Ιστορίαi τών Βασιλέων Πόντων — Histories of the Kings of Pontos (an EB 2.1b AAR)

[Artemisia]

Introduction

We have read the Histories of the Kings of Pontos, the work of Lysandra of Amisos. The first four books are lost, but would have recounted the creation of the kingdom by Mithradates the Builder. The author is otherwise known from her Pharmacopoeia, and appears to have been a lady of Amisos married to a prince of the Pontic dynasty; her Histories are a form of epitome or synthesis of what various previous authors wrote about her husband's dynasty and the kingdom in which she lived. As can be expected, she is generally favourable to the Kings of Pontos. The fifth book, the first that is available to us, starts in 272BC.

We have endeavoured to translate these histories as faithfully as possible, while making them understandable to the modern reader, with the addition of the occasional illustration or table if needed.

Book V

In the 26th year of the reign of Mithradates Ktistes, a new king came to rule over the Galatians. In the three years that had elapsed since their defeat by Antiochos Soter, they had been without a king, their tribes fighting as mercenaries for the cities and kings, or settling in the Phrygian lands they had wrested for themselves. But in this year, a chieftain called Dumnakos, whom they say was of exceptional size and strength, had united almost all of the Galatians under his rule, aiming to loot and extract tribute from the Hellespont to the River Halys.

To this end, he ravaged Maryandinia, the hinterland of Herakleia, causing the Herakliots to renew their alliance with the king. Mithradates sent his eldest son, Ariobarzanes, with an army to defend his ally. Meanwhile, Dumnakos had turned his gaze to Gangra, where some bands of Celts had been settled by the king. Dumnakos desired them to bend the knee, whereas those of Gangra remained faithful to the oaths given to Mithradates, and would not join him. Their commander was known as Nikonides; though as this is a Greek name, the Galatians may have known him under another.

Therefore, Dumnakos and his army made for Gangra from somewhere which must have been between Diospolis and the River Sangarios; whereas Ariobarzanes had made for Herakleia from Amaseia, but upon being informed by Nikonides of the Galatian intentions, he stopped at Gangra and summoned his allies there. Chief among these were four thousand men of Herakleia, which had elected as commander Ariarathes, a citizen born of a Persian mother, for which reason he was thought to be the best man to deal with Ariobarzanes.

When Ariarathes reached him, Ariobarzanes also heard that Dumnakos was nearby. Having the choice of the battlefield, he decided to await the Galatians at a point where the road to Gangra passed between a pair of hills.

Between these hills, he placed his Kappadokian and Phrygian infantry; and because they were stretched over much ground, behind them he placed a small body of Persians and Medes, expert archers and brave men, with a two-fold purpose: for they were to support the Phrygians and Kappadokians with arrows, but also to prevent any from breaking ranks. On the left-hand hill, Ariarathes stood with the Herakliots, and also some five hundred Kappadokian horsemen, armed after the Persian fashion. While on the right-hand hill, Ariobarzanes himself stood with a strong force of Median, Persian and Kappadokian cavalry; and also the allied Celts under Nikonides. He placed many bowmen, slingers and javelin-men on the slopes of both hills, but originally these stood on the far side, so that Dumnakos did not know their true numbers.



When the Galatians arrived, at first they attacked savagely, according to their customs, along the road and against their brothers who followed Nikonides. Thereupon, the light troops on the slopes of the hills rained missiles over the heads of the soldiers below, wounding many of the Galatians.



Many of those now rushed up at the left-hand hill, charging at a party of slingers. But the slingers were rescued by fleet-footed Hellenes who fought half-armoured, and behind them Ariarathes came down with his cavalry and hoplites to fight the Galatians.



Meanwhile Dumnakos sent the main part of his horsemen to contest the right-hand hill, and Ariobarzanes made to meet it with his cavalry. At first the Medes and Kappadokians advanced in silence, but then an eagle overflew their ranks; this they took to be an omen from Verethragna, who is Nike to the Persians, although it may be that a friend of Ariobarzanes released the eagle for this purpose. After this had happened, they gave a great shout and charged downhill, and the courage of the Galatian horsemen broke and they scattered, running like a flock of birds from a cat.



Ariobarzanes and the cavalry then wheeled and charged into the flank of the Galatians, while on the left-hand hill Ariarathes also repulsed the wing that faced him and likewise pressed into the enemy side.



Before the night fell, a greater slaughter of Galatians than had ever been made before occurred. And even greater was the number who were deprived of their arms and taken captive. Fearing the vengeance of his people, Dumnakos fled to Thrace, and later became, or so it can be believed, the Dumnakos who was a soldier of Ptolemaios of Epeiros.



However, Ariobarzanes did not sell the captives as slaves, or kill them as they had feared. Rather, he offered freedom to all who would swear themselves to their conquerors and to Nikonides, his ally.

Then he proceeded to Ancyra, the city that had been taken by the Tectosages, and helped Nikonides become their ruler. But wisely, Ariobarzanes did not enter the city with his other troops, leaving the Galatians to think Nikonides was strong enough to rule without his aid. However, he sent some soldiers as settlers and garrisons in other districts of the North and East of Phrygia. In this manner, he secured the greater part of Phrygia for the king, and the Galatians as allies, under a friendly ruler.

Meanwhile, Antiochos son of Seleukos had suffered a defeat against Ptolemaios Philadelphos near Hemesa in Syria; and his ally Antigonos Gonatas suffered setbacks in the Peloponnese, where agents of Ptolemaios had stirred up an alliance against him. When this news reached Ariamnes, the satrap of Kappadokia, he saw it as a chance for freedom, and declared himself an independent king, as his grandfather had been before being crucified by Perdikkas.

Ariamnes first expected Antiochos to challenge him; but when he saw that an attack was not forthcoming, he became covetous, and turned his gaze Northwards, seeing the lands of Pontos as naturally an extension of Kappadokia, especially those falling South of the old Royal Road of the Persians.

Mithradates Ktistes, however, would give him no land, and entered an alliance with Antiochos against him; so Ariamnes in his anger advanced with a strong army. Mithradates, although aged, gathered his forces and encamped himself on the hill at Zela on the Royal Road, which is as little as two hundred and fifty stadia from the royal city Amaseia. At Zela there is also a town and a sanctuary sacred to Artemis, who is Anahita in Asia.



Although Mithradates had a good position on the hill, Ariamnes was in high spirits and had the larger army, so he pressed the attack. Armoured Median and Kappadokian horsemen fought for both kings, and clashed fiercely as Ariamnes attempted to turn Mithradates' flank.



Although less numerous, the soldiers of Mithradates had the stronger position and were brave men, so they made a stalwart defence. The battle raged for the better part of the day until finally the assaults of Ariamnes' men grew slack. Then Ariamnes' army was driven from the hill in a rout. This was to be the last battle where Mithradates Ktistes commanded himself.

Although it can sometimes be read that Ariamnes died in the battle of Zela, this is not strictly true; in fact Ariamnes was wounded by an arrow while he was marshalling his troops from the rear, or some say a spear while he led them in the van. Either way, he suffered a wound, and it was not kept clean, because of which he died of a fever the following month. And this is what prevented him from maintaining his rule in Kappadokia.

With Ariamnes dead and his army broken, Ariobarzanes the son of Mithradates was able to enter his kingdom and set garrisons over Mazaka, Melitene, Nyssa and even Comana. Also, Mithradates elevated a capable young Kappadokian nobleman of his court, Arkathias, and gave him his daughter Arsinoe as a wife, and then made him the commander of Mazaka, with power over the plateau of Kappadokia and the position of a friend of the king. This was all in the 27th year of Mithradates Ktistes.

Yet the rule over all Kappadokia was not secure, and the following year Arsames, the youngest son of Mithradates, marched an army around the land, rooting out brigands and forcing chieftains to kneel to him. That same year, that is the 28th of Mithradates Ktistes, a small army of Ptolemaios entered Kappadokia, and Arsames defeated it beneath Mount Argaios.