Mithridates VI of Pontus
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A silver coin depicting Mithradates VI. |
Mithridates VI, (in
Greek Μιθριδάτης,
132 BC –
63 BC), called
Eupator Dionysius, also known as
Mithridates the Great, was the King of
Pontus from
120 BC to
63 BC in
Asia Minor and one of
Rome's most formidable and successful enemies, meeting and engaging three of the most successful generals of the late Republic.
Mithridates VI was the son of
Mithridates V of Pontus (
150 BC – 120 BC), called Euergetes. Mithridates VI spent much of his early career as a fugitive. To clear his path to the throne of the kingdom of Pontus, he killed off many of his brothers but not his sister,
Laodice,
whom he married. He was ambitious and sought to invade a number of neighbours, including
Bithynia, which brought him into conflict with the expanding
Roman Republic during its later years.
After conquering western
Anatolia in
88 BC, Mithridates VI ordered the killing of all Romans living there. The massacre of 80,000 Roman men, women and children brought matters to a head. During the
First Mithridatic War fought between
88 BC and
84 BC,
Lucius Cornelius Sulla forced Mithridates VI out of Greece proper but then had to return to
Italy to answer the threat posed by
Marius; subsequently, Mithridates VI was defeated but not beaten. A peace was made between Rome and Pontus, but this proved a mere temporary setback. Mithridates VI recouped his forces, and when Rome attempted to
annex Bithynia, Mithridates VI attacked with an even larger army, leading to the
Second Mithridatic War from
83 BC to
81 BC. First
Lucullus and then
Pompey the Great were sent against Mithridates VI, who was at last defeated by Pompey in the
Third Mithridatic War of
75 BC to
65 BC. After his final defeat in 65 BC, Mithridates VI fled and attempted to raise yet another army to take on the Romans but failed to do so. In 63, he fled to the citadel in Panticapaeum. Later he marched north with a small amount of men. At Colchis he commandeered a fleet and went to his eldest son, Manchares's kingdom of Bosporus. However, when he arrived he found his son had betrayed him. Manchares committed suicide and Mithridates Eupator VI took the throne of Bosporus. Mithridates ordered the conscription of many Scythians in order to regain his kingdom. Pharnaces II, his younger son led a Scythian rebellion against his father. This rebellion was caused by Roman exiles that Mithridates kept as the core of his Pontic army. Mithridates attempted suicide but was unsuccessful because of his immunity to poison. He later asked his cheif bodygaurd, Bitiutus to kill him. Thus the last king of Pontus disappeared off the face of the earth.
[A History of Rome, LeGlay, et al 100][The Last King, Michael Curtis-Ford (2005) ISBN 031293615X]Two curious
legends are told of Mithridates VI of Pontus. First, he was supposed to have had a prodigious
memory.
Pliny the Elder and other historians report that Mithridates could speak the languages of all the twenty-two nations he governed. [
1]
From this legend, several books that published samples of many languages were entitled
Mithridates.
The second legend is that Mithridates VI sought to harden himself against
poisoning by taking increasing sub-lethal doses of the poisons he knew of until he was able to tolerate lethal doses.
A. E. Housman alludes to this practice, also known as
mithridatism, in the poem
Terence, this is stupid stuff in
A Shropshire Lad. The legend also appears in the novel,
The Count of Monte Cristo. Out of fear of being poisoned by one of his many enemies, Mithridates VI fashioned a universal antidote, Antidotum Mithridaticum, consisting of several ingredients. Among the ingredients were opium and honey; the antidote was put in a closed flask in which it was to stay for at least two months. Every day Mithridates VI took this medicine to counteract possible attempts to poison him. When Mithridates VI was at last defeated by Pompey and in danger of capture by Rome, he is alleged to have attempted
suicide by poison; this attempt failed, however, because of the immunity from the antidote. He made one of his servants kill him by the sword. Antidotum Mithridaticum was used for about 1900 years after this and is called Theriac. The most famous sort is called
Theriacum Andromachi after the physician of Nero.
The demise of Mithridates VI is detailed in the
1673 play
Mithridates made by
Jean Racine. This play is the basis for many
18th century operas including one of
Mozart's earliest, known most commonly by its Italian name,
Mitridate, re di Ponto (
1770).
The Last King is a
historical novel by
Michael Curtis Ford about the King and his exploits against the Roman Republic.
In
The Grass Crown the second in the
Masters of Rome series,
Colleen McCullough, the Australian writer, describes in detail the various aspects - the murder of his sister/wife
Laodice, his experiments with poison, and his fear and hatred of Rome - of his life. The aging
Gaius Marius meets Mithridates in the palace of
Ariarathus in
Eusebeia Mazaca, a city in
Cappadocia, and the former Roman Consul, quite alone and surrounded by the Pontic army, orders Mithridates to leave Cappadocia immediately and go back to Pontus - which he does.
A town in Crimea, Ukraine,
Eupatoria is presently named after Mithridates VI.
*
Mithridatization *
Mithridatic Wars*
Second and Third Mithridatic War
