Mithradates

Mithradates, less correctly Mithridates, a Persian name derived from Mithras, the sun-god, and the IndoEuropean root da, " to give," i.e. " given by Mithras." The name occurs also in the forms Mitradates (Herod. i. 1 io) and Meherdates (Tac. Ann. xii. 10). It was borne by a large number of Oriental kings, soldiers and statesmen. The earliest are Mithradates, the eunuch who helped Artabanus to assassinate Xerxes I. (Diod. xi. 69), and the Mithradates who fought first with Cyrus the Younger and after his death with Artaxerxes against the Greeks (Xen. Anab. ii. 5, 35; iii. 3, 1-10; iii. 4, 1-5), and is the ancestor of the kings of Pontus. The most important are three kings of Parthia of the Arsacid dynasty, and six (or four) kings of Pontus. There were also two kings of Commagene, two of the Bosporus and one of Armenia (A.D. 35-51).