Pharnaces
- The name of two kings of Pontus.
- A Grandfather of Mithridates, Just. 38, 6, 2; Plin. 33, 12, 54, § 151.—
- B Son of Mithridates, defeated by Caesar, Cic. Deiot. 5, 14; id. Att. 11, 21, 2; Suet. Caes. 37; Luc. 10, 476.—
- II The name of a slave of Cicero, Cic. Att. 13, 30, 2; 13, 44, 3.
(Φαρνάκης). (1) A king of Pontus, the son of Mithridates IV., whom he succeeded on the throne, about B.C. 190. He carried on war for some years with Eumenes, king of Pergamum, and Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia, but was obliged to conclude with them a disadvantageous peace in 179. The year of his death is uncertain; it is placed by conjecture in 156.
(2) King of Pontus, or, more properly, of the Bosporus, was the son of Mithridates the Great, whom he compelled to put an end to his life in 63. (See Mithridates VI.) After the death of his father Pharnaces hastened to make his submission to Pompey, who granted him the kingdom of the Bosporus with the titles of friend and ally of the Roman people. In the Civil War between Caesar and Pompey, Pharnaces seized the opportunity to reinstate himself in his father's dominions, and made himself master of the whole of Colchis and the lesser Armenia. He defeated Domitius Calvinus, the lieutenant of Caesar in Asia, but was shortly afterwards defeated by Caesar himself in a decisive action near Zela (B.C. 47). The battle was gained with such ease by Caesar that he informed the Senate of his victory by the words, Veni, vedi, veci. In the course of the same year Pharnaces was again defeated, and was slain by Asander, one of his generals, who hoped to obtain his master's kingdom. See Asander.
- father of Artabazus: Hdt. 7.66