Greek crater terracotta reproduction Mithridates Eupator bronze vase

Mitridate Crater V Eupator 120-63 a.C. Bronze
Provenance: From Anzio, Villa of Nero (18th century) - It is probably from the booty of the war that was collected in one of the battles against Mitridate Eupatore, king of Ponto (63 BC).
Acquisition Data: Benedict's Gift XIV.
Inventory Musei Capitolini Rome Capitol: inv. MC1068

Mithridates VI or Mithradates VI from Old Persian Miθradāta, "gift of Mithra"; 135–63 BC, also known as Mithradates the Great and Eupator Dionysius, was king of Pontus and Armenia Minor in northern Anatolia (now Turkey) from about 120–63 BC. Mithridates 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 Pompey Magnus. He is often considered the greatest ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus.

Mithridates VI was a prince of Persian and Greek ancestry. He claimed descent from Cyrus the Great, the family of Darius the Great, the Regent Antipater, the generals of Alexander the Great as well as the later kings Antigonus I Monophthalmus and Seleucus I Nicator.

Mithridates was born in the Pontic city of Sinope, and was raised in the Kingdom of Pontus. He was the first son among the children born to Laodice VI and Mithridates V of Pontus (reigned 150–120 BC). His father, Mithridates V, was a prince and the son of the former Pontic monarchs Pharnaces I of Pontus and his wife-