Ariarathid dynasty

Ariarathid
CountryCappadocia
Founded331 BC
Current headExtinct
Final rulerAriarathes IX
Dissolution96 BC

The Ariarathid dynasty was a hereditary dynasty of Cappadocia of Iranian origin.[1]

Ariarathes I was the last Achaemenid satrap of the satrapy of Northern Cappadocia. He resisted Alexander the Great's invasion, and continued to fight after the fall of the Achaemenid Empire. In 322 BC he was defeated and killed by Perdiccas, then the regent of Alexander's empire.

Ariarathes II was the nephew of Ariarathes I. After the death of his uncle he fled to Armenia. With the aid of the king of Armenia in 301 BC, but ruled subordinate to the Seleucid Empire.

Ariarathes was succeeded by his son, Ariaramnes in 280 BC. Ariaramnes rebelled and achieved independence from the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire. However, he remained on friendly terms with the Seleucids, and was awarded the title of "king" by Antiochus II Theos.

Ariarathes VIII was the last descendant of the Cappadocian royal line. He died in 96 BC, and was succeeded by Ariarathes IX, son of King Mithridates VI of Pontus. He was forced to abdicate and was restored twice, but was finally deposed by the Roman Senate in 85 BC. He was said to have been poisoned by his father.

Kings of Cappadocia

References

  1. ↑ McGing 2012, p. 151; Weiskopf 1990, pp. 780–786; Shahbazi 1986, pp. 410–411; Boyce & Grenet 1991, pp. 266–267, 281; Mørkholm 1991, p. 96.

Sources

  • Boyce, Mary; Grenet, Frantz (1991). Beck, Roger (ed.). A History of Zoroastrianism, Zoroastrianism under Macedonian and Roman Rule. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-9004293915.
  • McGing, Brian (2012). "Ariarathes". In Hornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Antony; Eidinow, Esther (eds.). The Oxford Classical Dictionary (4 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199545568.
  • Mørkholm, Otto (1991). Westermark, Ulla; Grierson, Philip (eds.). Early Hellenistic Coinage from the Accession of Alexander to the Peace of Apamaea (336-188 B.C.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0521395045.
  • Raditsa, Leo (1983). "Iranians in Asia Minor". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3 (1): The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian periods. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1139054942.
  • Shahbazi, A. Shapur (1986). "Ariyāramna". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. II, Fasc. 4. pp. 410–411.
  • Weiskopf, Michael (1990). "Cappadocia". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. IV, Fasc. 7–8. pp. 780–786.