Ariarathes IV of Cappadocia

O: Diademed head of Ariarathes IV R: Athena holding Nike with wreath and resting hand on grounded shield, spear behind; BAΣIΛEΩΣ / APIAPAΘOY / EYΣ'E'BOYΣ; monograms in field
Silver drachm struck in Cappadocia 220 BC–163 BC; 3rd year of reign

Ariarathes IV, surnamed Eusebes, "the Pious", (Ancient Greek: Ἀριαράθης Εὐσεϐής, Ariaráthēs Eusebḗs), was the king of Cappadocia in 220–163 BC.

Early life

Ariarathes IV was the son of the king of Cappadocia Ariarathes III and his Greek Macedonian wife Stratonice.[1] He was a child at his accession, and reigned for about 57 years.[2] He married Antiochis, the daughter of Antiochus III the Great, king of Syria, and wife Laodice III, and, in consequence of this alliance, assisted Antiochus in his war against the Romans. After the defeat of Antiochus by the Romans in 190 BC, Ariarathes sued for peace in 188 BC, which he obtained on favourable terms, as his daughter, Stratonice, was about that time betrothed to Eumenes II, king of Pergamum, whom she later actually married, and became an ally of the Romans. In 183–179 BC, he assisted Eumenes in his war against Pharnaces, king of Pontus. Polybius mentions that a Roman embassy was sent to Ariarathes after the death of the Seleucid Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who died 164 BC. Antiochis, the wife of Ariarathes, is said to have at first bore him no children, and accordingly introduced two supposititious ones, who were called Ariarathes and Orophernes. Subsequently, however, the tale goes that she bore her husband two daughters and a son, Mithridates, afterwards Ariarathes V, and then informed Ariarathes of the deceit she had practised upon him. The other two were in consequence sent away from Cappadocia, one to Rome, the other to Ionia.[3]

Notes

  1. Boyce, Mary ; Grenet, Frantz (1991). A History of Zoroastrianism: Zoroastrianism Under Macedonian and Roman Rule. BRILL. pp. 267–8. ISBN 9004092714. His son Ariarathes IV (220-c.162), thus half-Macedonian by blood, set the title “king” on his coins, and attached to his name the cognomen Philopator. He also introduced the device of Athena holding Nike, which became the standard reverse type of the Ariarathid coinage. […] His son Ariarathes V (c.162-130), with the cognomen Eusebes, was an ardent philhellene, and no longer wears the tiara on any of his coins. In his youth he studied in Athens, where he became friends with the future Attalus III, the last king of Pergamum. He in his turn married a Seleucid princess, his cousin Nysa, daughter of Antiochus III; and he refounded Mazaka and Tyana as Greek poleis…
  2. Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca, xxxi. 3; Justin, xxix. 1; Polybius, iv. 2
  3. Livy, xxxvii. 31, xxxviii. 38, 39; Polybius, xxi. 43, 47, xxiv. 8, 9, xxv. 2, xxxi. 13, 14, 17; Appian, "The Syrian Wars", 5, 32, 42; Diodorus, xxxi. 3

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Ariarathes IV.". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. 

Regnal titles
Preceded by
Ariarathes III
King of Cappadocia
220 BC 163 BC
Succeeded by
Ariarathes V
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, February 19, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.