Cleopatra of Pontus was a Pontian Princess, who was one of the daughters of 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 Queen Laodice

Laodice (sister-wife of Mithridates VI of Pontus)

Laodice was a beautiful Pontian Princess and Queen who was first wife and sister-wife to King Mithridates VI of Pontus.She was a monarch of Persian and Greek Macedonian ancestry...

. Cleopatra is sometimes known as Cleopatra the Elder, to distinguish her from her sister of the same name and was born and raised in the Kingdom of Pontus

Kingdom of Pontus

The Kingdom of Pontus or Pontic Empire was a state of Persian origin on the southern coast of the Black Sea. It was founded by Mithridates I in 291 BC and lasted until its conquest by the Roman Republic in 63 BC...

. She was the wife of the Armenian King Tigranes the Great

Tigranes the Great

Tigranes the Great was emperor of Armenia under whom the country became, for a short time, the strongest state east of the Roman Republic. He was a member of the Artaxiad Royal House...

.

She married Tigranes in 94 BC, cementing the alliance between Pontus

Pontus

Pontus or Pontos is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area, and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Πόντος...

 and Armenia

Armenia

Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

. At the time, Tigranes was forty-seven years old while she was only sixteen. She played a decisive role in the life of Tigranes and all of Armenia. Cleopatra bore Tigranes three sons: Zariadres, Artavasdes II of Armenia

Artavasdes II of Armenia

King Artavasdes II ruled Armenia from 53 to 34 BC. He succeeded his father, Tigranes the Great. Artavasdes was an ally of Rome, but when Orodes II of Parthia invaded Armenia following his victory over the Roman general Marcus Licinius Crassus at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC, he was forced to...

, Tigranes and a daughter who married King Pacorus I of Parthia

Pacorus I of Parthia

Pacorus I of Parthia was the son of king Orodes II and queen Laodice of the Parthian Empire. It is possible that he was co-ruler with his father for at least part of his father's reign...

.

Unlike Mithridates, Tigranes had a different foreign policy towards the Roman Republic

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...

 based on his interests and he eventually signed a treaty with Rome following the Battle of Artaxata

Battle of Artaxata

The Battle of Artaxata was fought in 68 BC between the Roman Republic and the Kingdom of Armenia. The Romans were led by Consul Lucius Licinius Lucullus, while the Armenians were led by King Tigranes II, who was sheltering King Mithridates VI of Pontus...

, as a result of which Cleopatra, under the influence of her father, instigated their sons to betray Tigranes. The sons attempted unsuccessfully to seize the throne from Tigranes; Zariadres and his younger brother were executed by Tigranes.

In 66 BC, Pompey

Pompey

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey or Pompey the Great , was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic...

 captured the younger Tigranes and took him to Rome as a hostage. Tigranes later escaped in 58 BC with the assistance of Publius Clodius Pulcher

Publius Clodius Pulcher

Publius Clodius Pulcher was a Roman politician known for his popularist tactics...

. Roman historian Asconius

Asconius Pedianus

Quintus Asconius Pedianus , Roman grammarian and historian, was probably a native of Patavium .In his later years he resided in Rome, and there he died, after having been blind for twelve years, at the age of eighty-five. During the reigns of Claudius and Nero he compiled for his sons, from various...

described the event:

After his triumph against Mithridates (61 BC, September 29 and 30), Pompeius placed the son of Tigranes in chains in the custody of Flavius, a senator. Afterwards when Flavius was praetor, in the same year in which Clodius was tribune of the plebs (58 BC), Clodius requested him during dinner that he should order Tigranes to be brought in so that he could see him. When Tigranes was brought in he escorted him to a party, but then did not return him to Flavius. He sent him (to his own) home and kept him without restraints. Nor would he send him back, when Pompeius requested. After that he put him onto a ship, and as he was fleeing he was carried by a storm to Anzio. When he was brought back from there to his own house, Clodius sent him to Sextus Clodius (whom I discussed above). When he was bringing him back, Flavius also heard what was going on and set out to snatch Tigranes. At the fourth milestone from the City a battle took place in which many on both sides fell, more from the band of Flavius, however, among whom were Marcus Papirius a Roman knight, a publican, a close friend of Pompeius. Flavius without any travelling companion almost didn't get away from Rome.

Cleopatra escaped to her father and lived the rest of her life in Pontus.