it, other towns could be won over. Mithridates protected Sinope with a large force and prepared for war. At first he had the advantage, but then the battle was even. This blunted the two sides' appetite for war.
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The ancient sources do not mention anything about Laodice. She is only known through surviving coins, statues and inscriptions. At some point, Laodice married her brother Mithridates IV of Pontus.Getzel, Hellenistic settlements in Europe, the islands and Asia Minor p.
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The high ratios of centurions and tribunes among the slain indicate that the men ultimately deserted their officers on the field. Mithridates then fortified Armenia Minor (mountains of eastern Pontus) as a redoubt. Badly wounded himself, he needed time to recover.
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Coin of Tiberius Julius Mithridates Sources that mention the conflict include Tacitus's Annals (Book 12, chapter 7), Cassius Dio's Roman History (Book 59, chapter 12), and Peter the Patrician's History. Coins found from the period are important in helping to date the events. The commonly provided dates for the war are 45 to 49, because the oldest coin found featuring the monogram of Cotys has the date 342 Bosporan era (AB), which corresponds to 45 Common Era (CE), and Tacitus relates that Mithridates arrived in Rome in 49 CE after having been driven from the Bosporus.
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The Roman General Lucullus had led the eastern campaign from 73 BC to 67 BC but after a mutiny of his army he had retreated to Galatia in Asia Minor. In 66 BC the Roman Senate gave command of the war against Mithridates to Gnaeus Pompeius (better known as Pompey). That same year Pompey effectively defeated Mithridates at the Battle of the Lycus, with the king escaping through Colchis to the Bosporean kingdom north of the Black Sea. A pursuit party was sent after him, they followed him all the way to Colchis but lost his trail.
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He ruled from 302 to 266BC, fought against Seleucus I and, in 281 (or 280) BC, declared himself king (basileus) of a state in northern Cappadocia and eastern Paphlagonia. He further expanded his kingdom to the river Sangrius in the west. His son Ariobarzanes captured Amastris in 279, its first important Black sea port. Mithridates also allied with the newly arrived Galatians and defeated a force sent against him by Ptolemy I. Ptolemy had been expanding his territory in Asia Minor since the beginning of the First Syrian war against Antiochus in the mid-270s and was allied with Mithridates' enemy, Heraclea Pontica.
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Antiochus II Epiphanes, also known as Antiochus II of Commagene (, flourished 1st century BC) was a man of Iranian and Greek descent. Antiochus II was a prince from the Kingdom of Commagene and the second son of King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene and Queen Isias Philostorgos. He was the youngest brother of prince and future king Mithridates II of Commagene. Very little is known of Antiochus II. In 29 BC, he was summoned to Rome by the Emperor Augustus for causing the assassination of an ambassador Mithridates II had sent to Rome. Antiochus II was subsequently executed on Augustus’ orders.
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Several years later, a new power had emerged in Asia. In 88 BC, a Roman army was sent to put down that power, king Mithridates VI of Pontus, but was defeated. Over the objections of the former Consul Gaius Marius, the Consul for the year, Lucius Cornelius Sulla was ordered by the senate to assume command of the war against Mithridates.Holland, 64 Marius, a member of the democratic ("populare") party, had a Tribune revoke Sulla's command of the war against Mithridates,Holland, 66 so Sulla, a member of the aristocratic ("optimate") party, brought his army back to Italy and marched on Rome.
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Taxiles (; lived 1st century BC) was a general in the service of Mithridates VI of Pontus, and one of those in whom he reposed the highest confidence. He is first mentioned in 86 BC, when he was sent by Mithridates, with an army of not less than 110,000 men, to make his way through Thrace and Macedonia to provide support to Archelaus in Greece. This task he successfully accomplished. He reduced Amphipolis, which had at first defied his arms, and having thus struck terror into the Macedonians, advanced, without further opposition, through that country and Thessaly into Phocis.
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In 133 BC, the last king of Pergamum died and left his kingdom to Rome: this brought most of the Aegean peninsula under direct Roman rule as part of the province of Asia. Macedo- Ptolemaic soldiers of the Ptolemaic kingdom, 100 BC, detail of the Nile mosaic of Palestrina. The final downfall of Greece came in 88 BC, when King Mithridates of Pontus rebelled against Rome, and massacred up to 100,000 Romans and Roman allies across Asia Minor. Although Mithridates was not Greek, many Greek cities, including Athens, overthrew their Roman puppet rulers and joined him.
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Tigranes was given an ultimatum: surrender Mithridates or face an all out war with Rome. Tigranes denied the Romans their prize and in 69 BC Lucullus launched the first Roman invasion of Armenia. Tigranes had already faced the Romans in battle when he had attempted to annex Cappadocia and was driven back by Lucius Cornelius Sulla in 92 BC, this time he gathered a stronger army backed by Greek mercenaries. The combined forces of Tigranes and Mithridates were defeated at the Battle of Tigranocerta by the Romans and both monarchs fled to Northern Armenia near the Iberian border.
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He was put in charge of the Valerian legions, two legions formerly controlled by Gaius Flavius Fimbria. We can deduce from Appian's account of this war in his The Mithridatic Wars, that Murena had been given the command of Phrygia, which had been annexed to the Kingdom of Pergamon in 188 BC, Galatia, a client state of Rome, and the kingdom of Cappadocia, which was a Roman ally. Under the terms of the Treaty of Dardanos, Sulla had left Mithridates in control of his kingdom of Pontus. Murena undertook an unauthorised war against Mithridates, the Second Mithridatic War (83–81 BC).
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The Roman infantry stood their ground and held off the attack inflicting terrible losses on the Pontic horsemen. When a second supply convoy, also heavily armed, under the command of the legate Marcus Fabius Hadrianus made for Lucullus's camp Mithridates decided to use a combined arms (infantry and cavalry) attack. A force of 4,000 cavalry and infantry fell upon the convoy, unfortunately, the Romans realized the narrow valley at the scene limited the effectiveness of their opponents' cavalry and they counter-attacked wiping out half the attacking force.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great: Rome's Indomitable Enemy p.
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The Armenian garrison at Nisibis was under the command of Tigranes's brother Gouras and the Greek defence expert Callimachus. At first Lucullus besieged the city to no avail; it was strongly fortified, with two walls of brick and a moat. But in the winter of 68/67 BC, during a terrible storm — when the defenders relaxed their guard — Lucullus launched a surprise attack and captured the city and its treasury. It made no difference, Mithridates and Tigranes stuck to their strategy and refused to march against Lucullus; Tigranes was in the process of taking back southern Armenia and Mithridates invaded Pontus.
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The Third Mithridatic War (73–63 BC), the last and longest of the three Mithridatic Wars, was fought between Mithridates VI of Pontus and the Roman Republic. Both sides were joined by a great number of allies dragging the entire east of the Mediterranean and large parts of Asia (Asia Minor, Greater Armenia, Northern Mesopotamia and the Levant) into the war. The conflict ended in defeat for Mithridates, ending the Pontic Kingdom, ending the Seleucid Empire (by then a rump state), and also resulting in the Kingdom of Armenia becoming an allied client state of Rome.
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Cassius Dio, Roman History, 37.5.2-5,6 Stratonice, the fourth wife of Mithridates, surrendered Caenum, one of the most important fortresses of the king. Pompey also received gifts from the king of the Iberians. He then moved from Caenum to Amisus (modern Samsun, on the north coast of Anatolia). Pompey then decided to move south because it was too difficult to try to reach Mithridates in the Cimmerian Bosporus and thus he did not want to ‘wear out his own strength in a vain pursuit.’ He was content with preventing merchant ships reaching the Cimmerian Bosporus through his blockade and preferred other pursuits.
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In 57 BC Gabinius went as proconsul to Syria. On his arrival he reinstated Hyrcanus II in the high-priesthood of Jerusalem, suppressed revolts, introduced important changes in the government of Judaea and rebuilt several towns.Josephus, The Jewish War 1:155-1:170, "Scythopolis, Samaria, Anthedon, Apollonia, Jamia, Raphia, Marisa, Dora, Gaza Azotus and many other towns were re-established, each attracting an influx of eager colonists." He also supported Mithridates III in his struggle against his brother Orodes but abandoned Mithridates when the more lucrative offer of restoring Ptolemy XII Auletes to the Egyptian throne reached him.
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Greece was restored to Roman rule and Pontus was expected to restore the status quo ante bellum in Asia Minor. As the treaty of Dardanos was barely implemented in Asia Minor, the Roman general Murena (in charge of retaking control of Roman territory in Asia) decided to wage a second war against Pontus. The second war resulted in a Roman defeat and gave momentum to Mithridates, who then forged an alliance with Tigranes the Great, the Armenian King of Kings. Tigranes was the son-in-law of Mithridates and was in control of an Armenian empire that included territories in the Levant.
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In the Parthian era, Iranians used Hellenistic iconography to portray their divine figures, thus Heracles was seen as a representation of the Avestan Verethragna. The other titles that Mithridates I used in his coinage was "of Arsaces", which was later changed into "of King Arsaces", and eventually, "of the Great King Arsaces." The name of the first Arsacid ruler Arsaces I had become a royal honorific among the Arsacid monarchs out of admiration for his achievements. Another title used in Mithridates' coinage was "whose father is a god", which was also later used by his son, Phraates II.
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He also installed two new consuls and forced major reforms of the constitution at sword-point, before leaving on campaign against Mithridates. While Sulla was fighting Mithridates, Lucius Cornelius Cinna dominated domestic Roman politics, controlling elections and other parts of civil life. Cinna and his partisans were no friends of Sulla: they razed Sulla's house in Rome, revoked his command in name, and forced his family to flee the city. Cinna himself would win election to the consulship three times consecutively; he also conducted a purge of his political opponents, displaying their heads on the rostra in the forum.
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He allied himself with Cappadocia by marrying his daughter Laodice to Ariarathes VI of Cappadocia. His son, Mithridates VI (120 – 63 BC) reversed earlier policies of friendship with the growing power of Rome, engaging in a series of wars that now bear his name, the Mithradatic wars (88–63 BC), and which ultimately led to the end of his kingdom and dynasty. Mithridates was ambitious and planned to conquer the litoral of the Black Sea. His first campaign was against Colchis on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, and then extended as far north as Crimea.
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Nicomedes appealed to the Roman Senate, which decreed that Mithridates be removed from Cappadocia and Nicomedes be removed from Paphlagonia and the Senate appointed Ariobarzanes I of Cappadocia as King of Cappadocia. Mithridates prompted his son-in-law Tigranes the Great of Armenia to invade Cappadocia and remove Ariobarzanes. The Senate sent special orders to Lucius Cornelius Sulla, the propraetor who was in charge of reducing the pirates infesting Cilicia (south of Cappadocia), and charged him with driving out Mithridates's adherents and the Armenians. After initial difficulties Sulla succeeded and Ariobarzanes was restored to his throne.
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The Pontic envoy Pelopidas cleverly ignored the fact that Aquillius and his suite had induced the Bithynian raid. Instead he let out propaganda about Roman intolerance towards Mithridates and concluded by appealing to the Treaty between Mithridates and Rome, calling upon the Romans, as friends and allies, to punish or restrain the Bithynian aggressor.Appian Mith.12 Bithynian envoys replied first, citing Pontic aggression against Bithynia and her present king, the ominous Pontic build-up of arms, territory and resources, and alliances – from Armenia to Thrace – while negotiations were still in progress with the Ptolemaic Empire and Seleucid Empire.
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After war broke out anew the Senate sent Lucullus, a new proconsul, to the east (73 BC) with a renewed mandate for war, the Third Mithridatic War, and a fresh army. Acquiring a new fleet in Asia (Sulla had taken the previous one to Italy during his invasion of it) he was victorious at sea and on land, driving Mithridates' forces before him wherever he went. Without advice, Mithridates was still a bad general. At a final debacle he and his whole army stampeded out of their camp, flattening its defenses, on hearing a rumor of a minor Roman victory (which was true).
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The diadem was also used during the early reign of Mithridates II, until he later started using a tall bejewelled tiara or kolah (tall hat).; ; The tiara was of Median origin; in the Achaemenid era, high ranking Median officers wore a tall, domed headdress, which was part of the Median national dress. Media, a region in central Iran which neighboured Parthia, was an important part of the Parthian realm under Mithridates II. According to Justin, the Parthian language shared many features with Median. The Parthians admired Median customs, and seemingly got familiar with Achaemenid heritage through Media.
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Sketch of the rock relief portraying Mithridates II and four grandees at Mount Behistun At Mount Behistun in western Iran, there is a rock relief which depicts four figures paying respect to a fifth figure. The relief, along with its Greek inscription, heavily damaged, was partly reconstructed by the German archaeologist Ernst Herzfeld (d. 1948), and reads the following: Rahim M. Shayegan (2011), has suggested, contrary to other scholars, that the rock relief was not constructed during the reign of Mithridates II, but during that of his son and successor Gotarzes, perhaps as an attempt to stress the legitimacy of his sovereignty by portraying the prestigious status of himself and his officers during Mithridates II's kingship. He identifies the first figure with the Parthian satrap Kofzad; the second figure with the Parthian commander Mitratu, who first rose to an distinguished position under Gotarzes; the third figure with Gotarzes' son and heir Orodes; and the fourth with Gotarzes himself, who served as "satrap of satraps" under his father.
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Sketch of the rock relief portraying Mithridates II and four grandees at Mount Behistun At Mount Behistun in western Iran, there is a rock relief which depicts four figures paying respect to a fifth figure. The relief, along with its Greek inscription, heavily damaged, was partly reconstructed by the German archaeologist Ernst Herzfeld (d. 1948), and reads the following: Rahim M. Shayegan (2011), has suggested, contrary to other scholars, that the rock relief was not constructed during the reign of Mithridates II, but during that of his son and successor Gotarzes, perhaps as an attempt to stress the legitimacy of his sovereignty by portraying the prestigious status of himself and his officers during Mithridates II's kingship. He identifies the first figure with the Parthian satrap Kofzad; the second figure with the Parthian commander Mitratu, who first rose to a distinguished position under Gotarzes; the third figure with Gotarzes' son and heir Orodes; and the fourth with Gotarzes himself, who served as "satrap of satraps" under his father.
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Laodice (130/129 BC – about 90 BC) was a Pontic Princess and Queen who was first wife and sister to King Mithridates VI of Pontus.Getzel, Hellenistic settlements in Europe, the islands, and Asia Minor p.387 She was of Persian and Greek ancestry.
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After the Colchis Kingdom's reign and before the Roman Empire expanded, the king Mithridates VI of Pontus ran away to Sinoria and built 75 strongholds in this area. The Roman Empire, under Justinian I, built many bridges, churches, and monasteries in the region.
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Mithridates (, ; died 401 BC) was a young Persian soldier in the army of king Artaxerxes II who according to Plutarch's Life of Artaxerxes II, accidentally killed the rebel claimant to the throne Cyrus the Younger in the Battle of Cunaxa (Greek: Κούναξα).
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He went to Roman deserters who were encamped near Mithridates to highlight the dangers of the expedition and to encourage them to desert his father. He sent other people to do the same in other camps. In the morning there was an uprising.
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Among them are drachmas of Alexander the Great. Parthian rulers Arshak, Mithridates I, Phraates II, Thracian ruler Lisimachos, and Seleucids, all ruled during the 187-129 BC period. Tetradrachms of Greco-Bactrian Kingdom are also found. This trove was hidden in the 120s.
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As the people expected nothing good of him, they threw him into prison and murdered him. Mithridates took revenge and inflicted terrible punishments. However, the Greek cities were given freedom and several substantial rights. Ephesus became, for a short time, self-governing.
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Sulla soon made peace with Mithridates. In 83, he returned to Rome, overcame all resistance, and recaptured the city. Sulla and his supporters then slaughtered most of Marius' supporters. Sulla, having observed the violent results of radical popular reforms, was naturally conservative.
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Mehr is an alternative name for Mithra, a Zoroastrian divinity and hypostasis of covenant. In present-day Iran, the name Mehrdad is also retroactively applied to several historic figures that appear in western literature as Mithridates, a Hellenized or philhellenic form of Mehrdad.
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The siege of Rhodes took place in 88 BC between the people of Rhodes (allies of Roman) and Mithridates VI of Pontus' army. The Rhodian forces were led by an admiral called DemagorasMayor, Adrienne. The Poison King, p. 180, Princeton University Press, 2009.
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Parthian coins appeared in Azerbaijan from the second century BC. Parthian coins have been found both in collections and individually. Mithridates II drachmas (overall 30 instances) were found there. Parthian coins replaced local imitation coins and spread even more than Roman silver coins.
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Sulla found it necessary to engage in another civil war, which he won at the Battle of the Colline Gate (82 BC), making himself dictator. Marius had died earlier. A new deal was struck with Mithridates, which the Senate still did not ratify.
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Cotta sent for his co-consul, Lucius Licinius Lucullus. The Third Mithridatic War ensued and dragged on. At the end of their consulships the two commanders stayed on as proconsuls. Mithridates was able to mobilize almost all the rest of Anatolia against them.
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Scrope's song of Myrtillo's Sad Despair, in Lee's Mithridates, is included in Ritson's English Songs,, Cites: Ritson's English Songs ed. 1813, i. 69–70. and the song in the Man of Mode is inserted in the same volume., Cites: Ritson's English Songs pp. 177–178.
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The Pontic admiral sought to ram Lucullus' ship in a head-on-attack. Damagoras skillfully avoided the attack, and Lucullus was able to orchestrate a victory over the Pontic fleet. After the battle Mithridates' naval forces all over the Aegean were in full retreat.
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Ariobarzanes withstood a siege at Adramyttium in 366 BC, from Mausolus of Caria and Autophradates of Lydia, until Agesilaus negotiated the besiegers' retreat.Gershevitch 1985, p. 378 Ariobarzanes was betrayed by his son Mithridates to his overlord, the Persian king, who had Ariobarzanes crucified.Xenophon, Cyropaedia viii.
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Pharnaces was afraid of his father and plotted against him. He also hoped to receive his kingdom from the Romans if he defected. Mithridates sent some guards to arrest him, but he won them over. He then marched against his father who was in Panticapaeum.
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Murena replied that he did not see any treaties because Sulla had not written it down before he returned to Greece. Murena then began looting and then returned to Cappadocia to winter there.Appian, Mithridatic Wars, 64-65. Mithridates sent envoys to Rome to complain.
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Orosius 6.2.2. While Lucullus and Cotta prepared to invade Pontus, Mithridates gained control of the strategically important city of Heraclea Pontica and garrisoned it with 4,000 men.Lee Fratantuono, Lucullus: the Life and Campaigns of a Roman Conqueror p. 159; Memnon, History of Heraclea, 29.
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He then clashed for supremacy on the Pontic steppe with the Scythian King Palacus. The most important cities and people of the Crimea, the Tauric Chersonesus and the Bosporan Kingdom readily surrendered their independence in return for Mithridates' protection against the Scythians, their ancient enemies.
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Pompey let them cross the river Cyrnus and then attacked them and routed them. Their king begged for mercy and Pompey pardoned him. He then marched on the Iberians, who were allies of Mithridates. He routed them, killing 9,000 of them and taking 10,000 prisoners.
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Soon after, the Pontic forces captured a Rhodian quinquereme. They kept his triumph a secret hoping the Rhodians would venture out to look for their missing ship. Eventually, the Rhodians sent out a search party of six ships. Mithridates dispatched twenty-six ships after them.
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Mithridates escaped the counter-siege by sea during a storm filled night. On his way back to Pontus he took the city of Heraclea Pontica by subterfuge. He garrisoned 4,000 of his men under general Connacorex in the city to ensure its loyalty.Fratatuono, Lucullus, p.
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Many Romans became trapped against this unexpected obstacle and were cut down in great numbers.Appian, Mithridatic Wars, 89. Eventually, Triarius and some of his troops managed to flee, leaving 7,000 dead, including 24 tribunes and 150 centurions.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great: Rome's Indomitable Enemy, pp.
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Mithridates I is ignored by the medieval Georgian chronicles which instead, report a joint rule of Kartam (Kardzam) and Bartom (Bratman) – in the time when Vespasian’s destruction of Jerusalem in 70 spurred a wave of the refugee Jews to Iberia – and then of their sons – Parsman and Kaos – and grandsons – Azork and Armazel.Rapp, Stephen H. (2003), Studies In Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts And Eurasian Contexts, p. 288. Peeters Publishers, . Several modern scholars, such as Cyril Toumanoff, consider the Iberian diarchy a pure legend and a "deformed memory of the historical reign of Mithridates I".Toumanoff, Cyril (1969), Chronology of the Early Kings of Iberia.
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400x400px During the Social War, one of Marius' clients and friends, Manius Aquillius, had apparently encouraged the kingdoms of Nicomedia and Bithynia to invade Pontus. In response, King Mithridates of Pontus responded by invading both kingdoms and Roman holdings in Asia (modern day western Asia minor). Defeating the meagre forces at Aquillius' disposal, Mithridates marched across the Bosphorus and Aquillius retreated to Lesbos. With the Social War concluded and with the prospects of a glorious and fabulously rich conquest, there was significant competition in the consular elections for 88 BC. Eventually, Lucius Cornelius Sulla was elected consul, and received command of the army being sent to Pontus.
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This led the nearby Cappadocians to call on Rome for help. The Roman army, under Sulla's command, fought and defeated Mithradates in the First Mithridatic War. Mithridates attacked Zela again in 67 BC with the help of his Armenian ally Tigranes the Great, king of Greater Armenia, initiating the Third Mithridatic War, which ended with victory by the Romans under Pompeius Magnus and the suicide of Mithridates in 63 BC. In Pompey's settlement of Pontus, Zela received a civic constitution and a sizable territory thus transforming from its previous status as a temple domain to a city. In 49 BC, civil war broke out between Julius Caesar and Pompey.
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The war between the kingdoms of Iberia and Armenia (AD 51) is known chiefly through its description in Tacitus' Annals. The war took place as a delicate balance of power between the Roman and Parthian empires was in place in the Caucasus. Rome was then ruled by Claudius, Parthia by Vologases I. Two Iberian brothers then ruled the Caucasian kingdoms, Pharasmanes I in Iberia, Mithridates in Armenia. They were both dependent on Roman support, which had installed Mithridates on the Armenian throne in 35 AD. However, 15 years later, trust between the brothers had deteriorated, which Tacitus blames on the intrigues of Pharasmanes' son Rhadamistus.
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The image of Mithridates was made of gold and was four metre high. There was a tablet with the inscription "Ships with brazen beaks captured, 800; cities founded in Cappadocia, 8; in Cilicia and Coele Syria, 20; in Palestine the one which is now Seleucis. Kings conquered: Tigranes the Armenian, Artoces the Iberian, Oroezes the Albanian, Darius the Mede, Aretas the Nabataean, Antiochus of Commagene." There were two-horse carriages and litters laden with gold or ornaments, including the couch of Darius, the son of Hystaspes, the throne and scepter of Mithridates. There were 75,100,000 drachmas of silver coin and 700 ships were brought to the port.
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Jerusalem besieged by Antiochus Sidetes. Antiochus spent the final years of his life attempting to reclaim the lost eastern territories, overrun by the Parthians under their "Great King", Mithridates I. Marching east, with what would prove to be the last great Seleucid royal army (including a unit of Judean troops under John Hyrcanus), he defeated Mithridates in two battles, killing the aged Parthian king in the latter of these. He restored Mesopotamia, Babylonia and Media to the Seleucid empire, before dispersing his army into winter quarters. The Seleucid king and army spent the winter feasting, hunting and drinking (the Seleucids maintained the Macedonian tradition of heavy drinking).
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Laodice (in Greek Λαοδικη; lived in the 3rd century BC), was a princess of Pontus and was one of the daughters of Mithridates II of Pontus and Laodice. Her sister was Laodice III, the first wife of Antiochus III the Great , and her brother was Mithridates III of Pontus. She married her distant maternal cousin, the Seleucid general Achaeus. When Achaeus fell into the power of Antiochus III (213 BC), Laodice was left in possession of the citadel of Sardis, in which she held out for a time, but she was quickly compelled by the dissensions among her own troops to surrender to Antiochus III.
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The stele of Staphhilos from Panticapaeum, depicting a soldier with the traditional Bosporan long hair and beard. After the death of Mithridates VI (63 BC), Pharnaces II (63–47 BC) supplicated to Pompey, and then tried to regain his dominion during Julius Caesar's Civil War, but was defeated by Caesar at Zela and was later killed by his former governor and son-in-law Asander. Before the death of Pharnaces II, Asander had married Pharnaces II's daughter Dynamis. Asander and Dynamis were the ruling monarchs until Caesar commanded a paternal uncle of Dynamis, Mithridates II to declare war on the Bosporan Kingdom and claimed the kingship for himself.
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The tomb tumulus of Laodice measures 21 metres or 69 feet. Only one column is still standing with a stele on top of it. The stele depicts a dexiosis relief or a scene between Mithridates II and Laodice shaking hands. The inscription underneath the dexiosis relief is so weathered that the inscription was not noticed until 1938. It was not until 1979 that the inscription was finally recorded and revealed: :The great King Mithridates, the son of the great King Antiochus and Queen Isias, dedicated this image to the unfading memory of Queen Laodice, the king’s sister and the wife of Orodes, the king of kings, and to her own honour.
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However, a Roman attack under the generals Aulus Gabinius and Lucius Afranius as far as the Tigris resulted in Phraates III losing Gordyene, which was restored to Tigranes by the Romans. At the start of 64 BC, while Pompey was focusing on his expedition against Mithridates VI, Phraates III invaded Armenia, and ultimately reached an accord with Pompey and Tigranes; Mesopotamia and Adiabene were confirmed as Parthian territory, while Gordyene was confirmed as Roman. Furthermore, a peace treaty was concluded between Phraates III and Tigranes. In Phraates III was murdered by his two sons, Orodes II and Mithridates IV, with the latter ascending the throne.
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Manilius' law was passed in the Comitia Tributa without any of the violence that had occurred the year before with Gabinius' proposal.T.P. Wiseman, 'The Senate and the Populares', in The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume IX, 2nd edition (Cambridge: 1994), p. 335 Pompey soon moved against Mithridates and Tigranes, and had defeated both by the end of 65 BC (though Mithridates was not killed until 63 BC). As for Manilius, he was prosecuted twice upon leaving his office in December 66 BC. On the first occasion, he was defended from a charge of extortion (de repetundis) by Cicero, but the charges were dropped in January 65 BC amid disturbances and violence.
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Lucullus was formally replaced in 67 BC by Marcius Rex, ordered to deal with the Cilician pirate problem, that was threatening the Roman food supply in the Aegean, and Acilius Glabrio to take over the eastern command. Lucullus withdrew back to Galatia and Mithridates promptly recovered all his lost territory. Meanwhile, the republic was changing the administrative governance of Anatolia to the praetorian model in 68 BC. The piracy strategy initiated by Servilius in 78–75 BC was suspended during the years of fighting Mithridates. Roman naval forces were defeated in 70 BC attempting to deal with the Cretan pirates, and the problem spread to Italy itself.
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Becoming king in 127 BC, Nicomedes III conquered Paphlagonia along the Black Sea and began to expand his influence over the Roman ally of Cappadocia. In 116 BC, the Cappadocian king Ariarathes VI was murdered by the Cappadocian noble Gordius on orders from King Mithridates VI of Pontus. Mithridates VI then installed his sister Laodice of Cappadocia, Ariarathes VI's widow, as regent over for the infant Ariarathes VII, ensuring Pontic control over Cappadocia in the process. Nicomedes III sought to take advantage of the political power vacuum in Cappadocia, invaded the kingdom, and refused to recognize the infant Ariarathes VII as Cappadocia's legitimate ruler.
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Eastern Anatolia and the Caucasus region around 50 AD. The boundaries shown correspond approximately to those around 64 BC following the Third Mithridatic War. Due to the internal political struggle between Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Gaius Marius, and Lucius Cornelius Cinna, Rome had been unable to definitively defeat Pontic King Mithridates VI. In 74 BC, King Nicomedes IV of Bithynia died and, hoping to secure his kingdom from further Pontic aggression, bequeathed his kingdom to Rome. The Senate immediately voted to annex the kingdom as a province directly governed by the Republic. Nicomedes IV's death caused a power vacuum in Asia Minor, allowing Mithridates VI to invade and conquer the leaderless kingdom.
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With Mirthidates VI again having designs on Roman protectorates in Asia Minor, including Cappadocia, Rome launched the Third Mithridatic War to end the Pontic threat. Dispatching Consul Lucius Licinius Lucullus to Asia, Rome drove Pontus and its ally Armenia out of Asia proper, reasserting Roman dominance over the Asian client kingdoms by 71 BC and conquering Pontus in the process. When Mithridates VI fled to Armenia, Lucullus invaded the kingdom in 69 BC. Despite initial successes, Lucullus was unable to decisively end the war. By 66 BC, Mithridates VI and Tigranes were able to retake their respective kingdoms and Lucullus was recalled to Rome.
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Roman Dictator Sulla, who attempted to increase the power of the Centuriate Assembly at the expense of the Tribal Assembly Several decades later, a new power had emerged in Asia. In 88 BC, a Roman army was sent to put down that power, king Mithridates of Pontus, but was defeated. Lucius Cornelius Sulla had been elected Consul (one of the two chief-executives of the Roman Republic) for the year, and was ordered by the senate to assume command of the war against Mithridates. Gaius Marius, a former Consul and a member of the populist ("populares") party, was a bitter political rival of Sulla.
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Mithridates was the favorite tragedy of another great king, Louis XIV. Over the centuries, the play has become increasingly rare on stage. Today, it is one of the least performed works of Racine. The play formed the basis for Mozart's opera Mitridate, re di Ponto (1770).
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Full side view of the surviving portion of the funerary relief Three quarter detail view An Attic funerary relief, sometimes also known as the Mithridates funerary relief is displayed at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens (NAMA), with the inventory number 4464. Its date is uncertain.
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Syme, "Missing Senators", Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte, 4 (1955), p. 60 Cethegus was first a supporter of Marius but when Sulla returned from the East after having defeated Mithridates Eupator, Cethegus deserted the cause of the populares and joined Sulla.Appian, Bellum Civilis i. 60 62, 80.
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Many Greek cities in Asia Minor happily carried out the orders; this ensured that they could no longer return to an alliance with Rome. In the autumn of 88 Mithridates also placed Rhodes under siege, but he failed to take it.Cambridge Ancient v. 9, 146–49.
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Nysa had either given the Athenians a gift or done a favor for them.Day, An economic history of Athens under Roman domination p.40 They were honored as patrons by the Technitai of Dionysus at Athens.McGing, The foreign policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus p.
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There was unrest among the scared deserters. They were joined by some of Mithridates' men who feared having to fight without them. The king held them in check with difficulty and had to pretend that he was testing Pompey. Pompey, who was in Galatia, prepared for war.
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Harpagus disobeyed the order but had the shepherd Mithradates (Mithradate in the libretto) leave the infant out on the mountains to die. Mithridates also disobeyed Harpagus' orders - instead he and his wife raised Cyrus as their own son. The libretto's plot begins when Cyrus reaches fifteen.
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Rhescuporis I was the son and heir of the Roman Client King Cotys I and Roman Client Queen Eunice. He was of Greek, Iranian and Roman ancestry. His paternal uncle Mithridates, was a previous Bosporan King. His paternal grandmother was the late Bosporan Roman Client Queen Gepaepyris.
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An advance guard had been separated from the fleet, stranded by storms, and their ships burnt by Mithridates' Pontic navy. These men eventually make their way to Thessaly, where they promptly deserted to Sulla.Arthur Keaveney, Sulla, the Last Republican (Routledge, 2nd edition 2005), p. 77 online.
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This inscription dedicated to Laodice suggests a cenotaph, as Mithridates II is saying farewell to his sister, Laodice. The grave chamber of Laodice was located inside the tumulus. After the Kingdom of Commagene was annexed in 72 by the Roman Emperor Vespasian, her tomb was plundered.
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The Foreign Policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 1986 (), p. 51. During his first Crimean expedition, he relieved the siege of Chersonesos by the Scythian king Palacus and subdued his allies, the Tauri. He finished this campaign at Scythian Neapolis.
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Not being able to hold out against the Aorsi for too long, Zorsines sued for peace and acknowledge the superiority of Claudius. After Mithridates learned of his ally's defeat, he also sued for peace as he found his troop numbers not sufficient to continue the war.
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Appian attributed the escalation of piracy to Mithridates plundering the Roman province of Asia extensively in 88 BC and the rest of the First Mithridatic War (89–85 BC). The destitute people who lost their livelihood became pirates. At first, they scoured the sea with a few small boats.
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A second battle occurred at Artaxata in 68 B.C. where Mithridates was again be defeated. Despite this Lucullus and his army was forced to retreat to the Euphrates Valley. In 66 B.C., Lucullus was recalled to Rome and Pompey took over the command. Armenia was subdued the same year.
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Paerisades V would rule until c. 108 BC, and he would be the last Spartocid ruler of the Bosporan Kingdom, handing the kingdom to Mithridates VI, the famous king of Pontus. His death marked the ending of a dynasty that lasted for three centuries in the Cimmerian Bosporus.
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After speaking with Lucullus, Sura handed over the command of his troops to Sulla. At Chaeronea, ambassadors from all the major cities of Greece (except Athens) met with Sulla, who impressed on them Rome's determination to drive Mithridates from Greece and Asia Province. Sulla then advanced on Athens.
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The first recorded settlement in the area, called Kerkinitis (), was built by Greek colonists around 500 BC. Along with the rest of Crimea, Kerkinitis formed part of the dominions of Mithridates VI, King of Pontus ( BC), from whose nickname, Eupator ("of noble father"), the city's modern name derives.
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Mithrobarzanes charged the Romans while they were setting up their camp, but was met by a 3,500-strong sentry force and his horsemen were routed. He perished in the attempt.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, pp 127-128; Lee Frantatuono, Lucullus, pp 83-84; Plutarch, Life of Lucullus, XII.84.
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The outgoing commander and his replacement traded insults. Lucullus called Pompey a "vulture" who fed from the work of others. Lucullus was referring not merely to Pompey's new command against Mithridates, but also his claim to have finished the war against Spartacus.Greenhalg, P., Pompey, the Roman Alexander, p.
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While Pompey was marching on Jerusalem he was informed about the death of Mithridates. Pompey encamped at Jericho. Aristobulus went to see him, promised to give him money and received him into Jerusalem. Pompey forgave him and sent Aulus Gabinius with soldiers to receive the money and the city.
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Bust formerly thought to be of Sulla, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek As senior consul, Sulla had been allocated the command of the First Mithridatic War against king Mithridates VI of Pontus.Lynda Telford, Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered, p. 96; Tom Holland, Rubicon, p. 66; Philip Matyszak, Cataclysm 90 BC, p. 116.
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Pompey had ordered the wells to be obstructed by rocks to prevent robbers from hiding on the mountains. Arsaces was captured and killed.Strabo, Geography, 12.3.38 Arsaces probably claimed the throne because he was the grandson of Mithridates VI of Pontus, the last king of an independent Kingdom of Pontus.
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The same earthquake is mentioned by Strabo. According to Strabo's narrative, Mithridates VI of Pontus (reigned 120–63 BC) offered to rebuilt the destroyed Apamea. Apamea was located about from the Mediterranean coast, and was surrounded by hills. It is unlikely that it was affected by a tsunami.
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Orsabaris was of Greek Macedonian and Persian ancestry. She was the youngest daughter born to King Mithridates VI of Pontus from an unnamed concubine.Mayor, The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome’s deadliest enemy p.114 Orsabaris was born and raised in the Kingdom of Pontus.
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At this point, Mithridates finished capturing Asia Minor and established a presence in Greece. Archelaus was sent to Greece, where he established Aristion as a tyrant in Athens. The Romans quickly declared war. In 87 BC, Consul Lucius Cornelius Sulla landed in Epirus (western Greece) and marched on Athens.
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Sulla was too lenient for their tastes. They began to plunder Asia Minor. Mithridates wrote to Sulla and the Senate and then withdrew to wait for an answer, of which he had some hope. Sulla had left Lucullus behind, proquaestor again, but now Murena's proquaestor (and Sulla's agent).
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Adiabene was conquered by the Parthian king Mithridates I () in ca. 145–141 BC, and by at least from the reign of Mithridates II served as an integral part of the Parthian realm. Adiabenian rulers converted to Judaism from paganism in the 1st century AD. Queen Helena of Adiabene (known in Jewish sources as Heleni HaMalka) moved to Jerusalem, where she built palaces for herself and her sons, Izates bar Monobaz and Monobaz II at the northern part of the city of David, south of the Temple Mount, and aided the Jews in their war with Rome. According to the Talmud, both Helena and Monobaz donated large funds for the Temple of Jerusalem.
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After Zeno's death in 36, Artabanus III decided to reinstate an Arsacid over the Armenian throne, choosing his eldest son Arsaces I as a suitable candidate, but his succession to the Armenian throne was disputed by his younger brother Orodes who was previously overthrown by Zeno. Tiberius quickly concentrated more forces on the Roman frontier and once again after a decade of peace, Armenia was to become the theater of bitter warfare between the two greatest powers of the known world for the next twenty-five years. Tiberius, sent an Iberian named Mithridates, who claimed to be of Arsacid blood. Mithridates successfully subjugated Armenia to the Roman rule and deposed Arsaces inflicting huge devastation to the country.
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40, x. 34 From this time no more is heard of Taxiles until 74 BC when he commanded (together with Hermocrates) the great army with which Mithridates invaded Paphlagonia and Bithynia in the autumn of that year. During the subsequent operations at the siege of Cyzicus, he is mentioned as giving the king the most judicious advice.Appian, Roman History, "The Mithridatic Wars", 70, 72 After the defeat of the king and his retreat into his own territories, Taxiles shared with Diophantus the command of the army which Mithridates sent to oppose Lucullus near Cabira, 72 BC, where their skilful arrangements for a time held the balance of success doubtful, and reduced the Roman general to considerable straits for provisions.
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Towards the end of Paerisades's reign, Diophantus, a general in the service of Mithridates VI of Pontus, began attacking the Scythians under Palacus and then made his way to the Bosporan Kingdom's capital of Panticapaeum. There, he entered into talks with Paerisades to bring the Bosporan Kingdom under the control of Mithridates VI in exchange for his survival. The Bosporan Kingdom was suffering at the time from an economic crisis as well as increasing pressure from the Scythians. Diophantus returned a year later to Paerisades's court to finalise the deal, when Saumacus, Paerisades's adoptive Scythian son, started a rebellion which ended in Paerisades's death and Diophantus barely being able to escape in time.
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He was a child at his succession, and for this reason the power was kept by his mother, who acted as his regent. At some point his mother seems to have poisoned all of Ariarathes’ five brothers; but the infant king was saved by people loyal to the dynasty and had Nysa killed. Using this as a pretext, his maternal uncle, King Mithridates V Euergetes of Pontus (150 BC–120 BC), tried to assert control over the country by marrying Ariarathes to Mithridates' first daughter, Laodice of Cappadocia, who was also Ariarathes' maternal cousin. Laodice bore Ariarathes one daughter and two sons: Nysa who married King Nicomedes III Euergetes of Bithynia; Ariarathes VII Philometor and Ariarathes VIII Epiphanes.
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Frustrated because of the rough terrain of Northern Armenia, Lucullus moved back south and plundered Nisibis which was held by the brother of Tigranes. This allowed Mithridates to regroup by raising a small army and slaughtering all the Romans in Pontus (two whole legions at Zela alone under the command of Valerius Trianus), he then awaited Median reinforcements from Tigranes at the citadel of Talaura in Lesser Armenia. Hearing news of this bloodbath, Lucullus ordered his troops to Lesser Armenia but the troops refused and instead agreed to move west and assume a defensive position in Galatia. Pontus and Armenia were now once again under the full control of Mithridates and Tigranes.
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The Greek word hierothesion (ἱεροθέσιον) is term for the holy burial areas of those belonging to the royal house, and is only known from Commagene. Apart from the Hierothesion which Antiochos himself built on Nemrut Dağı, and the second one on Karakuş which his son Mithridates II built for the female members of the royal house, a third is to be found in Arsameia, the burial site and the associated cultic area for Antiochus' father Mithridates. A processional way leads up the mountain in the form of a Z and passes three sites which its discoverer Friedrich Karl Dörner marked as Sites I–III. At the first of these, Site II, stands the fragment described as the Mithras relief.
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Ethnic map of the Caucasus in the 5th and 4th centuries BC By the sixth century BC, the tribes living in the southern Colchis (Macrones, Mossynoeci, Marres etc.) were incorporated into the nineteenth satrapy of Persia. The Achaemenid Empire was defeated by Alexander the Great, however following the Alexander's death a number of separate kingdoms were established in Anatolia, including Pontus, in the corner of the southern Black Sea, ruled by the Persian nobleman Mithridates I. Culturally, the kingdom was Hellenized,Children of Achilles: The Greeks in Asia Minor Since the Days of Troy, by John Freely, p. 69–70 with Greek as the official language.The Foreign Policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus, by B.C. McGing, p.
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Asander was soon overthrown. Julius Caesar gave a tetrarchy in Galatia and the title of king to Mithridates of Pergamon. He also allowed him to wage war against Asander and conquer the Cimmerian Bosporus because Asander “had been mean to his friend Pharnaces.”Cassius Dio, Roman History, 42.47 This must have been in late 47 BC or early 46 BC. We know this date because this is the date given by Cassius Dio about a rebellion against Caesar plotted by Caecilius Bassus, who gathered troops to take over Syria. He was investigated and he claimed that “he was collecting these troops for the use of Mithridates the Pergamenian in an expedition against Bosporus.”Cassius Dio, Roman History, 47.25.
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The period between the Second and Third wars of Rome and the Pontic Kingdom (81–75 BC) is discussed under the Kingdom of Pontus. There it can be seen how the long piracy wars were a development out of the First Mithridatic War and especially of the alliance between Mithridates VI and Sertorius, which in joining those two threats into a unity much larger than its parts had the serious potential of overturning Roman power. The immediate cause of the Third War was the bequest to Rome by King Nicomedes IV of Bithynia of his kingdom upon his death (74 BC). Mithridates, who had been rebuilding his forces, launched an invasion of Bithynia.
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It was founded by Mithridates I in 281 BC and lasted until its conquest by the Roman Republic in 63 BC. The kingdom grew to its largest extent under Mithridates VI the Great, who conquered Colchis, Cappadocia, Bithynia, the Greek colonies of the Tauric Chersonesos and for a brief time the Roman province of Asia. Thus, this Persian dynasty managed to survive and prosper in the Hellenistic world while the main Persian Empire had fallen. Despite Greek influence on the Kingdom of Pontus, Pontics continued to maintain their Achaemenid lineage. Winged sphinx from the Palace of Darius the Great at Susa, Louvre Both the later dynasties of the Parthians and Sasanians would on occasion claim Achaemenid descent.
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The earliest coins of Mithridates I show him wearing the soft cap as well, however coins from the later part of his reign show him for the first time wearing the royal Hellenistic diadem. He thus embraces the image of a Hellenistic monarch, yet chooses to appear bearded in the traditional Iranian custom. Mithridates I also titled himself Philhellene ("friend of the Greeks") on his coins, which was a political act done in order to establish friendly relations with his newly conquered Greek subjects and cooperate with its elite. On the reverse of his new coins, the Greek divine hero Heracles is depicted, holding a club in his left hand and a cup in his right hand.
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Cabira or Kabeira (; ) was a town of ancient Pontus in Asia minor, at the base of the range of Paryadres, about 150 stadia south of Eupatoria or Magnopolis, which was at the junction of the Iris and the Lycus. Eupatoria was in the midst of the plain called Phanaroea, whereas Cabira, as Strabo says was at the base of the Paryadres. Mithridates the Great built a palace at Cabira; and there was a water-mill there (Greek: ὑδραλέτης), and places for keeping wild animals, hunting grounds, and mines. Less than 200 stadia from Cabira was the remarkable rock or fortress called Caenon (Greek: Καινόν [χωρίον]), where Mithridates kept his most valuable things.
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At a later period, Paphlagonia passed under the control of the Macedonian kings, and after the death of Alexander the Great, it was assigned, together with Cappadocia and Mysia, to Eumenes. However, it continued to be governed by native princes until it was absorbed by the encroaching power of Pontus. The rulers of that dynasty became masters of the greater part of Paphlagonia as early as the reign of Mithridates Ctistes (302–266 BC), but it was not until 183 BC that Pharnaces reduced the Greek city of Sinope under their control. From that time, the whole province was incorporated into the kingdom of Pontus until the fall of Mithridates (65 BC).
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Laodice, mother of Nicomedes III's deaseced wife Nysa, then married Nicomedes III to secure his hold over the kingdom. Mithridates VI swiftly invaded Cappadocia to prevent Nicomedes III from claiming the throne, expelled Nicomedes III, restored his nephew Ariarathes VII to the Cappadocian throne, and returned Cappadocia to Pontus' sphere of influence. Following a rebellion in by Cappadocian nobles in 97 BC against Pontic control, both Nicomedes III and Mithridates VI sent emissaries to Rome in 95 BC asking the Republic to intervene in their struggle for dominance over the kingdom. The Roman Senate did not side with either party, however, and demanded both to withdraw from Cappadocia and ensure its independence.
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It is unclear whether the force was led by Mithridates II or a Parthian commander. The Parthian force most likely left for Media afterwards, seemingly in order to join the upcoming expedition against the nomads in the east. Parthian interests were also directed towards Syria, which had first been demanded by the Parthians after Phraates II () defeated the Seleucid king (basileus) Antiochus VII Sidetes () in 129 BC. In 114/113 BC, Mithridates II captured the important Seleucid city of Dura-Europos, which was situated on the Euphrates. The Seleucid realm was at this time frail and entangled in ceaseless internal strifes and struggles for power against the Nabataeans, various local kings, Jews, and Greek cities in Syria and Phoenicia.
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The reason behind his use of the title is uncertain. Olbrycht (2010) has proposed that he adopted the title due to his victory over the nomads, while Grenet (2006) has proposed that Soter could be seen as a Mithraic title from an Iranian point of view, in connection to Mithra's role as a saviour in Zoroastrianism. Drachm of the Sasanian king Ardashir I () wearing the same type of tiara used by Mithridates II The early Arsacid monarchs are depicted on the obverse of their coins with a soft cap, known as the bashlyk, which had also been worn by Achaemenid satraps. From Mithridates I, the Hellenistic diadem was used by the Arsacid kings.
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Roman coin of 141 AD, showing emperor Antoninus Pius holding a crown on the Armenia King's head Armenia came under the Ancient Roman sphere of influence in 66 BC, after the battle of Tigranocerta and the final defeat of Armenia's ally, Mithridates VI of Pontus. Mark Antony invaded and defeated the kingdom in 34 BC, but the Romans lost hegemony during the Final War of the Roman Republic in 32–30 BC. In 20 BC, Augustus negotiated a truce with the Parthians, making Armenia a buffer zone between the two major powers. Augustus installed Tigranes V as king of Armenia in AD 6, but ruled with Erato of Armenia. The Romans then installed Mithridates of Armenia as client king.
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In De mulieribus claris Drypetina, Dripetrua (died c. 66 BC) was a devoted daughter of King Mithridates VI of Pontus and his sister-wife Laodice. Her name is the diminutive form of the name of Drypetis, daughter of the Achaemenid king Darius III. She had a double row of teeth.
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Johann Christoph Adelung, Mithridates oder allgemeine Sprachenkunde: mit dem Vater Unser als Sprachprobe in beynahe fünfhundert Sprachen und Mundarten., (Berlin, 1806), III, ii, 611. "The linguistic abilities of Samuel Fritz." He was effective and respected, and helpful to the Viceroyalty of Peru in its boundary dispute with the State of Brazil.
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The Bersoumas dish at the Georgian National Museum in Tbilisi. There is another Greek inscription found in Rome. This Epigram of Amazaspos names Amazaspus as brother of King Mithridates I of Iberia. The inscription records Amazapus’s death at Nisibis, while accompanying the emperor Trajan on his Parthian campaign of 114–117.
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She is also known as Laodice. Nysa was the namesake of her mother, who is believed to have died during childbirth, while giving birth to either her or Mithridates. She was born and raised in the Kingdom of Pontus. Sometime after 160 BC, Nysa married King Ariarathes V of Cappadocia.
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The next year Murena repeated his actions, looting as many as 400 villages before Mithridates counterattacked. The Pontic king defeated the Roman force and drove Murena back to Bithynia. Subsequently, Aulus Gabinius, a representative of Sulla, arrived from Rome with instructions to cease all hostilities. This concluded the Second Mithridatic War.
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In 66 BC Roman the general Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey) arrived in the East. Pompey had been given the command of the war against Mithridates and his allies. Pompey officially relieved Lucullus of his command and reenlisted most of his troops, including the Fimbrians.John Leach, Pompey the Great, p.76.
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Mithridates VI had wives and mistresses, by whom he had several children. The names he gave his children are a representation of his Persian and Greek heritage and ancestry. His first wife was his sister Laodice. They were married from 115/113 BC until about 90 BC. They had several children.
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Cassius Dio, Roman History, 37.7 Cassius Dio also mentioned that Mithridates planned to reach the River Danube and invade Italy. However, he was ageing and becoming weaker. As his position became weaker and that of the Romans stronger some of his associates became estranged. A massive earthquake destroyed many towns.
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The last-named settled a large number of Babylonian Jews as colonists in his western dominions, with the view of checking certain revolutionary tendencies disturbing those lands. Mithridates (174–136 BC) subjugated, about the year 160, the province of Babylonia, and thus the Jews for four centuries came under Parthian domination.
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Meanwhile, Arhelaeus had been reinforced by 80,000 men brought over from Asia Minor by Dorylaeus, another of Mithridates' generals, and was embarking his army from his base on Euboea. The return of a large Mithridatic army caused the revolt of Boeotians from the Romans. Sulla immediately marched his army back south.
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He had two intact armies, but their morale was extremely low. When Aquillius reached Lesbos, he was handed over to Mithridates by the people of Mytilene, and had molten gold poured down his throat (a similar fate is said to have happened with Marcus Licinius Crassus – 'richest person in Rome').
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Despite this Mithridates joined Antiochus Hierax against Seleucus. Middle East 200 BC highlighting Seleucid Empire. Notes: 5. Rhodes, 6. Pergamon, 7. Bithynia, 8. Cappadocia After the brief reign of Seleucus II's son Seleucus III Ceraunus ( 226–223 BC), his brother Antiochus III the Great (223–187 BC) ascended the throne.
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He had two older siblings: a brother called Darius and a sister called Dynamis. His paternal grandparents were the Pontian Monarchs Mithridates VI and his first wife, his sister Laodice. Arsaces was born and raised in the Kingdom of Pontus and the Bosporan Kingdom. According to Strabo,Strabo, Geographia xii p.
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The Saka were forced to move further west, where they invaded the Parthian Empire's northeastern borders.; ; Mithridates was thus forced to retire to Hyrcania after his conquest of Mesopotamia. Some of the Saka were enlisted in Phraates' forces against Antiochus. However, they arrived too late to engage in the conflict.
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They escaped massacre by pursuing Roman troops when the Romans stopped to plunder the rich contents of their camp. Mithridates escaped to Armenia, where he had in-laws among the royals. Lucullus captured Pontus. Overconfident, he split his forces, leaving some to guard Pontus, and taking the rest into Armenia.
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The populares held both consulships at Rome. Marcus Aurelius Cotta was sent to secure the province as governor. He was a maternal uncle of Julius Caesar. Mithridates VI of Pontus, a skilled warrior, seeing a prospective addition to his kingdom about to escape, attacked Bithynia even before the consul arrived.
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Cuinet, La Turquie d'Asie, I ( Paris , 1892), p210-216. The town was also known as Acilisene and Keltzene, Eliza and Erzindjan. Acilisene was a province situated between the Euphrates and Antitaurus, where Mithridates VI of Pontus, pursued by Pompey, sought refuge.Strabo XI, iv, 8 XI, xii, 3, V, xi, 6Procopius Bellum Persia.
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The defeat of Mithridates by Sulla, Lucullus and then Pompey returned the archipelago to Rome. In 67 BC, Pompey caused piracy, which had arisen during various conflicts, to disappear from the region. He divided the Mediterranean into different sectors led by lieutenants. Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus was put in charge of the Cyclades.
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Dedeyan, History of the Armenian people, p.138 However, Roman emperor Tiberius, refused to accept Arsaces I as King of Armenia. So Tiberius, with the support of King Pharasmanes I of Iberia, appointed Pharasmanes' brother, Mithridates, to be the new Roman Client Armenian King.Grousset, History of Armenia from its origins to 1071, p.
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Cambridge Ancient v. 9, p. 137. Sun gods were particularly popular, with the royal house being identified with the Persian god Ahuramazda of the Achaemenid dynasty; both Apollo and Mithras were worshipped by the Kings. Indeed, the name used by the majority of the Pontic kings was Mithridates, which means "given by Mithras".
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Antiochus was born in Ashkelon. He was a friend of Lucullus (the antagonist of Mithridates) and the teacher of Cicero during his studies at Athens in 79 BC; but he had a school at Alexandria also, as well as in Syria, where he seems to have died.Plutarch, Cicero, c. 4; Lucullus, c.
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BC the city became one of the strongholds of Lysimachus. The city became very prosperous from this time due to strong sea trade with many of the Mediterranean states and cities supported by a wide range of local products. Shortly after 108 BC, Odessos recognised the suzerainty of Mithridates VI of Pontus.
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Achlyodes mithridates, the sickle-winged skipper or Jung's dusky wing, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is found from Argentina, north through tropical America and the West Indies to southern Texas. A regular stray north to central Texas, rarely to Arkansas and Kansas. 200px The wingspan is 35–45 mm.
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Pompey marched against Tigranes, whose kingdom and authority were now severely weakened. Tigranes then sued for peace and met with Pompey to plead a cessation of hostilities. The Armenian Kingdom became an allied client state of Rome. From Armenia, Pompey marched north against the Caucasian tribes and kingdoms who still supported Mithridates.
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Philip Matyszak, Mithridates, p. 79. For his final attack, Archelaus led out his troops in a more formal battle array. Archelaus had his scythed chariots to the front followed by his Macedonian style phalanx, then came his auxiliaries. The cavalry was massed at the flanks, though their effectiveness was limited by Sulla's earthworks.
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When the diadochi were replaced by Roman provincial governors, Mithridates VI of Pontus attacked Nicomedes IV of Bithynia, claiming tort at the hands of Nicomedes supported by Rome, and further developing an Anatolian alliance defeated all the Roman commanders, massacring as well the helpless Roman citizens. Rome could not ignore these events.
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Having received Bithynia as his proconsular commandAnthon & Smith, pg. 226 he received command of a fleet to protect his province and was dispatched to the east towards the end of his period as consul.Holmes, pg. 180 The original plan was that Cotta should tie down Mithridates' fleet, while Lucullus attacked by land.
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"Mithridates" is the Greek attestation of the Iranian name Mihrdāt, meaning "given by Mithra", the name of the ancient Iranian sun god. The name itself is derived from Old Iranian Miθra-dāta-. Mithra is a prominent figure in Zoroastrian sources, where he plays the role of the patron of khvarenah, i.e. kingly glory.
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It was at this time that Mithridates wrote in Iranian to the countrymen of his ancestors, the Parthians, asking for military assistance. They were remnant kingdoms of Alexander's Empire. He had kept the same satrapies and in many cases the same satraps. After his death they restructured into a new Iranian empire.
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By 64 BC all of Mithridates' allies had been defeated or forced to change sides. Driven from Pontus, hunted through Anatolia, he was assassinated at last by former friends hoping to win Roman favor. The wealth of Anatolia was now at Rome's command. It was Pompey's task to divide it into provinces.
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As a child, Ariarathes IX was unable to maintain control of the kingdom, with the Cappadocian nobles rebelling against his rule in 97 BC and naming Ariarathes VIII, son of the murdered Ariarathes VII, as king. Mithridates quickly put down the rebellion, exiled Arirarathes VIII, and restored his son to the Cappadocian throne.
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"Mithridates" is the Greek attestation of the Iranian name Mihrdāt, meaning "given by Mithra", the name of the ancient Iranian sun god. The name itself is derived from Old Iranian Miθra-dāta-. Mithra is a prominent figure in Zoroastrian sources, where he plays the role of the patron of khvarenah, i.e. kingly glory.
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Eucratides came to the throne by overthrowing the dynasty of Euthydemus I in Bactria, whose son Demetrius was conquering northwestern India. The king whom Eucratides dethroned in Bactria was probably Antimachus I. It is unclear whether Eucratides was a Bactrian official who raised a rebellion, or, according to some scholars,Tarn a cousin of the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes who was trying to regain the Bactrian territory. Justin explains that Eucratides acceded to the throne at about the same time as Mithridates, whose rule is accurately known to have started in 171 BC, thereby giving an approximate date for the accession of Eucratides: :"Around the same time, two great men started to rule: Mithridates among the Parthians, and Eucratides among the Bactrians" Justin XLI,6"Eodem ferme tempore, sicut in Parthis Mithridates, ita in Bactris Eucratides, magni uterque uiri regna ineunt." tml Justin XLI,6 Some of the coins of Eucratides probably represent his parents, where his father is named Heliocles, and his mother, who is thought to be Laodice, is wearing a royal diadem. Laodice may have been a member of the Seleucid imperial house.
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After spending a night with Alexandria, Gaius makes a reputation for himself as a serious party-goer, and takes his father's name as his own: Gaius Julius Caesar (hence written Julius instead of Gaius). Sulla quickly defeats Mithridates in Greece, but spares his life on his promise "never to attack Rome as long as he [Sulla] lives". When asked by associates why he had let Mithridates live, Sulla reveals that "he is a man I know I can beat", unlike the unknown quantity of a successor. Marius prepares Rome and the Primigenia legion for the return of Sulla and inevitable civil war, while Julius eventually falls in love with Cornelia, daughter of the wealthy and influential Senator, Cinna, and marries her on the morning of Sulla's return.
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Minthrion to the east of the old town were devoted to the Persian-Anatolian Greek god Mithra. In the 2nd century BCE the city with its natural harbours was added to the Kingdom of Pontus by Pharnaces I. Mithridates VI Eupator made it the home port of the Pontic fleet, in his quest to remove the Romans from Anatolia. After the defeat of Mithridates in 66 BCE the city was first handed to the Galatians, but it was soon returned to the grandson of Mithradates, and subsequently became part of the new client Kingdom of Pontus. When the kingdom was finally annexed to the Roman province of Galatia two centuries later, the fleet passed to new commanders, becoming the Classis Pontica.
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Bust of Mithridates VI sporting a lion pelt headdress, a symbol of Herakles. The Kingdom of Pontus was a Hellenistic kingdom on the southern coast of the Black Sea. It was founded by Mithridates I in 291 BC and lasted until its conquest by the Roman Republic in 63 BC. Despite being ruled by a dynasty which was a descendant of the Persian Achaemenid Empire it became hellenized due to the influence of the Greek cities on the Black Sea and its neighboring kingdoms. Pontic culture was a mix of Greek and Iranian elements; the most hellenized parts of the kingdom were on the coast, populated by Greek colonies such as Trapezus and Sinope, the latter of which became the capital of the kingdom.
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Under this threat, Mithridates left the fortress in order to make peace with Rhadamistus. Rhadamistus then executed Mithridates and his sons, despite a promise of non-violence, and became King of Armenia. Of this usurpation, Tacitus wrote "Rhadamistus might retain his ill-gotten gains, as long as he was hated and infamous; for this was more to Rome's interest than for him to have succeeded with glory". However, faced with this upset of the regional balance and fearing that Armenia and Iberia would unite as a single powerful kingdom in the hands of Rhadamistus, Tiridates entered Armenia with Parthian support in 53 AD. After 2 years of war, the Armenian nobility revolted and replaced Rhadamistus with the Arsacid prince Tiridates.
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In the Greek Anthology, it is written that on an altar in Thespiae there was a tripod dedicated to the "Zeus the Thunderer" (). The tripod was set up from the Thespiae soldiers who went and fought, together with Alexander the Great, in Asia to take revenge for their ancestors.Greek Anthology Book 6, 6.344 During the Hellenistic Period Thespiae sought the friendship of the Roman Republic in the war against Mithridates VI. It is subsequently mentioned by Strabo as a place of some size, and by Pliny as a free city within the Roman Empire, a reward for its support against Mithridates. Thespiae hosted an important group of Roman negotiatores until the refoundation of Corinth in 44 BC.Buckler, J. & Spawforth, A.J.S. 2009, The Oxford Classical Dictionary, s.v.
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11 Mithridates VI conquered the Colchis, and gave it to his son Mithridates of Colchis. As a result of the brilliant Roman campaigns between 88-63 BC, led by the generals Pompey and Lucullus, the kingdom of Pontus was completely destroyed by the Romans and all its territory, including Colchis, was incorporated into the Roman Empire. The former southern provinces of Colchis were reorganized into the Roman province of Pontus Polemoniacus, while the northern Cholchis became the Roman province of Lazicum. Roman control remained likewise only nominal over the tribes of the interior.. The first- century historians Memnon and Strabo remark in passing that the people formerly called Macrones bore in his day the name of Sanni, a claim supported also by Stephanus of Byzantium.
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At the conclusion of the First Mithridatic War, Lucius Cornelius Sulla had come to a hasty agreement with Mithridates because Sulla had to return to Rome to deal with a rebellion. The peace treaty allowed Mithridates to remain in control of his Kingdom of Pontus, but he had to relinquish his claim to Asia Minor and respect pre-war borders. Murena, as Sulla's legate, was stationed in Asia as commander of the two legions formerly under the command of Gaius Flavius Fimbria. From Appian's work on this war (The Mithridatic Wars), we can deduce that it was put in command over Phrygia, which had been annexed to the Kingdom of Pergamon in 188 BC, and, possibly, Cappadocia, which was an ally of Rome.
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Coin of Phraates III wearing a tiara Coin of Phraates III wearing a diadem Phraates III was the penultimate Parthian king to use the legend of "King, God" in his coinage (the first Parthian to use it being Mithridates I), an uncommon title amongst the Parthian monarchs. The last Parthian ruler to use the title was Mithridates IV. Other titles used by Phraates III were Epiphanes, Theopator and Eupator. According to the modern historian Edward Dąbrowa, these titles were seemingly used by the Parthians as a method to back their claims to the throne, "through their close relation to the divine ancestor, or by their own divine status." Phraates III also used the titles of King of Kings and Great King.
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Mithridates II (in Greek Mιθριδάτης; lived 3rd century BC), third king of Pontus and son of Ariobarzanes, whom he succeeded on the throne. He was a minor when his father died, but the date of his accession cannot be determined. It seems probable that it must have taken place well before 240 BC, as Memnon tells us that he was a child at his father's death, and he had a daughter of marriageable age in 222 BC. Shortly after his accession, his kingdom was invaded by the Gauls, who were eventually repulsed. After Mithridates attained manhood, he married Laodice, a sister of Antiochus Hierax and Seleucus II Callinicus, with whom he is said to have received the province of Phrygia as a dowry.
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Meanwhile, his father, Pharasmanes invented a pretext for war by recalling when he was fighting with the king of the Albanians and appealing to the Romans for help, his brother, had opposed him and he would now avenge him because of that. Pharasmanes gave his son a large Iberian army, who by a sudden invasion forced Mithridates to take shelter in the fortress of Gorneas, which was strongly garrisoned by the Romans under the command of Caelius Pollio, a camp-prefect, Casperius and a centurion.Tacitus, XII, 45Crévier, p. 282 Rhadamistus reminded his uncle of their tie of being relatives, of the seniority in age of his father, and how he himself was the father-in-law of him, as Rhadamistus was married on Mithridates' daughter Zenobia.
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H. Metzger, "Fouilles du Létôon de Xanthe (1962-65)" Revue archéologique (1966). Archæologists have excavated much of the ruins; discoveries include the Letoon trilingual, bearing inscriptions in Greek, Lycian and Aramaic, which has provided crucial keys in the deciphering of the Lycian language; it is conserved in the Fethiye Museum. The sacrosanctity of the site is the purport of an anecdote related by Appian concerning Mithridates, who was planning to cut down the trees in the sacred grove for his own purposes in his siege of the Lycian coastal city of Patara, but was warned against the sacrilegious action in a nightmare.Appian, Mithridates, 27, noted by T. R. Bryce, "The Arrival of the Goddess Leto in Lycia", Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte, 321 (1983:1-13). p.
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Justin, Epitome of Pompeius Trogus' Philippic Histories, 37.4.2Festus, Summary of the history of Rome, 11.1 Mithridates VI had Ariarathes VI of Cappadocia (the husband of Laodice and father of Nysa) murdered by a certain Gordius in 116 BC. Afterwards he decided to remove (i.e. murder) the young sons of Ariarathes VI and Laodice as he thought that his gains from the murder, the control of Cappadocia, might be lost if they would turn against him. However, Nicomedes invaded Cappadocia "while it was left defenceless by the death of its sovereign." Mithridates VI sent assistance to his sister “on pretence of affection for her, to enable her to drive Nicomedes out of Cappadocia.” However, Laodice made an agreement to marry Nicomedes .
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According to the chapter on Artaxerxes II in Plutarch's Life, a young Persian soldier named Mithridates unknowingly struck Cyrus the Younger during the Battle of Cunaxa (Greek: Κούναξα), making him fall from his horse, dazed. Some eunuchs found Cyrus and tried to bring him to safety, but a Caunian among the king's camp followers struck a vein behind his knee with a dart, making him fall and strike his head on a stone, whereupon he died. Unwisely, Mithridates boasted of killing Cyrus in the court, and Parysatis had him executed by scaphism. She likewise got vengeance on Masabates, the king's eunuch, who had cut off Cyrus' hand and head, by winning him from her son Artaxerxes in a game of dice and having him flayed alive.
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At an unknown date, Pharasmanes married an unnamed Armenian princess of the Artaxiad dynasty. She was the daughter of the Artaxiad Armenian monarchs Tigranes IV and his sister-wife Erato. His Armenian wife bore him three sons: Mithridates I (Mihrdat), Rhadamistus, and Amazaspus (Amazasp), who is known from the Epigram of Amazaspos found in Rome.
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Traditio 25: pp. 12-14. Of these royal pairs, Professor Giorgi Melikishvili identifies "Azork" as Mithridates I’s possible local name and "Armazel" as a territorial epithet, meaning in Georgian "of Armazi".Giorgi L. Kavtaradze. The Interrelationship between the Transcaucasian and Anatolian Populations by the Data of the Greek and Latin Literary Sources, pp. 212-213.
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We know little of Ariobarzanes' short reign, except that when he died his son MithridatesII (c.250—189) became king and was attacked by the Galatians. MithridatesII received aid from Heraclea Pontica, who was also at war with the Galatians at this time. Mithridates went on to support Antiochus Hierax against his brother SeleucusII Callinicus.
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Colchis was an important region in Black Sea traderich with gold, wax, hemp, and honey. The cities of the Tauric Chersonesus now appealed for his aid against the Scythians in the north. Mithridates sent 6,000 men under General Diophantus. After various campaigns in the north of the Crimea he controlled all of the Chersonesus.
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It was at this pass that the general Pompey (106-48 BC), as the result of the Roman campaigns against Pontus had halted his legions in 65 BC, in his attempts to pursue the defeated King Mithridates VI Eupator over the Caucasus. Pompey judged that his legions had reached the edge of the world.
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Messengers from Mithridates VI of Pontus and from Greece arrive to ask Burebista's help in resisting the advance of Roman forces. Burebista agrees to help. Calopor is sent to assess the situation in Greece. While there he meets his former girlfriend Lydia, who has been forced to marry the arrogant Roman aristocrat Gaius Antonius Hybrida.
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His victorious forces were welcomed throughout Asia Minor. The following year, 88 BC, Mithridates orchestrated a massacre of Roman and Italian settlers remaining in several Anatolian cities, essentially wiping out the Roman presence in the region. 80,000 people are said to have perished in this massacre. The episode is known as the Asiatic Vespers.
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Saint Jacob in Nisibis. In 67 BCE, during Rome's first war with Armenia, the Roman general Lucullus took Nisibis from the brother of Tigranes.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's Indomitable Enemy, p. 139; Lee Fratantuono, Lucullus, the Life and Campaigns of a Roman Conqueror, pp. 104–105; Dio Cassius, XXXVI, 6–7; Eutropius, Breviarium, 6.9.1.
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Lucullus marched north and caught the Mithridatic army off guard besieging Cyzicus, he conducted a very effective counter-siege, blockading the Mithridatic army on the Cyzicus peninsula and let famine and disease do his work for him.Matyszak, Mithridates, pp. 111–112; Fratantuono, Lucullus, pp. 57–61; Appian, Mithridatica, 74; Plutarch, Life of Lucullus, 9–12.
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Rayfield, p. 30 Around 52, Pharasmanes instigated his son, Rhadamistus, whose ambitious and aspiring character began to give him umbrage, to make war upon his uncle Mithridates, and supported him in his enterprise.Rayfield, p. 31After a short reign, Rhadamistus was in turn expelled by the Parthians in 55, and took refuge again in his father's dominions.
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The Mithridatic army eventually broke through the blockade and tried to withdraw back to Pontus, Lucullus pursued them inflicting major losses on the Mithridatic forces at the battles of the Rhyndacus and the Granicus rivers.Lee Fratantuono, Lucullus: The Life and Campaigns of a Roman Conqueror, p. 60–61; Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great: Rome's indomitable enemy, p. 112.
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At Lesbos he was captured and delivered to Mithridates. After being taken to the mainland, Aquillius was then placed on a donkey and paraded back to Pergamon. Aquillius was then moved to and executed at the Theater of Dionysus, which sits on a hill of the Acropolis. A large bonfire was made in the center of the theater.
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147 By 66 BC he was back in Rome, where he gave his support to the Lex Manilia, which gave Pompey command of the war against King Mithridates VI of Pontus.Anthon & Smith, pg. 430 Although Clodianus was a noted orator, it was said that he hid his lack of talent through showmanship and the possession of a good voice.
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There is no mention of him in the medieval Georgian written tradition and appears to be the only Roman name attested in the Iberian ruling house, evidently indicating that he held Roman citizenship. The identification of this monarch and his place in the Iberian royal dynasty remains problematic, however. Mithridates I was succeeded by his son, Amazaspus I.
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Rhodogune (2nd-century BC) was a Queen of the Seleucid Empire by marriage to Demetrius II Nicator. She was the daughter of the Parthian king Mithridates I (171 BCE-132 BCE), and sister of Phraates II (ruled 132 BCE-127 BCE).Assar, A Revised Parthian Chronology of the Period, 165-91 BCE, 2006. pg 88-112.
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105 Orodes faced Mithridates in a military campaign in Armenia that was in unfavorable conditions for Orodes.Chaumont, Armenia between Rome and Iran I: the advent of Augustus to the accession of Diocletian, p.89 In the military campaign, Pharasmanes I had sent his own troops and mercenaries to assist Mithridates.Grousset, History of Armenia from its origins to 1071, p.
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130 Erato was the second Seleucid Greek descendant to have ruled as an Armenian queen and an Armenian queen consort. The previous one was her paternal great-grandmother Cleopatra of Pontus, daughter of King Mithridates VI of Pontus from his first wife, his sister Laodice.Mayor, The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome’s deadliest enemy p.p.
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The Roman-supported king, Mithridates, recovered his throne with the support of Emperor Claudius in 42 AD,Bivar (1983), p. 76 but was deposed in 51 AD by his nephew Rhadamistus of Iberia. His rule quickly became unpopular, however, and this gave the newly crowned king Vologases I of Parthia the opportunity to intervene.Bivar (1983), p.
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Sulla, rather than facing the charge, escaped with his army and led them to fight the army of Mithridates VI of Pontus in Boeotia.Plutarch, “Gaius Marius,” in The Fall of the Roman Republic, trans. Rex Warner (London: Penguin Books, 2005), Section 41. This left only Octavius and the Senate to defend the causes of Sulla in Rome.
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When Sulla arrived with the main army, Lucullus served him as a quaestor again; he minted money that was used during the war against Mithridates in southern Greece (87-86 BC). The money Lucullus minted, as per Roman custom, bore his name: the so called Lucullea.Lee Fratantuono, Lucullus, p. 20; Plutarch, Life of Lucullus, II. 1-2.
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Dorylaeus (early 1st century BC), was a commander in the Kingdom of Pontus who served under Mithridates the Great. Dorylaeus reinforced Archelaus with eighty thousand fresh troops after the latter's loss at Battle of Chaeronea. Dorylaeus wanted to bring about a battle with Sulla right away, but changed his mind after a skirmish with Roman troops.
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Aykut Barka, "North Anatolian Fault Field Trip Report", Southern California Earthquake Newsletter (online version), 3:4 full text retrieved 18 August 2009. In Hellenistic times, a major east-west road following the valley of the Kelkit led from Armenia Minor to Bithynia.B. C. McGing, The Foreign Policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus (Mnemosyne Ser.: Suppl.
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Mithridates V was of Greek Macedonian and Persian ancestry. He was the son of the King Pharnaces I of Pontus and Queen Nysa, while his sister was Nysa of Cappadocia. His mother is believed to have died during childbirth, while giving birth to either him or his sister. He was born and raised in the Kingdom of Pontus.
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Their cause was amply funded. Commanding from a state quinquereme, Mithridates throws all his naval resources at Rhodes. Failing to take the place, he retreats to his headquarters at Pergamon, instructing Archelaus to complete the conquest of the Cyclades. Archelaus overwhelms Delos, sending the treasury back to Athens with one Aristion under guard of 2000 men.
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Lucullus was camped somewhere along the Sangarius river in Bithynia when he received news of Cotta's defeat. His soldiers urged him to leave Cotta to his own folly and march on undefended Pontus with its rich potential for loot. Lucullus ignored them and headed toward Chalcedon. Marcus Marius, a Roman rebel cooperating with Mithridates, blocked and confronted him.
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Appian, History of Rome 12.9.60 The two Fimbrian legions were made to serve in Asia till the end of the Third Mithridatic War, but two of his officers, Lucius Magius and Lucius Fannius, fled to Mithridates and were of long service to him.Emilio Gabba, Republican Rome, The Army, and the Allies (University of California Press, 1976), p. 113 online.
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Cassius Dio, History of Rome, 36.15.1, 17.2 One of the consuls for 67 BC, Manius Acilius Glabrio, was appointed to succeed Lucullus. However, when Mithridates won back almost all of Pontus and caused havoc in Cappadocia, which was allied with Rome, Glabrio did not go to the front, but delayed in Bithynia.Cassius Dio, Roman History, 36.
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He gave some of his daughters in marriage to the more powerful Scythian princes. Machares sent envoys to say he had made terms with the Romans out of necessity. He then he fled to the Pontic Chersonesus, burning the ships to prevent Mithridates from pursuing him. However, his father found other ships and sent them after him.
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Through him, Rhescuporis I, was a descendant of the Greek Macedonian Kings: Antigonus I Monophthalmus, Seleucus I Nicator and the regent, Antipater. These three men served under King Alexander the Great. Through his grandfather, Rhescuporis I was a descendant of the monarchs Mithridates VI of Pontus and his first wife, his sister Laodice and the previous Bosporan King Asander.
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After the death of his father, he escaped and joined his uncle Gaius in Gaul.Bobbio Scholiast 96.3 (Stangl 11), Cicero, Pro Flacco 63 and 100; Christoph F. Konrad, Plutarch's Sertorius: A Historical Commentary (University of North Carolina Press, 1994), p. 85–86 online. In 84 BC Sulla crossed over from Greece into Asia and made peace with Mithridates.
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Another L. Valerius Flaccus was aedile in 98 BC, but prosecuted (unsuccessfully) afterwards by Decianus. Flaccus was then praetor, then governor of Asia. He was a suffect consul in 86, taking command against Mithridates, passing a law cancelling three-quarters of all debts, and leaving for Asia. He was murdered in a mutiny by Gaius Flavius Fimbria.
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II, pp. 140, 142 (note 10). He may have gone to the east, where his brother-in- law, Lucullus, was serving as proconsul in the war against Mithridates. He was with Lucullus in 68, at which time Clodius, who felt that he was accorded insufficient respect by his brother-in-law, fomented discord among Lucullus' soldiers.
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Coins, reliefs and Babylonian astronomical diaries label Gotarzes as the son and heir of Mithridates II (). According to a heavily damaged relief at Behistun, Gotarzes had served as "satrap of satraps" under his father. After the death of his father, Gotarzes was proclaimed king at Babylon. At his accession, Gotarzes appointed Mitratu as the general of Babylonia.
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The latter thought that this was done under the orders of Rome and sent Gordius, his commander, to retaliate on Roman villages. Gordius seized a large number of animals and property and advanced against Murena. When Mithridates arrived there, a tough battle was fought and Murena was defeated. Murena fled to Phrygia, harassed by the enemy.
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When Aquillius saw that he was severely outnumbered, he retreated to river Sakarya, which part of Mithridates' army (under the command of Neoptolemus and Nemanes) eventually caught up with them near the fortress of Protopachium in eastern Bithynia. Nemanes had been sent by Tigranes the Great,Mayor, Adrienne. The Poison King, p. 152, Princeton University Press, 2009.
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The war moved from Rhodes to mainland Greece. Eventually, the Rhodians were persuaded to lend part of their navy to the Roman admiral Lucullus who was collecting a fleet for Rome. The Rhodian contingent formed the backbone of Lucullus's fleet and was instrumental in defeating Mithridates's fleet on several occasions.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome Indomitable Enemy, p. 86.
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Phraates I ( Frahāt) was ruler of the Parthian Empire from c. 176–171 BC. He subdued the Amardians (lat. Amardis), mountaineers occupying the eastern portion of the Elburz range, south of the Caspian Sea. He died relatively young, and appointed as his successor not one of his sons, but his brother Mithridates I (165–132 BC).
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II, pp. 274, 285 (note 5). At this time, Quintus Caecilius Bassus, one of Pompeius' lieutenants, who had fled to Tyre after the Battle of Pharsalus, endeavoured to gain the support of some of Sextus' soldiers. When the governor discovered his activity, Bassus gave the excuse that he was collecting troops to assist Mithridates of Pergamon.
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This is when Mithridates decided to cut his losses and flee. The disorder caused by Mithridates's preparations to depart the area led to the complete disintegration of his army. Lucullus saw what was happening and ordered his army to fall on the fleeing forces. The Romans reached the camp, slew everyone who had remained there, and started looting.
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Under this compulsion, Mithridates agreed to surrender to his nephew and quit the fortress.Bunson, p. 372Tacitus, XII, 46 Rhadamistus seeing his uncle threw himself into his embraces, feigning respect and calling him father-in-law and his parent. He promised that he would do him no harm or violence either by the sword or by poison.
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The siege of Cyzicus took place in 73 BC between the armies of Mithridates VI of Pontus and the Roman-allied citizens of Cyzicus in Mysia and Roman Republican forces under Lucius Licinius Lucullus. It was in fact a siege and a counter-siege. It ended in a decisive Roman victory.Appian, Mithridatica, 74; Plutarch, Life of Lucullus, 9-12.
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They not only ignored Roman orders to withdraw but marched into Galatia. Next was Cappadocia, where Mithridates installed a nephew, Ariarathes VII (116–101 BC), whom he had assassinated shortly afterwards. About this time he sent envoys to Rome to elicit support for his claims, but was not successful and instead rome dispatched Gaius Marius in c.
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Lucullus' troops were also tiring and becoming dissatisfied. Lucullus withdrew from Armenia but not in time to prevent the defeat at Zela.Cambridge Ancient History vol. ix 240–243 The failure of Lucius Licinius Lucullus to rid Rome once and for all of Mithridates brought a lot of opposition at home, some fueled by the great Roman consul Pompey.
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The Lex Manilia essentially set aside the new commands of Marcius Rex and Acilius Glabrio. Pompey was granted considerable resources and explicit powers that Lucullus had never had, and command over the entire Anatolian region. Pompey's first move was to persuade the Parthians to harass Tigranes' eastern flank. Following Roman tradition he offered Mithridates terms, but he rejected these.
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McGing, The foreign policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus p. 143 Nicomedes also had another son, Socrates Chrestus, from a concubine called Hagne who was from Cyzicus. He sent Socrates and Hagne to Cyzicus with 500 talents.Granius Licinianus, History of Rome, 29 His third wife was Laodice of Cappadocia, his former mother-in-law.
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The weather was too adverse for a successful campaign. The men sensed that something was wrong and it was only with difficulty that he could force them to go on. Mithridates returned to Pontus through the passes and fell on the unsuspecting Romans there. He effected a massacre of 7000 men, penned into a muddy ditch.
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He found himself in the middle. He was still friends with Mithridates. Although technically working for Murena, he took a sort of vacation, spending his time in philosophy, and in acquiring books and paintings to be sent back to Rome. An emissary was sent from Sulla to Murena requesting that he cease and desist, which he ignored.
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Mithridates was rebuffed, yet the Parthians sent advisors and stationed bowmen on the border. Encountering showers of arrows later, Pompey decided to be content with Anatolia and Syria. Whether because advised by the Parthians, or because forced to rely on their own ingenuity, the two kings devised a winning plan. Tigranes led Lucullus on into the mountains of Armenia.
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Justin, Epitoma historiarum Philippicarum Pompei Trogi 39.2.3 The couple had five sons: Seleucus VI Epiphanes, the twin Antiochus XI Epiphanes and Philip I Philadelphus, Demetrius III Eucaerus, and Antiochus XII Dionysus. Tryphaena also bore her husband a daughter called Laodice, who became the wife of Mithridates I Callinicus.Porphyry, quoted by Eusebius of Caesarea, Chronicle I, p.
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In 72–71 BC Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus became the first Roman commander to march against the Getae. This was done to strike at the western Pontic allies of Mithridates VI, but he had limited success. A decade later, a coalition of Scythians, Getae, Bastarnae and Greek colonists defeated C.Antonius Hybrida at Histria.Livy. Ab urbe condita, 103.
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The second location Moschice (Moschikê) – in which was a temple of Leucothea, once famous for its wealth, but plundered by Pharnaces and Mithridates – was divided between the Colchians, Armenians, and Iberians (cf. Mela, III. 5.4; Pliny VI.4.). These latter Moschoi were obviously the Georgian Meskhi or Mesx’i (where Greek χ, chi, is Georgian ხ, x).
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The story begins with an unnamed Thracian's involvement in a unit of Roman auxiliary in a campaign against the Getae (Thracian tribes that occupied the regions of the Lower Danube, in what today is Bulgaria and Romania, ancestors of Romanians) under the command of the legatus, Claudius Glaber. In 72-71 BC, Roman general Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus, proconsul of the Roman province of Macedonia, marched against the Getae, who were allies of Rome's enemy, Mithridates VI of Pontus. The Getae frequently raid the Thracians' lands, so the Thracians are persuaded by Glaber to enlist in the Romans' service as auxiliaries. Glaber is persuaded by his wife Ilithyia to seek greater glory, decides to break off attacking the Getae and directly confront the forces of Mithridates in Asia Minor.
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According to Babylonian sources, Orodes I launched an expedition into Elymais in 78 BC, where he defeated Kamnaskires III. Kamnaskires III was not deposed, however, and continued ruling the kingdom, now as a Parthian vassal. An aged Parthian prince named Sinatruces, who originally resided amongst the Saka of Central Asia, enlisted their aid, and captured the Parthian throne in BC, thus succeeding Orodes I.; ; Unlike Orodes I, Sinatruces was not a descendant of Mithridates II. Sinatruces thus ousted the line of Mithridates II with his own; the name of the Arsacid branch established by Sinatruces on the Parthian throne has been coined by the modern historian Marek Jan Olbrycht as the "Sinatrucids", which ruled the Parthian Empire till 12 AD. The Sinatrucid family was notably supported by the Suren clan of Sakastan.
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In Bithynia Mithridates received a radical and strange piece of advice from a prominent Greek philosopher at his court, Metrodoros of Skepsis, who was known as ho misoromaios (the Roman-hater) on account of the extremity of his anti-Roman sentiments. Metrodoros suggested that in order to bind the communities of the Roman province to the Pontic cause the king should arrange for the extermination of all Romans in the province without regard to age or sex and force the participation of all the Greek civic authorities, thus shaking off Roman rule permanently and irrevocably. Soon after securing control of the province in about early April Mithridates proceeded with his plans. The massacre was carefully planned and co-ordinated to take the victims by surprise, in every community and all at once.
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He finally killed himself after being betrayed by his own son. Racine shows several episodes of the life of Mithridates in one day and, as usual, gives great importance to the amorous intrigues. However, the epic is still more prevalent than in other tragedies. In terms of style, the piece is distinguished by a large number of long speeches and monologues.
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The Roman–Bosporan War was a lengthy war of succession that took place in the Cimmerian Bosporus, probably from 45 to 49. It was fought between the Roman client-king Tiberius Julius Cotys I and his allies King Eunones of Aorsi and the Roman commander Gaius Julius Aquila against the former king Tiberius Julius Mithridates and his ally King Zorsines of Siraces.
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She married Tigranes in 94 BC, cementing the alliance between Pontus and Armenia. She played a decisive role in the life of Tigranes and all of Armenia. Cleopatra bore Tigranes three sons: Zariadres, Artavasdes II of Armenia and Tigranes, and two daughters. One daughter married King Pacorus I of Parthia and the other married King Mithridates I of Media Atropatene.
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The Romans had been under the impression that with Mithridates defeat that the region had been conquered, however, while Hybrida and his men marched to occupy the city of Histria a large cavalry force of Bastarnae attacked them. Hybrida and his cavalry force detached from the main column and retreated away from the site, leaving the Roman infantry to be massacred.
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105 Meanwhile, Arsaces I's time as Armenian king was brief. Less than a year into his reign, Arsaces I was poisoned by his servants who had been bribed to carry out the deed.Tacitus, Annals, 6.33 After Arsaces I died, Artabanus II put another of his sons, Orodes, on the Armenian throne. However, Orodes soon had to face Mithridates in a military campaign.
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Pompey pursued and managed to catch his forces by surprise in the night, and the Pontic army suffered heavy casualties. After the battle, Pompey founded the city of Nicopolis. Mithridates fled to Colchis, and later to his son Machares in the Crimea in 65BC. Pompey now headed east into Armenia, where Tigranes submitted to him, placing his royal diadem at his feet.
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Plutarch, Life of Sulla, 18.5 Pontus also fielded various cavalry units, including cataphracts.The Cambridge Companion to the Hellenistic World by Glenn R. Bugh, p. 272 In addition to normal cavalry Pontus also fielded scythed chariots.Plutarch, Life of Sulla, 15.1 Under Mithridates VI Pontus also fielded a corps of 120,000 troops armed "in the Roman fashion" and "drilled in the Roman phalanx formation".
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Zopyrus (; 1st-century BCE) was a surgeon at Alexandria, and the tutor of Apollonius of Citium and Posidonius.Apoll. Cit. ap. Dietz, Schol. in Hippocr. et Gal. vol. i. p. 2 He invented an antidote, which he recommended to Mithridates VI of Pontus, and wrote a letter to that king, begging to be allowed to test its efficacy on a criminal.
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A legend of King Mithridates VI of Pontus takes place on Giresun Island.Giresun_University The King was angry at his daughter for falling in love with a poor shepherd. He imprisoned his daughter on the island and hung the shepherd from a cherry tree in front of the prison tower. In grief, she committed suicide by hanging herself from the tower the next day.
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In order to please the king, he caused all the senators of his native place to be massacred. He afterwards accompanied Mithridates to Pontus, and, after the fall of the king, Diodorus received the punishment for his cruelty. Charges were brought against him at Adramyttium, and as he felt that he could not clear himself, he starved himself to death in despair.
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In 88 BC Mithridates invaded the province, trying to curb further expansion by the Romans. The Kaunians teamed up with him and killed all the Roman inhabitants of their city. After the peace of 85 BC they were punished for this action by the Romans, who again put Kaunos under Rhodian administration. During Roman rule Kaunos became a prospering sea port.
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Their lengthy Athenian honorific inscription is dated during the archonship of the Athenian Tychandrus or Tychander which is now generally accepted to around 160 BC or 159 BC. Nysa bore Pharnaces two children: a son called Mithridates V of Pontus and a daughter called Nysa of Cappadocia, who was also known as Laodice. Nysa is believed to have died during childbirth.
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After failing to capture Mithridates, Fimbria allowed his troops to pillage several cities, most prominently razing Ilium to the ground. Unfortunately for Fimbria, Sulla and his much larger army eventually approached and laid siege to Fimbria's camp. At this point Fimbria's men turned on him, once again deserting their commander. After a failed attempt at arranging Sulla's assassination, Fimbria committed suicide.
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After the Roman disaster at Zela, Lucullus arrived back in Pontus. He wanted to finish off Mithridates once and for all, but his troops refused to march. According to Plutarch, Lucullus's men threw their purses at his feet, saying that he was the only one profiting from the war and telling him to continue it on his own.Plutarch, Life of Lucullus, 35.
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Demosthenes speaks of Ariobarzanes and his three sons having been lately made Athenian citizens. - as signal of sympathy in the revolt effort, Athens made Ariobarzanes and three of his sons citizens of Athens. Mithradates was possibly one of those sons. In 363 BCE already, Ariobarzanes II (possibly Mithridates' son) made himself master of the family fiefdom of Cius in Mysia.
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This Mithradates may therefore have died in 363 BCE, but the date is not recorded and only comes from later reconstructions of the succession in the dynasty. Otherwise, this Mithradates may well be the same man as the elderly Mithridates II of Cius who held Cius in Mysia between 337 and 302 BCE, being said to be an old man at that time.
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This is the key information to survive about his life, together with a passage in the Suda about the Augustan period poet Parthenius of Nicaea: > Son of Heracleides and Eudora (but Hermippus says Tetha was his mother). > From Nicaea or Myrleia. A poet writing elegies and in various metres. He was > taken by Cinna as war booty, when the Romans defeated Mithridates [sc.
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Darius I of Media Atropatene, also known as Darius I or Darius (ca. 85 BC – ca. 65 BC), was an Iranian prince who served as a king of Media Atropatene in c. 65 BC. Little is known of the life of Darius I, however he appeared to have succeeded his relative, Mithridates, who served as King of Media Atropatene one year earlier.
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Charles le Brun (detail). Spithridates was Achaemenid satrap of Lydia and Ionia. Diodorus calls him Spithrodates, and appears to confound him with Mithridates, the son-in-law of Darius, whom Alexander slew in the battle with his own hand; while what Arrian records of Spithridates, Diodorus accounts it for his brother Rhoesaces. Spithridates was replaced by the Hellenistic satrap Asander in his territories.
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He was probably named in honor of his ancestor King Mithridates I Callinicus, who was the father of King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene. Callinicus is the second person in the Royal Family of Commagene to bear this name. He is simply known as Callinicus. He was most probably born, raised and educated in Samosata, the capital of the Kingdom of Commagene.
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McGing, pp. 91–92 Greek styles mixed with Persian elements also abound on official Pontic coins – Perseus was favored as an intermediary between both worlds, East and West.McGing, pp. 93–102 Certainly influenced by Alexander the Great, Mithridates VI extended his propaganda from "defender" of Greece to the "great liberator" of the Greek world as war with the Roman Republic became inevitable.
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302 BC. This region retained a degree of independence until conquered in c. 101 BC by Mithridates VI of Pontus. The region became inhabited by a number of related but distinct tribes whose settlements lay chiefly along the shore of the Black Sea. Numbered amongst these were the Machelones, Heniochi, Zydretae, Apsilae, Lazi, Chalybes, Tabal, Tibareni, Mossynoeci, Macrones, Mushki and Marres.
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For his services on this occasion, Mithridates V was rewarded by the Roman consul Manius Aquillius with the province of Phrygia. However the acts of the Roman consul were rescinded by the Roman Senate on the grounds of bribery, but it appears that he maintained his possession of Phrygia until his death.Justin, xxxvii. 1; Appian, 12, 56, 57; Orosius, Adversus Paganos, v.
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With the Romans in confusion, Burebista launches his cavalry against their retreating forces, defeating them. Burebista celebrates his victory with a festival in Dacia. He learns from a messenger that Mithridates has killed himself to avoid being captured by Pompey, but is given a letter in which the dead king encourages him to continue to resist Rome. Another letter also arrives, from Pompey.
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Caesar's formative years were a time of turmoil, and "savage bloodshed". The Social War was fought from 91 to 88 BC between Rome and her Italian allies over the issue of Roman citizenship, while Mithridates of Pontus threatened Rome's eastern provinces. Domestically, Roman politics was divided between politicians known as optimates and populares. The optimates tended to be more conservative,Greenblatt, Miriam. 2005.
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Braund, D., Rome and the Friendly King (1984) p. 10Rose, C. B., "Princes" and Barbarians on the Ara Pacis, pp. 455-459, Gaius Stern, Women, Children, and Senators on the Ara Pacis Augustae (Berkeley dissertation 2006), chapter 4. The woman on the Ara Pacis panel wears a brill mistaken for a diadem. Dynamis’ grandfather, Mithridates VI, associated himself with the god Dionysus.
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Better at running than fighting, Apellicon manages to escape to Athens, where he disappears from politics, at least in the sources, until the brief notice of his death, apparently not of interest to Sulla until then. On either side, victory depended on intervention. The Pontians moved first. Accompanying his fleet commander, Archelaus, as admiral Mithridates sails to Rhodes with his entire fleet.
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Over a year had passed since the hapless Romans in Asia had sent urgent appeals for assistance. Mithridates had established sovereignty over nearly all of Greece. The Roman government seemed paralyzed by incidents of partisan contention. Meanwhile, Bruttius Sura, a Legate of one Gaius Sentius, Praetor of Macedonia, was conducting small-unit operations quasi-autonomously against the Pontians in Boeotia with minimal success.
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Machares killed himself.Appian, The Mithridatic Wars, 101-102 In Appian, at this stage Pompey pursued Mithridates as far as Colchis and then marched against Armenia. In the accounts of Plutarch and Cassius Dio, instead, he went to Armenia first and to Colchis later. In Appian, Pompey thought that his enemy would never reach the sea of Azov or do much if he escaped.
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Plutarch, Parallel Lives, The Life of Pompey, 42.2 Josephus did write that Pompey marched on Nabataea, but did not mention the reason for this. However, he also marched to Judea to deal with Aristobulus. He did not mention whether he actually reached Petra before turning to Judea. He learned of the death of Mithridates when he was marching towards Jerusalem.
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Lucius Cornelius Sulla had been fighting against Mithridates the Great of Pontus whilst Lucius Cornelius Cinna and Gnaeus Papirius Carbo ruled Rome. Upon his return, Sulla went to war against Carbo, as Cinna had died the year before. In retaliation, Carbo murdered any man who he believed to be an adherent of Sulla. Among those who perished were Antistia's father.
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An example of a coin on which Mithridates IV honours his Persian origins was one featuring a reverse type of Perseus. This coin could have been issued before he married. Perseus can be seen as a bridge between ancient Greek and Persian cultures. Although Perseus was a Greek hero, he had Persian associations; the Persians regarded him as an Assyrian.
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He took refuge with Augustus, who received him with friendliness,Monumentum Ancyranum 33 gave him back his daughter IotapaCassius Dio, Roman history 51.16.2 and made him a Client King of Lesser Armenia.Theodor Mommsen concludes this from Cassius Dio, Roman history 54.9.2 Iotapa thereby returned to her father and sometime after 30 BC, she married her maternal cousin King Mithridates III of Commagene.
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Sulla had foreseen this move and charged his own vastly outnumbered cavalry to check the Pontic cavalry attack. The Roman cavalry succeeded in stopping the Pontic cavalry charge and were soon joined by the infantry. Cutting through the cavalry, the legionaries closed with the still re-forming phalanx which panicked and ran.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates, pp 79-80; Lynda Telford, Sulla, p.
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Use of the -id suffix to designate a dynasty is an English-language fantasy. In Homer it is the predominant patronymic, but only there. Ancient Greek had many methods of designating patronymic. Today's uses are generally not Greek and not substantiated, but the terms are useful as formed nouns; for example, Mithridatids is all the kings in a descent named Mithridates.
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The messenger had to sneak through the Mithridatic siege lines and then swim seven miles to the city (he did so with the help of a flotation device).Lee Fratantuono, Lucullus the Life and Campaigns of a Roman Conqueror, p.58; Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's Indomitable Enemy, p.110. With the onset of winter, Mithridates's forces faced starvation and plague.
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In 129 BCE, an inscription from Methymna shows that the city formed a formal alliance with Rome.IG XII (2) 510. A dedication to the Galatian princess Adobogiona (fl. c. 80 - 50 BCE), who was the mistress of Mithridates VI of Pontus, a long-standing enemy of Rome, may indicate a cooling of relations between Methymna or Rome or simply political expediency.
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Eager to please their Roman advisors, the Bithynians began to ravage Pontus assisted by Roman soldiers of mercenary intent. In vain Mithridates attempted to object through diplomatic channels. Despairing of that course of action he turned to his friends and allies in Anatolia, convincing their uncertainty through gifts and promises. He would rid them of the Romans with a single blow.
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Ariarethes' brother Ariarathes VIII (101 – 96 BC) ruled for a brief period before being replaced by Mithridates with his own son Ariarathes IX (101 – 96 BC). The Roman Senate then had Ariarathes replaced by Ariobarzanes I (95 – c. 63 BC). Mithrodates then dragged his eastern neighbour Armenia into the fray, since Tigranes the Great (95–55 BC) was his son in law.
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The death of both of the sons of Ariarthanes VI effectively extinguished the dynasty. This turmoil then prompted Nicomedes to attempt to insert a pretender claiming to be a third brother. At this point Rome intervened, Mithridates withdrew, Ariarathes IX was deposed yet again and the Cappadocians were allowed to choose a new king, Ariobarzanes I (95-c. 63 BC).
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They would keep their heads and have Sulla's good will in exchange for their sending him to the east as proconsul still in possession of the mandate. That course required him to command a province, which one of the sources says was Asia. All he had to do to be installed as governor was to take it back from Mithridates.
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Doom seems inevitable, but then they learn that reinforcements, commanded by Mithridates of Pergamos have engaged the Egyptian army. With the threat diminished, Caesar draws up a battle plan and leaves to speak to the troops. Meanwhile, Rufio realizes Ftatateeta was Pothinus' killer, so he kills her in turn. Cleopatra, left alone and utterly forlorn discovers the bloodied body concealed behind a curtain.
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In 86 BC, while Sulla was in Asia Minor pursuing his war against King Mithridates VI of Pontus, he was stripped of his imperium by Marius and his colleagues, and forced into exile. Cornelia and her new husband took rapid steps to safeguard Sulla's estates from the resulting mock trials and proscriptions during Marius's seventh consulship. She then joined her father in exile.
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Ariarathes IX Eusebes Philopator (, Ariaráthēs Eusebḗs Philopátōr; reigned c. 101–89 BC or 96 BC–95 BC), was made king of Cappadocia by his father King Mithridates VI of Pontus after the assassination of Ariarathes VII of Cappadocia. Since he was only eight years old, he was put under the regency of the Cappadocian Gordius. Early in his reign, he was overthrown by a rebellion by the Cappadocian nobility, who replaced him with Ariarathes VIII of Cappadocia, whom Mithridates promptly expelled, restoring Ariarathes IX. In 95 BC the Roman Senate ordered his deposition, and, after a short period of direct Pontic rule, a brief restoration of Ariarathes VIII and an attempt of creation of a republic, put in his place a man chosen by the Cappadocians, who rejected the idea of a republic: Ariobarzanes I Philoromaios.
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8–11; I Maccabees 14.1-3; Josephus AJ 13.186; Porphyry FGrH 260 F32.16; ; King Mithridates had kept Demetrius II alive and even married him to a Parthian princess named Rhodogune, with whom he had children. However, Demetrius was restless and twice tried to escape from his exile in Hyrcania on the shores of the Caspian Sea, once with the help of his friend Kallimander, who had gone to great lengths to rescue the king: he had travelled incognito through Babylonia and Parthia. When the two friends were captured, the Parthian king did not punish Kallimander but rewarded him for his fidelity to Demetrius. The second time Demetrius was captured when he tried to escape, Mithridates humiliated him by giving him a golden set of dice, thus hinting that Demetrius II was a restless child who needed toys.
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Detail of the Europa Polyglotta published with Synopsis Universae Philologiae in 1741; the map gives the first phrase of the Lord's Prayer in 33 different languages of Europe. In the course of Christianization, one of the first texts to be translated between many languages has historically been the Lord's Prayer, long before the full Bible would be translated into the respective languages. Since the 16th century, collections of translations of the prayer have often been used for a quick comparison of languages. The first such collection, with 22 versions, was Mithridates, de differentiis linguarum by Conrad Gessner (1555; the title refers to Mithridates VI of Pontus who according to Pliny the Elder was an exceptional polyglot). Gessner's idea of collecting translations of the prayer was taken up by authors of the 17th century, including Hieronymus Megiserus (1603) and Georg Pistorius (1621).
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Ariobarzanes (in Greek Ἀριoβαρζάνης; ruled 363–337 BC) a Persian noble, succeeded his kinsman or father, Mithridates or alternatively succeeded another Ariobarzanes I of Cius, as ruler of the Greek city of Cius in Mysia, governing for 26 years between 363 BC and 337 BC for the Persian king. It is believed that it was he and his family which in mid-360s BC revolted from the rule of the Persian king Artaxerxes II, but ended up in defeat by 362 BC. He was succeeded as governor of Cius by Mithridates, possibly his son or possibly a kinsman such as a younger brother. Ariobarzanes is called by Diodorus satrap of Phrygia, and by Nepos satrap of Lydia, Ionia, and Phrygia. Demosthenes speaks of Ariobarzanes of Phrygia and his two or three sons having been made Athenian citizens.
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At the completion of the Social War in 89 BC, Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix marched on Rome with six legions, who devoted their loyalty solely to him, as a means of coercing the Plebeian Assembly to grant him authority to fight King Mithridates of Pontus who invaded the Roman province of Asia. This sparked factional fighting and the murders of important Romans such as Quintus Pompeius Rufus. Lucius Cornelius Cinna and Gaius Marius teamed up to use their armies to sack and loot Rome and declare themselves co-consuls after starving it out. It would be Marius’ seventh and final term. In 83BCE, following his capture of Athens from Mithridates, Sulla returned to Rome, joined his army of 35,000 veterans with three legions raised by the young Pompey the Great to defeat a lone consul's 100,000 newly recruited.
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According to Pausanias, as late as the second century AD, one could witness rituals which resembled the Persian fire ceremony at the towns of Hyrocaesareia and Hypaepa. Mithridates III of Cius, a Persian nobleman and part of the Persian ruling elite of the town of Cius, founded the Kingdom of Pontus in his later life, in northern Asia Minor. At the peak of its power, under the infamous Mithridates VI the Great, the Kingdom of Pontus also controlled Colchis, Cappadocia, Bithynia, the Greek colonies of the Tauric Chersonesos, and for a brief time the Roman province of Asia. After a long struggle with Rome in the Mithridatic Wars, Pontus was defeated; part of it was incorporated into the Roman Republic as the province of Bithynia and Pontus, and the eastern half survived as a client kingdom.
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Upon hearing that his victim survived, albeit with a severe wound, Fimbria launched against him a prosecution before the people (judicium populi). When asked what charges could he possibly bring against such a well-reputed man, Fimbria declared that the victim had failed to submit his body to the full thrust of the blade.Cicero Pro Roscio Amerino 12.33 Cinna's government in 86 BC organized a military expedition to the province of Asia to manage Rome's ongoing war against the king of Pontus, Mithridates, and to serve as a political and military countermeasure to the now outlawed general Sulla, the regime's main opponent, who was at this moment also fighting Mithridates. The expedition was to be led by Marius's replacement consul, Lucius Valerius Flaccus, and Fimbria, owing presumably to his position as quaestor, joined him as the foremost member of his staff.
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After a short civil war, Sulla sailed east and fought Mithridates VI on several occasions over the next three years, and finally in 85 BC, Mithridates VI sued for peace, and was allowed to retain his kingship in Pontus after paying a heavy fine. Nicomedes IV was restored to his throne in Bithynia in 84 BC. The years that followed were relatively peaceful, though Bithynia came more and more under the control of Rome. In 80 BC, young Gaius Julius Caesar was an ambassador to Nicomedes IV's court. Caesar was sent to raise a fleet using Bithynia's resources, but he dallied so long with the King that a rumor of a sexual relationship between the two men surfaced, leading to the disparaging title for Caesar, "the Queen of Bithynia", an allegation which Caesar's political enemies made use of later in his life.
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Zorsines was a 1st-century King (rex Siracorum) of the Siraces mentioned in Tacitus' Annals of the Roman Empire (XII.15-19) around 50 AD, a people he reports as residing somewhere between the Caucasus mountains and the Don river. He had a fortification at Uspe. He fought in the Bosporus under Mithridates III, the former king of the Bosporan Kingdom, against the Dandaridae.
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Monime, sometimes known as Monima (; died 72/71 BC), was a Macedonian Greek noblewoman from Anatolia and one of the wives of King Mithridates VI of Pontus. According to the ancient sources she was a citizen of either Miletus or Stratonicea, Caria. Monime was the daughter of a prominent citizen called Philopoemen.Mayor, The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome’s deadliest enemy p.
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Lucullus preferred to concentrate on Mithridates himself, and headed toward Chalcedon. Marius blocked and confronted him. They faced off at Otroea near Nicaea (present-day Iznik).Keaveney, Lucullus, p. 77. Although Lucullus commanded 30,000 infantry and 2,500 horse, he was daunted by the size of the opposing army and reluctant to engage. The arrival of an omen, as reported by Plutarch, was thus fortuitous:Plutarch, Lucullus 8.
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Metrodorus of Scepsis () (c. 145 BCE - 70 BCE), from the town of Scepsis in ancient Mysia, was a friend of Mithridates VI of Pontus and celebrated in antiquity for the excellence of his memory. He may be the same Metrodorus who, according to the Elder Pliny, in consequence of his hostility to the Romans, was surnamed the "Rome-hater" ("Misoromæus"). Information on Metrodorus is very scarce.
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Phazemon (), also known as Thermai Phazemoniton, was a town in the west of ancient Pontus, south of the Gazelonitis, and north of Amasia; it contained hot mineral springs. Pompey, after his victory over Mithridates, planted a colony there, and changed its name into Neapolis, from which the whole district was called Neapolitis, having previously been called Phazemonitis. Its site is located near Havza, Asiatic Turkey.
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Pharnaces' brother, MithridatesIV Philopator Philadelphus adopted a peaceful, pro-Roman policy. He sent aid to the Roman ally Attalus II Philadelphus of Pergamon against Prusias II of Bithynia in 155.Polybius, XXXIII.12 His successor, Mithridates V of Pontus Euergetes, remained a friend of Rome and in 149 BC sent ships and a small force of auxiliaries to aid Rome in the third Punic War.
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The treaty agreed with Sulla was not to last. From 83 to 82BC Mithridates fought against and defeated Licinius Murena, who had been left by Sulla to organize the province of Asia. The so-called Second Mithridatic war ended without any territorial gains by either side. The Romans now began securing the coastal region of Lycia and Pamphylia from pirates and established control over Pisidia and Lycaonia.
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In 68BC Lucullus invaded northern Armenia, ravaging the country and capturing Nisibis, but Tigranes avoided battle. Meanwhile, Mithridates invaded Pontus, and in 67 he defeated a large Roman force near Zela. Lucullus, now in command of tired and discontented troops, withdrew to Pontus, then to Galatia. He was replaced by two new consuls arriving from Italy with fresh legions, Marcius Rex and Acilius Glabrio.
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The child of King Mithridates VI of Pontus from his second marriage to the Anatolian Greek Macedonian noblewoman and Pontian Queen Monime, she was a princess of Persian and Greek Macedonian ancestry. Born and raised in the Kingdom of Pontos, her parents gave her a traditional ancient Greek name. Athenais married the Cappadocian Prince and later King Ariobarzanes II Philopator, who was of Persian and Greek descent.
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Stratonice of Pontus (; fl. 1st century BC) was a Greek woman from the Kingdom of Pontus who was one of the mistresses and the fourth wife of King Mithridates VI of Pontus.Mayor, The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome’s deadliest enemy Stratonice was a citizen of the Pontian city of Kabeira.Mayor, The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome’s deadliest enemy p.
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There is another battle of Tenedos in 73 BC during the Third Mithridatic War.Lee Frantatuono, Lucullus, the life and campaigns of a Roman conqueror, pp.31-32. After winning two naval engagements Lucullus finally found the main Pontic fleet near the Island of Tenedos. Lucullus himself was on a ship commanded by an experienced Rhodian sailer, one Damagoras, who sailed his ship directly toward Mithridates' commander Neoptolemus.
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In 72 BC the Pontic king Mithridates VI Eupator abandoned his kingdom after his forces were defeated by the Romans in the Battle of Cabira. He fled eastward seeking protection at the court of his son-in-law Tigranes II the Great in Greater Armenia. The Roman general Lucius Licinius Lucullus sent his legate Appius Claudius to Armenia as an emissary. Tigranes received Appius in Antioch.
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His older brother was prince Gaius Julius Archelaus Antiochus Epiphanes and youngest sibling was princess Iotapa. He was of Armenian, Greek and Medes descent. Through his ancestor from Commagene, Queen Laodice VII Thea, who was the mother of King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene, he was a direct descendant of the Greek Syrian Kingdom the Seleucid Empire. Callinicus’ birth name was probably Gaius Julius Mithridates Callinicus.
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During his mother's regency, he escaped from his mother's plots against him, and went into hiding. Mithridates emerged from hiding, returning to Pontus between 116 BC and 113 BC and was hailed as king. By this time he had grown to become a man of considerable stature and physical strength. He could combine extraordinary energy and determination with a considerable talent for politics, organization and strategy.
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Pharnaces II of Pontus, also known as Pharnaces II (; about 97–47 BC) was the king of the Bosporan Kingdom until his death. He was a monarch of Persian and Greek Macedonian ancestry. He was the youngest child born to King Mithridates VI of Pontus from his first wife, his sister Queen Laodice.Mayor, The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome’s deadliest enemy p.
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55; B. Marshall and J.L. Beness, Athenaeum 65 (1987), pp 360-78. He supported a plea from Pompey, campaigning against the rebel Sertorius on the Iberian peninsula, for funds and reinforcements.Lee Fratantuono, Lucullus, pp 45-46. Enabling Pompey to continue fighting Sertorius, and keeping Pompey from returning to Rome and interfering with Lucullus's plans; Lucullus feared Pompey would usurp the command against Mithridates of Pontus.
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Gabelko, O,. L., The dynastic history of the Hellenistic monarchies of Asia Minor according to the Chronography of George Synkellos, p. 48 Her paternal grandparents had been the monarchs of the Kingdom of Pontus, Mithridates VI of Pontus and his first wife Laodice, who was also his sister. Dynamis married three times. Her husbands were Asander, a certain Scribonius and Polemon I of Pontus.
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14.4, 17.1 Another plebeian tribune, Gaius Manilius, proposed the lex Manilia. It gave Pompey command of the forces and the areas of operation of Lucullus and in addition to this, Bithynia, which was held by Acilius Glabrio. It commissioned him to wage war on Mithridates and Tigranes. It allowed him to retain his naval force and his dominion over the sea granted by the lex Gabinia.
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The father was left with the rest of Armenia and was ordered to give up the territory he has seized in the war: Syria west of the River Euphrates and part of Cilicia. Armenian deserters persuaded the younger Tigranes to make an attempt on his father. Pompey arrested and chained him. He then founded a city in Lesser Armenia where he had defeated Mithridates.
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Explorer Yuriy Feodorovich Lisyansky compiled several word lists. in 1804 and 1805, the czar's plenipotentiary, Nikolai Petrovich Rezanov collected some more. Johann Christoph Adelung and Johann Severin Vater published their Mithridates oder allgemeine Sprachkunde 1806–1817, which included Aleut among the languages it catalogued, similar to Catherine the Great's dictionary project. It wasn't until 1819 that the first professional linguist, the Dane Rasmus Rask, studied Aleut.
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Artavasdes II (, Artabázēs) was king of Armenia from 55 BC to 34 BC. A member of the Artaxiad Dynasty, he was the son and successor of Tigranes the Great (). His mother was Cleopatra of Pontus, thus making his maternal grandfather the prominent Pontus king Mithridates VI Eupator. Like his father, Artavasdes continued using the title of King of Kings, as seen from his coins.
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The name Ariobarzanes is a name of Iranian origin.Encyclopaedia Iranica – Ariobarzanes There were Persian Satraps who bore this name as did some of the ancestors of Cleopatra of Pontus. Cleopatra was a Pontian Princess, who was a daughter of King Mithridates VI of Pontus from his first wife, his sister Laodice.Mayor, The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome’s deadliest enemy p.p.
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Some mock his melancholy thoughts but he has used them like the poisons sampled by Mithridates and will survive to die old (LXII). Perhaps these poems are not fashionable, but they survive the poet to please other lads like him (LXIII).The source for this synopsis is the work itself. The numerals are those of the poems, in sequence, to which each comment refers.
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Mihrdat IV (, Latinized as Mithridates), of the Chosroid Dynasty, was the king of Iberia (Kartli, eastern Georgia) from c. 409 to 411. He was the son of Varaz-Bakur II and the grandson (on his mother’s side) of Trdat. The Georgian chronicles criticizes him for impiety and neglect of religious building, and informs us that he opposed both major regional powers, the Roman and Sassanid empires.
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Under Dārēv I however, the new title of mlk, or king, appeared, sometimes with the mention of prs (Persis), suggesting that the kings of Persis had become independent rulers. When the Parthian Arsacid king Mithridates I (ca. 171-138 BC) took control of Persis, he left the Persian dynasts in office and they were allowed to continue minting coins with the title of mlk ("King").
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He installed Ariobarzanes as king of Cappadocia and founded the city of Licinia near the border with Pontus. Meanwhile, Murena and Mithridates both sent envoys to the Heracleians to bid for their alliance. These replied that they could hardly protect themselves and could not help others. Some of Murena's advisers said that he should attack Sinope and then march on the capital of Pontus.
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As a result of this incident, the people of Halae were inspired to repopulate their town.Plutarch, Sulla, 26. While Sulla was away fighting Mithridates, Rome was suffering from civil disorder at the hands of the two consuls of 85 BC, Lucius Cornelius Cinna and Gnaeus Papirius Carbo, prompting eminent members of Roman society to flee to Sulla's camp, including his wife Metella and their children.Plutarch: Sulla, c.
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Cotta was therefore ordered to station his fleet at Chalcedon, while Lucullus marched through Phrygia with the intention of invading Pontus. Lucullus had not advanced far when news came through that Mithridates had made a rapid march westward, attacked Cotta, and forced him to flee behind the walls of Chalcedon. Sixty-four Roman ships had been captured or burnt, and Cotta had lost three thousand men.
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Sertorius was in league with the Cilician Pirates, who had bases and fleets all around the Mediterranean, was negotiating with the formidable Mithridates VI of Pontus, and he was also in communication with the insurgent slaves of Spartacus in Italy. But due to jealousies among his high ranking Roman officers and some Iberian chieftains as well a conspiracy was beginning to take form.Plutarch, Life of Sertorius, 25.
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He halted his cavalry's pursuit of the Iberians and advanced the infantry on the Atropani who were massed opposite it. These were routed, and soon the entire Armenian army was in retreat.Plutarch, Vita Luculli XXXI 4-8(Life of Lucullus, 31.4-8); Lee Frantantuono, Lucullus, the life and campaigns of a Roman conqueror, p.103; Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's indomitable enemy, p.139.
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He came from a Greek family that had settled in Muntenia and was originally named Menelas Simonides. In Paris, he was a pupil of Léon Bonnat and Gabriel Ferrier and was best-known for his genre scenes and nudes. He received an honorable mention at the Exposition Universelle (1889). His "Death of Mithridates" also won a medal at the Salon, where he exhibited from 1908 to 1912.
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Crévier, pp. 280-281 Rhadamistus pretended that he was at feud with his father and stepmother and went to his uncle Mithridates. His uncle received Rhadamistus like a son and with an excessive kindness.Tacitus, XII, 44 Later as if he reconciled with his father he returned to Iberia, telling his father that everything was ready and that he must complete this affair by using his sword.
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Archelaus II was a Cappadocian Greek nobleman, possibly of Macedonian descent. He was the son and namesake of the Roman Client Ruler and High Priest of Comana, Cappadocia, Archelaus IAncient Library, Archelaus no. 2 & 3 by an unnamed Greek woman. He also had an unnamed sister and his paternal uncle was the Pontic soldier Diogenes, who served in the army of King Mithridates VI of Pontus.
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Cicero instead pronounced an oath of his own, "swearing that in very truth he had saved his country and maintained her supremacy," which the people confirmed.Plutarch, Parallel Lives, the Life of Cicero, 32.1-3Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares, 5.2 Metellus Nepos proposed a bill which provided for Pompey, recently victorious in the war against Mithridates, to be recalled to Rome with his army to restore order.
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Talaura (Greek: ) or Taulara, was a mountain fortress in Pontus to which Mithridates VI of Pontus withdrew with his most precious treasures, which were afterwards found there by Lucullus. (Dion Cass. xxxv. 14; Appian, Mithr. 115.) As the place is not mentioned by other writers, some suppose it to have been the same as Gaziura, the modern Turhal which is perched upon a lofty isolated rock.
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Sulla consolidated his position, declared Marius and his allies hostes (public enemies) and addressed the Senate in harsh tones, portraying himself as a victim, presumably to justify his violent entrance into the city. After restructuring the city's politics and with the Senate's power strengthened, Sulla returned to his camp and proceeded with the original plan of fighting Mithridates in Pontus (in what became the First Mithridatic War).
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Lucius Caesar and his brother, Gaius Julius Caesar Strabo Vopiscus, were killed in 87 BC during the Civil War between Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla.Lynda Telford, Sulla: A Dicatator Reconsidered, p. 114. After Sulla had left for the East to fight against Mithridates of Pontus, Marius returned from banishment and started executing his political opponents.Lynda Telford, Sulla: A Dicatator Reconsidered, pp 113-114.
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The Mahabharata (II.32.17) situated the Sakas along with the Pahlavas (Parthians) and Yona (Ionians) in the north-west. The Sakas from Sakastan defeated and killed the Parthian king Phraates II in 126 B.C. Indo-Scythians established themselves in the Indus around 88 B.C., during the end of Mithridates II of Parthias reign. The Sakas and Pahlavas became closely associated during the Saka migration.
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We also learn from this document that in the Hellenistic period Pitane was a free city not subject to the Attalid dynasty and its public document no longer used the Aeolic dialect. In 84 BCE Mithridates VI while evading the Roman general Gaius Flavius Fimbria fled to Pitane, where he was besieged by Fimbria before escaping to Mytilene by sea.Plutarch, Lucullus 3, Appian, Mithridatica 52.
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Map of Asia minor, 89 BC showing Roman provinces and client states as well as Pontic territory. Mithridates knew enough about the workings of Roman politics to seek redress from the Senate, were he really interested. Instead he wanted to act under the éclat of the recent violation of his territory. After Pelopidas' return he sent his son Ariarathes into Cappadocia with a strong army.
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The occupation (summer 89 BC) was rapid and once again (now for a fourth time) Ariobarzanes I the philoromaios was expelled and the rule of Mithridates' son enforced.Appian Mith.15 This violated both of the Senatus consulta authorising Aquillius' mission, and the Treaty. It was a strategic move with a view to serious conflict with the Romans: unlike Nicomedes, Ariobarzanes had done naught to offend.
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Athens, nevertheless, remained loyal to Mithridates, despite a bitter siege throughout the winter of 87/6. Sulla captured Athens on March 1, 86 BC, but Archelaus evacuated Piraeus, and landed in Boeotia, where he was defeated at the Battle of Chaeronea. Philip II of Macedon and a young Alexander the Great had defeated combined Athenian and Theban resistance at Chaeronea 250 years before, securing Macedonian supremacy.
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Mitridate, re di Ponto (Mithridates, King of Pontus), K. 87 (74a), is an early opera seria in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto is by , after Giuseppe Parini's Italian translation of Jean Racine's play Mithridate. Mozart wrote Mitridate while touring Italy in 1770. The musicologist Daniel E. Freeman has demonstrated that it was composed with close reference to the opera La Nitteti by Josef Mysliveček.
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There Mithridates treated his captive with great hospitality; he even married his daughter Rhodogune of Parthia to Demetrius.; ; Antiochus VII Sidetes (r. 138–129 BC), a brother of Demetrius, assumed the Seleucid throne and married the latter's wife Cleopatra Thea. After defeating Diodotus Tryphon, Antiochus initiated a campaign in 130 BC to retake Mesopotamia, now under the rule of Phraates II (r. c. 132–127 BC).
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In the second phase, Parthian art found inspiration in Achaemenid art, as exemplified by the investiture relief of Mithridates II at Mount Behistun. The third phase occurred gradually after the Parthian conquest of Mesopotamia. Common motifs of the Parthian period include scenes of royal hunting expeditions and the investiture of Arsacid kings.; see also Use of these motifs extended to include portrayals of local rulers.
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Olu Deniz, a section of the Turquoise Coast Lucullus was relieved of command in 67 BC with no immediate replacement. He remained non-operational in the camps, persuading such troops as would volunteer to stay on in the hope of future employment, to maintain the minimum defense. Mithridates carefully avoided him. It was the Senate's duty to pass on the mandate for war to someone else.
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With a comparable force Sulla had invaded and conquered Italy. Appian presents perhaps the clearest view of the phenomenon of the pirates, or at least a view that is consistent with the other history of the times. The pirates were neither Cilician nor plunderers. They were the naval branch of Mithridates’ armed forces, which sometimes operated quasi- autonomously as Privateers, but less frequently as individuals.
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Documentary evidence that Sulla had found a candidate appears from 82 BC, a successful year for him. In that year he had defeated all his enemies at Rome and declared himself Dictator (reviving the old position). He had sent for his repentant commander in Asia, Murena, who was now ready to accept Sulla's agreement with Mithridates. Lucullus had been relieved of his command of the fleet.
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He noticed the strategic position of Armenia between Asia Minor, the Caucasus, and Iran. In , Mithridates II invaded Armenia and made its king Artavasdes I acknowledge Parthian suzerainty. Artavasdes I was forced to give the Parthians Tigranes as a hostage, who was either his son or nephew. Control over Armenia would remain one of the most essential objectives in Parthian policy till the end of the dynasty.
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Mithridates was arrested by Caligula, but later restored by Claudius. Subsequently, Armenia was often a focus of contention between Rome and Parthia, with both major powers supporting opposing sovereigns and usurpers. The Parthians forced Armenia into submission in AD 37, but in AD 47 the Romans retook control of the kingdom. In AD 51 Armenia fell to an Iberian invasion sponsored by Parthia, led by Rhadamistus.
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Darius of Pontus (reigned 37-37/36 BC) was a monarch of Iranian and Greek Macedonian ancestry. He was the first child born to King Pharnaces II of Pontus Appian, The Civil Wars, 5.74 and his Sarmatian wife.Mayor, The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithridates, Rome’s deadliest enemy p.362 He had two younger siblings: a sister called Dynamis and a brother called Arsaces.
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It was a major center of Hellenistic culture that maintained the preeminence of Greek customs where a Greek political elite dominated, mostly in the urban areas. The Greek population of the cities who formed the dominant elite were reinforced by immigration from Greece. Much of the eastern part of the empire was conquered by the Parthians under Mithridates I of Parthia in the mid-2nd century BC.
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In the middle of the 1st century BC, the ancient city at Vani was attacked and destroyed. The gate, sanctuary with its mosaic floor, the stepped altar, and the round temple on the central terrace of the hill exhibit signs of violence and conflagration: walls razed to the foundation, fired stones, baked tiles and mudbrick, and charred beams. It is unknown who was responsible for the destruction of the city: Pompey, who led the first Roman incursion into the Caucasian hinterland in 65 BC, Pharnaces II, who tried to conquer Colchis and Pontus in 49 BC, and Mithridates of Pergamon, who was made by Julius Caesar successor to Pharnaces in 47 BC, are all possible candidates. According to Lordkipanidze, two destruction layers can be observed within a few years of each other: one attributed to an invasion by Pharnaces and the other to that by Mithridates.
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Seleucus was defeated in Anatolia by Hierax, Mithridates, and the Galatians. Mithridates also attacked Sinope in 220 but failed to take the city. He married SeleucusII's sister and gave his daughter in marriage to AntiochusIII, to obtain recognition for his new kingdom and create strong ties with the Seleucid Empire. The sources are silent on Pontus for the years following the death of MithridatesII, when his son MithridatesIII ruled (c.220–198/88).McGing, 17–23. Bronze shield in the name of King Pharnakes: ΦΑΡΝΑΚΟΥ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ, Getty Villa (80.AC.60) Pharnaces I of Pontus (189–159 BC) was much more successful in his expansion of the kingdom at the expense of the Greek coastal cities. He joined in a war with Prusias I of Bithynia against Eumenes of Pergamon in 188 BC, but the two made peace in 183 after Bithynia suffered a series of reversals.
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According to the Georgian historic tradition, he was the son and successor of Artaxias I of the Artaxiads. The medieval Georgian account of his reign is brief and focuses on the devastation of his kingdom at the hands of Iranians while the Classical sources much closer to the period in question contain a detailed description of Artoces's war with Rome on the side of Mithridates VI of Pontus and Tigranes of Armenia. Alarmed by the Roman occupation of the neighboring Albania, Artoces promised peace and friendship; but the Roman commander Pompey, informed that he was secretly arming so as to fall upon the Romans on their march in the passes of the Caucasus, advanced in March 65 BC, before resuming the pursuit of Mithridates, to the Iberian strongholds of Harmozica and Seusamora. Artoces, caught by surprise, hastily burnt the bridge over the Cyrus and retreated further in his forested country.
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Lucullus marched north and caught the Mithridatic army off guard besieging Cyzicus, he conducted a very effective counter-siege, blockading the Mithridatic army on the Cyzicus peninsula and let famine and disease do his work for him.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's Indomitable Enemy, pp. 111–112; Lee Fratantuono, Lucullus the Life and Campaigns of a Roman Conqueror, pp. 57–61; Appian, Mithridatica, 74; Plutarch, Life of Lucullus, 9–12.
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The Pontic army was under the overall command of Mithridates, who had a force of 250,000, compared to Nicomedes, who only had 50,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry. The Pontic advance force at the Amnias River, where this battle took place, was commanded by the brothers Neoptolemus and Archelaus, who had a force that according to Appian was outnumbered by Nicomedes, despite the size of the whole Pontic army.
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The Battle of the Amnias River started around a rocky hill on the plains. Neoptolemus and Archelaus, commanding the advance forces of Mithridates, sent troops forward to occupy the hill, but they were repelled by Nicomedes. Neoptolemus then led another attack on the hill, but was repelled again. Nicomedes managed to force Neoptolemus' men to retreat, but before Nicomedes could finish off Neoptolemus, he was attacked on the flank by Archelaus.
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Niksar has been ruled by the Hittite, Persian, Greek, Pontic, Roman, Byzantine, Danishmend, Seljuk and Ottoman Empires. It has always been an important place in Anatolia because of its location, climate and productive lands. It was known as Cabira in the Hellenistic period (Κάβειρα in Greek). It was one of the favourite residences of Mithridates the Great, who built a palace there, and later of King Polemon I and his successors.
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Olthacus was a chief of the Scythian tribe of the Dandarians. He served in the army of Mithridates the Great. He later deserted to the Romans, which was according to the account of Plutarch, a feint, with the purpose of gaining access to Lucellus, so as to assassinate him, but was instead foiled in this endeavour. Appian provides the same details in an account but instead terms him Olcabas.
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Gaius Julius Aquila was a Roman knight, stationed with a few cohorts, in 45 CE, to protect Tiberius Julius Cotys I, king of the Bosporan Kingdom, who had received the sovereignty after the expulsion of Tiberius Julius Mithridates. In the same year, Aquila obtained the praetorian insignia.Tacitus, Annals 12.15, 21 He also erected a monument honouring the emperor Claudius in Asia Minor (modern Turkey) known as the Kuşkayası Monument.
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Some who opposed Sulla were elected to office in 87 BC – Gnaeus Octavius, a supporter of Sulla, and Lucius Cornelius Cinna, a supporter of Marius and member of Sulla's extended family, were elected consuls – as Sulla wanted to demonstrate his republican bona fides. Regardless, Sulla was again confirmed as the commander of the campaign against Mithridates, so he took his legions out of Rome and marched east to the war.
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He marched through Boeotia, which quickly surrendered, and began laying siege to Athens and the Piraeus (the Athenian port city, no longer connected by the Long Walls). Athens fell in March 86BC, and the city was sacked. After stiff resistance, Archelaus, the Pontic general in Piraeus, left by sea, and Sulla utterly destroyed the port city. Meanwhile, Mithridates had sent his son Arcathias with a large army via Thrace into Greece.
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During their marriage Nysa bore Ariarathes V, five other sons. At some point, Nysa poisoned her five other children so she might obtain the government of the Kingdom.Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology > v. 2, page 1216 Ariarathes VI was still too young to rule, so Nysa acted as his regent between 130 BC-126 BC.McGing, The foreign policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus p.
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The recorded history of Şebinkarahisar begins with the Third Mithridatic War. After the defeat of Mithridates VI, Pompey strengthened the town's fortifications and founded a Roman colony (colonia). In the Byzantine period, the city was rebuilt by Justinian I (r. 527–565). In the 7th century, it became part of the Armeniac Theme, and later of Chaldia, before finally becoming the seat of a separate theme by 863.
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From 81 BC to 74 BC the Fimbrians served under several Roman governors in Asia Minor. When the Third Mithridatic War began, they were reported to be in the Roman province of Asia. Lucullus, now proconsul of Cilicia, was given the command of the war against Mithridates and sailed for Asia Minor. Landing at an unspecified location in Asia, he assumed command of the local Roman forces including the Fimbrians.
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This chariot was a heavy construction and moved relatively slowly. Light infantry could keep up with them. The momentum of this heavy chariot was sufficient to break through enemy formations, causing an effect similar to heavy cavalry with lances. Some generals, such as Cyrus II and Darius III of Persia and Mithridates of Pontus attached scythes to their chariot forces' wheels, in the further hope of breaking up enemy formations.
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Multiple theories have been proposed to partially address this numismatic problem. Based on the classical sources, the names of the rulers in this period are Sinatruces and his son Phraates (III), Mithridates (III/IV), Orodes (II), the sons of Phraates III, and a certain Darius (I), ruler of Media (or Media Atropatene?). Two other names, Gotarzes (I) and Orodes (I) are attested in dated cuneiform tablets from Babylon.
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Relief of Mithridates I's victory There are essentially two different types of relief. There are carvings of a hand with a back plate that are very closely related technically and formally with complete sculptures. In addition, there are also flat reliefs, in which the figures are only a few centimeters carved into the stone. These reliefs are continuing Assyrian and Persian, or pre-Hellenistic, traditions and are visually similar to paintings.
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A History of Rome, LeGlay, et al. 100 According to Appian's Roman History, he then requested his Gallic bodyguard and friend, Bituitus, to kill him by the sword: Cassius Dio's Roman History records a different account: At the behest of Pompey, Mithridates' body was later buried alongside his ancestors (in either Sinope or Amaseia). Mount Mithridat in the central Kerch and the town of Yevpatoria in Crimea commemorate his name.
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Aulus Cornelius Celsus gives one in his De Medicina and names it Antidotum Mithridaticum, whence English mithridate.Celsus, De Medicina, Book V, 23.3. (Loeb, 1935) Pliny the Elder's version comprised 54 ingredients to be placed in a flask and matured for at least two months. After Mithridates' death in 63 BC, many imperial Roman physicians claimed to possess and improve on the original formula, which they touted as Mithradatium.
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In the early 1st century BC Mithridates VI made an alliance with the Sarmatian tribes,Livius.org, Articles on Ancient History: Sarmatians and, probably through this alliance, Pharnaces (possibly sometime after 77 BC) married an unnamed Sarmatian noblewoman.Mayor, The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome’s deadliest enemy p.362 She may have been a princess, a relative of a ruling Sarmatian monarch or an influential aristocrat of some stature.
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592 Minns reckoned that Asander started issuing coins in his name in 44 BC, the year Caesar, who supported Mithridates of Pergamon, died. Then he started minting with the acquiescence of Octavian, whose head featured on his coins. For the first three years the coins had the inscription ΑΡΧΟΝΤΟΣ ΑΣΑΝ ΔΡΟΥ (Archiontos Asandrou), archon Asander. Here we also have the first occurrence of φιλορώαμιος (philoromaios, friend of Rome) on coinage.
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The latter did not mention any action in Judea. He wrote that Pompey marched on Petra (the capital of the Kingdom of Nabataea) to confirm Aretas, who wanted to become a friend of Rome. It was while he was encamped near Petra that he was told that Mithridates was dead. He then left Arabia and went to Amisus (Samsun), in Pontus, on the north coast of Anatolia (see above).
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"Crassus" 9.7 Two years later, Cassius appeared as a witness for the prosecution, which was being led by Cicero, in the trial against the corrupt former governor of Sicily, Verres. In 66 BC, Cassius supported the Manilian lawCic. "Manil." 68. that gave command of the war against Mithridates to Pompey; he was joined in this by Cicero, then praetor, whose famous speech in support of the same bill survives.
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Hypius or Hypios (), also Hyppius or Hyppios (Ὕππιος), was a river of ancient Bithynia, not far westward from the Sangarius River. The river itself is very small; but at its mouth it is so broad that the greater part of the fleet of Mithridates was enabled to take up its winter quarters in it.Apollon. 2.795; Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax, p. 34; Marcian of Heraclea, Menippi periplus maris interni, p.
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This army supported the Romans in their wars against king Mithridates VI of Pontus, and contributed to Roman victory in the Third Mithridatic War. After a heavy defeat against king Pharnaces II of Pontus near Nicopolis, the surviving soldiers of Deiotarius army formed a single legion, which marched besides Julius Caesar during his victorious campaign against Pontus, and fought with him in the battle of Zela (47 BC).
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Mihrdat III (, Latinized as Mithridates), of the Chosroid Dynasty, was the king of Iberia (Kartli, eastern Georgia) from c. 365 to 380 (diarch 370–378). Mihrdat succeeded his father, Varaz-Bakur known as Aspacures to the contemporaneous historian Ammianus Marcellinus and installed by Shapur II, the Sassanid king of Iran on the place of his nephew Sauromaces. Mihrdat is unknown to Ammianus who continues to refer to him as Aspacures (Amm.
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While governing Cilicia, Sulla received orders from the Senate to restore king Ariobarzanes to the throne of Cappadocia. Ariobarzanes had been driven out by Mithridates VI of Pontus who wanted to install one of his own sons (Ariarathes) on the Cappadocian throne. Despite initial difficulties Sulla succeeded in restoring Ariobarzanes to the throne. The Romans among his troops were sufficiently impressed by his leadership they hailed him Imperator on the field.
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Iotapa was a princess from the Kingdom of Commagene, who lived in the second half of the 1st century BC and the first half of the 1st century. She was one of the daughters of King Mithridates III of Commagene and Queen Iotapa of Commagene. Iotapa was of Armenian, Greek and Median descent. She was most probably born, raised and educated in Samosata, the capital of the Kingdom of Commagene.
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Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome Indomitable Enemy, p. 49. The Rhodians decided on a strategy of opportunist lightning strikes at the Pontic fleet. Soon there occurred one of the opportunities the Rhodian fleet had been waiting for. A royal supply ship, secure in their belief the Rhodians were penned up in their harbour, ventured close to the port and was attacked and captured by a swift bireme.
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The Rhodian commander used the superior speed of his ships to avoid action until sunset. Then, when the Pontic ships turned to break of their pointless pursuit, the Rhodians suddenly wheeled and hit their opponents from the rear. Two Pontic ships were sunk, the rest scattered while the Rhodians sailed on and slipped back into their port almost unscathed.Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome Indomitable Enemy, p. 50.
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The third and final slave uprising was the most serious,Matyszak, The Enemies of Rome, p. 77 involving ultimately between 120,000Appian, Civil Wars, 1, 117 and 150,000Santosuosso, Storming the Heavens, p. 43 slaves under the command of the gladiator Spartacus. Mithridates the Great was the ruler of Pontus,Florus, The Epitome of Roman history, Book 3, ch. 5 a large kingdom in Asia Minor (modern Turkey), from 120 to 63.
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Grant, The History of Rome, p. 158 The massacre was the official reason given for the commencement of hostilities in the First Mithridatic War. The Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla forced Mithridates out of Greece proper, but then had to return to Italy to answer the internal threat posed by his rival, Gaius Marius. A peace was made between Rome and Pontus, but this proved only a temporary lull.
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Orodes was born in the 70s BC, if not earlier. He was a son of Phraates III (), who was a son of Sinatruces (),; ; himself presumably a son of the Parthian ruler Mithridates I (). The name of the Arsacid branch established by Sinatruces on the Parthian throne has been coined by the modern historian Marek Jan Olbrycht as the "Sinatrucids", which ruled the Parthian Empire from 78/77 BC until 12 AD.
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As the Romans attacked with the moon to their backs the Pontic troops launched their missiles too early. The Romans were able to get right up to and into the Pontic camp. Once the experienced Roman legionaries got among the Pontic troops the fight was as good as won (Roman legionaries excelled at close-range fighting). Mithridates had made his camp at a site that was difficult to get into.
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This Pontic Kingdom, a state of Persian origin,The Foreign Policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus, by B.C. McGing, p. 11Children of Achilles: The Greeks in Asia Minor Since the Days of Troy, by John Freely, pp. 69–70Strabo of Amasia: A Greek Man of Letters in Augustan Rome, by Daniela Dueck, p. 3 may even have been directly related to Darius the Great and the Achaemenid dynasty.
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The Battle of Artaxata was fought near the Arsanias River in 68 BC between an army of the Roman Republic and the army of the Kingdom of Armenia. The Romans were led by proconsul Lucius Licinius Lucullus, while the Armenians were led by Tigranes II of Armenia, who was sheltering Mithridates VI of Pontus. The battle was part of the Third Mithridatic War, and was a Roman victory.
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Ariobarzanes II married the princess Athenais Philostorgos II, one of the daughters of King Mithridates VI of Pontus. He was an ineffective ruler, requiring the aid of Gabinius in 57 BC to ward off his enemies. He was successful in maintaining rule over Cappadocia for approximately eight years before being assassinated by Parthian favorites. By his wife, he had two sons: Ariobarzanes III of Cappadocia and Ariarathes X of Cappadocia.
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305 In 88 BC, after being sidelined by his political opponents, Sulla marched his legions on Rome and took the capital. He took revenge on his enemies and forced Marius into exile. Sulla then left Italy and went east to fight in the First Mithridatic War against Mithridates VI of Pontus. In 87 BC, Metellus Pius' command was extended, with his appointment as propraetor, responsible for continuing the war against Samnium.
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Pontus had been an independent kingdom since the rule of Mithridates when the threat of Macedon had been removed. Despite several attempts by the Seleucid Empire to defeat Pontus, independence was maintained. When Rome became involved in Anatolian affairs under Pharnaces I, an alliance was formed that guaranteed protection for the kingdom. The other major kingdom in Anatolia, Bithynia, established by Nicomedes I at Nicomedia, always maintained good relations with Rome.
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Aquillius' retinue included representatives of the lenders. With Aquillius' support they now urged the two kings to invade the Pontic kingdom to secure the funds with which to repay the loans that had been needed for the bribes.Appian Mith 11 Fearing the power of Mithridates (and probably aware that the Senate had given no such orders), both kings demurred. But Nicomedes' creditors persisted with their pressure until he at last consented.
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Eupatoria () and Magnopolis ()Strabo, Geography, §12.3.30 was a Hellenistic city in the Kingdom of Pontus. The city was founded by Mithridates VI Eupator just south of where the Lycus flows into the Iris, the west end of the fertile valley of Phanaroea. Eupatoria was the crossing-point of two great roads through the Pontus: the east-west from Armenia Minor to Bithynia; and the north-south from Amisus to Caesarea Mazaca.
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He claims Artabanus was killed by the Tokhari (identified as the Yuezhi), although Bivar believes Justin conflated them with the Saka. Mithridates II (r. c. 124–91 BC) later recovered the lands lost to the Saka in Sakastan.; Han-dynasty Chinese silk from Mawangdui, 2nd century BC, silk from China was perhaps the most lucrative luxury item the Parthians traded at the western end of the Silk Road.
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This system of split monarchy weakened Parthia, allowing Tigranes II of Armenia to annex Parthian territory in western Mesopotamia. This land would not be restored to Parthia until the reign of Sinatruces (r. c. 78–69 BC). Following the outbreak of the Third Mithridatic War, Mithridates VI of Pontus (r. 119–63 BC), an ally of Tigranes II of Armenia, requested aid from Parthia against Rome, but Sinatruces refused help.
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Although at peace with Parthia, Rome still interfered in its affairs. The Roman emperor Tiberius (r. 14–37 AD) became involved in a plot by Pharasmanes I of Iberia to place his brother Mithridates on the throne of Armenia by assassinating the Parthian ally King Arsaces of Armenia. Artabanus II tried and failed to restore Parthian control of Armenia, prompting an aristocratic revolt that forced him to flee to Scythia.
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Tigranes the Great, king of Armenia, ridiculed Mithridates as general. He said of the Romans "If they are here as ambassadors, they are too many; if as enemies, altogether too few." He was soon routed by Lucullus, who gave his camp to his own men for plundering. Now that Tigranes was taking the Romans more seriously, he began to cooperate with his in-law and colleague, to the detriment of Lucullus.
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In response to the turmoil in Cappadocia, in 95 BC king Nicomedes III of Bithynia sent an embassy to Rome, claiming dominion over the kingdom. Mithridates VI of Pontus likewise sent an embassy to Rome, seeking Roman approval of his dominion over Cappadocia. The Roman Senate, however, did not assign the kingdom to either. Instead, the Senate demanded both Pontus and Bithynia withdraw from Cappadocia and guarantee its independence.
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The tiara would be used by many Parthian kings, particularly in the late Parthian period.; This type of tiara was also later used by the vassal kings of the Parthians, such as the Kings of Persis. The founder of the Sasanian Empire, Ardashir I (), also used this tiara. Like Artabanus I, Mithridates II is depicted on the obverse of his coins wearing an Iranian rider garb—the Parthian trouser-suit.
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The wisdom of this approach is revealed when Cleopatra orders her nurse to kill Pothinus because of his "treachery and disloyalty" (but really because of his insults to her). This probably contrasts with historical fact.Durant, Will, The Story of Civilization: Caesar and Christ, Simon and Schuster(1944) pg. 187 The murder enrages the Egyptian crowd, and but for Mithridates' reinforcements would have meant the death of all the protagonists.
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Both of her sons were underage and Laodice retained all power as regent.Mayor, The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome’s deadliest enemy p.69 Laodice in her regency favored her second son (Chrestus was probably more pliable). During her regency 120–116 BC (perhaps even 113 BC), Mithridates VI escaped the court of his mother and went into hiding.Mayor, The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome’s deadliest enemy p.69 He returned between 116 and 113 BC and was able to remove his mother and his brother from the Pontic throne, thus becoming the sole ruler of Pontus.Mayor, The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome’s deadliest enemy p.394 Mithridates entertained ambitions of making his state the dominant power in the east of Asia Minor and the Black Sea region. He first subjugated Colchis, a region east of the Black Sea, and prior to 164 BC, an independent kingdom.
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For the wooden image which is now here, once stood in Delos. Delos was then a Greek market, and seemed to offer security to traders on account of the god; but as the place was unfortified and the inhabitants unarmed, [the historical Persian] Menophanes, an officer of Mithridates, attacked it with a fleet, to show his contempt for the god, or acting on the orders of Mithridates; for to a man whose object is gain what is sacred is of less account than what is profitable. This Menophanes put to death the foreigners residing there and the Delians themselves, and after plundering much property belonging to the traders and all the offerings, and also carrying women and children away as slaves, he razed Delos itself to the ground. As it was being sacked and pillaged, one of the barbarians wantonly flung this image into the sea; but the wave took it and brought it to land here in the country of the Boiatai.
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The Parthian Empire had since the death of Mithridates II () fallen into a state of turmoil and decline; the authority of the crown had decreased, while the empire lost lands to its neighbours. Sinatruces, who originally resided amongst the Saka of Central Asia, took advantage of the chaotic situation in the empire, and with the aid of the Saka captured the Parthian throne in , at the age of eighty.; ; The name of the Arsacid branch established by Sinatruces on the Parthian throne has been coined by the modern historian Marek Jan Olbrycht as the "Sinatrucids", which ruled the Parthian Empire till 12 AD. The Sinatrucid family was notably supported by the Suren clan of Sakastan. During Sinatruces' reign, the Artaxiad king of Armenia, Tigranes the Great (), took advantage of the weakness of the Parthians, and retook the "seventy valleys" he had previously ceded to Mithridates II, and also went to conquer the Parthian domains of Media Atropatene, Gordyene, Adiabene, Osroene, and northern Mesopotamia.
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Elaborately gilded drug jar for storing mithridate. By Annibale Fontana, about 1580–90 Mithridate, also known as mithridatium, mithridatum, or mithridaticum, is a semi-mythical remedy with as many as 65 ingredients, used as an antidote for poisoning, and said to be created by Mithridates VI Eupator of Pontus in the 1st century BC. It was one of the most complex, highly sought-after drugs during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, particularly in Italy and France, where it was in continual use for centuries. An updated recipe called theriac (Theriacum Andromachi) was known well into the 19th century."Mithridate". Mithridate takes its name from its inventor, Mithridates VI, King of Pontus (134 to 63 BC) who is said to have so fortified his body against poisons with antidotes and preservatives, that when he tried to kill himself, he could not find any poison that would have an effect, and, according to some legends, had to ask a soldier to run him through with a sword.
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Athenais was a royal of Armenian and Greek descent. She was youngest of the five children born to King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene who reigned from 70 BC until 38 BC, and Queen Isias Philostorgos. Her paternal grandparents were the previous ruling Commagenean monarchs Mithridates I Callinicus and the Seleucid Princess and Queen Laodice VII Thea.Ptolemaic Genealogy: Affiliated Lines, Descendant Lines Her maternal grandparents were the Roman Client King of Cappadocia, Ariobarzanes I Philoromaios who reigned from 95 BC until 63/62 BC and Queen Athenais Philostorgos I.Athenais article at Ancient Library Her maternal uncle was the Roman Client King of Cappadocia, Ariobarzanes II Philopator and her maternal aunt-in-marriage was Athenais Philostorgos II. Her maternal aunt- in-marriage was a Pontian Princess who was the daughter of King Mithridates VI of Pontus from his second marriage to the Anatolian Greek Macedonian noblewoman and Pontian Queen Monime.Mayor, The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome’s deadliest enemy, p.
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Sohaemus was born and raised in Emesa. His paternal grandfather was the former Emesene Priest King Iamblichus II, while his maternal grandparents were the former Commagenean Monarchs Mithridates III of Commagene and his cousin-wife Iotapa. Azizus had died in 54 and Sohaemus succeeded his brother as Priest King. He ruled from 54 until his death in 73 and was the priest of the Syrian Sun God, known in Aramaic as El-Gebal.
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Cleopatra of Pontus (110 BC - after 58 BC) was a Pontian princess and a queen consort of Armenia. She was one of the daughters of King Mithridates VI of Pontus and Queen Laodice. Cleopatra is sometimes known as Cleopatra the Elder, to distinguish her from her sister of the same name and was born and raised in the Kingdom of Pontus. She was the wife of the Armenian King Tigranes the Great.
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Archelaus was named after the first Archelaus (his paternal great-great-grandfather), who was a general of King Mithridates VI of Pontus.Dueck, Strabo’s cultural geography: the making of a kolossourgia, p.208 He was the son and heir of the Roman Client King Archelaus of Cappadocia from his first marriage to a princess from Armenia and his sister was the Cappadocian princess Glaphyra. There is a possibility that his parents may have been distantly related.
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The Parthians (247 BC – 224 AD) from Persia conquered the region during the reign of Mithridates I of Parthia (r. 171–138 BC). From Syria, the Romans invaded western parts of the region several times, briefly founding Assyria Provincia in Assyria. Christianity began to take hold in Iraq (particularly in Assyria) between the 1st and 3rd centuries, and Assyria became a centre of Syriac Christianity, the Church of the East and Syriac literature.
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During this campaign, Sulla drove the Mithridatic-Greek armies back towards Athens and besieged them there. After capturing Athens, Sulla marched north and defeated two large Mithridatic armies at Chaeronea and Orchomenus. He invaded Asia Minor the following year and then successfully forced a peace with Mithridates in 83. Sulla returned to Italia in 83, leaving Lucullus to command forces in Asia and Hybrida to command a small cavalry force in Achaia.
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Antiokhos Hierax had two wives: \- daughter of the ruler of Kappadokia (see Ariarathes III of Cappadocia) whose country he was allied with at least in 230 BCE. \- daughter of king of Bithynia whose country he was also allied with. Both these were daughters of royal families with whom Hierax allied with, for alliance against his elder brother Seleukos II. His sister Laodike was married with his ally, king Mithridates II of Pontus. See also Laodice.
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29 The invasion demonstrated that Seleucus II Callinicus was unable to respond to threats in the East and therefore Diodotus, who had begun pushing for his independence in c. 245 BC, abandoned hopes of remaining part of the Seleucid Empire and declared himself king, thus establishing what is now known as the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom.Bopearachchi (1995), pp. 422–423 Margiana was conquered by the Parthians under Mithridates I of Parthia in c.
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By 47 BC, Asander had married Dynamis, the daughter of Pharnaces II by a Sarmatian wife, as his second wife. She was a granddaughter of King Mithridates VI of Pontus by his first wife, his sister Laodice. In 47 BC Pharnaces II put Asander in charge of the Bosporan Kingdom while he went with an army to invade the eastern parts of Anatolia. Following a successful campaign, Pharnaces advanced towards the western parts of Anatolia.
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Rome's involvement in the Eastern Mediterranean dated from 63 BCE, following the end of the Third Mithridatic War, when Rome made Syria a province. After the defeat of Mithridates VI of Pontus, the proconsul Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great) remained to secure the area, including a visit to the Jerusalem Temple. The former king Hyrcanus II was confirmed as ethnarch of the Jews by Julius Caesar in 48 BC.Jos., AJ XIV 190-195.
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According to legends, the history of theriac begins with the king Mithridates VI of Pontus who experimented with poisons and antidotes on his prisoners. His numerous toxicity experiments eventually led him to declare that he had discovered an antidote for every venomous reptile and poisonous substance. He mixed all the effective antidotes into a single one, mithridatium or mithridate. Mithridate contained opium, myrrh, saffron, ginger, cinnamon and castor, along with some forty other ingredients.
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Because of this it seems reasonable to assume that Pontus had some degree of control over Galatia, since Phrygia does not border Pontus directly. It is possible that Mithridates inherited part of Paphlagonia after the death of its King, Pylaemenes. MithridatesV married his daughter Laodice to the king of Cappadocia, Ariarathes VI of Cappadocia, and he also went on to invade Cappadocia, though the details of this war are unknown. Hellenization continued under MithridatesV.
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38 The citizens of Cappadocia - who were loyal to the ruling dynasty - had Nysa put to death on account of her cruelty and allowed Ariarathes VI to continue to reign as king. Nysa’s regency reflected a period of turbulence in the royal family which ended with her death.McGing, The foreign policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus, p.73 Her reign was the beginning of the end of this ruling dynasty of Cappadocia.
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No equivalent term has been identified in Elamite, Old Persian, or Semitic, but the visual representation of skeptouchoi are preserved in the sculptures of Persepolis. Skeptouchoi also appears as a Greek appellation of local princes of the Scythians, as referenced in a c. 200 BC inscription from Olbia, and in Colchis prior to Mithridates Eupator's conquest, as reported by Strabo. As David Braund suggests, the title was probably the consequence of Persian influence in Colchis.
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Crateuas was the personal physician of Mithridates VI of Pontus (reigned 120–63 BC). He wrote a three-part Herbal in which he described the medicinal properties of plants. He produced a second, popular edition with colour images, in which the plants were arranged in alphabetical order. This is the first known Herbal to have included images of the plants and was the model for very many later works of the same sort.
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Pharnaces made a donation to the people of Athens. While the exact nature of the donation is unknown, it is thought that Pharnaces' donation to Athens occurred soon after 183 BC.McGing, The foreign policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus p.32 A lengthy inscription from the Athenians on Delos honours Pharnaces and Nysa. Pharnaces and Nysa received a crown of gold from them and bronze statues of themselves were set up on Delos.
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We have very little information about Socrates. We have only brief references by Appian, Granius Licinianus, Justin and Memnon of Heraclea within the context of conflict in Asia Minor and military interventions in the kingdoms of Bithynia and Cappadocia by Mithridates VI, the king of Pontus. Socrates was a second son Nicomedes III had with a concubine called Hagne who was from Cyzicus. He sent Socrates and Hagne to Cyzicus with 500 talents.
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Mithridatic Wars 87–86 BC. The next ruler of Bithynia, Nicomedes IV of Bithynia, was a figurehead manipulated by the Romans. Mithridates plotted to overthrow him, but his attempts failed and Nicomedes IV, instigated by his Roman advisors, declared war on Pontus. Rome itself was involved in the Social War, a civil war with its Italian allies. Thus, in all of Roman Asia Province there were only two legions present in Macedonia.
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Mount TmolusIn 88 BC, Hypaepa rebelled against Mithridates VI of Pontus and was severely punished. Under Roman Emperor Tiberius (AD 14-37) it was selection as a candidate for the location of a temple dedicated to worship of the Emperor, but was rejected as being too insignificant. In fact, the Roman poet Ovid contrasted the great city of Sardis with what he called "little Hypaepa": Sardibus hinc, illinc parvis finitur Hypaepis.Ovid, Metamophoses, 11.146, l.
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Rheneia is a desert isle within four stadia from Delos, and there the Delians bury their dead; for it is unlawful to bury, or even burn, a corpse in Delos itself, and it is unlawful even to keep a dog there. In earlier times it was called Ortygia."Strabo, Geography 10. 5. 4 Pausanias describes the destruction and sacrilege of the temple by Mithridates: :"Boiatai [in Lakedaimonia], is sacred to Apollon and called Epidelion.
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Pausanias, Description of Greece. During the Third Mithridatic War, in around 73 BC, Tenedos was the site of a large naval battle between Roman commander Lucullus and the fleet of the king of Pontus, Mithridates, commanded by Neoptolemus. This Battle of Tenedos was won decisively by the Romans. Around 81–75 BC, Verres, legate of the Governor of Cilicia, Gaius Dolabella, plundered the island, carrying off the statue of Tenes and some money.
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The Pontic fleet hurried to retrieve the situation, but were met by Rhodian reinforcements. Appian reports: ::A severe engagement followed. Both in his fury and in the size of his fleet, Mithridates was superior to his opponents, but the Rhodians circled skilfully and rammed his ships to such effect that the battle ended with the Rhodians retiring into their harbour with a captured trireme in tow and other spoils besides.Appian, Mithridatica, 25.
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McGing, The foreign policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus p.32 According to the surviving evidence, Laodice was a well- connected figure and perhaps well known in ancient Greek and Persian societies. She appears to have been a royal of some influence and distinction, and may have had considerable power. She seems to have been religious, patriotic of her Greek and Persian ancestry, who ruled justly and fairly for both societies.
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Marcus Aurelius Cotta was a Roman politician and general who was consul in 74 BC. He was posted to Bithynia with a Roman fleet as part of the Third Mithridatic War. He was defeated by King Mithridates VI of Pontus. Rescued by his fellow consul he reduced the Pontic coast and captured the city of Heraclea after a two-year siege. Returning to Rome in 70 BC, Cotta was acclaimed for his victory.
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The lex Aufeia was a Roman law, known only from a passage of Aulus Gellius, giving an account of part a speech against the law by Gaius Gracchus.. The author of the law is unknown. The law has been interpreted as a ratification of Manius Aquilius' Asian settlement. However, nothing in the passage supports this assessment. The passage indicates that the law applied to Asia since Mithridates and Nicomedes were respectively supporting and opposing it.
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After hearing about the situation at Heraclea, Lucullus changed his plans and decided to march into Pontus via the southern routeMatyszak, Mithridates, p. 117. through Galatia and leave Heraclea to Cotta while Lucullus's legate Triarius would confront Mithridates's naval forces. Cotta marched on Heraclea and began to lay siege to the city, despite his efforts he met with limited success. Eventually, Triarius arrived with naval support to aid Cotta in his operations.
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Creticus was given the proconsular command against the island of Crete, which was aiding Mithridates and infested with pirates. He defeated the island and triumphed for it in 62 BC, receiving the cognomen 'Creticus'. Another son was Lucius Caecilius Metellus. He was praetor in 71 BC. He succeeded Gaius Verres as governor of Sicily in 70 BC. He died in office as consul in 68 BC. Marcus Caecilius Metellus was Caprarius' third son.
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Theophanes was from the town of Mytilene on the island of Lesbos and lived in the middle of the 1st century BC. He played a leading role in resisting Mithridates VI of Pontus on Lesbos in the 80s BC. He met Pompey, the successful, young, Roman general who was nicknamed "the Great" (magnus), when the latter was using Mytilene as a naval base against pirates in 67BC, and became a member of his retinue.
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Antiochus II's son from his first wife, Seleucus II Callinicus, ended up as ruler of the Seleucids after this tragedy. These turn of events made Ptolemy III very angry, and led to the invasion of the empire (the Third Syrian War) in 246 BCE. This invasion leads to victory for Ptolemy III at Antioch and Seleucia, and he grants the lands of Phrygia to Pontus's Mithridates II in 245 BCE as a wedding gift.
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Anatolia as divided by Pompey, 63 BCE. Statue of Artemis of Ephesus The Mithridatic Wars were precluded by infighting that drew Rome into a war against Italian rebels known as the Social War in 90 BCE. Mithridates VI of Pontus decided that it was time to strike in Anatolia while Rome was occupied, overrunning Bithynia. Though he withdrew when this was demanded of him by Rome he did not agree to all Romes demands.
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Slaves who helped to kill their Roman masters and those who spoke languages other than Latin were spared. Although successful for the short term, the blow fell short of ridding Anatolia of Romans. All who could fled across the Aegean to seek refuge in the port of Rhodes, firm allies of Rome, and henceforward to be deadly enemies of Mithridates. When word of the massacre reached Rome, the mood of the people turned to outrage.
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155 BC) waged war on many of his neighbours including Eumenes II of Pergamon and Ariarathes IV of Cappadocia (220 BC – 163 BC) as well as Galatia in 181 BC. Ultimately he gained little, although the Romans attempted to intercede. He also continued alliances with the Seleucids, marrying Nysa who was the daughter of his cousins Laodice IV and crown prince Antiochus. He was succeeded by his brother Mithridates IV (c. 155 – c.
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By this time, Parthian authority extended as far east as the Indus River.; Whereas Hecatompylos had served as the first Parthian capital, Mithridates established royal residences at Seleucia, Ecbatana, Ctesiphon and his newly founded city, Mithradatkert (Nisa, Turkmenistan), where the tombs of the Arsacid kings were built and maintained. Ecbatana became the main summertime residence for the Arsacid royalty.; Ctesiphon may not have become the official capital until the reign of Gotarzes I (r. c.
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When the Roman commander Lucullus marched against the Armenian capital Tigranocerta in 69 BC, Mithridates VI and Tigranes II requested the aid of Phraates III (r. c. 71–58). Phraates did not send aid to either, and after the fall of Tigranocerta he reaffirmed with Lucullus the Euphrates as the boundary between Parthia and Rome.; Tigranes the Younger, son of Tigranes II of Armenia, failed to usurp the Armenian throne from his father.
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The Parthian Empire (; 247 BC – 224 AD), also known as the Arsacid Empire (),From Greek Arsakēs, from Parthian Aršak. was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran.. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conquering the region of Parthia"roughly western Khurasan" . in Iran's northeast, then a satrapy (province) under Andragoras, in rebellion against the Seleucid Empire. Mithridates I (r. c.
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The Senate ordered Ariarathes IX deposed. With military support from the Roman governor of Cilicia Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Ariobarzanes I was installed as king of Cappadocia. With Ariobarzanes I installed on the throne in 95 BC, Cappadocia became a client kingdom under the Roman Republic. In 93 BC, troops from the Kingdom of Armenia under Tigranes the Great, son-in-law of Mithridates VI, invaded Cappadocia at the behest of the Pontic king.
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Pliny grades them by flavour, including dulcis ("sweet") and acer ("sharp").N.H. Book XV Sections XXXI–II. and goes so far as to say that before the Roman consul Lucius Licinius Lucullus defeated Mithridates in 74 BC, Cerasia … non-fuere in Italia, "There were no cherry trees in Italy". According to him, Lucullus brought them in from Pontus and in the 120 years since that time they had spread across Europe to Britain.
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In 141 BC, the Parthians under Mithridates I conquered the city, and Seleucia became the western capital of the Parthian Empire. Tacitus described its walls, and mentioned that it was, even under Parthian rule, a fully Hellenistic city. Ancient texts claim that the city had 600,000 inhabitants, and was ruled by a senate of 300 people. It was clearly one of the largest cities in the Western world; only Rome, Alexandria and possibly Antioch were more populous.
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In 55 BC, a battle fought near Seleucia was crucial in establishing dynastic succession of the Arsacid kings. In this battle between the reigning Mithridates III (supported by a Roman army of Aulus Gabinius, governor of Syria) and the previously deposed Orodes II, the reigning monarch was defeated, allowing Orodes to re-establish himself as king. In 41 BC, Seleucia was the scene of a massacre of around 5,000 Babylonian Jewish refugees (Josephus, Ant. xviii. 9, § 9).
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Ariarathes VIII Epiphanes (, Ariaráthēs Epiphanḗs; reigned c. 101–c. 96 BC and in 95), 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. Ariarathes ascended to the throne when the Cappadocian nobleman rebelled against his maternal uncle, King Mithridates VI of Pontus and his son, the puppet King Ariarathes IX of Cappadocia.
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Roman involvement in Asia Minor brought Tigranes' empire to an end. Tigranes had allied himself with Rome's great enemy Mithridates the Great, King of Pontus, and during the Third Mithridatic War, in 69 BC, a Roman army led by Lucullus invaded the Armenian empire and routed Tigranes outside Tigranocerta. In 66, Lucullus' successor Pompey finally forced Tigranes to surrender. Pompey reduced Armenia to its former borders but allowed Tigranes to retain the throne as an ally of Rome.
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Aristion (died 1 March 86 BC in Athens) was a philosopher who became tyrant of Athens from c. 88 BC until his death in 86 BC. Aristion joined forces with king Mithridates VI of Pontus against Greece’s overlords, the Romans, fighting alongside Pontic forces during the First Mithridatic War, but to no avail. On 1 March 86 BC, after a long and destructive siege, Athens was taken by the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla who had Aristion executed.
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Meanwhile, Sulla landed in Greece, and immediately laid siege to Athens and Piraeus, the latter of which was occupied by Archelaus, the general of Mithridates. The sufferings within the city from famine were so dreadful that cannibalism was reported. Eventually Athens was stormed, and Sulla gave orders to spare neither age nor sex. Aristion fled to the Acropolis, having first burned the Odeon, in case Sulla should use the woodwork for battering rams and other instruments of attack.
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Augustin Backer, Alois Backer, Bibliothèque des écrivains de la compagnie de Jésus ou notices bibliographiques, vol. 5, 1839, 304f. These collections continued to be improved and expanded well into the 19th century; Johann Christoph Adelung and Johann Severin Vater in 1806–1817 published the prayer in "well-nigh five hundred languages and dialects".Mithridates oder allgemeine Sprachenkunde mit dem Vater Unser als Sprachprobe in bey nahe fünf hundert Sprachen und Mundarten, 1806–1817, Berlin, Vossische Buchlandlung, 4 volumes.
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Eventually compromise with the Parthians was reached and Parthian Vologases was placed in charge of Armenia. Vologase ruled Armenia until 140. Vologases IV, son of legitimate Parthian king Mithridates IV, dispatched his troops to seize Armenia in 161 and eradicated the Roman legions stationed there under legatus Gaius Severianus. Encouraged by the spahbod Osroes, Parthian troops marched further West into Roman Syria.Sellwood Coinage of Parthia 257–260, 268–277; Debevoise History of Parthia 245; Dio Cass.71.2.1.
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Laodice (; flourished 3rd century BC) was a Greek Princess of the Seleucid Empire. She was one of the daughters and youngest child born to the Seleucid Monarchs Antiochus II Theos and Laodice I. Among her siblings were her brothers Seleucus II Callinicus and Antiochus Hierax. Laodice was born and raised in the Seleucid Empire. Somewhere between 245 BC to 239 BC, her mother and Seleucus II arranged for her to marry King Mithridates II of Pontus.
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David Ulansey, The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries, p. 89. Pontic culture represented a synthesis between Iranian, Anatolian and Greek elements, with the former two mostly associated with the interior parts, and the latter more so with the coastal region. By the time of MithridatesVI Eupator, Greek was the official language of the Kingdom though Anatolian languages continued to be spoken in the interior.B. C. McGing, The foreign policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus, p. 10–11.
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He also sent troops for the war against Eumenes III (Aristonicus), who had usurped the Pergamene throne after the death of Attalus III. After Rome received the Kingdom of Pergamon in the will of AttalusIII in the absence of an heir, they turned part of it into the province of Asia, while giving the rest to loyal allied kings. For his loyalty Mithridates was awarded the region of Phrygia Major. The kingdom of Cappadocia received Lycaonia.
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In the course of the Eltigen Beachhead's collapse, some 820 Soviet troops1,500 men, per the Soviet official history (map 103). managed to break out to the north in an attempt to reach Yenikale, occupying Mount Mithridates and defeating German artillery positions there. This alarmed General Jaenecke, as the attack had the potential of breaching the German front facing the Yenikale Beachhead. Jaenecke committed the Romanian 3rd Mountain Division to a counter-attack against the Soviet troops.
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These three men served under King Alexander the Great. He is also descended from the Monarchs Mithridates VI of Pontus and his first wife, his sister Laodice and the previous Bosporan King Asander. When Rhescuporis I died in 90, Sauromates I succeeded his father as Bosporan King and reigned until his own death in 123. He was a contemporary of the Roman Emperors Domitian, Nerva, Trajan and Hadrian. Sauromates I continued his father’s legacy of rebuilding the Bosporan Kingdom.
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According to Strabo, the early kings of Persis were tributaries to the Seleucid rulers, until c.140 BC, when the Parthians conquered the region: The Parthian Empire then took control of Persis under Arsacid king Mithridates I (ca. 171–138 BC), but visibly allowed local rulers to remain, and permitted the emission of coinage bearing the title of Mlk ("King"). From then on, the coinage of the Kings of Persis would become quite Parthian in character and style.
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In the same year, we find him concluding an alliance with the town of Heraclea Pontica in Bithynia, to protect it against Seleucus. At a subsequent period, Mithridates is found acquiring support from the Gauls (who later settled in Asia Minor) in order to overthrow a force sent against him by Ptolemy, king of Egypt. These are the recorded events of his reign, which lasted for thirty-six years. He was succeeded by his son Ariobarzanes.
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Decianus's sorrow at the death of Saturninus was used against him, as was the possession by Titius of a bust of the demagogue; these signs of attachment to a public enemy even after his death were construed as treasonous.Harriet I. Flower, The Art of Forgetting (University of North Carolina Press, 2006), p. 84. After his trial, Decianus fled to AsiaCicero, Pro Flacco 77. and sought refuge with Mithridates VI of Pontus prior to the First Mithridatic War.
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Plutarch tells us of Mithridates VI of Pontus, "The Great", having a corps of 'Chalkaspides' against Sulla at Chaeroneia.Plutarch, Life of Sulla, 16.7 The majority of the Seleucid phalanx was probably formed by the two corps that are mentioned in the Daphne Parade of 166 BC, namely the 10,000 Chrysaspides and the 5,000 Chalkaspides.Sekunda, 2001, p.91 Little else is known specifically about them, although they may have been present at the battle of Beth-Zachariah in 162.I.Macc.
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While the Romans were distracted by this, Pharnaces II of Pontus, son of Mithridates, decided to seize the opportunity and take revenge for his father. His attack on Zela was halted by Julius Caesar in the bloody Battle of Zela (47 BC). While Caesar's army suffered great losses, Pharnaces's was completely destroyed in five hours. After this victory, Caesar sent his famous message to the Roman Senate: "Veni Vidi Vici", meaning "I came, I saw, I conquered".
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Under Mithridates I, who conquered large parts of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire, the coins are barely distinguishable from those in the style of Hellenistic royal courts. It is also significant to note that the Parthians could mint only silver and copper coins, but no gold coins. The few known gold coins appear to have been influenced by local princes and prestigious properties in the Parthian sphere of influence.Veronique Schiltz: Tillya Tepe, Tomb I. In: Friedrik Hiebert, Pierre Cambon (Hrsg).
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The Romans were easily translated into "barbarians", in the same sense as the Persian Empire during the war with Persia in the first half of the 5th century BC and during Alexander's campaign. How many Greeks genuinely bought into this claim will never be known. It served its purpose; at least partially because of it, Mithridates VI was able to fight the First War with Rome on Greek soil, and maintain the allegiance of Greece.McGing, pp.
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And he was probably involved in the decision to make Cyrene into a Roman province.Lee Fratantuono, Lucullus, p. 47 Initially, he drew Cisalpine Gaul as his proconsular command in the lots, but he got himself appointed governor of Cilicia after its governor (Lucius Octavius) died, reputedly by recommendation from Praecia. Anise K. Strong: Prostitutes and Matrons in the Roman World He also got himself the command of the Third Mithridatic War against Mithridates VI of Pontus.
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The valley of the last 40 km of the Kelkit before it joins the Yeşil was known by Strabo as Phanaroea (Φανἀροια); he described it as being rich in olives and vines and having the best soil in Pontus. There was a city called Eupatoria in this valley. The eastern end of Phanaroea was marked by Cabira, a stronghold of Mithridates Eupator. In the 20th century, it produced grain, fruit, vegetables, tobacco, rice, and opium poppy.
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This shows that in that year she reigned on her own and had not yet married Scribonius. Cassius Dio wrote that a certain Scribonius claimed to be a grandson of Mithridates VI of Pontus and that he had received the Bosporan Kingdom from Augustus after the death of Asander. He married Dynamis, who had been entrusted with the regency of the kingdom by her husband Asander. Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa sent Polemon I of Pontus against him.
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The Greek cities of Chersonesus and Olbia in turn requested the aid Mithridates the Great, king of Pontus, whose general Diophantus defeated their armies in battle, took their capital and annexed their territory to the Bosporan Kingdom. After this time, the Scythians practically disappeared from history. Scythia Minor was also defeated by Mithradates. In the years after the death of Mithradates, the Scythians had transitioned to a settled way of life and were assimilating into neighboring populations.
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His younger son, Pharnaces II, backed by a disgruntled and war weary populace, led a rebellion against his father. This betrayal, after the decisive defeat in battle, hurt Mithridates more than any other and seeing his loss of authority he attempted suicide by poison. The attempt failed as he had gained immunity to various poisons from taking tiny doses of all available poisons throughout his life to guard against assassination.A History of Rome, LeGlay, et al.
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Having launched an attack at the same time as a revolt by Sertorius swept through the Spanish provinces, Mithridates was initially virtually unopposed. The Senate responded by sending the consuls Lucius Licinius Lucullus and Marcus Aurelius Cotta to deal with the Pontic threat. The only other possible general for such an important command, Pompey, was in Hispania to help Metellus Pius crush the revolt led by Sertorius. Lucullus was sent to govern Cilicia and Cotta to Bithynia.
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He wanted to just surround the enemy camp to prevent an escape in the darkness, but his officers convinced him to charge. The Romans attacked with the moon at their back, confusing the enemy who, because of the shadows, thought that they were nearer. The enemy fled in panic and was cut down.Cassius Dio, Roman History, 36.47Plutarch, Parallel Lives, The Life of Pompey, 32.1-3 In Cassius Dio this battle occurred when Mithridates entered a defile.
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The association between Mithridates and the pirates is also mentioned by the ancient historian Appian.App. Mith 14.92 cited in The 4th century commentary on Vergil by Servius says that Pompey settled some of these pirates in Calabria in southern Italy.E.D. Francis "Plutarch's Mithraic pirates", an appendix to the article by Franz Cummont "The Dura Mithraeum" in John R. Hinnells Mithraic Studies: Proceedings of the first international congress Vol 1, pp. 207-210\. Manchester University Press, 1975.
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Not content with scientific works, Gessner was also active as a linguist and bibliographer, putting forth in 1555 his book entitled Mithridates. De differentiis linguarum [...], an account of about 130 known languages, with the Lord's Prayer in twenty-two languages. He also produced edited works of a number of classical authors (see Edited works), including Claudius Aelianus (1556)} and Marcus Aurelius (1559). A number of other works appeared after his death (posthumously), some long after (see Posthumous works).
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Plutarch Life of Lucullus 2-3; Appian, Mithridatica 33 Ptolemy hosted Lucullus magnificently, but did not offer him any material support.Cicero Ac. 1.2.11 This was probably partially due to the confused political situation – the Roman war effort was being led by Sulla, but he had been declared an outlaw by the government in Rome led by Lucius Cornelius Cinna. Moreover, Mithridates VI had managed to capture Ptolemy's sons, who had been on Cos since 103 BC.
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Orodes was the son and heir of Parthian king Gotarzes I (). Rahim M. Shayegan (2011) has suggested that Orodes was one of the figures depicted on the rock relief of Gotarzes I at Mount Behistun. Orodes' mother may have been the Armenian queen Ariazate, who was a daughter of Tigranes the Great (). According to Gholamreza F. Assar (2006), after the death of Gotarzes I in 87 BC, his brother Mithridates III usurped the throne from Orodes.
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His cause was also furthered by the death of Ariarathes V of Cappadocia, who, along with Mithridates V of Pontus, Nicomedes II of Bithynia, and Pylaemenes of Paphlagonia, opposed the revolt in the hopes of winning the favor of Rome. It was around this time that he was joined by Blossius of Cumae, the Stoic, who had been a supporter of Tiberius Gracchus and promised to found a state called Heliopolis in which all were to be free.
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Vologases IV ( Walagash) was King of Kings of the Parthian Empire from 147 to 191AD. He was the son of Mithridates V (). Vologases spent the early years of his reign re-asserting Parthian control over the Kingdom of Characene. From 161 to 166, he waged war against the Roman Empire; although initially successful, conquering Armenia and Syria, he was eventually pushed back, briefly losing control of the Parthian capitals of Seleucia and Ctesiphon to the Romans.
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Similarly, only the Senate could declare the termination of a mandate, which is why Livy does not speak of three Mithridatic Wars. Sulla reached an agreement with Mithridates but it was never accepted by the Senate. Interim peace was never anything more than a gentleman's agreement. Tiring of this political game the ad hoc peace party bypassed the Senate, not only preempting the mandate but also giving to Pompey the power himself to declare it at an end.
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Fimbria encouraged his forces to loot and create general havoc as they went. Flaccus was a fairly strict disciplinarian and the behaviour of his lieutenant led to discord between the two. At some point, as this army crossed the Hellespont to pursue Mithridates' forces, Fimbria seems to have started a rebellion against Flaccus. While seemingly minor enough to not cause immediate repercussions in the field, Fimbria was relieved of his duty and ordered back to Rome.
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Abbott, 103 He then returned to his war against Mithridates. With Sulla gone, the populares under Marius and Lucius Cornelius Cinna soon took control of the city. During the period in which the populares party controlled the city, they flouted convention by re-electing Marius consul several times without observing the customary ten-year interval between offices.Abbott, 106 They also transgressed the established oligarchy by advancing unelected individuals to magisterial office, and by substituting magisterial edicts for popular legislation.
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35 On the coins she issued herself, her royal title in Greek on coinage is ΒΑΣΙΛΙΣΣΗΣ ΛΑΟΔΙΚΗΣ, which means "of Queen Laodice".McGing, The foreign policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus p.36 Other silver coins in her issue have her royal titled initialled. One coin she issued has a veiled bust of her on the obverse: on the reverse is her royal Greek title with her being struck in the image of Hera.
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Not enough cultural data survives to know what they really used, if anything, possibly nothing to do with Mithridates. The numbers after the kings similarly are English ideas, while the knicknames were assigned as convenient identifiers by historians. For example, Ptolemy I Soter did not know he was to be either I or Soter. Walking a fine diplomatic balance they managed to coexist with the reigning diadochi (Attalids, Seleucids, etc.), but they made war on each other.
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2nd century BC. During an apparent transitional period, corresponding to the reigns of Vādfradād II and another uncertain king, no titles of authority appeared on the reverse of their coins. The earlier title prtrk' zy alhaya (Frataraka) had disappeared. Under Dārēv I however, the new title of mlk, or king, appeared, sometimes with the mention of prs (Persis), suggesting that the kings of Persis had become independent rulers. When the Parthian Arsacid king Mithridates I (c.
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Archelaus was a Cappadocian Greek nobleman, possibly of Macedonian descent. He was the first son and namesake of the Pontic high-ranking officer Archelaus who participated in the Mithridatic Wars while his brother was the Pontic soldier Diogenes, who served in the army of King Mithridates VI of Pontus. His paternal uncle was the distinguished Pontic General Neoptolemus and the family of Archelaus were active in the Pontic Court. The identity of his mother is unknown.
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Holmes, pg. 183 Joined by Lucullus at Nicomedia in 73, Cotta was assigned the task of securing Lucullus' rear by capturing Heraclea Pontica, which Mithridates had reinforced with 4,000 troops.Holmes, pg. 184 After reducing the Pontic coast, Cotta began besieging Heraclea Pontica, which took him two years to capture, sacking the city in 71.Broughton, pgs. 110, 116 & 122 During this time he dismissed one of his quaestors, P. Oppius, charging him with bribery and conspiracy.
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In 88 BC, Demetrius III marched on Beroea for the final battle with Philip I. To raise the siege, Philip I's ally Straton, the ruler of Beroea, called on the Arab phylarch Aziz and the Parthian governor Mithridates Sinaces for help. The allies defeated Demetrius III, who was sent into captivity in Parthia. Any captive who was a citizen of Antioch was released without a ransom, a gesture which must have eased Philip I's occupation of Antioch.
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At the same moment a rush was made by others, and chains were thrown around him. Rhadamistus was mindful of his promise so he neither unsheathed the sword nor used any poison against his uncle to kill him, but instead had him thrown on the ground and then smothered his uncle under a mass of heavy clothes and featherbeds.Crévier, p. 284 Later the sons of Mithridates were also butchered by Rhadamistus for having shed tears over their parent's death.
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The plan was for Cotta to tie down Mithridates's fleet, while Lucullus attacked by land. Cotta stationed his fleet at Chalcedon, while Lucullus planned to march through Phrygia with the intention of invading Pontus. Lucullus had not advanced far when news came through that Mithridates had made a rapid march westward, attacked and defeated Cotta at the Battle of Chalcedon, and was now besieging him.Holmes, T. Rice, The Roman Republic and the Founder of the Empire, Vol.
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The city was founded by Pompey after his decisive victory over Mithridates VI of Pontus. It was situated in a well- watered plain lying at the base of a thickly-wooded mountain and settled by veterans of his army, as well as by the local peasantry. All the Roman highways intersecting that portion of the country and leading to Comana, Polemonium, Neocæsarea, Sebasteia, etc., radiated from Nicopolis which, even in the time of Strabo,Geographica, XII, iii, 28.
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Given that many Romans thought that Mithridates had got off rather lightly following the first war, provocation was almost inevitable. Sulla left Ephesus in 84 BC to return to Rome and make war on his enemies, where he would eventually become dictator. He left Lucius Licinius Murena to govern the province of Asia. Murena proceeded to intervene in Cappadocia in 83 BC, where Mithrodates was also interfering with the recently restored Ariobarzanes I (95–63 BC).
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It ordered Mithridates to leave Cappadocia and, "to console him", also ordered Nicomedes III to leave Paphlagonia.Justin: Epitome of Pompeius Trogus' Philippic Histories, 38.2 The text of a decree issued in 102 B.C by the city of Delphi has survived. It concerned the assignment of tasks for thirty slaves which king Nicomedes and queen Laodice provided when the city sent delegates to them to ask them for slaves. The decree also made arrangements for honouring Nicomedes and Laodice.
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Emperor Daowu (r. 371–409), founder of the Northern Wei dynasty, was cautiously interested in alchemy and used condemned criminals for clinical trials of immortality elixirs (like Mithridates VI of Pontus r. 120–63 BCE) . The Book of Wei records that in 400, he instituted the office of the Royal Alchemist, built an imperial laboratory for the preparation of drugs and elixirs, and reserved the Western mountains for the supply of firewood (used in the alchemical furnaces).
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A champion of Achaemenid traditions, Mithridates II was determined to emphasize the association of the ruling Arsacid dynasty with the Iranian Achaemenid Empire. He was the first Parthian monarch to regularly use the title King of Kings, and portray himself with an Iranian tiara on the obverse of his coins, contrary to the Hellenistic diadem used by his earlier predecessors. He also replaced the omphalos on the reverse of his coins with a highbacked throne of Achaemenid origin.
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There the Parthians encountered the Romans for the first time. In 96 BC Mithridates II sent one of his officials, Orobazus, as an envoy to Sulla. As the Romans were increasing in power and influence, the Parthians sought friendly relations with the Romans and thus wanted to reach an agreement that assured mutual respect between the two powers. Negotiations followed in which Sulla apparently gained the upper hand, which made Orobazus and the Parthians look like supplicants.
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Tetradrachms minted at Seleucia and Susa under Mithridates II, including his early coin mints from central Iran and Marw in Margiana, maintained the same style. However, on the coins minted in Ecbatana and Rhages, a tail-like piece of fabric has been added on the back of the bowman. In 117–111 BC, the omphalos was replaced by a highbacked throne, which was originally used in the Achaemenid era. The long piece of fabric has also been removed.
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The Aquillian legation soon augmented it with a large force of Galatian and Phrygian auxiliary regiments and with these troops proceeded to restore both monarchs. Mithridates, angry with the Romans, refused to cooperate but neither did he offer opposition and both kings were restored without any fighting in autumn 90 BC.Appian Mith 11 Its mandate achieved, the Aquillian legation ought to have gone home in winter 90/89 BC. Instead, no doubt on the excuse of keeping Mithridates under observation, it began provoking the Pontic King to war. This was considered to be a very risky and even reckless policy with the Italic War still in the balance. The kings, Nicomedes in particular, had taken out big loans in Rome to bribe the Senators to vote for their restoration (this decision was a given in accordance with long-term policy in the region, but it appears that by now nothing much was done by the Senate in foreign affairs without accompanying payments from the foreigners with something to gain by Roman intervention).
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