The Many Schemes of Mithridates the Great at Cappadocia. For a long while, the Kingdom of Pontus wanted to expand its control in Anatolia, especially in the southern region of Cappadocia. This was problematic as, already in the 2nd century BC, the Romans were a Mediterranean hegemon, and strictly speaking, nothing went without their say-so. But by God, they were going to try. The first major success came when Mithridates' father took advantage of a moment of instability in Anatolia—an anti-Roman rebellion—to invade Cappadocia and basically force a marriage alliance between the king and his eldest daughter (Laodice), which he used to gain direct control over the kingdom. Since this was not a conquest but merely a marriage "alliance," and he was also helping the Romans to restore order in Anatolia, this scheme faced no real objection from them. Unfortunately, after the death of the father, the Cappadocian king (Ariarathes), wife or not, decided to reassert his independence. So, our son and protagonist, Mithridates VI Eupator (the Great)—also known as the "Poison King"—had him poisoned and had Cappadocia ruled by his wife, with strict encouragement from his liaison, Gordius. Yet for some bizarre reason, Mithridates' sister did not take kindly to the murder of her husband and to the new order of things. So, after some scheming of her own, she had the king Nicomedes of the neighboring kingdom of Bithynia invade and marry her, driving Mithridates' men out. Mithridates of course decided to help against this "unjust" invasion by Bithynia into Cappadocia by sending his own army to preserve the "independence" of the kingdom. And so he did just that, driving out the invading king and effectively removing his sister (the rightful queen) from power (and the country). He then placed her young son from her previous marriage, Ariarathes VII Philometor (meaning "mother-loving"), on the throne as his new puppet. Yet showing perhaps a family tendency, the young son did not take kindly to the murder of his father and the exile of his mother. Philometor as he is, he reasserted his independence against the uncle. Mithridates responded to this unexpected turn of affairs by requesting a diplomatic meeting between the two kings, hoping that a non-military solution might be found. At the start of the meeting, as Mithridates was being searched for weaponry by the young king's guard, the guard felt around his groin area. Mithridates joked that the guard might find a different weapon than what he was looking for if this continued. The guard relented, and as the historian Justin tells us, Mithridates "having thus covered his treachery with a joke," drew his nephew aside. As the two kings faced each other, Mithridates pulled a hidden dagger from his groin and killed his nephew. After which, he placed his 8 year old child on the throne of Cappadocia instead, thus finally securing control of it. Except not. For now the Romans arrived on the scene, requesting very firmly that attempts to take control of Cappadocia stop immediately, with Gaius Marius himself stating that Mithridates had two options: either to become stronger than Rome or to do what it commands. Mithridates, not being actually stronger than Rome, despondently relented and backed out of Cappadocia, with the locals electing a new king for themselves, some local noble named Ariobarzanes. Knowing that in politics the shortest distance between two points is rarely a straight line, Mithridates turned to the east in order to expand west. He married his daughter, Cleopatra of Pontus, to the up-and-coming king of Armenia, Tigranes the Great. Together, they planned to have Armenia invade Cappadocia with covert Pontic assistance. The Armenian armies successfully overran Cappadocia and drove Ariobarzanes out, installing the previous king (Mithridates' young son) in his place. Mithridates, in turn, could face the Romans and plead complete innocence to the whole affair. After all, it was not him, but a completely unrelated Armenian invasion that caused this turn of events and just happened to install the previous monarch, who was, coincidentally, his son. Unfortunately, the Romans were not having this. They sent an army to push back against the new Cappadocian puppet, causing things to snowball for Mithridates and leading directly to a confrontation with Rome. The Mithridatic Wars.

The kids usually didnt all get raised together but by their own mothers, her family and circle with the father being the main commonality. In actual large harems this sibling relation could be very impersonal, these half siblings basically being strangers.

Japanese had a phase meaning "attacking the secondary wife" going back 1000 years because this was so common. It was expected that the primary wife would assert authority or end up submitting in turn to a secondary wife. Physical fights and constant scheming.