IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ Συγγραφή : Στεφανίδου Βέρα Μετάφραση : Κούτρας Νικόλαος Για παραπομπή : Στεφανίδου Βέρα , "Pharnaces I", Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία URL:

Περίληψη : King of the (c. 187-171 BC). He brought the Mithridatic dynasty to the forefront of the political stage in Asia Minor and developed diplomatic relations with cities in mainland Greece and the Black Sea. Τόπος και Χρόνος Γέννησης

Second half of the 3rd cent. BC, possibly at Amaseia Τόπος και Χρόνος Θανάτου

First half of the 2nd cent. BC, Pontus. Κύρια Ιδιότητα King

1. Family

Pharnaces was son and heir to Mithridates III. He apparently acceded to the throne before 183 BC. He was also probably born at Amaseia, the then capital of the Kingdom of Pontus. Although we have no direct information on the cultural milieu in which he lived, the surviving evidence on the Hellenized Mithridatic dynasty allow us to suppose that he was raised as a Persian prince and received Greek education.

2. Deeds

The scant information on the younger kings of the Mithridatic dynasty present Pharnaces I as the first ruler to have actively participated in the political affairs of Asia Minor. He makes his first appearance in the military and diplomatic scene with the capture of Sinope (183 BC),1 whereby he asserted the dynasty’s increasing power.

The capture of the Greek city and Pharnaces’attempts to extend the possessions of his kingdom at the expense of the kingdoms of Pergamon and Bithynia led to a military clash with Eumenes II (183-179 BC). The terms of the peace treaty that sealed the end of the war suggest that Pharnaces lost, as he was forced to relinquish most of his conquests (179 BC).2He did, however, keep Sinope and its colonies. Sinope became the official royal residence and capital of the Mithridatic Kingdom. The inhabitants of Cerasous and Kotyora were forced to move to Pharnacia, the new city founded by Pharnaces I. Before long, almost the entire southern shore of the Black Sea was annexed to his kingdom.

Following the end of the war with Eumenes, Pharnaces apparently faced dire financial problems.3 The resources of the coastline Greek cities perhaps helped him to extend his power over the northern coasts of the Black Sea. Although he failed to further extend the territory of his kingdom, his diplomatic relations with cities in mainland Greece and the Black Sea apparently paved the way for the similar expansionary policies of his grandson, Mithridates VI Eupator.4

His sister, Laodice, was honoured by the Athenians with a statue and an inscription at Delos. In this manner, the Athenians recognized the gifts and benefactions of the Hellenized Pharnaces to their city. The same inscription apparently suggests that, towards the end of his life, the king shared some power or co-reigned with one or both of his siblings, Mithridates and Laodice.5 Late in his life he also married Nysa, the daughter (or granddaughter) of Antiochus III and Laodice. Through dynastic intermarriage with the powerful kingdom of the Seleucids, he extended his family’s influence and augmented its prestige.

3. Death

Δημιουργήθηκε στις 27/9/2021 Σελίδα 1/3 IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ Συγγραφή : Στεφανίδου Βέρα Μετάφραση : Κούτρας Νικόλαος Για παραπομπή : Στεφανίδου Βέρα , "Pharnaces I", Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία URL:

It is difficult to precisely date Pharnaces’death. The fact that his successor, Mithridates IV, made alone a dedication in Rome shortly after 168/7 BC, and that he helped Attalus II against Prusias II, suggest that Pharnaces died shortly after 172/171 BC.6

4. Assessment and evaluation

Numismatic portraits depict Pharnaces I as a wrinkle-faced man with a small beard, accentuating his Oriental features. His realistic portrait, considered to be one of the least flattering ones ever made, appears to depict a barbarian ruler.7Polybius calls him anomos (=lawless);8 yet the mixed (Greek and Oriental) attire of the male deity depicted on the coin’s other side seems to denote a somewhat liberal ethnological and religious approach. In terms of its iconography, the standing male figure borrows elements from Hermes, Dionysus, Tyche and Men Pharnaces, identifying the Greek gods with the eastern deity Mēn.9 The relocation of the kingdom’s capital to Sinope lends further credence to this view.

Although Persian, it seems that Pharnaces was keen to swiftly Hellenize his kingdom and the Mithridatic dynasty. Because Mithridates VI has been compared to Alexander the Great, modern historians often cast Pharnaces in a role analogous to that of Philip II, because through his deeds he paved the way for Mithridates VI to emerge as a ‘New’Alexander the Great.10

1. Liv. 40.2.6; Polyb. 23.9.1-4; Strabo 12.3.11; RE 19.2 (1938), cols. 1.849-1.851, s.v. "Pharnakes (1)".

2. Polyb. 25.2.

3. IG ΧΙ.4.1056; OGIS 771; Durrbach, F., Choix d'inscription de Delos (Paris 1921), no. 73.

4. IG Bulg. Ι 2.40; Danov, C.M., "Die Beziehungen des Pontischen Reiches zur linken Schwarzmeerküste", Bul. Hist. Soc. (of Bulgaria) 14 (1938), p. 54ff; Strabo 7.4.3-4; IOSPE 4.79.

5. Ins. Delos 1555; Durbbach, F., Choix d'inscription de Délos (Paris 1921), no. 74.

6. OGIS 375, 551.

7. Head, B.V.-Hill, G.F.-MacDonald, G.-Wroth, W., Historia Numorum. A Manual of Greek Numismatics 2 (Oxford 1911), p. 500; Μorkholm, O., Early Hellenistic Coinage (Cambridge 1991), σελ. 28, 131; Seltman, C., Greek Coins (London 1933), p. 237.

8. Polyb. 27.17.

9. Strabo 12.3.34: Diodorus Siculus 31.19. A similar identification was later attempted by Mithridates VI and various Roman emperors, revealing the Hellenizing attempts of each ruler.

10. Nock, A.D., “Notes on Ruler – Cult”, JHS 48 (1928), p. 34; CAH ΙΧ, pp. 219-221 (Μ. Rostovtzeff)

Βιβλιογραφία : McGing B.C., "The Kings of Pontus. Some Problems of Identity and Date", RhMus, 129, 1986, 248-259

Reinach T., Essai sur la Numismatique des Rois de Pont Dynastie des Mithridate), Paris 1888

Bernard P., "Bouclier inscrit du J. Paul Getty Museum au nom de Pharnace I, roi du Pont", BasInst, 7, 1993,

Δημιουργήθηκε στις 27/9/2021 Σελίδα 2/3 IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ Συγγραφή : Στεφανίδου Βέρα Μετάφραση : Κούτρας Νικόλαος Για παραπομπή : Στεφανίδου Βέρα , "Pharnaces I", Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία URL:

11-19

Saprykin S.J., "Heraclea Chersonesus and Pharnaces I of Pontus", VDI, 3, 1979, 43-59

Tracy S.V., "Inscriptiones deliacae. IG XI 713 and IG XI 1056", AM, 107, 1992, 303-314

Δικτυογραφία : The Date of the Alliance between Chersonesos and Pharnakes and its implications. http://www.pontos.dk/publications/books/bss-3-files/BSS3_07_hojte.pdf

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