Ariarathes IX of Cappadocia (108-85 BC) was the King of Cappadocia from 100 to 85 BC, succeeding Ariarathes VII and preceding Ariobarzanes I.
Biography[]
Ariarathes was born in 108 BC, the son of King Mithridates VI Eupator of Pontus. At the age of eight, he was named King of Cappadocia by his father following the assassination of King Ariarathes VII of Cappadocia, but the Cappadocian nobility quickly drove him from power and replaced him with Ariarathes VI's son Ariarathes VIII. In 95 BC, Mithridates VI restored his son to the throne, but the Roman Senate forced Mithridates to restore Ariarathes to the throne and attempted to create a republic before having the kingdom pass to Ariobarzanes I. Mithridates' powerful ally Tigranes the Great of Armenia invaded Cappadocia and deposed Ariobarzanes, restoring Ariarathes IX to the throne, but, as soon as Tigranes and his army returned home, Ariarathes was deposed by the Senate in 92 BC. He was restored to the throne on the outbreak of the First Mithridatic War in 89 BC, but he was forced to abdicate after the Roman Republic defeated his father in 85 BC. His father, jealous of his son's superior horse-racing skills, had him poisoned while he commanded his father's troops in northern Greece.