Mithridates
Surnamed Eupator and The Great, succeeded to the throne of Pontus when eleven years of age. The beginning of his reign was marked by ambition and cruelty.
At an early age he inured himself to hardships by devoting himself to manly exercises, and sleeping in the open air on the bare earth.
He was constantly engaged in warfare against the Romans, and his contests with them are known as the "Mithridatic wars." His hatred of the Romans was so great that, to destroy their power, he ordered all of them that were in his dominions to be massacred; and in one night 150,000 according to Plutarch, or 80,000 according to another authority, were slaughtered. This cruel act called for revenge, and great armies were sent against him.
After varied fortunes Mithridates had to succumb to Pompey, and, worn out with misfortune, attempted to poison himself, but unsuccessfully, as the numerous antidotes to poison which in early life he had taken, strengthened his constitution to resist the effect. He then ordered one of his soldiers to give him the fatal blow with a sword, which was done. He died about sixty-three years before the Christian era, in his seventysecond year. He is said to have been the most formidable opponent the Romans ever had, and Cicero estimates him as the greatest monarch that ever sat upon a throne. It is recorded of him that he conquered twentyfour nations, whose different languages he knew and spoke fluently. There were a number of persons of the same name, but of inferior note.