<P> In 255 BC, Ariarathes III took the title of king and married Stratonice, a daughter of Antiochus II, remaining an ally of the Seleucid kingdom . Under Ariarathes IV, Cappadocia came into relations with Rome, first as a foe espousing the cause of Antiochus the Great, then as an ally against Perseus of Macedon and finally in a war against the Seleucids . Ariarathes V also waged war with Rome against Aristonicus, a claimant to the throne of Pergamon, and their forces were annihilated in 130 BC . This defeat allowed Pontus to invade and conquer the kingdom . </P> <P> The Kingdom of Pontus was a Hellenistic kingdom on the southern coast of the Black Sea . It was founded by Mithridates I in 291 BC and lasted until its conquest by the Roman Republic in 63 BC . Despite being ruled by a dynasty which was a descendant of the Persian Achaemenid Empire it became hellenized due to the influence of the Greek cities on the Black Sea and its neighboring kingdoms . Pontic culture was a mix of Greek and Iranian elements; the most hellenized parts of the kingdom were on the coast, populated by Greek colonies such as Trapezus and Sinope, the latter of which became the capital of the kingdom . Epigraphic evidence also shows extensive Hellenistic influence in the interior . During the reign of Mithridates II, Pontus was allied with the Seleucids through dynastic marriages . By the time of Mithridates VI Eupator, Greek was the official language of the kingdom, though Anatolian languages continued to be spoken . </P> <P> The kingdom grew to its largest extent under Mithridates VI, who conquered Colchis, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, Bithynia, Lesser Armenia, the Bosporan Kingdom, the Greek colonies of the Tauric Chersonesos and, for a brief time, the Roman province of Asia . Mithridates VI, himself of mixed Persian and Greek ancestry, presented himself as the protector of the Greeks against the' barbarians' of Rome styling himself as "King Mithridates Eupator Dionysus" and as the "great liberator". Mithridates also depicted himself with the anastole hairstyle of Alexander and used the symbolism of Herakles, from whom the Macedonian kings claimed descent . After a long struggle with Rome in the Mithridatic wars, Pontus was defeated; part of it was incorporated into the Roman Republic as the province of Bithynia, while Pontus' eastern half survived as a client kingdom . </P> <P> Orontid Armenia formally passed to the empire of Alexander the Great following his conquest of Persia . Alexander appointed an Orontid named Mithranes to govern Armenia . Armenia later became a vassal state of the Seleucid Empire, but it maintained a considerable degree of autonomy, retaining its native rulers . Towards the end 212 BC the country was divided into two kingdoms, Greater Armenia and Armenia Sophene, including Commagene or Armenia Minor . The kingdoms became so independent from Seleucid control that Antiochus III the Great waged war on them during his reign and replaced their rulers . </P>

Which of the following flourished during the hellenistic age