Mithrapata

 ( Lycians ) 

Mithrapāta (c. 390–370 BC) was dynast of Lycia in the early 4th century BC, at a time when this part of Anatolia was subject to the Persian, or Achaemenid, Empire.

Present-day knowledge of Lycia in the period of classical antiquity comes mostly from archaeology, in which this region is unusually rich. Believed to have been based at Antiphellus, Mithrapata is known to have competed for power with another man named Artumpara.D. T. Potts, A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (2012), p. 912: "...c. 380–370 BC, two western Lycian dynasts named Arttumpara and Mithrapata claimed power simultaneously."

The name of Mithrapata, which is of Persian origin, is known from Lycian coins and also from inscriptions.Lisbeth S. Fried, The Priest and the Great King: Temple-palace Relations in the Persian Empire (Eisenbrauns, 2004), p. 150 During the fifth and fourth centuries B.C., the Lycian nobility was using Persian names,Muhammad A. Dandamaev, Vladimir G. Lukonin, The Culture and Social Institutions of Ancient Iran (2004), p. 300 so Mithrapata may have been one of them. However, it has also been suggested that he may have been a Persian sent to rule Lycia by Artaxerxes II.Trevor Bryce, Jan Zahle, The Lycians: The Lycians in literary and epigraphic sources (1986), p. 162

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Coinage Together with Pericles, Mithrapata was the last ruler of Lycia to issue coins. After about 360 BC, the region of Lycia was taken over by the Carians dynast Mausolus.

As with Pericles, the portrait of Mithrapata seen on his coins does not show him wearing the head-dress of an Achaemenid satrap, which suggests a degree of independence from the Achaemenid Empire. His name appears in the Greek alphabet as "Methrapata".

File:DYNASTS of LYCIA. Mithrapata Circa 390-370 BC.jpg|Coin of Mithrapata, c. 390-370 BC File:DYNASTS of LYCIA. Mithrapata. Circa 390-370 BC.jpg|Coin of Mithrapata, c. 390-370 BC

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