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Mithridates I Ktistes

Συγγραφή : Ballesteros Pastor Luis (5/6/2002)
Μετάφραση : Ballesteros Pastor Luis

Για παραπομπή: Ballesteros Pastor Luis, "Mithridates I Ktistes",
Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία
URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=8023>
Μιθριδάτης Α΄ Κτίστης (26/6/2008 v.1) Mithridates I Ktistes (14/3/2006 v.1) 
 

1. Birth-Family

Mithridates I Ktistes was born around 350 B.C., probably in Cius (Gemlik).1 His father's identity is a controversial point. A manuscript variant in Diodorus Siculus says that he was Mithridates (II of Cios), but Diodorus and other authors say that he was Ariobarzanes, brother of the former; the second possibility seems more plausible.2

The ancient sources consider that the Pontic dynasty was descendent either from Cyrus the Great, or from Darius I, or from one of the "Seven Persians" which murdered Gaumata.3 Those three options are compatible, for Darius himself was one of the Seven and tried to appear as belonging to the same lineage with Cyrus. This genealogy was an aspect of the Pontic Kings' propaganda, although it may have had a real ground: Darius would have given to his son, Gobrias, the government of the region of Mariandinya, in Bithynia. The daughter of Gobrias would have married with Artabazus, son of Pharnaces, another of the Seven. The dynasts of that region would have descented from this lineage.

2. Biography

Mithridates fought beside Eumenes I in Iran and was given to Antigonus I after the battle of Gabiene (316 B.C.).4 Admitted and honoured by the victorious Antigonus, Mithridates established a close friendship with his son, Demetrius Poliorcetes. About 314 B.C., Mithridates must have escaped, when Demetrius told him that his father wanted to kill him. The apparent reason was that Antigonos had dreamed that he sowed a field with gold and Mithridates harvested it. Afterwards, the King had listened a voice saying that Mithridates was fleeing to Pontus.5 After his runaway, Mithridates would probably be hidden in the mountains, until the death of Mithridates II of Cios, who was murdered in 302 B.C., under the suspicion to conspire with Cassander against Antigonus.6 Mithridates (I Ktistes) became the successor of Mithridates II of Cios and established himself in Cimista in Paphlagonia, in the slopes of Mount Olgassys (Ilglaz Daglari), near the modern Kayusuz or Kastamonu.7 From there, Mithridates began to extend his dominions, probably towards the plane of Amaseia.8 In 281 BC, Seleucus I made an attempt to subdue Mithridates, but the king prevailed with the assistance of Heraclea, Byzantion and Chalcedon.9 Mithridates I was the King and founder of the so-called Kingdom of Pontus and ruled between 302-266 B.C. After Seleucus' death (281 B.C.), Mithridates' son Ariobarzanes conquered Amastris (Amasra) and that was the first coastal territory of the new kingdom.10 It also seems that Mithridates had resisted an attack by Ptolemy II with the aid of Galatian mercenaries.11

3. Death-Evaluation

Mithridates I died in 266 B.C., probably in Amaseia (Amasya).12 He was remembered by the royal Pontic house with the heroic attributes of the founder. His life shows the fight for independence of a local dynast which profits the confusion provoked by the rivalry between the Diadochs. For reasons of propaganda, the Mithridatids wanted to trace their genealogy to Darius; however, the tale of the dream may have been a falsification to highlight that the glorious destiny of the Pontic Kingdom was predestinated from the moment of its foundation.

1. Lucian.Macr.13. Diod. Sic.15.90.3.

2. Diod. Sic. 20.111.4 (Mithridates), 16.90.2. Plut. Dem. 4.1 (Ariobarzanes). There is a confusion in the manuscript of Diodorus between two homonymous persons.

3. Cyrus: Iust. 38.7.1. Dareius: Sall. Hist. fr.2.73, Iust. 38.7.1, Tac. Ann. 12.18. cf. App. Mith. 9, 112, 115, Polyb. 5.43.2, Sall. Hist. fr.2.85M, Diod. Sic. 19.40.2, Flor. Epit. 1.40.1, Auct. Vir.Ill. 76.1.

4. Diod. Sic. 19.40.2, 19.29.4.

5. Plut. Demet. 4, Mor. 183ª. cf. Polyaen. 29.2. Bosworth and Wheatley propose this date in spite of the traditional one in 302 B.C. The reasons alleged by them are that Demetrios makes his warning at the seashore, during the siege of Tyrus and that the age of 84 years given by Lucian, following Hieronymus of Cardia, may have been an exaggeration. Such view would have hidden an age not very different than that of Demetrius in those times; that would explain the friendship between both of them. However, it is hard to discredit Hieronymus. Bosworht, A.B., Wheatley, P.V., The Origins of the Royal Pontic House, JHS 118, 1998, pp. 155-164.

6. Diod. Sic. 16.90.2.

7. Strabo 12.3.41. App. Mith. 9. This is the transcription proposed for the toponym "Cimiata" given by Strabo. According to Appian's account, Mithridates was in prison and flew together with six horsemen. The number "seven" may have indicated a sort of new foundation, as that of Persia after the murder of Gaumata.

8. Comana Pontica may have been conquered by one of the later Pontic Kings. It is very difficult to define the extent of those dominions, partially due to the confussion of the Cappadocian Comana.

9. Trog. Prol. 17. Memnon FGrHist F7.2.

10. Memnon FGrHist F 9.4.

11. Apollon. Aphr. FGrHist 740 F 14.

12. In Amaseia, the new capital of Pontus, there are five royal tombs, although we do not know what kings are buried inside.
     
 
 
 
 
 

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