45 Facts About Mithridates VI

Mithridates VI has been called the greatest ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus.

Mithridates VI cultivated an immunity to poisons by regularly ingesting sub-lethal doses; this practice, now called mithridatism, is named after him.

Mithridates VI is the Greek attestation of the Persian name Mihrdat, meaning "given by Mithra", the name of the ancient Iranian sun god.

Mithridates VI Eupator Dionysus was a prince of mixed Persian and Greek ancestry.

Mithridates VI 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.

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Mithridates VI was born in the Pontic city of Sinope, on the Black Sea coast of Anatolia, and was raised in the Kingdom of Pontus.

Mithridates VI was the first son among the children born to Laodice VI and Mithridates V Euergetes .

Mithridates VI's father, Mithridates V, was a prince and the son of the former Pontic monarchs Pharnaces I of Pontus and his cousin-wife Nysa.

Mithridates VI's mother, Laodice VI, was a Seleucid princess and the daughter of the Seleucid monarchs Antiochus IV Epiphanes and his sister-wife Laodice IV.

Mithridates VI V was assassinated in about 120 BC in Sinope, poisoned by unknown persons at a lavish banquet which he held.

Mithridates VI left the kingdom to the joint rule of his widow Laodice VI, and their elder son Mithridates VI, and younger son Mithridates Chrestus.

Mithridates VI emerged from hiding and returned to Pontus between 116 and 113 BC and was hailed as king.

Mithridates VI could combine extraordinary energy and determination with a considerable talent for politics, organization and strategy.

Mithridates VI removed his mother and brother from the throne, imprisoning both, becoming the sole ruler of Pontus.

Mithridates VI entertained ambitions of making his state the dominant power on the Black Sea and in Anatolia.

Mithridates VI first subjugated Colchis, a region east of the Black Sea occupied by present-day Georgia, and prior to 164 BC, an independent kingdom.

Mithridates VI then clashed for supremacy on the Pontic steppe with the Scythian king Palacus.

When Mithridates VI 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.

Mithridates VI plotted to overthrow him, but his attempts failed and Nicomedes IV, instigated by his Roman advisors, declared war on Pontus.

The following year, 88 BC, Mithridates VI orchestrated a genocide of Roman and Italian settlers remaining in several major Anatolian cities, including Pergamon and Tralles, essentially wiping out the Roman presence in the region.

Mithridates VI too posed as a champion of Hellenism, but this was mainly to further his political ambitions; it is no proof that he felt a mission to promote its extension within his domains.

Whatever his true intentions, the Greek cities defected to the side of Mithridates VI and welcomed his armies in mainland Greece, while his fleet besieged the Romans at Rhodes.

Mithridates VI 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 nearly a decade later, Mithridates VI attacked with an even larger army, leading to the Third Mithridatic War from 73 BC to 63 BC.

Mithridates VI was routed by Pompey's legions at the Battle of the Lycus in 66 BC.

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Mithridates VI's eldest living son, Machares, viceroy of Cimmerian Bosporus, was unwilling to aid his father.

Mithridates VI had Machares killed, and Mithridates VI took the throne of the Bosporan Kingdom.

Mithridates VI withdrew to the citadel in Panticapaeum, where he committed suicide.

Mithridates VI arranged to have Mithridates hide under a couch to hear the plot against him.

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.

Mithridates VI's preparations proved to be too harsh on the local nobles and populace, and they rebelled against his rule.

Mithridates VI reportedly attempted suicide by poison, which failed because of his immunity to the substance.

Mithridates VI then took out some poison that he always carried next to his sword, and mixed it.

Mithridates VI had tried to make away with himself, and after first removing his wives and remaining children by poison, he had swallowed all that was left; yet neither by that means nor by the sword was he able to perish by his own hands.

Mithridates VI was said to have received samples including megalium and kyphi from Zopyrus of Alexandria and treatises from Asclepiades in lieu of a requested visit.

Elsewhere, Pliny reports that surviving notes of Mithridates VI' work did not include exotic ingredients and that Pompey found an antidote recipe among Mithridates VI' notes that consisted of 2 dried walnuts, 2 figs, and 20 rue leaves, which were supposed to be crushed together and taken with a pinch of salt by a person who had fasted for at least one day.

Legions under Pompey who had defeated Mithridates killed his secretary Callistratus and burnt some of his papers, but were reported to have taken an extensive medicinal library and collection of specimens back to Rome, where Pompey's slave Lenaeus translated them into Latin and the Roman doctors like A Cornelius Celsus began prescribing various recipes under the name of Mithridates' antidote .

Andromachus the Elder, Nero's court physician, developed theriac by supplementing the versions of Mithridates VI' formula known in his day with more opium, poppy seeds, and a homeopathic addition of viper flesh.

In Pliny the Elder's account of famous polyglots, Mithridates VI could speak the languages of all the twenty-two nations he governed.

Mithridates VI had wives and mistresses, by whom he had several children.

Mithridates VI's second wife was a Greek Macedonian noblewoman, Monime.

Mithridates VI's sons born from his concubines were Cyrus, Xerxes, Darius, Ariarathes IX of Cappadocia, Artaphernes, Oxathres, Phoenix, and Exipodras, named after kings of the Persian Empire, which he claimed ancestry from.

Mithridates VI's daughters born from his concubines were Nysa, Eupatra, Cleopatra the Younger, Mithridatis and Orsabaris.

Sometimes, more sternly moved, I would relateHow vanquished Mithridates VI northward passed, And, hidden in the cloud of years, becameOdin, the Father of a race by whom.

Mithridates VI gathered all that springs to birthFrom the many-venomed earth;First a little, thence to more, Mithridates VI sampled all her killing store;And easy, smiling, seasoned sound, Sate the king when healths went round.

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