Pharnaces II of Pontus, also known as Pharnaces II (Greek: Φαρνάκης; about 97–47 BC) was a prince, then King of Pontus and the Bosporan until his death. He was a monarch of Persian and Greek Macedonian ancestry. Pharnaces II was the youngest son and child born to King Mithridates VI of Pontus from his first wife, his sister Queen Laodice. He was born and raised in the Kingdom of Pontus and was the namesake of his late paternal great grandfather Pharnaces I of Pontus.
Pharnaces II was raised as his father's successor and treated with distinction. However, we know little of his youth from writers of the time and find him first mentioned after Mithridates VI had taken refuge from the Roman General Pompey during the Third Mithridatic War.
Mithridates VI was keen to wage war with the Romans once more, but Pharnaces was less keen, and thus began a plot to remove his father from power. His plans were discovered, but the army, not wishing to engage Pompey and the Roman armies, supported Pharnaces. They marched on Mithridates VI and forced their former king to take his own life in 63 BC.