- into power.

When Rome became occupied in the Social war, Mithridates took the opportunity to ally with Tigranes I of Armenia. With the death of Nicomedes III and the accession of his son Nicomedes IV, Mithridates and Tigranes unseated Ariobarzanes from Cappadocia and, after an assassination attempt failed, expelled Nicomedes IV from Bithynia.