Pharnaces II of Pontus

"Pharnaces II" redirects here. For the satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia, see Pharnaces II of Phrygia.

Pharnaces II of Pontus, also known as Pharnaces II (Greek: Φαρνάκης; about 97–47 BC) was a prince, then King of Pontus and the Bosporan Kingdom until his death. He was a monarch of Persian and Greek Macedonian ancestry. Pharnaces II was the youngest son and child born to King Mithridates VI of Pontus from his first wife, his sister Queen Laodice.^[1] He was born and raised in the Kingdom of Pontus and was the namesake of his late paternal great grandfather Pharnaces I of Pontus.

Coup

Pharnaces II was raised as his father's successor and treated with distinction. However, we know little of his youth from writers of the time and find him first mentioned after Mithridates VI had taken refuge from the Roman General Pompey during the Third Mithridatic War.

Mithridates VI was keen to wage war with the Romans once more, but Pharnaces was less keen, and thus began a plot to remove his father from power. His plans were discovered, but the army, not wishing to engage Pompey and the Roman armies, supported Pharnaces. They marched on Mithridates VI and forced their former king to take his own life in 63 BC.

Pharnaces II quickly sent an embassy to Pompey with offers of submission and hostages, for he was keen to secure his position. He also sent the body of his father, to be at the disposal of Pompey. The latter readily accepted Pharnaces' overtures, for he wished to be back at Rome having been seen to have made peace in the region. Pompey granted Pharnaces the Bosporan Kingdom, and named him friend and ally of Rome.

Contemporary historians are silent on his early reign, but eventually, on viewing the increasing power struggles between the Romans, and with an eye to recreating the kingdom of his father, he attacked and subjugated the free Greek city of Phanagoria, violating one of his agreements with Pompey.

War with Gaius Julius Caesar

In 49 BC, civil war broke out between the two surviving Roman triumvirs Gaius Julius Caesar and Pompey. Whilst the Romans were distracted by this, Pharnaces II decided to seize the opportunity and, with the forces under his disposal and against little opposition, made himself the ruler of Colchis and Lesser Armenia. The ruler of Galatia, Deiotarus, appealed to Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus, the lieutenant of Caesar in Asia, for support, and soon the Roman forces sought battle with Pharnaces. They met at Nicopolis in Anatolia, where Pharnaces II defeated the Roman army and overran Pontus.

After this show of strength against the Romans, Pharnaces II drew back to suppress revolt in his new conquests. However, the extremely rapid approach of Caesar in person forced Pharnaces to turn his attention back to the Romans. At first, recognizing the threat, he made offers of submission, with the sole object of gaining time until Caesar's attention fell elsewhere; but Caesar's speed brought war quickly, and battle took place near Zela, where Pharnaces was routed and was able to escape with just a small detachment of cavalry. Caesar himself, in a letter to a friend in Rome, said of the short war: “Veni, vidi, vici” (“I came, I saw, I conquered”).

Pharnaces II fled back to the Bosporan Kingdom, where he managed to assemble a small force of Scythian and Sarmatian troops, with which he was able to gain control of a few cities. His former governor and son-in-law Asander, attacked his forces and killed him. The historian Appian states that he died in battle; Cassius Dio says he was captured and then killed.

Coinage

Gold and silver coins have survived from his reign dating from 55 BC-50 BC.^[2] An example of a coin like this is in the obverse side displays a portrait of Pharnaces II. On the reverse side, displays the ancient Greek God Apollo semi-draped, seated on a lion-footed throne, holding a laurel branch over a tripod. Apollo’s left elbow is resting on a cithara at his side. On top and between Apollo is inscribed his royal title in Greek: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ ΜΕΓΑΛΟΥ ΦΑΡΝΑΚΟΥ, which means of King of Kings Pharnaces the Great.

Marriage, issue and succession

Mithridates VI in the early 1st century BC, made an alliance with the Sarmatian tribes ^[3] and probably through this alliance Pharnaces possibly sometime after 77 BC married an unnamed Sarmatian noblewoman.^[4] She may have been a princess, a relative of a ruling Sarmatian monarch or an influential aristocrat of some stature . His Sarmatian wife bore Pharnaces a son, Darius, a daughter, Dynamis, and a son, Arsaces. The names that Pharnaces II gave his children are a representation of his Persian and Greek heritage and of his ancestry. His sons were made Pontian kings for a time after his death, by Roman triumvir Mark Antony. His daughter and her family succeeded him as ruling monarchs of the Bosporan Kingdom. Pharnaces II through his daughter would have further descendants ruling the Bosporan Kingdom.

Pharnaces II in opera

The 18th-century librettist Antonio Maria Lucchini crafted a libretto based on incidents from the life of Pharnaces II that was originally set by Antonio Vivaldi in 1727 under the title Farnace. Based on the number of revivals of it that were staged, it must be counted as one of Vivaldi's most successful operas. A few later composers also set Lucchini's libretto, among them Josef Mysliveček, whose opera Farnace of 1767 was perhaps the best written after Vivaldi's setting. Pharnaces II also appears in Mitridate by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Preceded by Mithridates VI	King of Pontus 63–47 BC	Succeeded by Roman rule

References

↑ Mayor, The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome’s deadliest enemy p.xviii
↑ http://www.coinlink.com/News/world-coins/ira-and-larry-goldberg-world-and-ancient-coin-auction/
↑ http://www.livius.org/sao-sd/sarmatians/sarmatians.html
↑ Mayor, The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome’s deadliest enemy p.362

Sources

Extracts from the book Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, edited by William Smith (published in 1870), and the writings of Appian, ancient historian
A. Mayor, The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome’s deadliest enemy, Princeton University Press, 2009
http://www.livius.org/sao-sd/sarmatians/sarmatians.html
http://www.coinlink.com/News/world-coins/ira-and-larry-goldberg-world-and-ancient-coin-auction/
The Dynastic History of the Hellenistic Monarchies of Asia Minor According to Chronography of George Synkellos by Oleg L. Gabelko

External links

Coinage of Pharnaces II

Hellenistic rulers

Argeads	Philip II Alexander III the Great Philip III Arrhidaeus Alexander IV

Antigonids	Antigonus I Monophthalmus Demetrius I Poliorcetes Antigonus II Gonatas Demetrius II Aetolicus Antigonus III Doson Philip V Perseus Philip VI (pretender)

Ptolemies	Ptolemy I Soter Ptolemy II Philadelphus Ptolemy III Euergetes Ptolemy IV Philopator Ptolemy V Epiphanes Cleopatra I Syra (regent) Ptolemy VI Philometor Ptolemy VII Neos Philopator Cleopatra II Philometor Soter Ptolemy VIII Physcon Cleopatra III Ptolemy IX Lathyros Ptolemy X Alexander Berenice III Ptolemy XI Alexander Ptolemy XII Auletes Cleopatra VI Tryphaena Berenice IV Epiphanea Ptolemy XIII Ptolemy XIV Cleopatra VII Philopator Ptolemy XV Caesarion

Seleucids	Seleucus I Nicator Antiochus I Soter Antiochus II Theos Seleucus II Callinicus Seleucus III Ceraunus Antiochus III the Great Seleucus IV Philopator Antiochus IV Epiphanes Antiochus V Eupator Demetrius I Soter Alexander I Balas Demetrius II Nicator Antiochus VI Dionysus Diodotus Tryphon Antiochus VII Sidetes Alexander II Zabinas Seleucus V Philometor Antiochus VIII Grypus Antiochus IX Cyzicenus Seleucus VI Epiphanes Antiochus X Eusebes Antiochus XI Epiphanes Demetrius III Eucaerus Philip I Philadelphus Antiochus XII Dionysus Antiochus XIII Asiaticus Philip II Philoromaeus

Lysimachids	Lysimachus

Antipatrids	Cassander Philip IV Alexander V Antipater II Antipater Etesias Sosthenes

Attalids	Philetaerus Eumenes I Attalus I Eumenes II Attalus II Attalus III Eumenes III

Greco-Bactrians	Diodotus I Diodotus II Euthydemus I Demetrius I Euthydemus II Antimachus I Pantaleon Agathocles Demetrius II Eucratides I Plato Eucratides II Heliocles I

Indo-Greeks	Demetrius I Antimachus I Pantaleon Agathocles Apollodotus I Demetrius II Antimachus II Menander I Zoilos I Agathokleia Lysias Strato I Antialcidas Heliokles II Polyxenos Demetrius III Philoxenus Diomedes Amyntas Epander Theophilos Peukolaos Thraso Nicias Menander II Artemidoros Hermaeus Archebius Telephos Apollodotus II Hippostratos Dionysios Zoilos II Apollophanes Strato II Strato III

Kings of Bithynia	Boteiras Bas Zipoetes I Nicomedes I Zipoetes II Etazeta (regent) Ziaelas Prusias I Prusias II Nicomedes II Nicomedes III Nicomedes IV Socrates Chrestus

Kings of Pontus	Mithridates I Ctistes Ariobarzanes Mithridates II Mithridates III Pharnaces I Mithridates IV Philopator Philadephos Mithridates V Euergetes Mithridates VI Eupator Pharnaces II Darius Arsaces Polemon I Pythodorida Polemon II

Kings of Commagene	Ptolemaeus Sames II Mithridates I Antiochus I Mithridates II Antiochus II Mithridates III Antiochus III Antiochus IV

Kings of Cappadocia	Ariarathes I Ariarathes II Ariamnes II Ariarathes III Ariarathes IV Ariarathes V Orophernes Ariarathes VI Ariarathes VII Ariarathes VIII Ariarathes IX Ariobarzanes I Ariobarzanes II Ariobarzanes III Ariarathes X Archelaus

Kings of the Cimmerian Bosporus	Mithridates I Pharnaces Asander with Dynamis Mithridates II Asander with Dynamis Scribonius’ attempted rule with Dynamis Dynamis with Polemon Polemon with Pythodorida Aspurgus Mithridates III with Gepaepyris Mithridates III Cotys I

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