# Artoces

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**Artoces** was a king (*[mepe](/source/Mepe_(title))*) of [Iberia](/source/Kingdom_of_Iberia_(antiquity)) ([Kartli](/source/Kartli), eastern [Georgia](/source/Georgia_(country))) from 78 to 63 BC. He features in the [Classical](/source/Classical_antiquity) accounts of the [Third Mithridatic War](/source/Third_Mithridatic_War) ([Appian](/source/Appian), *Bell. Mithr.* 103, 117; [Cassius Dio](/source/Cassius_Dio) 37.1-2; [Eutropius](/source/Eutropius_(historian)) 6.14 [Artaces]; [Festus](/source/Festus_(historian)) 16; [Orosius](/source/Paulus_Orosius) 6.4.8) and is identified with the **Artag** (Georgian: *[არტაგ](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/en%3A%E1%83%90%E1%83%A0%E1%83%A2%E1%83%90%E1%83%92)*), **Arik** (არიკ), **Rok** (როკ), or **Aderk** (ადერკ), of the medieval Georgian annals.[1][2]

According to the Georgian historic tradition, he was the son and successor of [Artaxias I](/source/Artaxias_I_of_Iberia) of the [Artaxiads](/source/Artaxiad_dynasty_of_Iberia). The medieval Georgian account of his reign is brief and focuses on the devastation of his kingdom at the hands of [Iranians](/source/Parthia) while the Classical sources much closer to the period in question contain a detailed description of Artoces's war with [Rome](/source/Ancient_Rome) on the side of [Mithridates VI of Pontus](/source/Mithridates_VI_of_Pontus) and [Tigranes of Armenia](/source/Tigranes_the_Great).

Alarmed by the Roman occupation of the neighboring [Albania](/source/Caucasian_Albania), Artoces promised peace and friendship; but the Roman commander [Pompey](/source/Pompey), informed that he was secretly arming so as to fall upon the Romans on their march in the passes of the [Caucasus](/source/Caucasus), [advanced](/source/Pompey's_Georgian_campaign) in March 65 BC, before resuming the pursuit of Mithridates, to the Iberian strongholds of [Harmozica](/source/Harmozica) and [Seusamora](/source/Tsitsamuri). Artoces, caught by surprise, hastily burnt the bridge over the [Cyrus](/source/Kura_(Caspian_Sea)) and retreated further in his forested country. Pompey occupied the fortresses and crossed the river, but met a fierce resistance by the Iberian army. Artokes had lost 9 000 dead and 10 000 captured in the fight.[3] In the end, the Romans prevailed, and, when Artoces saw the Pelorus river, apparently the modern [Aragvi](/source/Aragvi), also crossed by Pompey, he surrendered, and sent his children as hostages.[4]

## References

1. [Toumanoff, Cyril](/source/Toumanoff,_Cyril). Chronology of the Early Kings of Iberia. *Traditio* 25 (1969), p. 11.

1. [Rapp, Stephen H.](/source/Stephen_H._Rapp_Jr) (2003), *Studies In Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts And Eurasian Contexts*, pp. 282-283. Peeters Bvba ISBN 90-429-1318-5.

1. Goldsworthy, Adrian Keith (2006). *Kejsare och generaler: männen bakom Roms framgångar* (in Swedish). Lund: Historiska media. p. 180. ISBN 978-91-85057-70-2.

1. [*Roman History by Cassius Dio*](https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/37*.html), Book XXXVII, pp. 99-101. Published in Vol. V of the [Loeb Classical Library](/source/Loeb_Classical_Library) edition, 1917.

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