Mithridates of Armenia

Who was Mithridates of Armenia?

Mithridates of Armenia was an Iberian Prince who served as a King of Armenia under the protection of the Roman Empire.

Mithridates was installed by his brother Pharasmanes I of Iberia who encouraged by Roman emperor Tiberius, invaded Armenia and captured its capital Artaxata in 35. When the Parthian prince Orodes, son of Artabanus III of Parthia, attempted to dispossess Mithridates of his newly acquired kingdom, Pharasmanes I assembled a large army, with which he totally defeated the Parthians in a pitched battle. At a later period c. 37, the new emperor Caligula had Mithridates arrested, but Claudius restored him on the Armenian throne c. 42. Subsequently, Mithridates' relations with Pharasmanes I deteriorated and the Iberian king instigated his son, Rhadamistus, to invade Armenia and overthrow Mithridates in 51. Betrayed by his Roman commanders, Mithridates surrendered: the Roman historian Cassius Dio reports a likely apocryphal confrontation of Mithridates and Claudius at Rome, in which Mithridates is said to respond boldly to threatening by saying: "I was not brought to you; I came. If you doubt it, release me and try to find me." Mithridates was put to death by jis nephew Rhadamistus, who usurped the crown and married his cousin Zenobia, Mithridates' daughter..