Machares (110-65 BC) was a Pontian prince, the son of Mithridates VI Eupator, and the ruler of the Bosporan Kingdom from 80 to 65 BC.
Biography[]
Machares was born in 110 BC, a son of King Mithridates VI Eupator of Pontus and his sister-wife Laodice. His father made him ruler of the Bosporan Kingdom in the Crimea in 80 BC, and, following his father's defeat by the Romans at the Siege of Cyzicus in 74 BC, Machares readily furnished succors for his father. However, his father's disasters during the Third Mithridatic War proved too much for Machares, who sent an emissary to the Roman general Lucullus bearing a crown of gold and requesting to be an ally of the Roman Republic. Lucullus agreed, and Machares returned the favor by sending the Romans supplies during their siege of Sinope. In 65 BC, Mithridates fled to Panticapaeum in the Bosporus after his defeats in Anatolia, taking his army with him. Machares either killed himself after his father refused to spare him, or was deceived by his father with promises of safety and then put to death.