Mithridates
3 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Mithridates. All 3 are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
the Great (134-63 B. C.), king of Pontus. His original kingdom lay on the shore of the Black Sea . He subdued surrounding peoples and drove the Roman taxgathers out of Asia Minor , expanding his kingdom to include even Athens. It cost the Romans three expensive campaigns to destroy his power. He was subjugated finally by Pompey, 63 B. C. Rather than fall into the hands of the Romans and follow the triumphal car of Pompey through the streets of Rome he took his own life. He was the most powerful opponent of Rome in the East. He was a man of great activity. He spoke several languages. Though many of his subjects adopted Greek dress and manners, his kingdom was essentially oriental. His career may be considered the last stand of the Orient against the West. History links his name with that of Hannibal. He was a man of great ability, a natural ruler, but the fates were against him. He was born in the East instead of the West. The armor which fitted the gigantic frame of King Mithridates excited the wonder of the Asiatics, and still more that of the Italians. As a runner, he overtook the swiftest deer; as a rider, he broke in the wild steed, and was able by changing horses to accomplish 120 miles in a day; as a charioteer, he drove sixteen in hand, and gained in competition many a prize--it was dangerous, no doubt, in such sport to carry off victory from the king. In hunting on horseback, he hit the game at full gallop, and never missed his aim. His intellectual wants he satisfied by the wildest superstition--the interpretation of dreams and the Greek mysteries occupied not a few of the king's hours--and by a rude adoption of Hellenic civilization. He was fond of Greek art and music, that is to say, he collected precious articles, rich furniture, old Persian and Greek objects of luxury--his cabinet of rings was famous; he had constantly Greek historians, philosophers, and poets in his train, and proposed prizes at his court festivals, not only for the greatest eaters and drinkers but also for the merriest jester and the best singer. He prosecuted the experimental study of poisons and antidotes as an important branch of the business of government, and tried to inure his body to particular poisons.--Mommsen.
1000 Classical Characters (1900)
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.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
surnamed EUPATOR, and THE GREAT, King of Pontus, and the 16th of the name; born about 131 b. c. He was the son of Mithridates Euergetes, was brought up at Sinope, and displayed in his youth extraordinary daring and tact. He succeeded his father, 120 B. c., and his first acts were the murder of his mother and his brother. He then began his career of conquest by making himself master of Colchis and the Tauric Chersonese. The kingdoms of Bosporus, Cappadocia and Bithynia were successively add added to his dominion; took Phrygia and Galatia, almost all Asia Minor, and occupied Thrace and Athens. All hope of reconciliation with Rome was taken away by the massacre of all the Romans found in Asia. After four years of war, Mithridates was compelled to give up his conquest and his fleet, and pay a heavy contribution to the Romans. Mithridates invaded Bithynia, defeated the Romans at Chalcedon, and besieged Cyzicus. Lucullus soon compelled him to raise the siege, defeated him in Pontus, and drove him into Armenia. Again the tide turned, and Mithridates recovered a large part of his dominions. In 66, Pompey was sent to carry on the war, and defeated him near the Euphrates, so that he had no choice but to retire into the kingdom of Bosporus. His spirit was still unbroken, and he formed the bold plan of invading Italy from the N.; but eventually his son Pharnaces was proclaimed king by the soldiers. He took poison, which proved ineffectual, and was put to death by a faithful slave in his service, 63 b. c.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The narrative outline these accounts give — accession about 120 BC, the massacre of Romans in Asia, three wars, defeat by Lucullus and Pompey, and death in the Crimea in 63 BC after poison failed him — is still the story told today, since it rests on Appian, Plutarch and Cicero, texts we have not gained or lost since. What has shifted is interpretation. Aiton's 1910 entry quotes Mommsen calling his career "the last stand of the Orient against the West"; historians now reject that framing, reading Mithridates VI Eupator as a thoroughly Hellenistic monarch who advertised descent from both Alexander and the Persian kings and issued Greek-style portrait coinage, and who is numbered VI rather than Collier's "16th of the name." The casualty figures the 1900 volume repeats from Plutarch — 150,000 or 80,000 Romans killed in one night — are now generally treated as wartime propaganda rather than a count, and the famous mithridate antidote, taken seriously as pharmacy into the 18th century, is read as legend built around a real royal interest in poisons.
Written for this edition, 2026.