Mithridates I (Pontus)

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Mithridates I. Ktistes ( Greek: Mιθριδάτης Kτίστης; * around 349 BC; † 266 BC ) was the founder (that is the German meaning of the Greek epithet Ktistes) of the kingdom of Pontos on the south coast of the Black Sea .

One of the five Pontic royal tombs at Amasya

Both Diodorus and Plutarch mention Mithridates as the son of an Ariobarzanes. According to a recent study, this Ariobarzanes would be the brother of a Mithridates who ruled Mariandynia and Mysia. Mithridates was a contemporary of the Diadochi and he himself fought during the Diadoch Wars in 316 BC. In the battle of Gabiene for Eumenes .

Presumably after the battle he came as a hostage into the power of the victor, Antigonos Monophthalmos , who had risen to ruler of Asia after Alexander's death and the end of Eumenes. According to the anecdote handed down by Plutarch, Mithridates is said to have made friends with Demetrios Poliorketes , the son of Antigonus, who was his age. One night Antigonus had visited a field in a dream, on which he had previously sown golden seeds and was now hoping for a golden harvest. However, to his annoyance, the ears of the field had already been harvested and voices told him that Mithridates had been the culprit. Through this dream Antigonus had suspected Mithridates, on the basis of which he planned his elimination. He initiated his son Demetrios, who warned his friend in good time, whereupon Mithridates was able to flee from the court of Antigonus. The credibility of this story is rated as low, as Plutarch may have constructed it to illustrate Demetrios' benevolent character and sense of justice. If you follow Diodor’s information, the year 302 BC Mithridates' uncle executed for treason near his city of Antigonus. This happened against the background of the struggle of Antigonus against Lysimachus and Kassander , to which several Antigonid governors had already defected. It is possible that Antiogonus also intended to eliminate Mithridates Ktistes as a potential unrest factor, but he managed to escape in time.

In any case, Mithridates was able to settle with some followers in the mountains of Paphlagonia , where he expanded the fortified Kimiata to his base and then occupied Amasia . Little by little he expanded his dominion over the entire Pontic Cappadocia , that is, the land along the Black Sea coast of Asia Minor. The end of Antigonus at the Battle of Ipsos in 301 BC. BC should have favored him. Perhaps as early as 297 BC BC, at the same time as Zipoites , or at the latest in 281 BC. After the battle of Kurupedion , Mithridates was able to rise to the rank of king ( basileos ) and establish the kingdom of Pontus. In the same year he made an alliance with the Bithynian city ​​of Herakleia Pontike against King Seleucus I , the victor of Kurupedion, who was murdered soon after. Furthermore, he won over the Galatians (Celts), who soon invaded Asia Minor, for his purposes. According to Diodorus, Mithridates died in 266 BC. After a reign of 36 years and, according to Hieronymus von Kardia , in his eighty-fourth year of life.

Mithridates' successor was his son Ariobarzanes . He himself was buried in his capital, Amasia, as were all other Pontic kings up to 183 BC. Chr.

literature

Remarks

  1. ^ The Rock-tombs of the Pontic Kings in Amaseia (Amasya). Robert Fleischer, in Mithridates VI and the Pontic Kingdom. Aarhus University Press, pp. 109-119, Århus 2009.
  2. ↑ Diodorus 19:40 , 2; Plutarch Demetrios 4, 1
  3. ^ The origins of the pontic house. AB Bosworth, PV Wheatley, Journal of Hellenic Studies 118 1998.
  4. ↑ Diodorus 19:40 , 2
  5. ↑ According to the biographies of Diodorus and Hieronymus, Mithridates would have been at least eleven years older than Demetrios Poliorketes.
  6. ↑ Plutarch Demetrios 4, 1-5 and Moralia 183a; see also Appian Mithridatic Wars 2.9; Appian's statement implies Mithridates' flight for the year 320 BC. BC, during a campaign of Antigonus against the governor of Syria, Laomedon. Demetrios is not mentioned by him.
  7. ↑ Diodorus 20.111.4
  8. ↑ Memnon of Herakleia Perì ʰērakleias 7.2
  9. ↑ Diodorus 20.111.4; Hieronymos of Kardia FGrH 154 F7
predecessor Office successor
Mithridates II (kios) King of Pontus
281–266 BC Chr. 		Ariobarzanes
personal data
SURNAME Mithridates I.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mιθριδάτης Kτίστης; Mithridates I. Ktistes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION first king of Pontus
DATE OF BIRTH 4th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 266 BC Chr.