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princes. Caffander died three or four years after the partition, and left three fons. Philip, the eldeft, died prefently after his father. The other two contended for the crown without enjoying it, both dying foon after without iffue.

d Demetrius Poliorcetes, Pyrrhus, and Lyfimachus, made themselves mafters of all, or the greatest part of Macedonia; fometimes in conjunction, and at other times feparately.

• After the death of Lyfimachus, Seleucus poffeffed himfelf of Macedonia, but did not long enjoy it.

f Ptolemy Ceraunus having flain the preceding prince, feized the kingdom, and poffeffed it alone but a very short time, having loft his life in a battle with the Gauls, who had made an irruption into that country. Softhenes, who defeated the Gauls, reigned but a fhort time in Macedonia.

h Antigonus Gonatas, the fon of Demetrius Poliorcetes, obtained the peaceable poffeffion of the kingdom of Macedonia, and tranfmitted thofe dominions to his defcendants, after he had reigned thirty-four years.

He was fucceeded by his fon Demetrius, who reigned ten years, and then died, leaving a fon named Philip, who was but two years old.

Antigonus Dofon reigned twelve years in the quality of guardian to the young prince.

Philip, after the death of Antigonus, afcended the throne at the age of fourteen years, and reigned fomething more than forty.

His fon Perfeus fucceeded him, and reigned about eleven years. He was defeated and taken prisoner by Paulus Emilius; and Macedonia, in confequence of that victory, was added to the provinces of the Ro man empire.

IV. The kingdom of Thrace and Bithynia, &c.

This fourth kingdom, composed of several separate provinces, very remote from one another, had not any f * 3725. £3724. * 3726. h 3728.

A. M. 3710.

fucceffion

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fucceffion of princes, and did not long fubfift in its first condition: Lyfimachus, who first obtained it, having been killed in a battle after a reign of twenty years, and all his family being exterminated by affaffinations, his dominions were difmembered, and no longer constituted one kingdom.

Befides the provinces which were divided among the captains of Alexander, there were others which had been either formed before, or were then erected into different and independent Grecian ftates, whofe power greatly increased in procefs of time.

Kings of Bithynia.

Whilft Alexander was extending his conquefts in the Eaft, Zypethes had laid the foundations of the kingdom of Bithynia. It is not certain who this Zypethes was, unless we may conjecture with Paufanias, that he was a Thracian. His fucceffors however are better known.

Nicomedes I. This prince invited the Gauls to affift him against his brother, with whom he was engaged in

a war.

Prufias I.

Prufias II. Surnamed the Hunter, in whofe court Hannibal took refuge, and affifted him with his counfels, in his war againft Eumenes II. king of Pergamus. Nicomedes II. was killed by his fon Socrates.

Nicomedes III. was affifted by the Romans in his wars with Mithridates, and bequeathed to them at his death the kingdom of Bithynia, as a teftimonial of his gratitude to them: by which means thefe territories became a Roman province.

Kings of Pergamus.

This kingdom comprehended only one of the small, eft provinces of Myfia, on the coaft of the Agean sea againft the island of Lefbos.

This kingdom was founded by Philatera, an eunuch who had been a fervant to Docima, a commander of the troops of Antigonus. Lyfimachus confided to him the trcafures he had depofited in the caftle of the city of Pergamus, and he became mafter both of these and the city after the death of that prince. He governed this little fovereignty for the space of twenty years, and then left it to Eumenes his nephew.

Eumenes I. enlarged his principality, by the addition of feveral cities, which he took from the kings of Syria, having defeated Antiochus, the son of Seleucus, in a battle. He reigned twelve years.

He was fucceeded by Attalus I. his coufin-german, who affumed the title of king, after he had conquered the Galatians; and he tranfmitted his dominions to his pofterity, who enjoyed them to the third generation. He affifted the Romans in their war with Philip, and died after a reign of forty-three years. He left four fons.

His fucceffor was Eumenes II. his eldest fon, who founded the famous library of Pergamus. He reigned thirty-nine years, and left the crown to his brother Attalus, in quality of guardian to one of his fons, whom he had by Stratonice, the fifter of Ariarathes king of Cappadocia. The Romans enlarged his dominions confiderably, after the victory they obtained over Antiochus the Great.

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Attalus II. efpoufed Stratonice his brother's widow, and took extraordinary care of his nephew, to whom he left the crown, after he had worn it twenty-one years.

* Attalus III. furnamed Philometer, diftinguished himfelf by his barbarous and extravagant conduct. He died after he had reigned five years, and bequeathed his riches and dominions to the Romans.

1Ariftonicus, who claimed the fucceffion,endeavoured to defend his pretenfions against the Romans, but the kingdom of Pergamus was reduced, after a war of four years, into a Roman province.

iA. M. 3845. Ant. J. C. 159. kA. M. 3866. Ant. J. C. 133. · A. M. 3871. Ant. J. C. 138.

Kings of Pontus.

The kingdom of Pontus in Afia Minor was anciently difmembered from the monarchy of Perfia, by Darius the fon of Hyftafpes, in favour of Artabazus, who is faid, by fome hiftorians, to have been the fon of one of those Perfian lords who confpired against the Magi.

Pontus is a region of Asia Minor, and is fituated partly. along the coaft of the Euxine fea (Pontus Euxinus) from which it derives its name. It extends as far as the river Halys, and even to Colchis. Several princes reigned in that country fince Artabazus.

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The fixth monarch was Mithridates I. who is properly confidered as the founder of the kingdom of Pontus, and his name was affumed by the generality of his fucceffors.

He was fucceeded by his fon Ariobarzanes, who had governed Phrygia under Artaxerxes Mnemon, and reigned twenty-fix years.

His fucceffor was Mithridates II. Antigonus fufpecting, in confequence of a dream, that he favoured Caffander, had determined to deftroy him, but he eluded the danger by flight. This prince was called Krisn5 or The Founder, and reigned thirty-five years.

Mithridates III. fucceeded him, added Cappadocia and Paphlagonia to his dominions, and reigned thirtyfix

years.

After the reigns of two other kings, Mithridates, the great grandfather of Mithridates the Great, afcended the throne, and efpoufed a daughter of Seleucus Callinicus, king of Syria, by whom he had Laodice, who was married to Antiochus the Great.

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He was fucceeded by his fon Pharnaces, who had fome difagreement with the kings of Pergamus. He

m A. M. 3490. Ant. J. C. 514. A. M. 3641. Ant. J. C. 363. 1A. M. 3702. Ant. J. C. 302.

n A. M 3600. Ant. J. C. 404. PA. M. 3667. Ant. J. C. 337A. M. 3819. Ant. J. C. 185.

made

made himself master of Sinope, which afterwards became the capital of the kingdom of Pontus.

After him reigned Mithridates V. and the firft who was called a friend to the Romans, because he had affifted them against the Carthaginians in the first Punic war.

He was fucceeded by his fon Mithridates VI. furnamed Eupater. This is the great Mithridates who fuftained fo long a war with the Romans, and reigned fixtyfix years.

Kings of Cappadocia.

Strabo informs us, that Cappadocia was divided into two fatrapies, or governments, under the Perfians, as it alfo was under the Macedonians. The maritime part of Cappadocia formed the kingdom of Pontus: the other tracts conftituted Cappadocia properly fo called, or the Cappadocia Major, which extends along Mount Taurus, and to a great diftance beyond it

"When Alexander's captains divided the provincesof his empire among themfelves, Cappadocia was governed by a prince named Ariarathes. Perdiccas attacked and defeated him, after which he caused him to be flain..

His fon Ariarathes re-entered the kingdom of his father fome time after this event, and established himself fo effectually, that he left it to his pofterity.

The generality of his fucceffors affumed the fame name, and will have their place in the feries of the hiftory..

Cappadocia, after the death of Archelaus, the last of its kings, became a province of the Roman empire, as« the reft of Afia alfo did much about the fame time.

Kings of Armenia.

Armenia, a vaft country of Afia, extending on each fide of the Euphrates, was conquered by the Persians:

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Strab. 1. xii. p. 534.

A. M. 3880. Ant. J. C. 124.
"A, M. 3682. Ant, J. C. 322.

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