Mithridates I of Media Atropatene

Who is Mithridates I of Media Atropatene?

Mithridates I of Media Atropatene, sometimes known as Mithridates I and Mithridates of Media was a King of Achaemenid Media Atropatene Kingdom of Armenia.

Although Mithridates I was a Median Prince, little is known on his lineage and his life. In or before 67 BC, Mithridates I married an unnamed Armenian Princess from the Artaxiad Dynasty who was a daughter of the Armenian King Tigranes the Great and his wife, Cleopatra of Pontus.

Mithridates I ruled from 67 BC to ca. 66 BC. Mithridates I is mentioned in the ancient sources, in the last campaign against the Roman General Lucullus in 67 BC. He was supporting Tigranes, when his father-in-law went to war against the Romans to invade Cappadocia in 67 BC. There is a possibility that Mithridates I was present with Tigranes the Great and the King Mithridates VI of Pontus, when Tigranes and Mithridates VI were defeated by Lucullus at the Arsanias River in 66 BC.

Mithridates I appeared to have died in ca. 66 BC, as his relative Darius I was King of Media Atropatene in c. 65 BC. According to modern genealogies, Mithridates I and his Armenian wife are presented in being the parents of a child, a son called Ariobarzanes I which can explain the claims of Mithridates I’s descendants to the Armenian Kingship in opposition to the lasting ruling monarchs of the Artaxiad Dynasty.