Ariarathes VIII Epiphanes , King of Cappadocia

Cappadocia

Cappadocia is a historical region in Central Anatolia, largely in Nevşehir Province.In the time of Herodotus, the Cappadocians were reported as occupying the whole region from Mount Taurus to the vicinity of the Euxine...

, was the second son of Ariarathes VI of Cappadocia

Ariarathes VI of Cappadocia

Ariarathes VI Epiphanes Philopator , King of Cappadocia, was the youngest son of Ariarathes V of Cappadocia and Nysa of Cappadocia.He reigned about 14 years . He was a child at his succession, and for this reason the power was kept by his mother who acted as his regent...

 and wife Laodice of Cappadocia

Laodice of Cappadocia

Laodice of Cappadocia, also known as Laodice was a Princess from the Kingdom of Pontus.Laodice was a monarch of Persian and Greek Macedonian ancestry. She was the daughter; first born child of the Pontian Monarchs Laodice VI and Mithridates V Euergetes who reigned 150-120 BC. Among her siblings,...

. Ariarathes VIII had an older sister called Nysa and an older brother called Ariarathes VII of Cappadocia

Ariarathes VII of Cappadocia

Ariarathes VII Philometor , King of Cappadocia, was the first son of King Ariarathes VI of Cappadocia and his wife Laodice of Cappadocia. Ariarathes VII had an older sister called Nysa and a younger brother called Ariarathes VIII of Cappadocia....

.

He ascended to the throne when the Cappadocian nobleman rebelled against his maternal uncle, King Mithridates VI of Pontus

Mithridates VI of Pontus

Mithridates VI or Mithradates VI Mithradates , from Old Persian Mithradatha, "gift of Mithra"; 134 BC – 63 BC, also known as Mithradates the Great and Eupator Dionysius, was king of Pontus and Armenia Minor in northern Anatolia from about 120 BC to 63 BC...

 and his son, the puppet King Ariarathes IX of Cappadocia

Ariarathes IX of Cappadocia

Ariarathes IX Eusebes Philopator , was made king of Cappadocia by his father King Mithridates VI of Pontus after the assassination of Ariarathes VII of Cappadocia. Since he was only eight years old, he was put under the regency of the Cappadocian Gordius...

. He was speedily driven out of the kingdom by Mithridates VI, and shortly afterwards died a natural death. By the death of these two sons of Ariarathes VI, the royal family was extinct. Mithridates VI restored upon the throne his own son Ariarathes IX, who was only eight years old. King Nicomedes III of Bithynia

Nicomedes III of Bithynia

Nicomedes III Euergetes was the king of Bithynia, from c. 127 BC to c. 94 BC. He was the son and successor of Nicomedes II of Bithynia by an unnamed woman....

 sent an embassy to Rome

Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...

 to lay claim to the throne for a youth, who, he pretended, was a third son of Ariarathes VI and Laodice. Mithridates VI also, with equal shamelessness, says Justin

Junianus Justinus

Justin was a Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire. His name is mentioned only in the title of his own history, and there it is in the genitive, which would be M. Juniani Justini no matter which nomen he bore.Of his personal history nothing is known...

, sent an embassy to Rome to assert that the youth, whom he had placed upon the throne, was a descendant of Ariarathes V of Cappadocia

Ariarathes V of Cappadocia

Ariarathes V Eusebes Philopator was son of the preceding king Ariarathes IV of Cappadocia and Antiochis. Previously called Mithridates, he reigned 33 years, 163–130 BC, as king of Cappadocia. He was distinguished by the excellence of his character and his cultivation of philosophy and the liberal...

, who fell in the war against King Eumenes III

Eumenes III

Eumenes III was the pretender to the throne of Pergamon.When the Pergamene King Attalus III died in 133 BC, he bequeathed his kingdom to the Romans...

 of Pergamon. The Roman Senate

Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...

, however, did not assign the Kingdom to either but granted liberty to the Cappadocians and, in 95 BC

95 BC

Year 95 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Crassus and Scaevola...

, ordered to depose Ariarathes IX. After a short period of direct Pontic rule and a brief restoration of Ariarathes VIII, an attempt of instauration of a Republic was made by the Roman Senate. As the people wished for a king, the Romans allowed them to choose whom they pleased, and their choice fell upon Ariobarzanes I.