Machares was a Pontian prince and son 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...

. He was made by his father ruler of the Bosporan Kingdom

Bosporan Kingdom

The Bosporan Kingdom or the Kingdom of the Cimmerian Bosporus was an ancient state, located in eastern Crimea and the Taman Peninsula on the shores of the Cimmerian Bosporus...

 after Mithridates, for the second time, reduced that country, after the short war with the Roman

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...

 Murena

Lucius Licinius Murena

Lucius Licinius Murena was Roman consul in 62 BC. His father had the same name.At the end of the First Mithridatic War, he was left in Asia by Sulla in command of the two legions formerly controlled by Gaius Flavius Fimbria...

, in 80 BC.

In 73 BC, Mithridates, after his defeat by the Romans at Cyzicus

Battle of Cyzicus (74 BC)

The Siege of Cyzicus was fought in 73 BC between armies of Mithridates VI of Pontus and the Roman-allied citizens of Cyzicus in Mysia and Roman Republican forces under Lucius Licinius Lucullus. It was a decisive Roman victory....

, applied to Machares for succours, which were at the time readily furnished; but two years afterwards the repeated disasters

Third Mithridatic War

The Third Mithridatic War was the last and longest of three Mithridatic Wars fought between Mithridates VI of Pontus and his allies and the Roman Republic...

 of Mithridates proved too much for the fidelity of Machares, and he sent an embassy to the Roman general Lucullus

Lucullus

Lucius Licinius Lucullus , was an optimate politician of the late Roman Republic, closely connected with Sulla Felix...

 with a present of a crown of gold, and requested to be admitted to terms of alliance with Rome. This was readily granted by Lucullus; and as a proof of his sincerity, Machares furnished the Roman general with supplies and assistance in the siege of Sinope

Sinop, Turkey

Sinop is a city with a population of 36,734 on İnce Burun , by its Cape Sinop which is situated on the most northern edge of the Turkish side of Black Sea coast, in the ancient region of Paphlagonia, in modern-day northern Turkey, historically known as Sinope...

. But when Mithridates, after his defeat by Pompey

Pompey

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

, adopted the daring resolution of marching with his army to the Bosporus, and renewing the contest from thence, Machares became alarmed for the consequences of his defection; and on learning the actual approach of his father, in 65 BC, fled to the city of Chersonesus, where he soon after, despairing of pardon, committed suicide. Cassius Dio, on the contrary, relates that Mithridates deceived him with promises of safety, and then put him to death.

Source

• Mayor, A. The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome’s deadliest enemy, Princeton University Press, 2009