Revisiting the purpose of the embassy of Naaman and Mahes to Rome, or to the prosopography of the Pontic kingdom

The interest of the research was focused on a travertine block with a bilingual inscription in Latin and Greek carved on behalf of Mithridates IV Philopator Philadelphus, a ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus. The artifact could be a fragment of a monument of the 2nd - 1st cc. BCE located near the Temple of Capitoline Jupiter in Rome. It is noteworthy that the royal ambassadors are mentioned in the inscription: Naiman, son of Naaman and Mahes, son of Mahes. Judging by the results of the study of sacred texts and mythology, the first of them came from Judea, and the second was a native of Egypt. The reason why the Pontic king has sent the embassy was that he intended to inform the Senate and the people of Rome about his contacts with the Hasmoneans as well as with the autochthonous elite in the Ptolemaic state and thereby increase his authority.