Mithidrates the Great, king of Pontus.

Day 3,109, 23:20 • Published in Armenia Georgia • by Rodica Bostanica

During the reign of the Armenian king Artavazd II, about 112 B.C., his neighbor, Mithidrates V. the Great, king of Pontus, extended by conquest the borders of his dominions. Recognizing all the danger his kingdom would incur one day from the proximity of the newly acquired possessions of Rome, this ruler conceived the idea of founding a vast empire that could hold its own against the Roman generals.

The blood of the Achaemenids flowing in his veins inspired him with the thought of recovering for Asia Minor its erstwhile splendor and power, but his idea was a Hellenized Asia, combining not only the old traditions of the East but also the Greek culture now threatened with ruin by the West. With profound political foresight, he saw the schism that would eventuate later between Rome and Byzantium, between the West and the East. Within seven years, Mithidrates had added to his dominions Colchis, the Black Sea coast, the Tauric Chersonese and a part of Armenia.

When, however, he sought to expand to the east of the Euphrates, he was stopped in that direction by the valor of the Armenians, and the peoples of the Caucasus leagued together to preserve their homelands. To the east, Mithidrates' kingdom never went beyond the pass of Souram: and the inhabitants of the valleys of the Cyrus and Araxes, and those of the plateau of Erzerum, preserved their independence.