Mithridates_of_Armenia

Mithridates of Armenia

Mithridates of Armenia

1st century AD Roman client king of Armenia

Mithridates of Armenia (Georgian: მითრიდატე;, fl. 1st century) was a Pharnavazid prince of the Kingdom of Iberia who served as a King of Armenia under the protection of the Roman Empire.

Quick Facts Born, Died ...

Mithridates was installed by Roman emperor Tiberius, who invaded Armenia in AD 35. When the Parthian prince Orodes, son of Artabanus II of Parthia, attempted to dispossess Mithridates of his newly acquired kingdom, Mithridates led a large Armenian and Iberian army and defeated the Parthians in a pitched battle.[1]

Around AD 37, the new emperor Caligula had Mithridates arrested, but Claudius restored him to the Armenian throne in AD 42. Subsequently, Mithridates' relations with his brother Pharasmanes I deteriorated to the point where the Iberian king instructed his son, Rhadamistus, to invade Armenia and overthrow Mithridates in AD 51.

Betrayed by his Roman commanders, Mithridates surrendered. Roman historian Cassius Dio reports a likely apocryphal confrontation of Mithridates and Claudius in Rome.

Mithridates, king of the Iberians, having been defeated in a conflict with a Roman army and despairing of his life, begged that a hearing should be granted him in order that he might not be summarily executed or led in the triumphal procession. When his request had been granted, Claudius received him in Rome, seated on a tribunal, and addressed threatening words to him. But the king answered boldly, and ended by saying: "I was not brought to you; I came. If you doubt it, release me and try to find me."[2]

Mithridates was put to death by his nephew Rhadamistus, who usurped the crown and married his cousin Zenobia, Mithridates' daughter.

References

  1. [1]
    Grousset 1947, pp. 89, 106.
  2. [2]
    Dio Cassius 1925, pp. 17–18.

Bibliography

  • Dio Cassius (1925). Roman History, Volume VIII: Books 61–70. Loeb Classical Library 176. Translated by Cary, Earnest; Foster, Herbert B. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  • Grousset, R. (1947). Histoire de l'Arménie des Origines à 1071 [History of Armenia from its origins to 1071] (in French). Paris: Payot.
More information Regnal titles ...
Stub icon

This biography of an Armenian ruler or member of a royal family is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Mithridates_of_Armenia, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.