When Alexander died in Babylon in 323 BC he left no strong successor to inherit his rule. His commanders, the Diadochi, entered wars of nearly forty years to divide the empire among themselves. Anatolia was one of the stages on which territory changed hands most often. Antigonos Monophthalmos for a time controlled most of Asia Minor, Lysimachos reached from Thrace into western Anatolia, Seleukos came from the east, and the Ptolemies bargained for the harbours on the coast. The mountainous northern region facing the Black Sea, on the edge of the Persian-era Cappadocian satrapies, lay in the middle of this contest and had not yet been claimed by anyone for good. The Kingdom of Pontus was born in this gap, at the end of a long struggle by a family of Persian origin that began with a flight into exile, and its capital became Amaseia, present-day Amasya.

The name of the kingdom is itself a matter of debate. Pontos means "sea" in Greek and was generally used in antiquity for the Black Sea. According to the entry written by Brian McGing for the Encyclopaedia Iranica, there is no evidence in contemporary documents that the Mithridatic dynasty called itself "kings of Pontus". The label was probably applied retrospectively by Strabo and later writers, under the influence of the Roman province formed in 63 BC after the defeat of Mithridates Eupator, and has survived to this day as a "convenient anachronism". Strabo was himself a native of Amaseia, and he supplies the most valuable information on the region.

A Persian Line from Kios

The earliest known ancestors of the dynasty were Persian nobles who ruled the Greek city of Kios (Cius) in Mysia during the fourth century. The first known member is Mithridates of Kios. His son Ariobarzanes II became satrap of Phrygia, was for a time counted a strong ally of Athens, and rebelled against the Persian Great King Artaxerxes II. According to the sources, the revolt failed because of the betrayal of his own son, Mithridates II of Kios. This last Mithridates remained ruler of Kios after Alexander's conquests and became a vassal of Antigonos Monophthalmos among Alexander's successors.

The event that changed the family's fate took place in 302 BC. Antigonos suspected that Mithridates of Kios was secretly cooperating with his rival Kassandros and had him killed. It was obvious that the same suspicion would extend to the young Mithridates. According to the account in Plutarch's Life of Demetrios, Antigonos's son Demetrios Poliorketes, who was about the same age, warned the young man of his father's intention in time. Taking only a few horsemen with him, the number reported being six, Mithridates fled east. He first settled in a steep fortress named Kimiata in Paphlagonia and then moved to the region of Amaseia on the Cappadocian border. The date of the flight is given as 302 in some sources and 301 in others. Because he is said to have been the same age as Demetrios, his birth is placed in the mid-330s BC, although it is not recorded.

The genealogy of the dynasty is also disputed. According to Appian, the founder Mithridates was eighth in descent from the first satrap of Pontus under Darius the Great, while Mithridates Eupator stood sixth in descent from the founder. Plutarch, by contrast, says that eight generations of kings stemmed from the founder before Roman subjection. The two figures do not agree, and the contradiction has not been resolved in modern scholarship. The claim that the dynasty was directly descended from the Achaemenid king Darius should therefore be treated not as an established fact but as a possibility drawn from the dynasty's own propaganda and from ancient tradition. The article by Bosworth and Wheatley in the Journal of Hellenic Studies, "The Origins of the Pontic House", is one of the basic works in this debate.

The Founding Process (302–281 BC)

The transformation of the dynasty into a kingdom was not the work of a single day. With the troops he gathered in the mountainous country, the young Mithridates took the surrounding lands step by step. The sources report that men joined him from various directions and that his territories in the Pontic region gradually expanded. McGing states that he reigned for thirty-six years from his flight until his death, that is, from 302 to 266 BC, and that at some point he took the title Ktistes, "the Founder". His formal assumption of the title of basileus, or king, is generally tied to 281 BC and, in some accounts, to 280. Between the flight and the proclamation there are therefore about twenty years, and the founding of the kingdom is the result of a process that matured over that time.

The year 281 BC also suited the balance of power in Asia Minor. That year Lysimachos was defeated and killed at Corupedium, and Seleukos was murdered shortly afterwards by Ptolemy Keraunos. The simultaneous withdrawal of both great powers from the frontier regions of northern Anatolia made it easier for Mithridates to emerge as an independent king. The sources also record that in the same year Mithridates concluded a defensive alliance against Seleukos with the Greek city of Herakleia Pontika on the Bithynian border. In short, while proclaiming his own kingdom the new king did not neglect to build relations with the Greek cities of the region.

In later years Mithridates is said to have come to an understanding with the Galatians, who had newly arrived in Anatolia, and with their support to have routed a force sent by Ptolemy, king of Egypt. This episode falls in the period when the Ptolemies were expanding their holdings in Anatolia from the middle of the 270s and were allied with Herakleia Pontika. Mithridates also extended his kingdom westward as far as the river Sangarios (Sakarya). Before the end of his life Pontus had thus become an inland kingdom covering northern Cappadocia and eastern Paphlagonia, only just touching the coast.

Mithridates died in 266 BC. The sources report that he was buried in a royal tomb near the capital Amaseia, and that all the kings of Pontus were buried beside him until the capture of Sinope in 183 BC. Exactly which tomb is his is not known, and this information rests not on a written inscription but on later accounts.

Ariobarzanes and the First Coastal City

The founder's son Ariobarzanes reigned from 266 BC until about 250. Very little is known about his reign. The reason is that the Greek sources of the period, above all the account of Memnon of Herakleia, mention this dynasty only in connection with Herakleia or the Galatians. Ariobarzanes's notable success was his acquisition of the city of Amastris on the coast of Paphlagonia. This city, the first significant Black Sea port of the Kingdom of Pontus, was surrendered to him, and some accounts place this in 279 BC, while his father was still alive. It follows that Ariobarzanes had already served as a commander at his father's side before he became king.

It is also reported that Ariobarzanes, like his father, sought help from the Galatians who had newly settled in Anatolia and cooperated with them to expel the Egyptian forces sent by Ptolemy II Philadelphos. The date of his death is uncertain. According to the sources he died at some time between 258 and 240 BC and was succeeded by his young son Mithridates II. It appears that in these first two generations the kingdom succeeded less in building a solid state structure than in surviving.

Amaseia Becomes the Capital

Geography was decisive in the choice of Amaseia. The city lies in a valley where the Iris (Yeşilırmak) narrows into a gorge, flanked on both sides by steep cliffs. The region of Pontus was divided into two separate zones. The coastal strip was cut off from the interior by the Pontic Alps, which ran parallel to the Black Sea and limited communication between the two. The river valleys, the Iris and the Lykos, also ran parallel to the mountains and formed fertile land suited to cattle, millet and fruit trees, especially cherries, apples and pears. Strabo calls the plain of Phanaroia, where the Iris and the Lykos meet, the best part of Pontus. Amaseia was the most important city of this inland Pontus, and the kings established their palace there.

The rock-cut tombs still visible in Amasya today are the most tangible evidence of the kingdom's capital. On the slope of the Harşena citadel several monumental tombs, carved until the surrounding rock was entirely separated and joined to the main cliff only by stairs, stand in a row. There is no certain information about which tomb belonged to which king. Traces of the royal palace survive on the upper terrace of the citadel, while the walled fortress that Strabo describes was largely rebuilt in the Middle Ages. The Aynalı Cave, on the other side of the Yeşilırmak about three kilometres from the town centre, is the best preserved and best decorated of the royal tombs; the figural compositions on its walls bear the marks of a later use.

When Pharnakes captured Sinope around 183 or 182 BC, the centre of gravity of the kingdom shifted to the coast. After that Sinope is named as the capital of Pontus. Amaseia, however, remained the inland centre where the royal palace and tombs were located, the "early capital" of the kingdom. The capital was therefore not moved from one place to another in a single stroke. A long shift of weight took place from Amaseia in inner Pontus toward Sinope on the coast, and the two cities were used side by side for a time. The sources contain no record of the capital being moved at a date such as 303 BC.

A Kingdom Where Three Cultures Lived Together

What distinguished Pontus from the other kingdoms of its day was a population made up of three distinct cultural strands. In the coastal cities, in Greek colonies such as Sinope, Amisos and Trapezus, Greek culture dominated and the cities lived from trade between the Black Sea and the Aegean. The interior held the native Anatolian population and, above it, an aristocracy of Iranian origin reaching back to the Persian period. The village settlement typical of Anatolia, seen in the plain Strabo calls Chiliokomon, "the plain of a thousand villages", was the lasting structure of the region. According to Strabo, the temple of Ma at Komana had six thousand temple servants and extensive sacred land, and the priest over these lands was the most important person in the state after the king. The temple estate at Ameria dedicated to Men Pharnakou and Selene was also Anatolian in origin and, according to McGing, was probably founded in the second century by Pharnakes I.

The Persian identity of the dynasty continued in language, names and religion. The kings kept using the name Mithridates, which means "given by Mithra" and shows the dynasty's attachment to Iranian gods of sun and light. It is reported that Mithridates Eupator gave all his sons Persian names, called his provincial governors "satraps", offered lavish sacrifices like the Persian kings at Pasargadae, and kept a harem with eunuchs. Although it rests on a single inscription, he is also said to have adopted the title "king of kings". The pantheon was composite. Ahura Mazda, called Zeus Stratios in Greek, the moon god Men Pharnakou, and the Anatolian goddess identified with Cybele, Ma, were among the gods the kings worshipped. Both Apollo and Mithra are counted among the objects of worship of the royal house.

On the other hand the dynasty behaved like Hellenistic kings. Greek became the official language from the third century BC, and in the age of Eupator, while Anatolian languages continued to be spoken in the interior, the language of administration was firmly Greek. The kings had their coins struck in the Greek manner imitating Alexander's royal stater and had themselves portrayed as Hellenistic rulers. Marriage ties worked in the same direction. Mithridates II married Laodike, sister of the Seleucid king Seleukos II, and according to the sources received Phrygia as a dowry. He gave his daughter Laodike to Antiochos III in 222 BC and made another daughter the wife of Antiochos's relative Achaios. When Rhodes was devastated by the earthquake of 227 or 226 BC he sent gifts, vying with the other Hellenistic kings. In McGing's view all this firmly established the family's Hellenistic credentials.

This synthesis also had its limits. The number of Hellenistic Greek inscriptions found in Pontus is very small, which suggests that Greek culture did not spread much beyond the coastal cities and the court. The structure of the army reflected the many-layered nature of the kingdom. The standing army was drawn from many peoples such as Armenians, Bithynians, Cappadocians, Galatians, Phrygians, Thracians, Sarmatians and Scythians. Soldiers from the Greek cities did not serve as a regular part of the army but fought as citizens of their own cities. The army had adopted the Macedonian phalanx and fielded "bronze-shields" (chalkaspides) against Sulla at Chaeronea. The territory of the kingdom was divided into districts called eparchies.

From Mithridates II to Pharnakes I

Mithridates II, still a child at Ariobarzanes's death, was attacked by the Galatians early in his reign and repelled them with the support of Herakleia Pontika. In the quarrel between the brothers inside the Seleucid house he sided with Antiochos Hierax against his brother-in-law Seleukos II. According to the account in the sources he inflicted a great defeat on Seleukos near Ankyra in 235 BC, and Seleukos escaped with difficulty, having lost twenty thousand soldiers. In 220 BC he attacked Sinope but could not take the city. Sinope would fall into the hands of the kings of Pontus only in 183 BC. The sources are almost silent on the reign of Mithridates III.

Pharnakes I was the ruler who really enlarged the kingdom. During his conflicts with Eumenes II of Pergamon he took Sinope around 183 BC. The Rhodian complaint to Rome came to nothing. Pharnakes also seized the coastal cities of Kotyora, Pharnakeia and Trapezus and brought most of the northern Anatolian coast under his control. In 181 BC he attacked Eumenes and Ariarathes IV of Cappadocia and invaded Galatia, but in 179 BC he was forced to make peace in the face of the combined forces of his neighbours. He gave back everything he had taken in Galatia and Paphlagonia and kept only Sinope. Polybios describes him as arrogant and prone to violence. Pharnakes married the Seleucid princess Nysa and made gifts to Athens and Delos. The honorific inscription of the Athenians on Delos records that gold crowns and bronze statues were given to Pharnakes and Nysa. In McGing's judgment Pharnakes's expansion toward the coast was largely a failure, but his winning of Sinope and the line he followed in a sense pointed the way that his grandson Mithridates Eupator would take.

His brother Mithridates IV Philopator Philadelphos followed a pro-Roman policy and in 155 BC sent aid to Attalos II of Pergamon against Prusias II of Bithynia. Mithridates V Euergetes sent ships and auxiliary troops to Rome in the Third Punic War in 149 BC. When the kingdom of Pergamon was bequeathed to Rome, Rome formed the province of Asia and distributed land to loyal allied kings. Mithridates received Greater Phrygia. Hellenization continued in his reign as well: he recruited Greek mercenaries on a wide scale from the Aegean world, was honoured on Delos, and had himself portrayed as Apollo on his coins. He was killed at Sinope in 121 or 120 BC in an assassination whose circumstances are unclear.

Eupator and the End of the Kingdom

Both sons of Mithridates V were still children, and the widowed queen Laodike governed the kingdom as regent. Laodike favoured the younger son Mithridates Chrestos, and as a result the elder son Mithridates VI left the court. Later accounts say that in these years he travelled through Anatolia, developed immunity to poisons and learned the languages of his subjects, but these are regarded as legendary. In 113 BC he returned, overthrew his mother and had his brother killed.

By inheriting Lesser Armenia, conquering Colchis and bringing the Greek cities of the Crimea under his authority, Mithridates Eupator took almost the whole circuit of the Black Sea under his rule. He fought three wars against Rome. In 88 BC he ordered the massacre of Romans and Italians in Asia, which appears in the sources as the "Asiatic Vespers", with the number of victims given as at least eighty thousand. Peace was made with Sulla at Dardanos in 85 BC. The Third War broke out in 74 BC. Lucullus entered the interior of Pontus in 71 BC, and Mithridates fled to Armenia, to his father-in-law Tigranes. Pompey, who took command in 66 BC, drove him north. In 65 BC Mithridates crossed over Colchis to the Crimea, to his son Machares. There his son Pharnakes rose in revolt at the head of the army. The sources say that Mithridates committed suicide or was killed. His death is generally given as 63 BC, and the independent life of the kingdom thus came to an end.

The western half of the kingdom and the Greek cities on the coast, Sinope included, were attached directly to Rome as the province of Bithynia et Pontus. The interior and the eastern coast were ruled for some time longer by kings dependent on Rome. Pharnakes II, exploiting the civil war between Caesar and Pompey, tried to recover Pontus, but Caesar defeated him at Zela. Polemon II, the last king to remain on the Pontic throne, was forced by Nero to abdicate in AD 62. The Mithridatic dynasty itself, through Mithridates Eupator's daughter Dynamis, continued in the Bosporan Kingdom on the Straits of Kerch until AD 342.

Amaseia kept its importance in the Roman period as well. Strabo described the city in full detail as it was between 60 BC and AD 19. Today the rock tombs above Amasya are the clearest remains of the dynasty's presence in this capital over the centuries.

Chronology

323 BC: Alexander the Great dies in Babylon and the wars of the Diadochi begin.

302 BC (301 in some sources): Antigonos has Mithridates II of Kios killed. His son Mithridates, warned by Demetrios, flees with six horsemen and takes refuge in the fortress of Kimiata in Paphlagonia.

281 BC (280 in some sources): Mithridates takes the title of basileus and the Kingdom of Pontus is founded. An alliance is made with Herakleia Pontika.

279 BC: His son Ariobarzanes takes the city of Amastris.

266 BC: Mithridates Ktistes dies and is succeeded by Ariobarzanes (reigning from 266 BC until about 250).

235 BC: Mithridates II, alongside Antiochos Hierax, defeats Seleukos II at Ankyra (according to the accounts in the sources).

222 BC: Mithridates II marries his daughter Laodike to the Seleucid king Antiochos III.

220 BC: Mithridates II besieges Sinope and fails to take it.

183 or 182 BC: Pharnakes I captures Sinope, which becomes the second capital.

179 BC: Pharnakes is forced to make peace in the face of the combined forces of Eumenes and Ariarathes and gives back his gains except Sinope.

121 or 120 BC: Mithridates V is killed at Sinope and the reign of Mithridates VI Eupator begins.

113 BC: Eupator returns from exile and overthrows his mother Laodike.

88 BC: Massacre of Romans in Asia and the First Mithridatic War.

85 BC: Peace with Sulla at Dardanos.

65 / 63 BC: Eupator withdraws to the Crimea and dies after the revolt of his son Pharnakes. Rome establishes the province of Pontus.

47/48 BC: Pharnakes II is defeated by Caesar at Zela.

AD 62: Polemon II is forced to abdicate by Nero and the kingdom ends.

Sources

Primary sources

  • Ancient sources: Strabo, Geography, XII; Appian, Mithridatic Wars; Plutarch, Demetrius and Sulla; Memnon of Herakleia, History of Herakleia; Polybius, Histories.

Academic studies

  • Bosworth, A. B. and Wheatley, P. V. "The Origins of the Pontic House." Journal of Hellenic Studies 118, 1998, pp. 155-164.

Books

  • McGing, Brian C. The Foreign Policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus. Leiden: Brill, 1986.
  • Crook, J., Lintott, A. and Rawson, E. (eds.). The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 9. Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Other sources

Online sources