Mithradates - less correctly Mithridates - a Persian name derived from Mithras, the sun-god, and the Indo-European root da "to give," i.e. "given by Mithras."

This name was borne by a large number of kings, soldiers and statesmen in Asia Minor. The earliest are Mithradates, the eunuch who helped Artabanus to assassinate Xerxes I and the Mithradates who fought first with Cyrus the Younger and after his death with Artaxerxes against the Greeks, and is the ancestor of the kings of Pontus.

Rulers who held this name include:

  • Mithridates I of Parthia (171 - 137 BC)
  • Mithridates II of Parthia (110 - 87 BC)
  • Mithridates III of Parthia (58 - 57 BC)
  • Mithridates IV of Parthia (AD 128 - 147)
  • Mithridates I of Cius (c.336 - 302 BC)
  • Mithridates II Ktistes (302 - 366 BC)
  • Mithridates III of Pontus
  • Mithridates IV of Pontus (156 - c.150 BC)
  • Mithridates V of Pontus (died 120 BC)
  • Mithridates VI of Pontus (120 - 63 BC)
  • Mithridates I of the Bosporus
  • Mithridates II of the Bosporus
  • Mithridates I of Commagene
  • Mithridates II of Commagene
  • Mithridates of Armenia (AD 35 - 51)

After legends about Mithridates VI of Pontus, several books containing samples of various languages bore the title Mithridates and the practice of having underdoses of poison aiming to gain immunity is known as mithridatism.

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