The death of Ariobarzanes III: reasons and circumstances

After Caesar's assassination, a new civil war broke out in Rome, engulfing the Roman possessions in the East. The involvement of the Cappadocian kingdom in the conflict is not well-documented, with limited and conflicting information available. Appian and Dio Cassius, two main sources describing events in the Roman East during the Liberators' civil war of 43-42 BCE, disagreed on the circumstances of Cappadocian king Ariobarzanes III's demise. Researchers have made many assumptions about the causes of what happened. Nevertheless, this article takes a new perspective on Ariobarzanes' death circumstances by combining the information from both main sources and considering the internal political situation in Cappadocia. The author hypothesises that the downfall of the Cappadocian ruler could be attributed to political plotting, potentially involving his sibling Ariarathes, Galatian tetrarch Deiotarus, and Roman magistrates Brutus and Cassius. What emerges is that Cassius' cavalry captured Ariobarzanes in late summer - early autumn 43 BCE after Cassius' victory over Dolabella. Then the Roman magistrate decided to execute his prisoner in the spring of 42 BCE after his meeting with Brutus in Smyrna and defeating the Rhodians. Based on the material reviewed, the article concludes that the last members of the Ariobarzanid dynasty were deeply concerned about the internal political struggle. That is why they had no close ties with any of the main participants of the Liberators' civil war. These circumstances were one of the catalysts for the death of Ariobarzanes III.