Mithridates I of Pontus
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Mithridates I Ctistes (Template:Langx; reigned 281–266 BC), also known as Mithridates III of Cius,[1]Template:R/superscript was a Persian nobleman and the founder (this is the meaning of the word Ctistes, literally Builder) of the Kingdom of Pontus in Anatolia.[2]Template:R/superscript[3]Template:R/superscript
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).[4]Template:R/superscript[5]Template:R/superscript[6]Template:R/superscript In the same year, we find him concluding an alliance with the town of Heraclea Pontica in Bithynia, to protect it against Seleucus.[7]Template:R/superscript
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 Ptolemaic Egypt.[8]Template:R/superscript These are the recorded events of his reign, which lasted for thirty-six years.[9]Template:R/superscript He was succeeded by his son Ariobarzanes. He seems to have been buried in a royal grave near the kingdom's capital, Amasia. Next to him would be buried all the kings of Pontus until the fall of Sinope in 183 BC.
According to Appian,[10]Template:R/superscript he was eighth in descent from the first satrap of Pontus under Darius the Great and sixth in ascending order from Mithridates Eupator. However, this point is controversial since Plutarch[6]Template:R/superscript writes that eight generations of kings of Pontus stemmed from him before Roman subjection.
Notes
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- ↑ Appian, Mithridatic Wars 2.9
- ↑ Strabo Geography 12.3
- ↑ a b Plutarch, Lives, "Demetrius", 4
- ↑ Memnon, History of Heraclea, 7
- ↑ Stephanus, Ethnica, s. v. Ancyra
- ↑ Diodorus Siculus, Histoire Universelle, xx. 111, pag. 457
- ↑ Appian, Mithridatic Wars 112
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References
- Appian, The foreign wars, Horace White (translator), New York City, (1899)
- Hazel, John; Who's Who in the Greek World, "Mithridates I" (1999)
- Memnon, History of Heracleia, Andrew Smith (translator), (2004)
- Plutarch, Parallel Lives, "Demetrius", John & William Langhorne (translator), (1770)
- Smith, William (editor); Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, "Mithridates III"Script error: No such module "Category handler".[<span title="Script error: No such module "string".">usurped]Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., Boston, (1867)
- Strabo, Geography, H. C. Hamilton & W. Falconer (translators), London, (1903)
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