MITHRIDATES. mitiVri-da%V. (also ith radates, from ()Pers. MiOra, the sun-gnd data, given, p. p, of du-, to give). An old Persian ;um. common throughout the East. borne by several kings of Point's. The most eelebrated of them and the Urealp.1 of the rulers of Pontes was 1Mithridates VI., surnamed L'apator and Diony sus, but commonly (Allied Mithridates the Great. He was born at about mt.. 13.1, and sue eceded his father, Mithridates V., about me. 121. At the age of about twenty be took the reins of government into his own hands. Little that is certain is known of the early part of his reign. Ire soon subdued the along the northern coast of the Euxine as far as the Taurie ngse and incorporated the Kingdom of Bosporus; he then prepared to extend his conquests south o the Euxine, and invaded Cappadocia and Bithy nia. llere he encountered the Romans. He waget three wars with them, known as the First. Sec ond, and Third Mithridatie Wars—the First, B.C. 8S-84: the Second, B.C. 83-82; the Third, e.c. N O. The immediate cause of the First 3lithridatie War was the invasion of the territories of :11ith dilates by Nicomedes, King of Bithynia, at the in stigation of the Romans. \lithridates quickly compelled Nicomedes to withdraw, but was in the end defeated by the Roman general Flavins Fim brill. while his general Archelaus was defeated in Greece by SuIla. It was in the course of this war that lithridates issued en order to all the cities of Asia to put to death, on the same day, all the Roman and Italian citizens who were to be found within their walls. Eighty thousand I:Innate. and Italians are said to have perished in this massacre. As a result of the First AIM); ridatie War, Mithridates to abandon all his conquests in Asia, to pay a sum of 2000 talents, and to surrender to the Romans a fleet of seventy ships. The Second :?lithridlatie War
was due to the invasion of Ilithridates's do minions by the Roman general NIurena. The war was in the main favorable to Mithridates, but was short-lived, Murena being soon ordered by SuIla to withdraw. In B.C. 71 Nicomedes 111., King of Bithynia, died, leaving his dominions by will to the Romans. Mithridates claimed that Nieomedes had left a legitimate son, and at once prepared to assert the latter's right. The Third lithridatie War ensued. At first alone. and then supported by his son-in-law. Tigranes. King of Armenia. Mithridates successfully opposed the Roman forces. under LucaIlus, hut in n.c. 00 the conduct of the war was intrusted to Pompey. Mithridates was then obliged to re treat beyond the Euxine, where, besieged by his son. Pharnaees, who had rebelled against him and had been proclaimed King, he took his own life at 1'antie:1pm= in n.c. 03. dates was a specimen of the true Eastern despot, but he possessed great ability and extraordi naq energy and perseverance. His want of sue eess was owing not to his defects as a general, hut to the impossibility of raising and train ing an army capable of coping with the Roman legions. He had received a Greek education at Sinope, could speak more than twenty different languages, and had a taste and appreciation fur art and science. He owned a magnilivent collec tion of pictures. statues. and engraved gems. In the estimation of the Homans, he was the most formidable opponent they had ever eneonntered. Consult Reinaeh, Mithridate Enpator (Paris, 1590).