Mithrenes

{{Short description|Satrap of Armenia from 331 to 321 BC}}

{{Infobox royalty

| name = Mithrenes I

| succession = Satrap of Armenia

| image =

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| reign = 331 BC – 321?

| coronation = 331 BC

| full name = Mithrenes

| predecessor = Orontes II

| successor = Orontes III

| spouse =

| issue = Orontes III?

| royal house =

| dynasty = Orontid dynasty?

| father = Orontes II?

| mother =

| birth_date =

| birth_place =

| death_date =

| death_place =

| date of burial =

| place of burial =

}}

Mithrenes ({{langx|el|Mιθρένης or Mιθρίνης}}) was a Persian commander of the force that garrisoned the citadel of Sardis.{{cite book|last1=Briant|first1=Pierre|title=Alexander the Great and His Empire: A Short Introduction|date=2012|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1400834860|page=113|quote=Yet the Persian Mithrenes had not been given a high-level post in the imperial administration; such posts were reserved for Greeks and Macedonians.}}{{cite book|last1=Anson|first1=Edward M.|title=Alexander's Heirs: The Age of the Successors|date=2014|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1118862407|quote=(...) Mithrenes, a Persian nobleman, was appointed satrap of Armenia by Alexander.}}{{cite book|editor1-last=Herrmann|editor1-first=J.|editor2-last=Zurcher|editor2-first=E.|title=History of Humanity: From the seventh century B.C. to the seventh century A.D|date=1996|publisher=UNESCO|isbn=978-9231028120|page=170|quote=As early as the year 334, the king had given clear evidence of his desire to win over the Persian nobles: he allowed Mithrenes, who had just surrendered (...)}}{{cite book|editor1-last=Curtis|editor1-first=John E.|editor2-last=Tallis|editor2-first=Nigel|title=Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia|date=2005|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0520247314|page=17|quote=Darius still had many noble Persians, satraps and strategists all ready to serve him. The first was that of Mithrenes, governor of Sardis (...)}}Waldemar Heckel (2005). The Marshals of Alexander's Empire. Routledge. {{ISBN|978-1134942657}}. page 92; "(...) by sending to them Mithrenes, who spoke Persian."{{cite encyclopedia | title = ARMENIA AND IRAN ii. The pre-Islamic period | last = Chaumont | first = M. L. | authorlink = | url = https://iranicaonline.org/articles/armenia-ii | editor-last = | editor-first = | editor-link = | encyclopedia = Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. II, Fasc. 4 | pages = 418–438 | location = | publisher = | year = 1986 | isbn = |quote=Armenia was annexed to Alexander’s empire but not really subdued. The governorship was given to Mithrenes (Mithrana), a Persian who had been the satrap of Sardis.}} According to Cyril Toumanoff, he was also a member of the Orontid dynasty,Cyril Toumanoff (Georgetown University Press, 1963; Studies in Christian Caucasian History, part III. The Orontids of Armenia. ). p. 278-290" of Iranian origin.Cyril Toumanoff (Georgetown University Press, 1963; Studies in Christian Caucasian History, part III. The Orontids of Armenia. ). p. 278; "The eponym's praeonemen Orontes is as Iranian as the dynasty itself, derived from the Avestan auraund/aurvant ('mighty,' 'hero') and related to the Pehlevi arvand."{{cite journal|last1=Toumanoff|first1=Cyril|title=INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIAN CAUCASIAN HISTORY (The Formative Centuries (IVth-VIIIth))|date=1959|volume=15|page=27|quote=Already in the Achaemenian phase, the office of Satrap of Armenia became hereditary in the Iranian families of the Hydarnids and, then, the Orontids...[...]. The fact that the Orontids were descended from the Achaemenid Great Kings, who were no more, and that they held sway over most of the territory of the old Vannic Monarchy, when conjoined with their power and their de facto, autonomy, led them to assume the status of kings}} Waldemar Heckel, on the other hand, considers Mithrenes to be a Persian noble of unknown family background.{{cite book |chapter=Mithrenes (Mithrines, Mithrinnes) |author=Waldemar Heckel |title=Who's who in the age of Alexander the Great: prosopography of Alexander's empire |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-4051-1210-9 }} After the battle of the Granicus Mithrenes surrendered voluntarily to Alexander the Great, and was treated by him with great distinction. Mithrenes was present in the Macedonian camp after the Battle of Issus, and Alexander ordered him to visit the captured family of Darius III and assure them that Darius was alive, before changing his mind and assigning the duty to Leonnatus instead.{{r|curt_3.12}} He fought for Alexander at Gaugamela, and ironically he was fighting against an army that included his father{{citation needed|date=June 2018}} Orontes II. Afterwards, Alexander appointed him Satrap of Armenia{{r|arr_3.16|curt_5.1|diod_17.64}}.

Mithrenes disappears from the historical record after this appointment, and his ultimate fate is unknown. It's not clear whether he actually managed to take control of his satrapy. According to Curtius, in his speech given at Hecatompylos in 330 BC Alexander the Great listed Armenia among lands conquered by Macedonians, implying that Mithrenes succeeded in conquering it;{{r|curt_6.3}} on the other hand, Justin reproduced Pompeius Trogus' rendition of a speech attributed to Mithridates VI of Pontus, which mentioned that Alexander did not conquer Armenia.{{r|just_38.7}}

Dexippus lists the satrapy of Carmania as assigned to Neoptolemus after the death of Alexander;{{r|phot_82}} however, Diodorus and Justin assign this satrapy to Tlepolemus instead. {{r|diod_18.3|just_13.4}} A. G. Roos emended the text of Dexippus to assign Carmania to Tlepolemus and Armenia to Neoptolemus. Pat Wheatley and Waldemar Heckel found this emendation to be unlikely to represent the original text, and considered it more likely that the fragment of the text of Dexippus includes a scribal error, as "Neoptolemus" is an easy corruption of "Tlepolemus".{{cite book |author=Justin |title=Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus: Volume II: Books 13-15: The Successors to Alexander the Great |others=Translation and appendices by J.C. Yardley, commentary by Pat Wheatley and Waldemar Heckel |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=116 |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-19-927759-9 }} Neoptolemus apparently campaigned in Armenia after the death of Alexander,{{r|plut_4.1}} but his official status in this area is unclear; he might have been a strategos rather than a satrap.{{cite book |chapter=Neoptolemus [2], (Neoptolemos) |author=Waldemar Heckel |title=Who's who in the age of Alexander the Great: prosopography of Alexander's empire |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-4051-1210-9 }} Neoptolemus managed only to create havoc in Armenia,{{r|plut_4.1}} which suggests that he wasn't cooperating with any existing satrap.

Diodorus and Polyaenus mention a man named Orontes, who was a Satrap of Armenia during the Second War of the Diadochi;{{r|diod_19.23|pol_4.8}} Diodorus adds that this Orontes was a friend of Peucestas.{{r|diod_19.23}} Edward Anson and Waldemar Heckel consider this satrap to be the same Orontes who fought for Darius III in the Battle of Gaugamela; the authors state that Mithrenes may have perished in an unsuccessful attempt to wrest Armenia from Orontes.{{cite book |chapter=Orontes |author=Waldemar Heckel |title=Who's who in the age of Alexander the Great: prosopography of Alexander's empire |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-4051-1210-9 }}{{cite book |chapter=The funeral games begin |author=Edward Anson |title=Alexander's Heirs: The Age of the Successors |publisher=Wiley Blackwell |pages=50 |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-4443-3962-8 }}

On the other hand, N. G. L. Hammond interpreted the sources as indicating that Armenia was already in submission when Mithrenes was sent there from Babylon late in 331 BC, that Mithrenes took it over as satrap ruling on behalf of the new Macedonian regime, and that he was left as satrap in 323 BC when Perdiccas let some satrapies remain under the existing satraps; in 317 BC Mithrenes was no longer satrap but had been replaced by Orontes. Hammond noted that Strabo described the satrapy of Armenia as small compared to the size of Armenia under Artaxias I and Zariadres;{{r|str_11.14}} on the basis of this passage Hammond suggested that Mithrenes' rule may not have extended as far as Lake Van.{{Cite journal|author=N. G. L. Hammond |year=1996 |title=Alexander and Armenia |journal=Phoenix |volume=50 |issue=2 |pages=130–137 |doi=10.2307/1192698 |jstor=1192698 }}

After the death of Neoptolemus, and during the struggles among the Diadochi, it seems Mithrenes not only returned to his ancestral seat but declared himself king.{{citation needed|date=June 2018}}

One of the inscriptions from the Mount Nemrut detailing the ancestry of Antiochus I Theos of Commagene lists an ancestor whose name was incompletely preserved and who was a son of Aroandas, the second ancestor of Antiochus mentioned in the inscriptions from Mount Nemrut who bore that name (identified with the Orontes who was a commander in the Battle of Gaugamela by Karl Julius Beloch{{cite book|author=Karl Julius Beloch|author-link=Karl Julius Beloch|title=Griechische geschichte. Volume 3, part 2 |year=1923 |page=141 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter & co. |url=https://archive.org/details/griechischegeschv3pt2belo }} and Herman Brijder;{{cite book |author=Herman Brijder |chapter=The East Terrace |editor=Herman Brijder |title=Nemrud Daği: recent archaeological research and conservation activities in the tomb sanctuary on Mount Nemrud |publisher=De Gruyter |pages=331 |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-61451-713-9 }} Friedrich Karl Dörner found this identification questionable{{cite book |author=F.K. Dörner |chapter=Epigraphy analysis |editor=Donald H. Sanders |title=Nemrud Daği: The Hierothesion of Antiochus I of Commagene |volume=1: Text |publisher=Eisenbrauns |pages=365–366 |year=1996 |isbn=1-57506-015-9 }}). Ernst Honigmann emended the name of the son of Aroandas as [Mιθρ]άνην, [Mithr]anen.{{cite book |author=Ernst Honigmann |chapter=Kommagene |title=Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft |volume=supplement IV |pages=978–990 |year=1963 }} However, Friedrich Karl Dörner and John H. Young (1996) interpreted the first preserved letter of the name as a delta, so that the name of the son of Aroandas ended with -δανης, -danes.{{cite book |author1=F.K. Dörner |author2=J.H. Young |chapter=Sculpture and inscription catalogue |editor=Donald H. Sanders |title=Nemrud Daği: The Hierothesion of Antiochus I of Commagene |volume=1: Text |publisher=Eisenbrauns |pages=297 |year=1996 |isbn=1-57506-015-9 }} Herman Brijder (2014) also interpreted the inscription as indicating that name of the son of Aroandas II ended with -danes.{{cite book |author=Herman Brijder |chapter=The West Terrace |editor=Herman Brijder |title=Nemrud Daği: recent archaeological research and conservation activities in the tomb sanctuary on Mount Nemrud |publisher=De Gruyter |pages=373 |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-61451-713-9 }}