king of Pontus, in Asia Minor, from 120–-63 BCE; following a successful invasion of Crimea, Mithridates attempts to conquer the Roman client of Bithynia but is unsuccessful; angered, Mithridates invades the province of Asia and causes the death of eighty-thousand Italians and Greek commercial representatives by encouraging Asian debtors to kill their Italian creditors; this invasion of Asia began 25 years of Mithridatic wars starting in 88 BCE; he was beaten back by the Romans, who sent an army led by Sulla to Greece, in 87; Pompey eventual takes command in the Mithridatic wars from Sulla and defeated Mithridates in Armenia in 63 BCE; Mithridates attempts to escape to Crimea but there, faced by a rebellion led by his son, commits suicide. Mithridates the Great

ancient king of Pontus who expanded his kingdom by defeating the Romans but was later driven out by Pompey (132-63 BC)

King of Pontus, ie., the Black Sea coast of what is now Turkey. For most of his reign (120-63 BCE) he was at war with Rome, with varying degrees of success.