Dear Editor,
Regarding the Letter to the Editor published by Guido Valle et al. in CEJU (2017; 70: 218) with the title of “Mithridates VI Eupator king of Pontus and the venomous snakes” [1] referring to our article entitled “The role of toll-like receptors (TLRs) in urinary tract infections (UTIs)” [2]; some unpleasant accusations like “FAKE STATEMENTS” were expressed by Guido Valle et al. which shall be explained here:
The first author's name is Elham BEHZADI not Elham BEHZADY.
Mithridates VI, as an Iranian king, inherited the Mithridatic kingdom in parallel with the Hellenistic kingdom. Indeed, Mithridates VI revealed his Iranian origin for his people (descended from Ariobarzanes, Darius I (the Achaemenid's Empire) and Cyrus the Great (The King of Kings, The founder of Great Persia (Iran) and Achaemenid Dynasty). Despite a long duration after the Achaemenids defeat, Mithridates VI Eupator of Pontus (Pontos is a Greek term meaning Sea which is referring to The Black Sea) played his role as an autonomous Iranian Satrap through the Hellenistic kingdom. This is due to the fact that Asia Minor as an Achaemenid satrapy was separated from Iran during the Arsacid (Parthian) Empire. In brief, the Mithridatic kingdom was simultaneously run in Pontus and Iran during the governing of the Parthian kingdom in Iran. Mithridates is an Avestan name which comes from the word Mithras (Persian (Iranian) God of light)). That is why Mithridates VI fought several times against the Italian-Roman Imperialism [3, 4, 5]. In our article we wrote “the Parthian (Iranian) King, Mithridates VI (the King of Pontus) was used… [2]”. We never said that he ruled Iran. However, we EMPHASIZE that Mithridates VI was an Iranian king who governed the Pontic kingdom [3, 4].
“There are several herbal and animal toxins which were used by Mithridates VI”. Not all of these toxins were ingested orally. Some of them were used by scratching or rubbing onto the skin. In our paper, we said “Mithridates VI (the King of Pontus) used snake venom to keep …”. We never said that he ate the snake venom [2]!
It seems that Valle et al. [1] have insufficient knowledge regarding the subject.
There are several valuable historical references which can be used by us, but CEJU is a high quality journal relating to Urology and not History. The aim of the authors [2] was to introduce to the authors and readers of CEJU some historical background from Iran in a polite and friendly manner!
References
- 1.Valle G, Carmignani M, Stanislao M, Faccio-russo A, Volpe AR. Mithridates VI Eupator king of Pontus and the venomous snakes. Cent European J Urol. 2017;70:218. doi: 10.5173/ceju.2017.1479. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 2.Behzadi E, Behzadi P. The role of toll-like receptors (TLRs) in urinary tract infections (UTIs) Cent European J Urol. 2016;69:404–410. doi: 10.5173/ceju.2016.871. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 3.McGing B. MITHRIDATES VI. 2009. [online edition: [Available from: http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/mithridates-vi-eupator-dionysos. [Google Scholar]
- 4.Badi A-M. Les Grecs et les Barbares (Translated into Persian. 2nd ed. Tehran: Toos; 2006. [Google Scholar]
- 5.Harper D. Online Etymology Dictionary 2001-2017. book. [Available from: http://www.etymonline.com/ [Google Scholar]