He wrote on the interpretation of dreams, both his own and those of members of his family. But the most important scholarly activity for both the king and members of his court was medical research. The king himself took the lead, even being a practicing physician, although this may have been more a political activity than a medical one. He also wrote extensively on botany. The empiricist physician Zopyros, most of whose career was in Alexandria at the court of Ptolemy XII he may have been a teacher of Cleopatra VII , exchanged information with the king about antidotes for poison and may have visited Pontos.
The king had an extensive medical library, and he collected specimens and information from his territories and corresponded with physicians throughout the Mediterranean world. He urged the Greek physician Asclepiades of Bithynia, who lived in Rome, to come to the court, but their contact was limited to exchanging treatises. Attalus III of Pergamon reigned — bc was a noted agriculturalist—so much so that it was said he neglected his royal duties and hastened the end of his kingdom—who wrote on medicine and pharmacology.
Nicomedes IV of Bithynia reigned c. Mithridates created a number of antidotes, generally based on herbs and other botanical materials. The most simple used walnuts, figs, and rue; others had dozens of ingredients. It was said that he successfully tested an antidote on a prisoner condemned to death. Eventually the name mithridatios or mithridatum was attached to one or more of these antidotes; the word mithridate is still used today to mean a remedy against poison and disease.
The Mithridatic antidotes became popular in Rome, especially among the Roman elite, although in time they evolved away from the originals. In the Renaissance, antidotes called mithridatum were used against the plague, and a fine gilded terra-cotta drug jar, created to hold such compounds and with a representation of the death of the king, is attributed to Annibale Fontana and is on display in the Getty Museum.
Mithridates also experimented with scientific gardening, especially during his final exile in the Bosporus, attempting unsuccessfully to bring Mediterranean plants into that northern region. His name became attached to a number of plants that he identified, including one that Krateuas named mithridatia, with rosy flowers whose leaves were similar to an acanthus.
There was another called scordotis or scordion, about a cubit in height with downy leaves like those of the oak, which was indigenous to Pontos. Accessed 12 Nov. Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! Log in Sign Up. Save Word. Definition of mithridate. First Known Use of mithridate , in the meaning defined above. Learn More About mithridate.
Time Traveler for mithridate The first known use of mithridate was in See more words from the same year.
Listen to Our Podcast About mithridate. Get Word of the Day delivered to your inbox! Sign Up. The work examines first the early history of Pontus, and then analyses carefully the events of Mithridates Eupator's reign for what they reveal of his foreign policy. Attention is focused on diplomacy, strategy, propaganda, support, rather than on military details. There is no substantial study of Mithridates in English, and really only one in any language - Reinach's famous work of Since then, new inscriptions and coins have come to light, new methods and approaches devised.
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