Jack-of-All-‘Saves’

Using existing Greek and Persian traditions, Mithradates presented himself as a savior of the Helleno-Persian world against an encroaching threat from the West: Rome. The Helleno-Persian King achieved this by embodying “messianic” traditions that existed within both cultures: the Eastern savior-king and the Greek divine-redeemer. <img alt="" src="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/1*Zwuk0RZfndSaeXxfsp59Hg.png" style="height:505px; width:700px" /> Young Mithradates as Hercules freeing Prometheus, marble sculpture group, Pergamon. Berlin, Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz/Art Resource, NY. For the Perso-Anatolians, he was cast as a political messiah sent by God to punish the wicked. Mithradates’ star-signaling birth was said to fulfil Persian prophecies of a coming savior from the East, as did his name, “Mithras-sent.” <a href="https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/jack-of-all-saves-13cf48608d52">Website</a>