Mithridates II (kios)

Mithridates of Kios ( Greek Mιθριδάτης; * around 386 BC ; † 302 BC , murdered) ruled from 337 BC. Until his death over Mariandynia and Mysia .

Current state of research

Mithridates II inherited the rule of Mariandynia and Mysia from his father. He survived the Macedonian conquest of Asia Minor and probably submitted to the new rulers of Asia Minor early on. In the Diadoch Wars that followed, he knew how to assert himself for a long time. It is believed that he supported Antigonos Monophthalmos in the aftermath of the Battle of Issus , in which troops from Paphlagonia and Cappadocia were also involved. This was followed by arguments with Kalas , the satrap of Little Phrygia, on whose side he fought against the Papal Agonians. He is believed to have granted asylum to refugees from Herakleia Pontike , which made him look advantageous to Alexander the Great and Perdiccas . When he was suspected of switching to Kassander's side , he was ordered by Antigonus Monophthalmos in 302 BC. Murdered near Kios.

Plutarch narrates the anecdote that Antigonus had a dream in which he wanted to harvest gold in the field. But he was stolen from Mithridates. He told his dream to Demetrius I Poliorketes' son and told him his intention to get rid of Mithridates. In doing so he obliged him to keep quiet. With a ruse Demetrios managed to warn his childhood friend, the son of Mithridates II and later the first king of Pontus , in time and to help them flee. The story is embellished by Plutarch in various places and is also mentioned by Appian in his tradition of the Mithridatic Wars . The dream is now classified as the posthumous transfiguration of the Mithridat, in order to prepare the readers of the time for the coming Mithridatic wars.

Previous research status

origin

According to the tradition of Diodorus , Mithridates followed in 337/336 BC. Chr. The Ariobarzanes as Dynast of Cius to. In doing so, the author avoided explicitly specifying a father's name ( patronymic ), or more precise information on the relationship between the two people, which makes their genealogical classification problematic.

According to Lukian , Mithridates died in 302 BC. Was already 84 years old, so that his year of birth was 386 BC. Can be dated BC. From this generation only one other person of the same name has come down to us, who was a son of the satrap of Phrygia, Ariobarzanes . This Mithridates confessed his allegiance to Great King Artaxerxes II. Mnemon during the uprising of his father ( satrap revolt ) and stood against his father. In 362 BC He betrayed his father to the great king, whereupon he was crucified. That same year, Mithridates was responsible for the murder of Datames , another powerful rebel.

Law in the event that the dynast Mithridates of Kios with the royal namesake from the year 362 BC. Was identical, it can be 337 BC. His predecessor Ariobarzanes, who died in BC, could not have been his father. According to Diodorus, however, his reign is said to have been 26 years, so it began around the year 362 BC. BC, the year in which the satrap Ariobarzanes was crucified. It is therefore possible that the dynasts Ariobarzanes and Mithridates were brothers who, after the end of their father on the cross, could have received rule over Kios from the Persian great king as a reward for their loyal attitude. That the satrap Ariobarzanes had two sons who were granted Attic citizenship, is passed down through Demosthenes .

Possible family tree of the Kios dynasty:

Ariobarzanes Satrap of Phrygia († 362 BC)

Ariobarzanes dynast of Kios († 337/336 BC)

Mithridates dynast of Kios († 302 BC)

Mithridates I. Ktistes King of Pontus († 266 BC)

Domination

Nothing further is known about their rule in kios. At least Mithridates was a contemporary of Alexander the Great's Asian campaign and is likely to have come under the influence of his world empire . According to Plutarch and Aelian , Alexander is said to have offered the Attic politician Phocion , through the intermediary of his general Krateros , who was returning to Macedonia, rule over four cities in Asia Minor, including Kios, but Phocion rejected this and Alexander died shortly afterwards. Asia Minor was then a scene of the Diadoch Wars , and fled in 318 BC. BC the general Arrhidaios , the satrap of the Hellespontic Phrygia, before Antigonus Monophthalmos to Kios, which was besieged for some time. Mithridates probably helped to eliminate the Arrhidaios, because he remained after 318 BC. BC still in possession of his city, but now under the rule of Antigonos Monophthalmos, whose power included all of Asia Minor. Mithridates Ktistes , probably Mithridates' nephew, fought in 316 BC. For General Eumenes in the battle of Gabiene against Antigonus. Eumenes came to an end after the battle and Ktistes probably fell hostage at Antigonus.

In the year 302/301 BC BC, on the eve of the battle of Ipsos , several governors of Antigonus Monophthalmos fell to his enemies, such as Philetairos of Pergamon . Obviously Mithridates also planned to go over to the side of the ruler of Macedonia, Kassander . Before he got the chance, however, according to Diodorus, after a thirty-five year reign of Antigonus he was executed near Kios. More likely, however, the execution was carried out by Demetrios Poliorketes , who had landed at Ephesus in the said period from Greece and fought against Lysimachus on the Hellespont and in the Propontis , i.e. the region around Kios , before moving on to his father in central Asia Minor pulled.

Mithridates Ktistes was able to escape the grip of the Antigonids and flee to the Pontic Cappadocia , where he founded the kingdom of Pontus .

literature

• AB Bosworth, PV Wheatley: The origins of the Pontic house. In: The Journal of Hellenic Studies 118, 1998, pp. 155-164.
• Mithradates [1]. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 8, Metzler, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-476-01478-9 , Sp. 276.
• BC McGing: Mnemosyne. Supplementum (= Mnemosyne. Supplementum. Vol. 89). Brill, Leiden 1986, ISBN 90-04-07591-7 .

Remarks

1. ^ AB Bosworth, PV Wheatley: The origins of the Pontic house. In: The Journal of Hellenic Studies 118, 1998, pp. 155–164, here: p. 161.
2. ^ AB Bosworth, PV Wheatley: The origins of the Pontic house. In: The Journal of Hellenic Studies 118, 1998, pp. 155–164, here: p. 156.
3. ^ AB Bosworth, PV Wheatley: The origins of the Pontic house. In: The Journal of Hellenic Studies 118, 1998, pp. 155–164, here: p. 162.
4. ↑ Diodorus 16.90.2
5. ↑ Lukian Macrobioi 13
6. ↑ Xenophon Cyropädie 8.8.4
7. ↑ Cornelius Nepos Datames 10.1; 11.3-7; Polyainos Strategma 7.29.1
8. ↑ Demosthenes Against Aristocrates 23.202
9. ↑ Plutarch Phocion, July 18; Aelian Varia historia 1.25; When Alexander died in 323 BC, Krateros had Europe not yet reached and was only in Cilicia.
10. ↑ Diodorus, 19.40.2
11. ↑ Diodorus 20.111.4

predecessor	Office	successor
Ariobarzanes II (kios)	Roots of King of Pontus 336 to 302 BC Chr.	Mithridates I (Pontus)