After him reigned Mithridates V., surnamed Euergetes, the first who was called the friend of the Romans, because he had assisted them against the Carthaginians in the third Punic war.
A.M. 3880. Ant. J.C. 124.
He was succeeded by his son Mithridates VI., surnamed Eupator. This is the great Mithridates who sustained so long a war with the Romans: he reigned sixty-six years.
Kings of Cappadocia.
Strabo informs us,[247] that Cappadocia was divided into two satrapies, or governments, under the Persians, as it also was under the Macedonians. The maritime part of Cappadocia formed the kingdom of Pontus: the other tracts constituted Cappadocia properly so called, or Cappadocia Major, which extended along mount Taurus, and to a great distance beyond it.
A.M. 3682. Ant. J.C. 322.
When Alexander's captains divided the provinces of his empire among themselves, Cappadocia was governed by a prince named Ariarathes. Perdiccas attacked and defeated him, after which he caused him to be slain.
His son Ariarathes re-entered the kingdom of his father some time after this event, and established himself so effectually, that he left it to his posterity.
The generality of his successors assumed the same name, and will have their place in the series of the history.
Cappadocia, after the death of Archelaus, the last of its kings, became a province of the Roman empire, as the rest of Asia also did much about the same time.