He succeeded his father at the age of eleven, but his mother made so many attempts to have him slain that he fled to the mountains and lived as a hunter until he felt strong enough to overcome his enemies. He became noted in antiquity for his courage, his strength, his skill in military arts, and for his swiftness of foot. He was a daring rider, skilled hunter, and tremendous eater, and had an enormous capacity for drinking. With these physical qualities was united a keen intelligence. He surrounded himself with Greek men of letters and awarded prizes to the greatest poets, as he did also to the best eaters. However, it was an uneasy state to be among his friends, for he distrusted everyone and was ruthless to any who threatened or seemed to threaten him.
In 111 B.C.E. he returned to Sinope and regained his throne, casting his mother into prison and putting his younger brother to death. Ultimately, he murdered his mother, his own sons, and the sister Laodice whom he had married, and once killed all the concubines in his harem to prevent them from falling into the hands of his enemies.
Having secured his power, he at once undertook a program of conquest. Having subjugated the peoples on the eastern shore of the Euxine Sea (Black), and conquered what is now the Crimea and southern Russia. He next attacked Paphlagonia, Cappadocia, and Bithynia, client states of Rome, which caused the interference of that power. He seized the thrones of Bithynia and Cappadocia. Sulla, as propraetor of Cilicia, restored Ariobarzanes to the throne of Cappadocia (92 B.C.E.) and then restored Nicomedes III to his throne in Bithynia. Mithridates prepared for war on Rome in consequence. The First Mithridatic War broke out in eighty-eight B.C.E. Mithridates rapidly made himself master of all the Roman possessions in Asia Minor, except Magnesia on the Maeander, and caused a general massacre of the Roman inhabitants, said to have numbered 80,000, or according to others, 150,000. He also instigated a rising of the European Greeks, to whose aid he sent a formidable land and naval force under his general Archelaud.
Mithridates was now at the eight of his power. His general controlled the sea, his sons were in Thrace and on the Bosporus, he himself had won large areas of Roman interest in Asia, and he sat in Pergamum, handing out provinces and principalities. There an omen of evil came to him. As he sat in the theater a Victory, bearing a crown in her hands, was being lowered over him so that the crown would be deposited on his head. As it was about to touch his head, the mechanism failed; the Victory fell and was smashed to pieces.
This portent was followed by the defeat of Archelaus by Sulla at Chaeronea in eighty-six and at Orchomenus in eighty-five B.C.E. Sulla crossed the Hellespont to Asia. Mithridates was forced to sue for peace. He met Sulla at Dardanus in the Troad in eighty-four and was compelled to accept the peace the Roman general dictated. Mithridates surrendered his fleet, paid a heavy war indemnity, and restored all his conquests, retaining Pontus only.
He did not honor all the terms of the peace, failing to evacuate Cappadocia completely, and the Second Mithridatic War broke out in eighty-three. The propraetor Murena invaded Pontus, but was defeated and forced to withdraw. Peace was restored in eighty-one on the basis of the treaty of Dardanus. In seventy-four the Third Mithridatic War broke out, occasioned by an attempt on the part of Mithridates to take possession of Bithynia, which had been bequeathed to the Romans by his son-in-law Nicomedes III, late king of Bithynia. Mithridates defeated Marcus Aurelius Cotta at Chalcedon in seventy-four but was expelled from his own kingdom by Lucullus, and took refuge with his son-in-law Tigranes, king of Armenia. Lucullus defeated the latter at Tigranocerta in sixty-nine, but was unable to prevent Mithridates from reconquering Pontus and ravaging Bithynia and Cappadocia because his troops mutinied. Lucullus was superseded by Cnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great), who defeated Mithridates in 66 B.C.E. and compelled the surrender of Tigranes at Artaxata. Mithridates fled to Panticapaeum (modern Kerch in the Crimea), and was planning a new campaign when his troops revolted. He tried to commit suicide by poison, but due to the immunity he had built up over the years by taking small does, his body was immune to its action. He was compelled to order a mercenary soldier to kill him. They sent his body to Pompey, who caused it to be buried in the royal tomb at Sinope.
Notes On Mithridates VI EupatorDespite his name, Mithridates did not take his inspiration from the Iranian god Mithras, but from Dionysus in his role of liberator god of the Greeks in the face of Roman dominators. On his coins, as on those of the towns of Pontos and Paphlagonia struck during his reign, Pegasus and Perseus have the starring roles. For the Greek hero was taken to have founded the Persian nation and even instituted fire worship. The coins of Mithridates and Panticapeum, like those of Amastris in Paphlagonia, bear on the obverse an effigy wearing the Phrygian cap, which has been identified as Mithras, while Dionysus is shown on the reverse. Others represent the head of Bacchus or Apollo. It is interesting to note that certain of Mithridates' officers were in command of the Cilician pirates, who according to Plutarch (Life of Pompey, 24, 7), were the first to celebrate the mysteries of Mithras. They attacked soldiers, ravaged the islands of the Aegean and even the coasts of Italy, pushing their audacity as far as to carry off Roman magistrates or their children. It is conceivable that groups of 'irregulars', organized clandestinely to resist Roman imperialism, should have felt the need to galvanize the combatants' energies in a cult sacralizing their adherence by an initiatory vow and a communal banquet. If Plutarch is well informed, Mithraism would appear to have germinated and grown in the framework of military terrorism and masculine groups armed against the occupying power. In the psychological war orchestrated by the king of Pontos, Dionysian propaganda may have coupled with prophecies like the famous oracles of Hystaspes, which inspired hopes of the coming of a savior, 'great king', sent by Zeus as 'leader of the holy militia'. His reign would coincide with that of the Sun at the end of a cycle matching that of the Mithraic ladder with seven doors, i.e., a sidereal week. |
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Last modified: Thurs Dec 10, 1998