Mithridates IV Philopator Philadelphus: King of the Hellenistic Kingdom of Pontus

Introduction

Mithridates IV Philopator Philadelphus was a mid-2nd-century BC king of the Hellenistic Kingdom of Pontus, active in sources between 179 and 154 BC and reported to have died about 150 BC. He belonged to the Mithridatic dynasty, the son of Mithridates III and Laodice and the brother of Pharnaces I; he is first attested in 179 BC when his name appears alongside Pharnaces in a peace treaty with Pergamon, a formulation that implies shared sovereign authority at that time.

He succeeded Pharnaces I as ruler of Pontus, though the precise date of his accession is uncertain; he is explicitly recorded as king in 154 BC when he dispatched auxiliary troops to support Attalus II of Pergamon against Prusias II of Bithynia. During his reign Mithridates IV pursued a pro-Roman and pro-Hellenic orientation, observed in a bilingual Capitoline dedication and in diplomatic adherence to the 179 BC settlement with Pergamon. He married his sister Laodice and issued coinage both alone and conjointly with her; the coins combine Persian and Greek iconography, including Perseus and the Olympian pair Zeus and Hera, and adopt a Ptolemaic portrait model.

Pontus under Mithridates IV governed in the shadow of the kingdom’s exhaustion after the wars of 183–179 BC and a heavy financial strain from indemnities; his policy emphasized diplomatic recovery rather than renewed large-scale conquest. The Amisos (Samsun) treasure has been ascribed to his reign. The circumstances and exact date of his death are not fully attested; he was succeeded by Mithridates V, who is likely to have been his nephew. Mithridates IV’s reign is marked in the sources by a turn toward Rome and Hellenism and by numismatic and dedicatory evidence of that realignment.