Drypetina, ''Dripetrua'' (died c. 66 BC) was a devoted daughter of King

Mithridates VI of Pontus Mithridates or Mithradates VI Eupator (; 135–63 BC) was the ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus in northern Anatolia from 120 to 63 BC, and one of the Roman Republic's most formidable and determined opponents. He was an effective, ambitious, and r ...

and his sister-wife

Laodice Laodice (meaning "people-justice") may refer to: Greek mythology *''see Laodice (Greek myth)'' * Laodice (daughter of Priam), a princess of Troy * Laodice, daughter of Agamemnon, sometimes conflated with Electra * Laodice, one of the Hyperborean m ...

Biography

Her name is the diminutive form of the name of

Drypetis Drypetis (died 323 BCE) was the daughter of Stateira I and Darius III of Persia. Drypetis was born between 350 and 345 BCE, and, along with her sister Stateira II, was a princess of the Achaemenid dynasty. Capture and marriage When Darius III ...

, daughter of the Achaemenid king

Darius III Darius III ( ; ; – 330 BC) was the thirteenth and last Achaemenid King of Kings of Persia, reigning from 336 BC to his death in 330 BC. Contrary to his predecessor Artaxerxes IV Arses, Darius was a distant member of the Achaemenid dynasty. ...

. She had a double row of teeth. According to

Ammianus Marcellinus Ammianus Marcellinus, occasionally anglicized as Ammian ( Greek: Αμμιανός Μαρκελλίνος; born , died 400), was a Greek and Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from antiquit ...

, during the

Third Mithridatic War The Third Mithridatic War (73–63 BC), the last and longest of the three Mithridatic Wars, was fought between Mithridates VI of Pontus and the Roman Republic. Both sides were joined by a great number of allies, dragging the entire east of th ...

, Drypetina, severely ill, was left behind in the fortress of Sinora under the protection of the eunuch Menophilus. When the Roman forces under Mallius Priscus besieged the fortress, Menophilus killed the princess to prevent her from being captured by the Romans and then committed suicide
Amm. Marc. XVI.7.10
. She appears in ''

De Mulieribus Claris ''De Mulieribus Claris'' or ''De Claris Mulieribus'' (Latin for "Concerning Famous Women") is a collection of biographies of historical and mythological women by the Florentine author Giovanni Boccaccio, composed in Latin prose in 1361–1362. ...

'' by

Giovanni Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio ( , ; ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian people, Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanism, Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so ...

as "Dripetrua, queen of Laodicea".

Notes

References

* {{cite book, last1=Mayor, first1=Adrienne, title=The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy, date=2011, publisher=Princeton University Press, isbn=978-0691150260 Ancient Persian people Iranian people of Greek descent 1st-century BC Iranian people 1st-century BC women 66 BC deaths Mithridatic dynasty Children of Mithridates VI Eupator Daughters of kings