Adobogiona was a Celtic Galatia

Galatia

Ancient Galatia was an area in the highlands of central Anatolia in modern Turkey. Galatia was named for the immigrant Gauls from Thrace , who settled here and became its ruling caste in the 3rd century BC, following the Gallic invasion of the Balkans in 279 BC. It has been called the "Gallia" of...

n princess from Anatolia

Anatolia

Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...

. She was the daughter of Deiotarus

Deiotarus

Deiotarus of Galatia was a Chief Tetrarch of the Tolistobogii at Western Galatia, Asia Minor, and a King of Galatia at Anatolia, Asia Minor. He was considered one of the most adept of Celtic kings, ruling the three tribes of Celtic Galatia from his fortress in Blucium...

 and sister to Brogitarus from the Tolistobogii

Tolistobogii

Tolistobogii is the name used by the Roman historian, Livy, for one of the three ancient Celtic tribes of Galatia in central Asia Minor, together with the Trocmi and Tectosages...

 tribe. Her cousin was the King Deiotarus, a Roman client king of the triumvir Pompey

Pompey

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

.

Adobogiona married a wealthy patrician citizen from Pergamon

Pergamon

Pergamon , or Pergamum, was an ancient Greek city in modern-day Turkey, in Mysia, today located from the Aegean Sea on a promontory on the north side of the river Caicus , that became the capital of the Kingdom of Pergamon during the Hellenistic period, under the Attalid dynasty, 281–133 BC...

 called Menodotus. At some point, Adobogiona was rescued from poisoning at a banquet and became a mistress to 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...

. Adobogiona bore Mithridates VI two children: a son called Mithridates I of the Bosporus

Mithridates I of the Bosporus

Mithridates I of the Bosporus sometimes known as Mithridates II of the Bosporan and Mithridates of Pergamon , was a nobleman from Anatolia. Mithridates was one of the sons born to King Mithridates VI of Pontus from his mistress, the Galatian Celtic Princess Adobogiona. He also had a full blooded...

 and a daughter called Adobogiona. She was honoured by a surviving inscription discovered on the island of Lesbos and a portrait head of her has been discovered at Pergamon

Pergamon

Pergamon , or Pergamum, was an ancient Greek city in modern-day Turkey, in Mysia, today located from the Aegean Sea on a promontory on the north side of the river Caicus , that became the capital of the Kingdom of Pergamon during the Hellenistic period, under the Attalid dynasty, 281–133 BC...

.

Sources

• S. Mitchell, Anatolia: Land, Men and Gods in Asia Minor, Vol. I (1956).
• A. Mayor, "The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy" Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009, ISBN 978-0-691-12683-8