[1] Like his brother Archelaus, Neoptolemus was a Cappadocian Greek nobleman,[2] possibly of Macedonian descent from unknown parents.
Prior to the First Mithridatic War, Neoptolemus and his brother had gained military experience in the Pontic campaigns on the northern shores of the Black Sea.
[5] In 88 BC, as a part of the First Mithridatic War, Neoptolemus and his brother were involved in a military campaign with the Pontic army against King Nicomedes IV of Bithynia.
[5] With these two victories Mithridates VI was able to extend his control of the Roman Province of Asia, and his generals took the war to Greece.
He commanded the Pontic forces around Chalcis, where he suffered defeat from the Roman Munatius, losing 1,500 men.