Misplaced Pages

#86913

80-519: The wars began over Pontus and Rome backing differing kings of Cappadocia and Bithynia . The conflicts ended with the death of Mithridates in 63 BCE and the annexation of Pontus and Syria into Rome. The Kingdom of Armenia and the Bosporan Kingdom ruled by Mithridates's son, Pharnaces II became allied client states of Rome after the conclusion of the wars. The bellum Mithridaticum ("Mithridatic War") referred in official Roman circles to

160-744: A calculated response to the Roman declaration of war. They were meant to force cities to take a side: "no city that did his bidding now could ever hope to be received back into Roman allegiance". The killings took place probably in the first half of the year 88 BC. Valerius Maximus and Memnon indicate a death toll of approximately 80,000; Plutarch claims – "less credibly" – a death toll of 150,000. The reported numbers, according to fragments of Dio, are however probably exaggerated. They were planned, with Mithridates writing secretly to regional satraps and leaders to kill all Italian residents (along with wives, children, and freedmen of Italian birth) thirty days after

240-601: A commission. Facing Roman demands for withdrawal, Mithridates complied and had his own puppet king of Bithynia executed. However, the reinstalled kings of Cappadocia and Bithynia were faced with a Roman bill for their restoration. Unable to find the funds, the Romans encouraged them to invade Pontus. This was a "disastrous and fatal miscalculation". Mithridates responded to the provocation by invading Cappadocia and Bithynia. Manius Aquillius attempted to raise troops from Bithynia and also called upon reinforcements under Gaius Cassius,

320-439: A dispute over Cappadocia : Nicomedes sent a garrison into the country and married its dowager queen, Laodice . After Mithridates attempted to assassinate the king of Cappadocia, Ariarathes VII Philometor , Ariarathes went to war. Mithridates invaded with a large army and killed Ariarathes, installing his own son – Ariarathes IX – c.  101 BC . Mithridates attempted to sway the Romans into accepting his conquests but

400-490: A force to seize the sacred treasury stored at Delos which was still loyal to Rome. Apeilicon sacked the island of Delos , killing approximately 100,000 of its inhabitants before enslaving any left alive. Apeilicon seized the wealth kept on the island, particularly the sacred Treasury of the temple of Apollo the island was famous for before returning to Athens. Sulla landed in Epirus in 87 BCE, before marching on Athens which

480-603: A large fleet that scoured the Aegean of Romans. Pontic forces occupied many vacated parts of the Hellenic world. Mithridates subverted the city of Athens , making use of his partisans there, including the peripatetic philosophers. He could not, however, despite maximum effort, take the port of Rhodes, as the Rhodians were master mariners, on whose ships the Romans had redesigned their own. When Sulla's men finally arrived to conduct

560-485: A naval blockade of Bosporan Crimea to wear down Mithridates, before he marched south into Syria where Armenia held lands, he seized important cities across the region like Antioch . In 63 BCE, he took cities like Damascus before involving himself in a civil war in Judea to establish it as a client state under Rome. In 63 BCE, Mithridates retreated to the citadel at Panticapaeum where he would try to gather forces to fight

640-670: A result of the double role the clergy played, they were the highest in power after the king himself. In imitation of their larger, western neighbors, the Seleucids and Attalids , the Cappadocian kings Hellenized various aspects of the kingdom on purpose. Both the members of the Ariarathid as well as that of the Ariobarzanid houses would receive a Greek education, and adopted Hellenic titles, such as basileus , instead of

720-489: A siege of Athens, all mainland Greece had rallied to the Roman cause. A series of conflicts known as the Mithridatic Wars followed. The precise date of the massacre is disputed by modern historians, who have written about the question at length. A. N. Sherwin-White places the event in late 89 or early 88 BC. Ernst Badian , saying "precision seems impossible", places it in the first half of 88 BC, no later than

800-516: The Battle of Zela , which the Romans lost, suffering 7,000 casualties, 24 tribunes, and 150 centurions. The loss forced the Romans to withdraw from Pontus, restoring Mithridates to fully control his Kingdom once again. In the winter of 67 BCE, while still sieging Nisibis, Lucullus faced unrest from his soldiers after continuously fighting throughout the war. Lucullus convinced his troops to stay loyal but agreed to march back to Asia Minor and only protect

880-453: The Greek term strategiai , and each of them were headed by the strategos , basically an important noble. The eleven satrapies were; Melitene , Cataonia , Cilicia , Tyanitis, Garsauritis, Laouiansene, Sargarausene, Saraouene, Chamanene , Morimene , and Cilicia Tracheia. Cilicia Tracheia, the eleventh and last satrapy, was added later to the kingdom. Control over the lands of the kingdom

SECTION 10

#1732765589087

960-670: The Kingdom of Pontus , who orchestrated the massacre in an attempt to rid Asia Minor of Roman influence. An estimated 80,000 people were killed during the episode. The incident served as the casus belli or immediate cause of the First Mithridatic War between the Roman Republic and the Kingdom of Pontus. In the 100s BC, Mithridates had continued to avoid confrontation with the Roman republic, which itself

1040-484: The Social war , Mithridates took the opportunity to ally with Tigranes I of Armenia . With the death of Nicomedes III and the accession of his son Nicomedes IV , Mithridates and Tigranes unseated Ariobarzanes from Cappadocia and, after an assassination attempt failed, expelled Nicomedes IV from Bithynia. When news reached Rome, the senate decreed that both kings were to be restored and dispatched Manius Aquillius to lead

1120-757: The Third Mithridatic War . The Third Mithridatic War (74–63 BCE). The Roman forces were mainly led by Lucius Licinius Lucullus (75–66 BCE) and then by Pompey (66–63 BCE). Several states were drawn into the war through alliances on both Roman and Pontic sides, like the Kingdom of Armenia on Mithridates's side. The war started when the King of Bithynia, an allied client state of Rome, died in 74 BCE and granted his kingdom to Rome in his will, Mithridates launched an invasion as this would mean Rome only gained more influence in Asia Minor. Mithridates launched

1200-540: The magus Sagarios at Ariaramneia , and Ahura Mazda at Arebsum. In enclosures, known as Pyraitheia , there was worship in the name of the Zoroastrian religion. Regarding these Pyraitheia , he furthermore relates that "... in their midst there is an altar, on which there is a large quantity of ashes and where the magi keep the fire ever burning." Initially, the kingdom was organized in ten satrapies . Later, this became eleven. The satrapies were called by

1280-640: The Achaemenid kings. By blood, he was related to the ruling Achaemenid house ("Cyrus and Darius’ Seven") as well as other satraps. When Alexander of Macedon invaded Cappadocia as part of his conquest of the Persian Empire, he appointed two temporary governors. For the Iranians in Asia Minor, "as perhaps everywhere", the fall of the Achaemenids "meant crisis". With the victory of Alexander and

1360-527: The Aquilian Legation had enforced and was used as justification for war against Mithridates and Pontus, beginning war between Rome and Pontus. The First Mithridatic War (89–85 BCE) resulted from Mithridates sending an army into the Roman ally of Cappadocia to remove its senate-supported king. Rome was busy with the Social War and was slow to direct forces eastward to stop Mithridates. One of

1440-482: The Cappadocian kings named newly founded cities after themselves (e.g., Ariaramneia, Ariarathei, Archelais). Furthermore, all three royal houses were "honored" by the Greek poleis . Roughly speaking, Hellenization in the kingdom started slowly from the course of the 3rd century BCE, and quickened in the 2nd. Nevertheless, until the end of the kingdom, all its rulers bore Iranian names. According to Strabo ,

1520-531: The Consuls for the year, Sulla, was dispatched with 5 legions after 18 months of preparations in 87 BCE, the first major force sent by Rome since the start of the war. In 89 BCE, Mithridates continued from occupation of Cappadocia to and moved to Bithynia where he defeated Nicomedes the IV, also occupying the kingdom of Bithynia. Following this, Roman forces in the region marshalled an army to force Mithridates back under

1600-657: The Galatian highlands into Pontus. Cotta began the siege of Heraclea Pontic in 73 BCE; it took two years until the city fell to the Romans in 71 BCE. In 72 BCE, Lucullus marched through Galatia into the Pontic Heartland without fighting the native Galatians who let the Roman force pass without engaging them. Lucullus directed his army to raid the fertile Pontic heartlands, forcing Mithridates to assemble an army of 40,000 near Cabira to fight Lucullus. Lucullus occupied an old fort overlooking Cabira, Mithridates attacked

1680-611: The Hellespont into Pontic-occupied territory. Flaccus was killed by a mutiny within his forces led by Gaius Flavius Fimbria who took control of the Roman force. Flaccus besieged and took the city of Pergamon where Mithridates was at the time, however, he was unable to stop Mithridates from fleeing to safety by sea. Archelaus escaped the city with his forces and engaged Sulla in the battle of Chaeronea in central Boeotia . Mithridates sent another of his generals, Taxiles , with reinforcements for Archelaus. The Pontic force outnumbered

SECTION 20

#1732765589087

1760-522: The IV and Ariobarzanes the I were installed as kings of their respective countries without any fighting. With their goal achieved, the legation left the following winter. Before the legation left, however, Aquillius urged the kings to attack Mithridates to repay loans they had taken out previously to bride senators in supporting their claims. Nicomedes the IV began hostilities with Mithridates in 90 BCE, almost immediately after being installed as king of Bithynia. Nicomedes launched raids into Pontic territory by

1840-984: The Macedonian conquests, the Persian colonists in Cappadocia as well as elsewhere were cut off from their co-religionists in Iran proper. Strabo, who observed them in the Cappadocian Kingdom in the first century BCE, records (XV.3.15) that these "fire kindlers" possessed many "holy places of the Persian Gods", as well as fire temples . The kingdom's domains possessed numerous sanctuaries and temples of various Iranian gods and deities, as well as Iranized deities. On their significant importance, numerous sanctuaries and deities of this category were noted by Strabo. Some of these are Anahita at Castabala ,

1920-472: The Macedonians". Ariarathes I managed to assume power in Cappadocia, becoming the first king of the newly established Kingdom of Cappadocia. Ariarathes's line would provide the first ten kings of the kingdom. After a period of Seleucid overlordship, the Cappadocian Kingdom gained its independence during the reign of Ariarathes III ( c. 255-220 BC). The Ariarathid dynasty was abolished by

2000-601: The Mithridatic Wars is the History of Rome by Livy (59 BCE – CE 17), which consisted of 142 books written between 27 and 9 BCE, dated by internal events: he mentions Augustus, who did not receive the title until 27 BCE, and the last event mentioned is the death of Drusus, 9 BCE. Livy was a close friend of Augustus, to whom he read his work by parts, which means that he had access to records and writings at Rome. He worked mainly in retreat at Naples. Livy

2080-645: The Periocha are C. Manilius tribunus plebis magna indignatione nobilitatis legem tulit, ut Pompeio Mithridaticum bellum mandaretur , "Gaius Manilius, Tribune of the People, carried the law despite the great indignation of the nobility that the Mithridatic War be mandated to Pompey". The "nobility" are the Senate, who usually had the privilege of mandates. There is a possible pun on "great", as Pompey had received

2160-545: The Pontic Kingdom; Murena refused and continued the conflict. Murena was met by a minor Pontic army led by Gordius , one of Mithridates' generals, later in 82 BCE. The Roman and Pontic forces met at the Halys River where they engaged in the ensuing battle of Halys . During the battle the outnumbered Pontic forces stood against superior Roman forces until Mithridates himself arrived with reinforcements, defeating

2240-528: The Pontic Navy. Cotta's forces engaged Mithridates's forces at Chalcedon , where Cotta was positioned with his navy. The Roman defenders sallied out of their defenses to fight the Pontic force. However, the Pontic army outnumbered the Roman one, forcing them to withdraw into the city, with at least 3,000 soldiers killed. After this, Mithridates launched a raid on the harbor, destroying four ships and capturing

2320-485: The Pontic army. Mithridates sent a detachment away with the sick and wounded but they were ambushed by the Romans at the Battle of Rhyndacus . Mithridates broke out in the winter of that year, marching towards Lampsacus ; Lucullus pursued them, further depleting the Pontic army. A Pontic navy led by Marcus Marius , a supporter of Sertorius and advisor to Mithridates, set sail into the Aegean Sea. Lucullus would fight

2400-725: The Pontic side and causing Mithridates to flee to Colchis. Mithridates crossed the Black Sea in the following year, 65 BCE, to the Crimean lands that his eldest son, Machares , held with the support of Rome. After Mithridates landed in Crimea , Machares died, letting Mithridates seize control of the lands from Roman-supported rule. Following the victory at the Lycus, Pompey marched into Armenia and came to terms with Tigranes, making Armenia an allied state of Rome. By 64 BCE, Pompey had established

2480-588: The Roman Senate to plead their cases over the inheritance disputes and influence of Pontus in their kingdoms. Ariobarzanes , a Cappadocian nobleman, also made his case against Ariarathes the IX and was selected as the senate-approved king of Cappadocia. A senatorial legation was dispatched to head east to supplant the Mithridates-backed kings for Roman-favored ones. This legation, the Aquilian Legation,

Mithridatic Wars - Misplaced Pages Continue

2560-402: The Roman one, however, the Romans won the battle, capturing Taxiles and forcing Archelaus to flee with the survivors to Chalcis . While there, Archelaus received reinforcements and returned to mainland Greece where he would engage Sulla again in 85 BCE at the Battle of Orchomenus . Archelaus' force outnumbered the Roman once again, but the Roman force emerged victorious. Archelaus managed to flee

2640-414: The Roman position, starting the Battle of Cabira . Mithridates's initial attack faltered, allowing the Romans to counterattack. The Pontic army broke and retreated before the Roman position. Mithridates fled eastward into Armenia to his son-in-law and ally, King Tigranes II. After Mithridates fled Pontus, Lucullus used the opportunity to secure the kingdom, dispatching forces to occupy it. Lucullus directed

2720-483: The Roman provinces rather than invading Pontus or Armenia. In the following year, 66 BCE, the Senate granted Gnaeus Pompey , one of the influential generals of Rome, command of Roman forces in the east to end the war. Pompey led his forces into Pontus where he engaged Mithridates at the of the Lycus River in central Pontus by the end of the year. Pompey defeated Mithridates, inflicting at least 10,000 casualties on

2800-450: The Romans. After his son, Pharnaces II , rebelled against him with the support of a weary populace, Mithridates killed himself. Pharnaces sent his father's body to Pompey who granted him the Crimean lands he still held, also establishing him as a Roman ally. The Anatolian and Syrian lands that were occupied would be incorporated as Roman provinces, while Armenia and Judea would become allied client kingdoms allied to Rome. Pompey's successes in

2880-564: The Romans. The decisive battle was the only major engagement between Roman and Pontic forces in the Second Mithridatic War. The war ended when Sulla dispatched envoys to Murena to end the conflict as Mithridates hadn't broken the treaty they had agreed upon years earlier. Peace was established between Pontus and Rome by 81 BCE after which Murena was recalled from Anatolia back to Rome. This peace continued until 74 BCE when Mithridates invaded Roman territory in Asia Minor sparking

2960-463: The Senate in 88 BCE after the Asiatic Vespers (modern term), the casus belli . Mandates were assigned to the consuls, who, as the name implies, must perform them on penalty for refusal or failure of death. Similarly, only the Senate could declare the termination of a mandate, which is why Livy does not speak of three Mithridatic Wars. Sulla reached an agreement with Mithridates but it

3040-490: The Senate. After he had taken command of the legions at Nola , a Roman Assembly passed a law stripping him of his authority in favor of Gaius Marius . At the instigation of his men, he marched on Rome to assert the authority of the Senate. Assured of its and his authority, he crossed the Adriatic with minimal troops and no heavy warships, after one year of doing nothing on the eastern front. Meanwhile, Mithridates had created

3120-633: The battlefield, returning to Mithridates. Mithridates did not launch another invasion of Greece and withdrew his forces back to Anatolia. Later in 85 BCE, Mithridates and Archelaus met with Sulla at Dardanos to discuss a peace treaty. The war ended with the Treaty of Dardanos . It stipulated that the Kingdoms of Bithynia and Cappadocia would be restored to the Roman-supported kings, but Mithridates would maintain his own kingdom of Pontus. After ending

3200-629: The beginning". After the defense of Halicarnassus , the Cappadocians participated in the Battle of Gaugamela (331 BCE) against Alexander, and even after the battle, they "rose up in his rear". Unlike the Iranians in Caria and "probably throughout western Asia Minor", the Iranian aristocracy to the east of the Halys River, in Cappadocia and Pontus, declared independence, "in defiance of

3280-612: The briefest of summaries of the Mithridatic War. Appian of Alexandria (c. 95 – c. CE 165) also covers the Mithridatic Wars in the Foreign Wars section of his Roman History. His account offers the most in depth view of all three conflicts. Some monumental inscriptions of the times in Greece shed some light on the Roman command structure during First Mithridatic War . Kingdom of Cappadocia Cappadocia ( Greek : Καππαδοκία )

Mithridatic Wars - Misplaced Pages Continue

3360-688: The capital Mazaca was well-developed and had a large population. It was surrounded by numerous villages and plantations; all of these, in turn, were well protected by fortifications controlled by members of the royal family and the nobility. Asiatic Vespers The Asiatic Vespers (also known as the Asian Vespers , Ephesian Vespers , or the Vespers of 88 BC ) refers to the massacres of Roman and other Latin -speaking peoples living in parts of western Anatolia c.  early 88 BC by forces loyal to Mithridates VI Eupator , ruler of

3440-475: The civil war in Rome, the Romans started to interfere more directly in Cappadocian affairs; in 36 BC, Marcus Antonius appointed Archelaus , a local noble, to the Cappadocian throne. When, at an old age, Tiberius summoned him to Rome, he died there of natural causes; Cappadocia was subsequently incorporated as a fully functioning Roman province. Due to the kingdom's perilous location amongst powerful neighbors,

3520-470: The conduct of the war fell into three logical subdivisions. Some of them began to term these subdivisions the "First", "Second", and "Third" in the same texts in which they used the term in the singular. As the Roman Republic faded from general memory, the original legal meaning was not recognized. A few historians folded events prior to the declaration of war into the war. Today, anything to do with

3600-443: The conflict because of the peace established by the treaty of Dardanos, Murena replied that there was no treaty as Sulla hadn't written it out. Mithridates plundered Pontic villages in 82 BCE before returning to Cappadocia. Mithridates then sent envoys to the Roman senate asking for them to recall the Roman forces that were laying waste to his territory. The senate agreed with Mithridates, ordering Murena to withdraw and end his attack on

3680-542: The conquered territories. News reached Rome of Mithridates' victories and the collapse of Roman rule in Asia in the autumn of 89 BC. Distracted by the Social war, the Romans immediately declared war on Mithridates but moved slowly in forming up forces. The consul of 88 BC, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, was given the command against Mithridates and it took him some eighteen months to assemble five legions. The massacres were

3760-409: The control of tyrants , and many of the inhabitants enthusiastically fell upon their Italian neighbours, who were blamed "for the prevailing climate of aggressive greed[,] acquisitiveness[,] and... malicious litigation". The declaration of war was immediate, but implementation of the mandate was delayed by an unrelated civil war already ongoing within the Roman Republic. Sulla received it first from

3840-429: The day of writing. Mithridates furthermore offered freedom to slaves which informed on their Italian masters and debt relief to those who slew their creditors. Assassins and informers would share with the Pontic treasury half the properties of those who were killed. Ephesus , Pergamon , Adramyttion , Caunus , Tralles , Nysa , and the island of Chios were all scenes of atrocities. Many of these cities were under

3920-470: The death of Archelaus, during the reign of Roman emperor Tiberius (14–37 AD), the kingdom was incorporated as a Roman province . Under the Achaemenids , the "Iranization" of Asia Minor had been significant, and a large Iranian presence had been established in western Asia Minor, Pontus and Cappadocia . Ariarathes had been satrap of Cappadocia for 19 years and a loyal supporter of

4000-641: The direction of Manius Aquillius who was still in Anatolia. Mithridates defeated this force and continue his advance throughout Anatolia unchecked. In 88 BCE, Along with the occupation of Cappadocia, Mithridates fully controlled the Roman provinces of Asia and Cilicia. In spring of 88, Mithridates's forces enacted the Asiatic Vespers which saw the systematic killing of Roman and Latin-speaking people in these provinces to remove any Roman influences from his conquered lands. The death toll of these massacres ranged from 80,000 and above. Aristion , an Athenian philosopher

4080-402: The early course of the 1st century BC by the ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus , the infamous Mithridates VI ( Eupator ), this in an attempt to fully subdue the Cappadocian Kingdom. However, in "conflict" with the interests of the Roman Republic, the Romans supported the Cappadocians to choose a new king; this came to be another Iranian nobleman, namely Ariobarzanes I . After

SECTION 50

#1732765589087

4160-452: The emergence of Hellenistic successor kings, the Iranians in Caria and "probably throughout western Asia Minor" eventually started to adapt themselves to the changing situation. The Iranian presence to the west of the Halys River thus slowly started to fade. However, to east of the Halys River, things went differently. The Cappadocians had shown opposition to the invading Macedonians "from

4240-478: The following spring. Lucullus marched on the Armenian capital at Tigranocerta , where he engaged and destroyed a larger Armenian force in the subsequent Battle of Tigranocerta . In the summer of 68 BCE, Lucullus marched on Artaxata and defeated another Armenian force at the Battle of Artaxata . He then besieged the city of Nisibis , the main fort and treasury of Northern Mesopotamia. The city fell to Lucullus by

4320-508: The invasion around the time that Quintus Sertorius , an old supporter of Gaius Marius's Populist faction who still opposed the senate, was in the middle of a major revolt against Rome in Hispania . The Senate responded to Mithridates's invasion by sending the consuls Lucius Licinius Lucullus and Marcus Aurelius Cotta , Lucullus to Cilicia, and Cotta to Bithynia. Lucullus's force would invade Pontus by land while Cotta's force would deal with

4400-626: The kings were often involved in beneficial marriage alliances, such as with the Mithridatic dynasty as well as the Seleucid dynasty . Strabo , who wrote during the time of Augustus (r. 63 BCE-14 AD), almost three hundred years after the fall of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, records only traces of Persians in western Asia Minor ; however, he considered Cappadocia "almost a living part of Persia". Following

4480-417: The mandate, or warrant, issued by the Roman Senate in 88 BCE declaring war against Mithridates. Handed at first to the consuls, it would not end until the death of Mithridates or the declaration by the Senate that it was at an end. As there were no intermissions in the warrant until the death of Mithridates in 63 BC, there was officially only one Mithridatic War. Subsequently, historians noticed that

4560-402: The native shah . Although the first few Cappadocian kings, that is, of the Ariarathid family, minted Iranian-style coins with Aramaic descriptions, from king Ariarathes III and on, they shifted to using Greek-style coins and inscriptions. During the reign of Ariamnes, the first coins appeared with Greek inscriptions, with the monarch depicted on it in Persian dress. Like the Seleucids,

4640-406: The navy at an island near Lemnos , where it was camped, destroying or capturing 32 ships and taking Marius prisoner. After dealing with both the army and navy, Lucullus and Cotta planned out an invasion of Pontus to end Mithridates's threat, however before they could, Mithridates seized the important city of Heraclea Pontica . Cotta was tasked with retaking the city while Lucullus would march through

4720-451: The other 60, several thousand more Roman soldiers died in the fighting before Mithridates left Chalcedon. Cotta's force was reduced to a fraction of what it once was, giving Mithridates impunity to take the nearby cities of Nicaea , Lampsacus , Nicomedia , and Apameia . The city of Cyzicus resisted Mithridates's advance, forcing him to besiege it in 73 BCE. The city held out until Lucullus's arrival with reinforcements that counter-sieged

4800-645: The proconsul in Asia, and Quintus Oppius , proconsul in Cilicia. After defeating Nicomedes IV, Mithridates then defeated Aquillius in Bithynia, forcing Cassius to withdraw to the Aegean and Rhodes. Proceeding south, Mithridates induced the citizens of Laodicea, where Oppius was present, to surrender the proconsul. By the middle of 89 BC, Mithridates had defeated four allied armies and conquered most of Roman Asia. He revelled in his victory as he remitted all taxes for five years and appointed satraps and overseers for

4880-432: The siege of Amisus , which was holding out against the Romans, before taking the city. After taking Amisus, Lucullus besieged Sinope , the main port city of Pontus, taking it after fierce resistance. Lucullus stayed in Anatolia while Cotta returned to Rome in 70 BCE. In 69 BCE, Tigranes brought Armenia into conflict with Rome after refusing to hand over Mithridates, his father-in-law, to the Romans; Lucullus invaded Armenia

SECTION 60

#1732765589087

4960-503: The spring of 89 BCE which led to Mithridates sending delegates to Rome in response to the Roman client state's attacks. Rome responded that Bithynia shouldn't raid Pontus but didn't allow Mithridates to attack Bithynia in retaliation. In the summer of 89 BCE, Mithridates sent an army lead into Cappadocia to remove the Roman-appointed Ariobarzanes the I and occupy the kingdom. This military action went against what

5040-418: The title of "The Great" in the service of Sulla, the original recipient of the mandate. Sulla was deceased; Lucullus held the mandate in his place. This is an intervention by the tribune in the legal business of the Senate. Now it was the indignation that was great. The "Mithridatic War" is not just a descriptive term of the historians; it is the name of a mandate. As such it began with the declaration of war by

5120-468: The war can be included under it. Hence, the term "First Mithridatic War" is extended to include the wars between the states of Asia Minor as well as Roman support or lack of it for the parties of these wars. The officers offering this support were acting under other mandates from the Senate; to do anything not mandated was to risk criminal charges at home. The Mithridatic Wars resulted from Mithridates consolidating his neighboring kingdoms into his realm which

5200-678: The war further propelled his political career as the general, granting him a triumph in Rome for his efforts during the war. Enough remains of Diodorus Siculus to relate a summary of the Mithridatic Wars mixed in with the Civil Wars in the fragments of Books 37–40. A brief summary of the events of the Mithridatic Wars starting with the Asiatic Vespers combined with events of the Civil Wars can be found in Velleius Paterculus , Book II. The surviving history closest to

5280-578: The war, Sulla quickly withdrew back to Rome as a power struggle was developing into a civil war between factions within the senate. The Second Mithridatic War (83–81 BCE) began when Roman forces attacked the Kingdom of Pontus, reigniting conflict between Rome and Mithridates. This ended the peace that the previous Treaty of Dardanos in 85 BCE which ended the First Mithridatic War three years earlier. The Roman forces were commanded by Lucius Licinius Murena who had served as Sulla's legate and

5360-730: The whole work proved to be far too long for any copyist. The events of the Mithridatic Wars survive only in the Periochae. The term "Mithridatic War" appears only once in Livy, in Periocha 100. The Third Mithridatic War was going so badly that the Senators of both parties combined to get the Lex Manilia passed by the Tribal Assembly removing command of the east from Lucullus and others and giving it instead to Pompey . The words of

5440-405: The winter of 68 BCE. During the spring of 67 BCE, while Lucullus was still at Nisibis, Mithridates returned to Pontus and fought the Roman forces that were still in the region. Legate Gaius Valerius Triarius , who was bringing troops to reinforce Lucullus at the siege of Nisibis, took command of Roman forces in Pontus to fight the sudden return of Mithridates. The Pontic and Roman forces engaged at

5520-512: Was a Hellenistic -era Iranian kingdom centered in the historical region of Cappadocia in Asia Minor (present-day Turkey). It developed from the former Achaemenid satrapy of Cappadocia , and it was founded by its last satrap , Ariarathes (later Ariarathes I). Throughout its history, it was ruled by three families in succession; the House of Ariarathes (331–96 BC), the House of Ariobarzanes (96–36 BC), and lastly that of Archelaus (36 BC–17 AD). In 17 AD, following

5600-424: Was born a few years after the last Mithridatic War, and grew up in the Late Republic. His location at Padua kept him out of the Civil Wars. He went to the big city perhaps to work on his project. Its nature sparked the interest of the emperor immediately (he had eyes and ears everywhere), who made it a point to be Octavian, not Augustus, to the circle of his friends (he often found duty tedious and debilitating). Livy

5680-470: Was largely unsuccessful. After a revolution overthrew Mithridates' son in 97 BC, Nicomedes appealed to Rome for support. Mithridates did so also, but the Romans – probably finding the matter too difficult to untangle – ordered both kings to leave Cappadocia and to allow its nobility to choose a new king. It then sent the governor of Cilicia, then Lucius Cornelius Sulla , to install the new king – Ariobarzanes I – into power. When Rome became occupied in

5760-489: Was maintained through royal estates and fortifications protected and maintained by nobility. There were two types of estates: those located and centered on the residence of the noble in question (whose power, as the Encyclopedia Iranica adds, "was foremost temporal") and the so-called temple estates. Within these so-called temple estates, the priests had both temporal power as well as a religious function. As

5840-399: Was never accepted by the Senate. Interim peace was never anything more than a gentleman's agreement. Tiring of this political game the ad hoc peace party bypassed the Senate, not only preempting the mandate but also giving to Pompey the power himself to declare it at an end. It ended automatically, however, with the death of Mithridates in 63 BCE, the mission being complete. Florus writes

5920-520: Was occupied in the Jugurthine and Cimbric wars . However, due to Mithridates' subjugation of Armenia and other territories along the Black Sea, Roman attention fell on Pontus. With Nicomedes III of Bithynia , Mithridates saw an opportunity in 108–107 BC and partitioned Paphlagonia. A Roman embassy protested and demanded the two kings to withdraw, but was ignored. A few years later, c.  102 BC , Nicomedes and Mithridates came into

6000-421: Was opposed by Rome. Mithridates incorporated the Kingdom of Cappadocia by marrying his sister to its king before killing him and installing his young nephew, Ariarathes the IX , on the throne as a puppet ruler. Mithridates supported a rival claimant to the throne of Bithynia, Socrates Chrestus , as another puppet ruler after overthrowing his half-brother, Nicomedes the IV . Rival claimants to these thrones fled to

6080-521: Was originally sent to Mithridates as ambassador but became close friends with the King and entered into his service. In 88 BCE, Mithridates sent Aristion back to Athens , where Aristion convinced its citizens to revolt and declare him Tyrant of Athens. Mithridates also sent Archelaus, one of his generals, with a sizeable Pontic force to aid Aristion against the Romans. The city revolted against Roman rule with support from Mithridates with several other cities joining Athens. Aristion sent Apellicon of Teos with

6160-474: Was sent from Rome in the summer of 90 BCE to install the Rome-supported figures onto the thrones of Bithynia and Cappadocia. The Legation was led by Manius Aquillius , a prominent politician who previously served as consul in 129 BCE. The legation gained the army of Cassius, the governor of the Roman province of Asia . Mithridates did not oppose the Roman legation and by the fall of 90 BCE both Nicomedes

6240-462: Was stationed in the region to oversee its defense. Murena ordered an attack on the Pontic city of Comana out of fear that Mithridates was preparing a renewed invasion into Roman territory when Mithridates was raising forces to deal with a rebellion of Crimean tribes in the north. Murena marched his forces into the Kingdom of Pontus after his attack on Comana, his advance unopposed by Mithridates's forces. Mithridates sent an ambassador to Murena to stop

6320-577: Was the leader of the revolt in Greece. In the summer of that year he besieged Athens; the siege lasted until early 86 when Roman forces broke through the defenses to storm Athens. Aristion and some of his followers retreated into the Acropolis where they were besieged by the Romans until late spring, after which Aristion was killed. In 86 BCE, a Roman force under Lucius Valerius Flaccus was dispatched to apprehend Sulla and defeat Mithridates. Flaccus chose to first deal with Mithridates before Sulla, crossing

6400-401: Was thus only one generation away from the Mithridatic Wars writing in the most favorable environment under the best of circumstances. Only 35 of the 142 books survived. Livy used no titles or period names. He or someone close to him wrote summaries, or Periochae , of the contents of each book. Books 1–140 have them. Their survival, no doubt, can be attributed to their use as a "little Livy", as

#86913