The Poison King

by Adrienne Mayor

  Mithradates also maintained his father’s friendships and lucrative trade links with Athens and the Greek islands. He cultivated the Greek and Persian-influenced cities of western Anatolia, and established amicable terms with Armenia, Syria, Media, Parthia, and Egypt.32

  If Mithradates could also befriend the Scythians, annex lands around the Black Sea, secure good relations with independent Greek and indigenous ports, and ensure a peaceful trade climate, the entire Black Sea could become Mithradates’ own personal lake. Everyone would profit, especially Pontus. Before Mithradates, the Greeks and Romans held a negative notion of the Black Sea. They compared its shape to a fearsome Scythian bow, with its distinctive double curve—a particularly ominous image, since Scythian archers were dreaded for their unholy skill at shooting poison arrows. Before Mithradates, the Black Sea was seen as an obstacle instead of an opportunity. His decision to control and develop the entire Black Sea region was a creative, brilliant new strategy.33

  BLACK SEA EMPIRE

  The Greek cities on the north coast of the Black Sea were in constant conflict with the steppe nomads. They paid tributes to buy protection from one tribe of Scythians, Sarmatians, Tauri, Thracians, Roxolani, or others (commonly referred to collectively as “Scythians”), only to see them superseded by another, stronger group, which demanded yet another ransom.34 Early in his reign, Mithradates received an embassy from the strategic Kingdom of Cimmerian Bosporus (Crimea). King Parisades asked Mithradates to intervene to protect the northern Black Sea from the marauders. Seizing the opportunity, Mithradates immediately sent his army and navy, led by his Greek general Diophantus and admiral Neoptolemus.

  After an arduous campaign, Diophantus was eventually victorious. In the end the nomads agreed to be independent allies of Mithradates, promising tribute, mutual protection, and aid. Scythian and other nomad warriors often enlisted as mercenaries in armies of foreign leaders they respected. An intelligent commander with great diplomatic skills, Diophantus negotiated a peace with the Scythians, the Sarmatians, and the Bosporan Kingdom, all to Mithradates’ advantage.

  In 1878, near Pantikapaion, Russian archaeologists discovered a long inscription on a statue of Diophantus. It is a detailed summary of the Scythian campaign, naming the fortresses erected for Mithradates, and hailing Diophantus as the “first foreign invader to subdue the Scythians,” praising the commander’s courage, wisdom, and kindness. Another honorific inscription (published in 1982) graced a statue of Mithradates himself here. This inscription is highly significant because it refers to Mithradates as the “King of Kings.” This was a coveted ancient Iranian title (Persian, Shahanshah) that could be held by only one supreme Near Eastern ruler at a time.35

  Mithradates’ own forceful personality, illustrious ancestry, and generous terms of diplomacy, along with his horsemanship, prowess with bow and arrow, knowledge of the nomads’ dialects, and respect for their culture, impressed the Scythians and other northern tribes.36 Mithradates betrothed some of his daughters to the nomad chieftains and promised glory and riches to the groups who joined him.

  No one had ever really vanquished the fiercely independent nomads. Mithradates was extremely proud of his success in the north. He liked to point out that his new allies, the expert mounted archers of central Asia, had bested the armies of Cyrus, Darius, and Alexander. Pontus’s new, powerful influence in this northern region apparently passed under the Roman radar. Even if the Senate took notice, it would have approved stability that ensured grain, salt fish, and other goods bound for Italy in exchange for olive oil and wine. Diophantus’s pacification and reorganization of the northern Black Sea region was a remarkably successful military and diplomatic mission. Mithradates now enjoyed almost inexhaustible supplies of men, grain, gold, and raw materials.

  By 106 BC, Mithradates had absorbed the Crimea and the Taman Peninsula into the Kingdom of the Bosporus. The fortresses of this strategic region and the wealthy cities of Phanagoria and Pantikapaion became his royal residences. The bulk of Mithradates’ agate and gem collection probably came from this region, which was also known for pomegranates, figs, apples, and pears. It is interesting to learn from Pliny that Mithradates sent gardeners to transplant and cultivate laurel (bay trees) and myrtle in the Crimea. These two sacred plants, native to the Mediterranean, were important in Greek mythology, medicine, and religious rituals signifying victory. Despite the botanists’ best efforts, however, the plants failed to thrive in the north.37

  After three seasons of ferocious fighting, Colchis, a strategic land on the remote eastern Black Sea, also pledged allegiance to Mithradates. He annexed the rugged western part of Armenia as well, forging good relations with independent Anatolian and Persian chieftains there. On the western Black Sea, Mithradates allied with the war-loving Thracians and the powerful Iranian-influenced Bastarnae and Roxolani, again after tough fighting. The Germanic Gauls (Celts) who strongly resisted Roman military advances also supported Mithradates. The king now ruled or was allied with all the lands around the Black Sea, except for northwest Anatolia and the mountainous coast north of Colchis.38

  MAP 5.1. Eurasia; lands surrounding the Black Sea. Map by Michele Angel.

  Mithradates’ grand strategy for the Black Sea was coming into being (see maps 1.2 and 5.1). The idea was to secure a coprosperity trade zone and tax it fairly. The plan would benefit everyone, including the Scythians, who were beginning to settle into towns, and even the Romans, who depended on grain from the steppes. Mithradates could recruit Black Sea pirate sailors to join his legitimate navy for regular pay, and reward others to prey on the rich ships of holdout states that declined to join his coprosperity plan. Mithradates, as organizer, enforcer, and duty collector of this Black Sea Empire, would profit greatly, of course. But he could promise that everyone else would grow rich too. Indeed, the immense and surprising wealth that archaeologists are uncovering in the northern Black Sea region—not just in urban areas but in the chora—reveals the great success of Mithradates’ concept.39

  Mithradates’ farsighted vision offered a positive alternative to Rome’s rapacious greed and violent resource extraction in its early period of conquest. Instead of continual war, Mithradates offered peace. Instead of imposing bloodsucking taxes and debt, Mithradates would tax moderately and reinvest taxes in military measures to ensure security. Mithradates stood for a new vision of mutual prosperity, while the Romans of the late Republic pursued corruption, selfish profit, and plunder. It is easy to see the strong attraction of such a strategy and the deep loyalty it could generate. Mithradates’ Black Sea would become the central pivot, the benevolent middleman in a grand Eurasian trading community. As long as Mithradates Eupator (the “Good Father”) ruled, all could expect to live long and prosper.

  But what about his neighbors, Cappadocia, Bithynia, Paphlagonia, Galatia? Mithradates’ intrigues in the Roman-controlled sphere west of Pontus would require stealth and delicacy. Phrygia and western Anatolia presented even more problems. The heart of Provincia Asia was occupied by Roman troops, colonial administrators, tax farmers, and tens of thousands of Roman settlers. Mithradates needed the most up-to-date information about these lands.

  Despite his successes in empire building, Mithradates was beginning to feel restless. He missed the invigorating outdoor life he had enjoyed with his companions in exile. Justin commented, “Mithradates would rather spend his time in the open plains and mountains instead of at the dinner-table.” He longed to be “training with his brothers-in-arms in the field, instead of relaxing at court with his cronies. He preferred to compete in foot-races and horse-racing and tournaments of strength” than to make small talk with Queen Laodice and the courtiers.40 How could he recapture the exhilaration of his youthful rambles in Pontus and further his long-term goals at the same time?

  THE FACT-FINDING MISSION

  Justin tells us that Mithradates set off again from Sinope with close friends, this time on an extensive reconnaissance expedition. The timing of this grand tour is not ce
rtain, but it may have been around 110/108 BC. Traveling incognito, the group roamed Galatia, Paphlagonia, Cappadocia, and Bithynia, gathering information for future campaigns. “No one was aware of their presence,” writes Justin. What better way to gain deep knowledge of Pontus’s neighbors, lands that the king intended to absorb into his kingdom? Mithradates was always thinking ahead, like his heroes Cyrus and Alexander.41

  Mithradates reconnoitered Anatolia’s cities and scouted defenses. Exercising his remarkable memory, he took note of the natural resources, roads, people, and terrain. In Bithynia especially, says Justin, Mithradates “boldly surveyed all the areas that would favor his victory there, already imagining himself master of Asia.” As Reinach pointed out, this intelligence-gathering trip surely reinforced the ambitions of the young king.42 Wherever the royal band did identify themselves, in Greek and indigenous towns and villages, they were greeted enthusiastically. The oracles surrounding Mithradates’ birth were not forgotten among anti-Romans; his conquests of Persian-influenced lands around the Black Sea had made him “King of Kings.” It was valuable for Mithradates to hear local complaints about Roman settlers, and to learn where he could rally support and recruit soldiers.

  The royal companions probably engaged in contests of skill and stamina on the road. If Mithradates and his band attempted to match Alexander’s endurance in riding and marching long distances, for example, they would have to have made successive marches of 400 stades (a total of about 150 miles). Mithradates was a strong horseman: ancient writers say that he was able to ride about 1,000 stades (110–25 miles) in a single day with fresh horses.43

  They visited isolated fortresses in Bithynia, Galatia, and Paphlagonia. In Paphlagonia, Mithradates surely visited Cimiata, the fort built by Mithradates I of Pontus. Not far from here, near Pimolisa, lay the gloomy, deep caverns of Mount Realgar Mine, with its deadly mother lodes of arsenic-laden minerals. Mithradatic strongholds also existed in Cappadocia; in Galatia lay the hidden castles Blucium and Peium, where great treasures were stored. These places were dominated by powerful local outlaws and chieftains—people who could be of great value in the coming war.44

  The group may have visited historical sites of special interest to Mithradates, such as Troy, site of the legendary war between the Greeks and Priam’s vast armies of Trojans and barbarians. In Lydia, Mithradates could hang a pendant or bracelet on the ancient plane tree revered by Xerxes in 480 BC. The Persian monarch had honored the venerable tree with expensive ornaments, golden necklaces, copper bracelets, and even a fine embroidered robe. Ever since, travelers draped their own offerings on the branches. Gordium in Phrygia was another venerated landmark: here the brash young Alexander had slashed his sword through the Gordian Knot.45

  We know that Mithradates made pilgrimages to places where Alexander stopped. At Ephesus, for example, where Mithradates enlarged the sanctuary by shooting an arrow as Alexander had done, he sought out an inn honored by the Macedonian’s presence. In Priene, one could visit another house where Alexander had stayed. Bedding down where Alexander once slept, Mithradates—like many an ambitious conqueror since—must have compared his own accomplishments to those of his hero, who had died knowing he was master of the world at age thirty-two.

  On this grand tour, Mithradates called in at Cyzicus and Heraclea, two independent, strongly fortified Greek cities that would later defy him. Mithradates also visited Pergamon, the capital of the Romans’ Asian Province; here he heard many complaints of corrupt government and gross overtaxation. Cilicia, with its harsh landscape and rocky coast, was another important stop. This was the headquarters of the dashing Syrian pirate admiral Seleucus, a good friend of Pontus.

  We also hear that Mithradates sailed to the island of Rhodes, a powerful independent Greek city-state with its own navy. The island was celebrated for withstanding a great seige in 305/304 BC, by Demetrius Poliorcetes of Macedonia, who had failed on a magnificent scale. He left behind his gigantic seige towers, which Rhodians used to create a huge statue of the Sun god Helios, the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Colossus had toppled in the earthquake of 222 BC. Mithradates and his men could marvel at the enormous bronze limbs still scattered around the harbor, keeping an eye out for the island’s poisonous vipers and giant lizards. The mission in Rhodes was mainly political. Might Rhodes, an ally of Rome that controlled part of Lycia, agree to become a friend of Pontus? Mithradates bestowed generous gifts to the city, and the Rhodians erected a marble statue of Mithradates in their agora, marketplace.

  Next Mithradates sailed to the little island of Delos. Italian merchants dominated wealthy Delos, which the Romans had turned into a vast slave depot. The small Greek community there welcomed Mithradates as a patron of the island and friend of Athens. Mithradates gave votive tablets to the Temple of Asclepius and to Zeus on Mount Kynthos, and he inscribed two tablets in the Temple of Serapis, the Egyptian god of healing and dream interpretation. This commercial nexus of the Aegean was crucial for winning Greek support and gathering news from Italy.46

  While he was away, Mithradates had left his wife, Queen Laodice, his eunuchs, and some of the King’s Friends in charge. Even though it was always dangerous for a ruler to leave home, for security reasons Mithradates did not advise anyone of his travel plans or when to expect his return. Mithradates and his companions were gone so long—at least a year, maybe longer—that it was believed that they had perished.47 Embracing the role of the tragically widowed queen of Pontus, anticipating ruling the kingdom as her mother had done after her father’s murder, Laodice publicly mourned the death of her brother-husband. The grieving young widow consoled herself by having love affairs with Mithradates’ friends in Sinope.

  6

  Storm Clouds

  ONE DAY, without warning, Mithradates and his companions suddenly reappeared at the gates of Sinope—to the shock and distress of Laodice and her lovers. But the citizens of Pontus joyfully welcomed their king home after such a long absence. Except for a few significant details, we are left in the dark about Mithradates’ homecoming. Here is a reconstruction of how things may have gone, based on the facts recorded by Justin.1

  THE HONEYMOON’S OVER

  Someone, neglecting to do the arithmetic, tactlessly congratulated the king on the birth of another son by Queen Laodice during his absence. He had been gone too long for the child to be his. Hiding his rage, Mithradates embraces his wife and then visits the harem nursery to count his children. Festive banquets are being prepared to welcome him. Making the rounds of the palace, the king calls in at the royal kitchens to check on preparations, chatting amiably with the cooks, maids, and serving women. All are flushed with excitement at the return of their king.

  But two of the serving women seem uneasy. Mithradates draws them aside, escorting them to a shady portico, out of sight and hearing of the others. We know that the women informed on Laodice. Let us suppose they were flaxen-haired Gauls from the Danube tribes, whose goodwill Mithradates cultivated. The maids’ pale eyes widen when the king speaks in their dialect. He explains that he has been learning it from his friend and bodyguard, Bituitus, a strapping chieftain of the Allobroges, whose land had been annexed by Rome.

  Mithradates’ penetrating stare and questions elicit the women’s terrible secret. Words tumble out, confirming his suspicions. Queen Laodice had became pregnant by one of his “friends.” Laodice “thought she could conceal her unfaithfulness by an even greater crime.” The servants warned Mithradates that his sister and wife, the mother of his heirs, was planning to slip poison into his food at the feast. They also named the queen’s coconspirators.2

  FIG. 6.1. Mithradates as Hercules, wearing a lionskin cap. Marble, 13 inches high. Alexander the Great was often depicted in the same manner. Louvre. Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, NY.

  Cursing his dead mother for raising such a treacherous daughter, Mithradates immediately executed Laodice and her collaborators. Was Laodice trying to replicate her mo
ther’s scheme, to take over the kingdom and rule as regent of a young crown prince? We are not told how Laodice was killed. When it was necessary to do away with someone, Mithradates almost always chose indirect means, usually poison (with the exception of two spectacular public murders, described later). Perhaps, in cold scientific mode, the king and his botanist Krateuas used this opportunity to test and compare some quick-acting poisons on Laodice and her cohorts. The bastard boy was allowed to live; perhaps he would come in handy someday.3

  FIG. 6.2. (Left) Mithradates poisons Laodice, his wife/sister; (right) Mithradates wins a duel. Tresor des Histoires/Mithridate fait boire du poison/ MS 5077 res, folio 194v. and Cas des nobles hommes et femmes/Mithridate, Roi, MS 5193, folio 241v, Bibliothèque Nationale de France.

  After the execution, we learn that Mithradates vowed never to marry again. Queens—especially queens named Laodice—spelled trouble. He had three legitimate male heirs now and a large harem filled with lovely, replaceable courtesans with no claims on him. Why should he ever take another official wife?

  After Laodice’s betrayal, the king threw himself into athletic training and building up his army and treasury. In his early thirties now, Mithradates was fit and competitive; he enjoyed wrestling and boxing tournaments, javelin throwing, martial arts contests, hand-to-hand duels, weight lifting, and other tests of strength. He competed in horse and chariot races around Anatolia and the Aegean; marble inscriptions from Chios and Rhodes name Mithradates as victor in equestrian events.4 In Sinope, there were banquets with raucous entertainments by jesters, acrobats, Median fire jugglers, snake handlers, magicians, and contortionists. Mithradates appreciated refined cultural entertainments too. His court attracted the best musicians, actors, and poets to declaim Homeric verses.