Mithradates: Did you mean...?

For centuries, Lucius Cornelius Sulla has been reviled as a maniacal tyrant who defiled the Roman constitution and instituted bloody purges, but some modern historians assert that he has been judged too harshly. They present him as a republican...

Multiple Fulbright Award-winning Duane Roller joins us to talk about his new book, Empire of the Black Sea. The first thorough analysis in English of the dynasty as a whole, Empire of the Black Sea chronicles each ruler of the Mithridatic...

Time has seen the rise and fall of a number of great empires - the Babylonian, the Assyrian, the Egyptian, and lastly, the Persian. Regardless of the size or skill of their army or the capabilities of their leaders, all of these empires fell...

Map of the Pontic Kingdom before the reign of Mithridates VI (darkest purple), after his conquests (purple), and his conquests in the first Mithridatic wars (pink); little adds (ancient shorelines & some greek colonies under Mithridate's...

Mithridates VI Eupator, king of Pontus (120–63 BCE), as Heracles, 1st century CE, Louvre Museum

The bronze vessel known as the Crater of Mithridates Eupator. Found in Nero's villa, Rome. The inscription on the vase records the name Mithridates VI, king of Pontus (163-120 BCE). The vase was taken to Rome as war booty by either Pompey...

Mithridates VI ruled Pontus and Armenia minor 120-63 BCE. Here, he is depicted as Heracles wearing the skin of the Nemean Lion. (Louvre Museum, Paris)

Silver tetradrachm from Pontus, reign of Mithridates VI Eupator, 120-63 BCE. O: Head of Mithridates. R: Stag.