User:HistoryofIran/Mithridates VI Eupator

Mithridates VI (Μιθραδάτης; Persian: Mihrdāt; 135 – 63 BC), was the last king of Pontus in northern Asia Minor from 120 BC to 63 BC. He is remembered as one of the Roman Republic's most formidable and successful enemies, who engaged three of the prominent generals from the late Roman Republic in the Mithridatic Wars: Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Lucius Licinius Lucullus and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. He has been called the greatest ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus.

Etymology
Mithridates is the Greek attestation of the Persian name Mihrdāt, meaning "given by Mithra", the name of the ancient Iranian sun god. The name itself is derived from Old Iranian Miθra-dāta-.

Background
From his father's side, Mithridates I was descended from an Iranian aristocratic family which was an offshoot of the Achaemenid royal family. He traced his descent back to the Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, and Darius the Great, who ruled the empire at its peak, and had sometime during his reign given Mithridates' family land in Pontus. From his maternal line, he was descended from the Alexander the Great's Macedonian general Seleucus I Nicator, who established the Seleucid Empire.