Arkathias II c. 93/90-90/89 BC (Kov 31-32)

Arkathias (BNP 1, 972) was the favorite son of Mithradates VI Eupator of Pontus (120-63 BC) and brother-in-law of Tigranes II who married his sister Cleopatra ca. 94 BC. Arkathias is not mentioned in the sources as king or satrap although he may well have exercised such authority in Armenia Minor and parts of Sophene where his coins are found. It is from Armenia Minor that he led 10,000 cavalry to the initial battle of the Mithradatic War (Appian 17), having made his reputation as an excellent field commander by the age of twenty or twenty-one. After campaigning in Macedon and Thrace in 87 BC, Arkathias became ill and died the following year in Thessaly, at about twenty three years of age. Arkathias's coins are crudely engraved and extremely rare. The dichalkon is known only from an unfinished reverse die which bears no inscription. Arkathias's dies continue in use for the first series struck by his brother Mithradates Philopator (Kov. #’s 33-34). Considering the numismatic evidence, Arkathias reigned a short time, months or even weeks, leaving abruptly to aid his father. and assigning his brother to govern in his stead. Arkathias may also be responsible for the countermark "APKA'' on Tigranes’s Nisibis bronze coins (Kov. #64) which have been found at both Nisibis and Uctepe (Tekin 1992, 46-48).

Kovacs, Frank L. “Armenian Coinage in the Classical Period” CNS 10, Classical Numismatic Group, Lancaster, 2016, pp. 5.