The Poison King Read online

  THE

  POISON KING

  ADRIENNE MAYOR

  THE

  POISON KING

  THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF

  MITHRADATES

  ROME’S DEADLIEST ENEMY

  Copyright © 2010 by Adrienne Mayor

  Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to

  Permissions, Princeton University Press

  Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street,

  Princeton, New Jersey 08540

  In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street,

  Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TW

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Mayor, Adrienne, 1946–

  The Poison King : the life and legend of Mithradates,

  Rome’s deadliest enemy / Adrienne Mayor.

  p. cm.

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  ISBN 978-0-691-12683-8 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus, ca. 132–63 B.C. 2. Pontus—Kings and rulers—Biography. 3. Pontus—History. 4. Rome—History—Mithridatic Wars, 88–63 B.C. 5. Poisoning—Political aspects—Rome—History. 6. Mediterranean Region—History, Military. 7. Black Sea Region— History, Military. I. Title.

  DS156.P8M39 2009

  939’.33—dc22 2009015050

  British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available

  This book has been composed in Minion Typeface

  Printed on acid-free paper. ∞

  press.princeton.edu

  Printed in the United States of America

  1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

  for Gerry

  1941–2006

  Que les Romains, pressés de l’un à l’autre bout, Doutent où vous serez, et vous trouvent partout.

  RACINE, Mithridate, 1673

  CONTENTS

  List of Illustrations

  Dramatis Personae

  Time Line

  Acknowledgments

  Introduction

  1. Kill Them All, and Let the Gods Sort Them Out

  2. A Savior Is Born in a Castle by the Sea

  3. Education of a Young Hero

  4. The Lost Boys

  5. Return of the King

  6. Storm Clouds

  7. Victory

  8. Terror

  9. Battle for Greece

  10. Killers’ Kiss

  11. Living Like a King

  12. Falling Star

  13. Renegade Kings

  14. End Game

  15. In the Tower

  Appendix One

  Appendix Two

  Notes

  Bibliography

  Index

  ILLUSTRATIONS

  COLOR PLATES (following p. 168)

  1. Mithradates testing poisons on a condemned criminal

  2. Mithradates and Hypsicratea, riding to battle

  3. Scenes from Mithradates’ life story

  4. Mithradates takes the antidote

  5. Mithradates the Great and Tigranes seal their alliance

  6. Moonlight Battle

  7. Caucasus Mountains

  8. Mithradates and Hypsicratea, departing

  9. Pompey turns away from the corpse of Mithradates

  10. Horseman on the steppes

  FIGURES

  1.1. Mithradates the Great

  1.2. Temple of Artemis, Ephesus

  2.1. Comet coin

  2.2. Coin of Tigranes II of Armenia

  2.3. Wolf nursing Romulus and Remus

  2.4. The Wolf and the Head

  3.1. Small boy on a high-spirited horse

  3.2. A Chariot Race, by Alexander Wagner

  3.3. Boys’ wrestling lesson

  3.4. The Argo sailing toward Colchis

  3.5. Hannibal drinking poison

  3.6. Medea in her Chariot of the Sun

  3.7. Hercules and his son Telephus

  3.8. Young Mithradates as Hercules freeing Prometheus

  3.9. Mine slaves

  4.1. Youthful Mithradates

  4.2. Amasia, former capital of Pontus

  4.3. Ruins of Amasia’s fortifications

  4.4. Rock-cut tombs of Mithradatid kings at Amasia

  4.5. Young men hunting boar

  4.6. Mithradates as youth with long hair

  5.1. Mithradates VI Eupator, Delos

  5.2. Alexander bust and coin

  5.3. Antiochus I of Commagene and King Darius I

  6.1. Youthful Mithradates as Hercules

  6.2. Mithradates poisons Laodice; Mithradates wins a duel

  6.3. Inscription listing victors in chariot races

  6.4. Nicomedes of Bithynia

  6.5. Marius

  7.1. Scythed chariot attack

  7.2. Mithradates VI Eupator, coin, 88 BC

  7.3. Captive Roman general

  7.4. Mithradates and Monime

  7.5. Road to Pergamon

  8.1. Execution by molten gold

  8.2. Mithradates’ ship rammed by an allied Chian ship

  8.3. Mithradates portrait

  9.1. Mithradates and Alexander coins

  9.2. Lucius Cornelius Sulla

  9.3. Catapult balls, from Sulla’s siege of Athens

  9.4. Athens pillaged by Sulla’s invading Romans

  9.5. Roman trophy monument

  10.1. Monime and Mithradates

  10.2. Persian Magus-king performing fire ritual

  11.1. Mithridatium jars

  11.2. The Mithradates vase

  11.3. Bronze krater of Mithradates

  11.4. Flirtatious cithara player

  11.5. Roman portrait of Sulla

  11.6. Perfuming the corpse of Sulla

  12.1. Portrait of Mithradates

  12.2. Lucullus

  12.3. Meteorite on battlefield

  12.4. Sack of Mithradates’ fortress at Kabeira

  12.5. Monime attempting to hang herself with her diadem

  12.6. Mithradates’ sisters Statira and Roxana take poison

  13.1. Antikythera mechanism

  13.2. Mithradates and Tigranes

  13.3. Pompey takes the command of the Mithradatic Wars

  13.4. Lucullus introduces the cherry tree to Rome

  14.1. Pompey

  14.2. Amazons

  14.3. Mithradates and Hypsicratea

  14.4. Drypetina serves Mithradates a meal

  14.5. Approach to the Daryal Gorge from the south

  14.6. The Bosporan (Kerch) Straits

  15.1. Mithradates poisons his young daughters

  15.2. Mithridates, His Rash Act

  15.3. Bituitus stabbing Mithradates

  15.4. Tragic neoclassical view of Mithradates’ death

  15.5. Mithradates and Hypsicratea take poison together

  15.6. Queen Dynamis

  15.7. Julius Caesar

  15.8. Inscription honoring Hypsicratea

  15.9. Idealized portrait of Mithradates

  MAPS

  1.1. Greece, the Aegean Islands, and western Anatolia

  1.2. Roman Republic’s rule; Mithradates’ ideal Black Sea Empire

  2.1. Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea region

  3.1. Anatolia, Armenia, Mesopotamia, and the Near East

  4.1. The Kingdom of Pontus

  5.1. Eurasia; lands surrounding the Black Sea

  9.1. The First Mithradatic War

  12.1. The Second and Third Mithradatic Wars

  14.1. Caucasia, between the Black and Caspian seas

  DRAMATIS PERSONAE

  Major figures in Mithradates’ story

  (other proper names are listed in the index)

  ADOBOGIONA: Noble Galatian woman,
rescued from poison banquet to become one of Mithradates’ concubines.

  AQUILLIUS: Rogue Roman official whose avarice led him to invade Mithradates’ kingdom, beginning the First Mithradatic War; his greed was punished with molten gold.

  ARCATHIUS: Mithradates’ son by Laodice, brilliant cavalry commander, led vast barbarian army to liberate Greece in the First Mithradatic War.

  ARCHELAUS: Tough Greek commander, Mithradates’ star general in the liberation of Greece. Negotiated peace with Sulla, later joined Lucullus.

  ARIATHES VI: Weak boy-king of Cappadocia controlled by his wife, Mithradates’ sister, Laodice the Elder; he lost his life when he asserted himself.

  ARIATHES VII: Mithradates’ nephew and puppet ruler of Cappadocia. His defiance of his uncle cost him his life.

  ARIATHES VIII: Doomed young pawn, set up as new king of Cappadocia by Nicomedes III.

  ARIATHES IX: Mithradates’ bastard son, established as king of Cappadocia.

  ARISTONICUS: Heroic young rebel of Pergamon, led Anatolian revolt of the Sun Citizens against Roman rule when Mithradates was a boy.

  ATHENION: Greek philosopher sent by Athenians to request Mithradates’ liberation of Greece from Rome; elected commander in Athens to resist Sulla’s siege.

  ATTALUS III: Last king of Pergamon, eccentric recluse devoted to studying pharmacology. His will bequeathing his kingdom to Rome was contested by his son Aristonicus.

  BACCHIDES: One of Mithradates’ most trusted eunuch-advisers, assigned to save the royal harem from a fate worse than death at Roman hands.

  BERENICE: Young woman from Chios whom Mithradates took into his harem, instead of condemning her with the rest of her people to slavery.

  BITUITUS: Mithradates’ faithful bodyguard, cavalry officer from Gaul; he remained with Mithradates until the very end.

  CALLISTRATUS: Mithradates’ secretary in charge of the king’s papers, which may have included the formula for the Mithridatium; murdered by greedy Roman soldiers.

  CASSIUS: Rogue Roman general who, along with Aquillius, Oppius, and Nicomedes IV, staged the disastrous, unauthorized invasion of Mithradates’ kingdom.

  CHAEREMON: Wealthy citizen of Nysa who aided the Romans; Mithradates offered a reward for his head.

  CLEOPATRA THE ELDER: Mithradates’ favorite daughter; at age sixteen she married Tigranes the Great and became queen of Armenia.

  CYRUS THE GREAT: Founder of the vast Persian Empire; like Mithradates he fled as a youth to avoid assassination; served as a model for young Mithradates.

  DAMOGORAS: Skilled Rhodian admiral allied with Rome, bested Mithradates in naval battle for Rhodes.

  DARIUS I: Great Achaemenid conqueror of Persia; bestowed Mithradates’ ancestral lands.

  DARIUS III: Noble Persian emperor vanquished by Alexander the Great; Alexander’s respect for Darius influenced Mithradates’ vision of a new Greco-Persian golden age.

  DORYLAUS: Orphaned boy of aristocratic Pontic family, raised as brother to Mithradates in the royal palace; friend and loyal commander in the Mithradatic Wars.

  DRYPETINA: Devoted daughter of Mithradates; afflicted with double teeth.

  FIMBRIA: Brutal Roman officer, overthrew his superior, Flaccus, and led his unruly legionnaires to ravage Anatolia; their lust for plunder undermined Lucullus’s authority.

  GORDIUS: Noble Cappadocian, Mithradates’ friend, henchman, and special envoy.

  HERMAEUS: Zoroastrian Magus, accompanied Mithradates to Kabeira, during war with Lucullus.

  HYPSICRATEA: Valiant Amazon horsewoman-warrior from Caucasia; served as Mithradates’ groom; she became his companion in battle and last true love.

  KRATEUAS OF PERGAMON: Influential Greek herbalist, father of botanical illustration; Mithradates’ fellow experimenter with antidotes and poisons.

  LAODICE, QUEEN OF PONTUS: Mithradates’ murderous mother, suspected of poisoning his father. Her attempts to do away with young Mithradates were later avenged.

  LAODICE THE ELDER: Mithradates’ oldest sister, regent of Cappadocia; thwarted her brother by marrying his enemy, Nicomedes III of Bithynia.

  LAODICE THE YOUNGER: Mithradates’ younger sister and his first wife; treacherous like her mother, Queen Laodice, she plotted against Mithradates.

  LUCULLUS: Dogged, capable Roman general, Sulla’s protégé; lost control of his troops and failed to destroy Mithradates and Tigranes in the Third Mithradatic War.

  MACHARES: Mithradates’ son by Laodice, viceroy of his father’s Bosporan Kingdom in the Crimea; went over to Lucullus and paid with his life.

  MARIUS: Great Roman populist leader, enemy of Sulla in Rome’s Civil War; met Mithradates and vied for command of the First Mithradatic War.

  METRODORUS THE ROME-HATER: Philosopher-statesman, invented memory and rhetorical techniques; Mithradates’ speech writer and envoy.

  METROPHANES: Mithradates’ loyal Greek general throughout the Mithradatic Wars.

  MITHRADATES CHRESTUS (The Good): Younger brother of Mithradates, lapdog of Queen Laodice. He did not live long.

  MITHRADATES V EUERGETES: King of Pontus, Mithradates’ father, philhellene of Persian ancestry; assassinated by poison when Mithradates was a boy.

  MONIME: Intelligent Macedonian beauty from Stratonicea; Mithradates found her irresistible and agreed to her demand for the title of queen.

  MURENA: Sulla’s ambitious lieutenant; rashly began and lost the Second Mithradatic War.

  NEOPTOLEMUS: Mithradates’ Greek commander in Scythian, Greek, and Anatolian campaigns.

  NICOMEDES III: Crafty king of Bithynia, allied briefly with Mithradates against Rome, then opposed Mithradates over Cappadocia.

  NICOMEDES IV: Weak king of Bithynia; compelled by Roman legate Aquillius to invade Mithradates’ kingdom without provocation, thus beginning the Mithradatic Wars.

  NYSSA, ROXANA, and STATIRA: Mithradates’ wretched younger sisters, imprisoned in a tower for life, to prevent their marriage and rival offspring.

  OPPIUS: Rogue Roman general who, with Aquillius, Cassius, and Nicomedes IV, staged the disastrous invasion of Mithradates’ kingdom.

  PAPIAS: Mithradates’ personal physician, worked closely with the botanist Krateuas.

  PELOPIDAS: Greek philosopher-orator-ambassador in Mithradates’ entourage.

  PHARNACES: Mithradates’ son and heir by Laodice; led a revolt against his father in the Bosporan Kingdom; made a deal with Pompey; ultimately crushed by Julius Caesar.

  POMPEY THE GREAT: Roman general seeking glory; defeated Spartacus and Sertorius; took over Lucullus’s failed command in the final Mithradatic War and brought it to a close.

  SELEUCUS: Syrian pirate admiral of Cilicia, trusted friend of Mithradates.

  SERTORIUS: Rebel Roman governor of Spain, commanded insurgent army of native Spaniards and Marius’s exiled Populars; allied with Mithradates against Rome.

  SPARTACUS: Thracian gladiator, led massive slave insurrection in Italy; may have planned to ally with Mithradates, who was encouraged by his revolt and saddened by his death.

  STRATONICE: Harpist in Mithradates’ court; became his lover and lady of Kabeira.

  SULLA: Ruthless Roman patrician commander dispatched to avenge Mithradates’ massacre of Romans and to recover Greece; destroyed Athens and won the First Mithradatic War.

  TIGRANES II THE GREAT: Proud, inflexible Armenian monarch, amassed a vast Middle Eastern empire; Mithradates’ close friend, son-in-law, and trusted ally.

  XERXES: Great Persian king, fought Greeks at Thermopylae and Salamis; admired by Mithradates.

  XIPHARES: Mithradates’ son with Stratonice; he was killed to punish his mother.

  TIME LINE

  Some years are approximate

  486 BC Death of Darius I of Persia

  323 BC Death of Alexander the Great

  202 BC Hannibal defeated by Rome

  190 BC Antiochus the Great defeated by Rome

  146 BC Roman conquest of Greece, Corinth destroyed

  135 BC Spect
acular comet coincides with conception/birth of Mithradates

  134 BC Probable birth year of Mithradates

  133 BC Attalus III of Pergamon wills his kingdom to Rome

  133–129 BC Aristonicus leads Anatolian Sun Citizens in revolt against Roman rule

  120 BC Mithradates V Euergetes assassinated by poison, second comet appearance; Mithradates VI crowned king of Pontus

  119/118 BC Mithradates goes into hiding to escape murderous plots of his mother

  115/114 BC Mithradates returns to Pontus, hailed as king; marries his sister Laodice, brings northern Black Sea and Scythia into realm

  112–106 BC Jugurthine War, Rome defeats Jugurtha

  108 BC Mithradates’ extended reconnaissance mission in Anatolia

  107–94 BC Mithradates adds Colchis, western Armenia to Black Sea Empire, intervenes in Paphlagonia, Cappadocia, Galatia

  96/94 BC Mithradates forms alliance with his son-in-law, Tigranes of Armenia

  91–89 BC Social War, Italians revolt against Rome

  89–85 BC First Mithradatic War

  89 BC Nicomedes VI attacks Pontus at Rome’s instigation. Mithradates sweeps to victory, liberating Anatolia, hailed as savior. Makes Monime his queen, Pergamon center of new empire

  88–30 BC Civil Wars in Rome

  88 BC Mithradates orders massacre of 80,000 Romans and Italians in Anatolia, executes the Roman legate Aquillius, who began the war in 89 BC

  87 BC Halley’s Comet appears

  88–85 BC Mithradates’ armies liberate and occupy Greece, Mithradates fails to take Rhodes. Sulla arrives to avenge the massacre and recover Greece

  85 BC First Mithradatic War ends in Rome’s favor, Peace of Dardanus

  83/81 BC Sulla’s lieutenant Murena attacks Mithradates, starting Second Mithradatic War; Mithradates is victorious

  75 BC Mithradates and Sertorius ally to make joint war on Rome

  75/74 BC Rome’s puppet Nicomedes IV dies, wills Bithynia to Rome, igniting Third Mithradatic War

  73–71 BC Spartacus’s gladiator-slave revolt in Italy

  73–63 BC Third Mithradatic War

  73–70 BC Lucullus is sent to destroy Mithradates. Meteorite interrupts battle in Bithynia; Mithradates besieges Cyzicus but Lucullus is victorious; Kabeira falls. Mithradates flees to Tigranes’ Armenia, rebuilds army