First Mithridatic War
First Mithridatic War | |
---|---|
Part of the Achaea, Greece and the Aegean Sea | |
Result | Treaty of Dardanos |
Territorial changes | Status quo ante bellum |
- Roman Republic
- Kingdom of Bithynia
- Kingdom of Pontus
- Greek rebels
- 120,000 legionaries
- 5,000 Greek infantry
- 2,000 cavalry
- 310,000 infantry
- 20,000 Asian skirmishers
- 15,000 Macedonian phalanxes
- 7,000 cavalry
- 500 chariots
- c. 75,000 killed
- c. 25,000 retreated
- c. 100,000 Roman civilians
- c. 350,000 killed, including civilians[1]
- c. 200,000+ captured or enslaved
The First Mithridatic War (89–85 BC) was a war challenging the
Prelude
Following his ascension to the throne of
Laodice married
Nicomedes appealed to the Roman Senate, which decreed that Mithridates be removed from Cappadocia and Nicomedes be removed from Paphlagonia and the Senate appointed Ariobarzanes I of Cappadocia as King of Cappadocia. Mithridates prompted his son-in-law Tigranes the Great of Armenia to invade Cappadocia and remove Ariobarzanes.
The Senate sent special orders to
In Bithynia Nicomedes III had died. He was succeeded by his son
Mithridates main ally, his son-in-law Tigranes, had once again invaded Cappadocia and driven Ariobarzanes from his throne.[5]
The Aquillian legation, 90–89 BC
In the late summer 90 BC a Senatorial legation was sent east, under Manius Aquillius and Manlius Maltinus, to restore Nicomedes and Ariobarzanes to their kingdoms.[6] The Senate also sent instructions to Cassius, the Roman governor (probably a propraetor) of the Roman province of Asia, who had a small army and to Mithridates Eupator himself to assist the restorations.[7]
Cassius' small army was probably the standard peacetime garrison force of between a whole and half legion (5 to 10 cohorts) and a few local auxiliary units – certainly no more than 5,000 troops in all. The Aquillian legation soon augmented it with a large force of Galatian and Phrygian auxiliary regiments and with these troops proceeded to restore both monarchs. Mithridates, angry with the Romans, refused to cooperate but neither did he offer opposition and both kings were restored without any fighting in autumn 90 BC.[8]
Its mandate achieved, the Aquillian legation ought to have gone home in winter 90/89 BC. Instead, no doubt on the excuse of keeping Mithridates under observation, it began provoking the Pontic King to war. This was considered to be a very risky and even reckless policy with the
The kings, Nicomedes in particular, had taken out big loans in Rome to bribe the Senators to vote for their restoration (this decision was a given in accordance with long-term policy in the region, but it appears that by now nothing much was done by the Senate in foreign affairs without accompanying payments from the foreigners with something to gain by Roman intervention). Aquillius' retinue included representatives of the lenders. With Aquillius' support they now urged the two kings to invade the Pontic kingdom to secure the funds with which to repay the loans that had been needed for the bribes.[9] Fearing the power of Mithridates (and probably aware that the Senate had given no such orders), both kings demurred. But Nicomedes' creditors persisted with their pressure until he at last consented.
It was probably at the end of autumn, 90 BC, that Nicomedes regained control of the Thracian Bosporos and in the new sailing season (from mid-March, 89 BC) he prevented egress from the Euxine to Pontic ships.[10]
Around the middle of spring, 89 BC, Nicomedes invaded the ancient Mithridateian dynastic lands of
After the raid Mithridates sent his spokesman Pelopidas to the Roman legates and commanders to make a complaint, apparently against Pergamon.
The Pontic envoy Pelopidas cleverly ignored the fact that Aquillius and his suite had induced the Bithynian raid. Instead he let out propaganda about Roman intolerance towards Mithridates and concluded by appealing to the Treaty between Mithridates and Rome, calling upon the Romans, as friends and allies, to punish or restrain the Bithynian aggressor.
Through Pelopidas' skill in presenting the case, Mithridates' attempt to embarrass and even discredit the Roman representatives succeeded. The latter had made a show of listening fairly to both sides and were now embarrassed by the obvious injustice done to a nominal friend and ally. After a lengthy delay they finally came up with a publicly acceptable pronouncement: the Romans did not wish harm done to their ally Mithridates, nor could they allow war to be made against Nicomedes because it was against the interests of Rome that he be weakened. Pelopidas wished to make something of the insufficiency of this answer, but was ushered out.[18]
Pontic re-occupation of Cappadocia, summer 89 BC
Mithridates knew enough about the workings of Roman politics to seek redress from the Senate, were he really interested. Instead he wanted to act under the éclat of the recent violation of his territory. After Pelopidas' return he sent his son Ariarathes into Cappadocia with a strong army. The occupation (summer 89 BC) was rapid and once again (now for a fourth time) Ariobarzanes I the philoromaios was expelled and the rule of Mithridates' son enforced.[19] This violated both of the Senatus consulta authorising Aquillius' mission, and the Treaty. It was a strategic move with a view to serious conflict with the Romans: unlike Nicomedes, Ariobarzanes had done naught to offend. It was thus a de facto declaration of war.
The main ancient source, Appian, now states that both sides began to assemble large forces for all-out war,[20] and implies precipitate action by the Pontic King. Instead a Pontic delegation was sent to Rome, and the marshalling of the armies in Anatolia must have taken up the remainder of the year. The Pontic embassy dates to the autumn and early winter 89 BC.
The details of the beginning of the war show that the precipitate action was taken by Aquillius himself, who was clearly keen to begin the war before the Pontic legation returned (even though its chances of success were slim following the reoccupation of Cappadocia, the possibility remained, in the context of the disastrous Italic War losses, that the Senate might prefer to negotiate a settlement and send a new legation to replace the provocative Aquillius). Marius' instructions to Aquillius had probably been to precipitate war and thus present the Senate with a fait accompli. But the present situation was even better from Marius' viewpoint, since the war was now inevitable but still impending: which gave him time to get out to Asia province before it began, if he hurried. However, it was not Marius but Sulla, the newly elected consul, who received the command against Mithridates (autumn 89 BC, probably calendar December).
News of Mithridates' second expulsion of Ariobarzanes (c. July 89 BC) must have reached Rome in September, a month or two before Sulla was elected consul with Pompeius Rufus, for Plutarch records at the time of his entry into office:
Sulla regarded his consulate as a very minor matter compared with future events. What fired his imagination was the thought of the war against Mithridates. Here, however, he found himself opposed by Marius.[21]
Clearly the prevalent view at Rome was that the reoccupation of Cappadocia was the last straw and that the Pontic king should be attacked and deposed. Even more importantly, the winding-down of the Italic War now released the troops necessary to effect this. As for Sulla, he had put himself back in the public eye by a good showing as a commander in the Italic War. He had recently married
Pontic seizure of Roman Asia and Cilicia
Massacre of the Romans and Italians in Asia, c. May 88 BC
In Bithynia Mithridates received a radical and strange piece of advice from a prominent Greek philosopher at his court, Metrodoros of Skepsis, who was known as ho misoromaios (the Roman-hater) on account of the extremity of his anti-Roman sentiments. Metrodoros suggested that in order to bind the communities of the Roman province to the Pontic cause, the king should arrange for the extermination of all Romans in the province without regard to age or sex, and force the participation of all the Greek civic authorities, thus shaking off Roman rule permanently and irrevocably.
Soon after securing control of the province in spring 88 BC,[22] Mithridates proceeded with his plans. The massacre was carefully planned and co-ordinated to take the victims by surprise, in every community and all at once. In writing to all the civic authorities of the province, detailing the measures to be taken, the king stipulated that the killings were to be carried out exactly one month after the date of his letter. The date in question is not recorded but fell around early May 88 BC.
What took place on that day profoundly affected Roman/Hellenistic relations. Appian states that 80,000 Romans and Italians were killed in these "Asiatic Vespers", while Plutarch gives a much higher number.[23]
Mithridates vs Rome
At this point, Mithridates finished capturing Asia Minor and established a presence in Greece. Archelaus was sent to Greece, where he established Aristion as a tyrant in Athens.
The Romans quickly declared war. In 87 BC, the proconsul
Sulla's siege of Athens, summer 87 – early 86 BC
Sulla's army took Athens on the Kalends of March,
The Chaeronea campaign
Even after Sulla seized Piraeus, Archelaeus persisted in exploiting his command of the sea lanes, holding position off Mounychia with his fleet and preventing any food or materiel reaching the city or the Roman army by sea.[27] By the early spring Archelaos' strategy was biting hard. Rocky Attica provided good security for operations against the large Pontic cavalry forces massed in Macedonia, but it was infertile and notoriously incapable even of fully supporting the population of the astu, let alone the large Roman army in addition, with no imports coming in by sea.[28]
Early in the spring of 86 BC, Taxiles concentrated most of his troops, sent word to Archelaos to join him in the Magnetic ports, and marched south from Macedonia into Thessaly. Archelaos rejected the suggestion. He was the senior officer and preferred to persist with his blockade of Attica. Thessaly was only held by a modest Roman observation force under the legatus Lucius Hortensius, elder brother of Quintus Hortensius the orator. But despite his great energy and reputation as an experienced vir militaris, there was little Hortensius could do against the enormous disproportion of the forces descending upon him, other than gather together some Thessalian auxiliary units he had been commissioned to recruit, and fall back southwards.
In about April 86 BC, beginning to run short of supplies and increasingly anxious about Lucius Hortensius' safety, Sulla took the bold decision to quit Attica and march into the fertile plains of Boeotia to feed his army, but also expose it to the great cavalry strength of the Pontic army.[29] This move gave Archelaeus little choice but to sail northward and link up with Taxiles.
In Boeotia, Sulla met and defeated Archelaeus in the Battle of Chaeronea (86 BC). Archelaeus gathered his remaining forces on the island of Euboea where he was reinforced by Mithridates with 80,000 men from Asia Minor. He then returned to mainland Greece where he was again defeated by Sulla, this time at the Battle of Orchomenus. Greece was fully restored to Roman rule.
The Flaccus mission
By now, Rome had also sent a force under
After crossing the Hellespont, Flaccus was killed in a mutiny led by
Following this and realizing that he could not face Sulla, Fimbria fell on his sword. This left Sulla to settle Asia, which he did by imposing a huge indemnity on the Greek cities there, along with demands for five years of back taxes, thus leaving the Asian cities heavily in debt for a long time to come.
References
- Velleius Paterculus, Marcus. Historiae Romanae ad M. Vinicium Libri Duo, II, 23.3.
- Velleius Paterculus, Marcus. Historiae Romanae ad M. Vinicium Libri Duo, II, 23.3.
- ^ Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's Indomitable Enemy, pp. 25-26; Plutarch, Life of Sulla, 5.
- ^ Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's Indomitable Enemy, pp. 26-27.
- ^ Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's Indomitable Enemy, p. 28.
- ^ For the date of the restorations, in the second half of 90 BC, see Liv.Per.74: "Nicomedes was led back to the kingdom of Bithynia, Ariobarzanes to that of Cappadocia", placed at the end of events in Italy in 90 BC and immediately before the first res Italiae of the year Pompeius Strabo and L. Porcius Cato were consuls
- ^ Appian Mith 11
- ^ Appian Mith 11
- ^ Appian Mith 11
- ^ This later became a major issue – see Appian Mith 12,14. Rome had controlled both sides of the Hellespont since the Gallipoli peninsula was appended to Macedonia province following the conquests of T. Didius in 100 BC.
- ^ Appian Mith. 11
- ^ Appian Mith. 12
- ^ Appian Mith. 12. Nicomedes was not present and was represented by envoys, so certainly not in Bithynia.
- ^ Appian Mith. 13, 15, 16; Sallust Hist.IV 69.10M, the epistula Mithridatis.
- ^ Appian Mith. 12
- ^ Appian Mith. 13
- ^ Appian Mith. 14
- ^ Appian Mith. 14
- ^ Appian Mith. 15
- ^ Mith. 17
- ^ Sulla 7.1
- ^ Leydold 2020
- ^ Stadter 1999
- ^ Sulla Memoirs fragment at Plutarch Sulla 14.6
- ^ Plutarch Sulla 14.7
- ^ Plutarch Sulla 14.7
- ^ Plutarch Sulla 15.1–2
- ^ Plutarch Sulla 15.2
- ^ Plutarch Sulla 15.1–3
Ancient sources
- FHG = Karl Müller (ed.) Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum
- FGrH = Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker(commenced 1923)
- Granius Licinianus
post-Hadrian annalist survives in retrieved fragments, from books XXVI, XXVIII, XXXIII, XXXV and XXXVI of his history, in 5th century uncials of African origin at the bottom of a ter scriptus manuscript palimpsest: see L. D. Reynolds (ed.) Texts and Transmission: A Survey of the Latin Classics (Oxford, 1983).
- ed. Michael Flemisch Grani Liciniani quae supersunt (G.B. Teubner, Stuttgart, 1904; reprint 1967)
- ed. N. Crinti (Leipzig, 1981)
- Memnon of Herakleia Pontike, 9th century epitome in the ΒΙΒΛΙΟΘΗΚΗ of Photius of Byzantium (codex 224)
- ed. René Henry Photius Bibliothèque Tome IV: Codices 223-229 (Association Guillaume Budé, Paris, 1965), pp. 48–99: Greek text with French translation
- ed. K. Müller FHG III, 525: Greek text with Latin translation
- ed. F. Jacoby FGrH no.434: Greek text, detailed commentary in German
- Phlegon of Tralles fragmenta
- ed. K. Müller FHG III, 602ff.
- ed. F. Jacoby FGrH no.257
- English translations and commentary by William Hansen, Phlegon of Tralles' Book of Marvels (University of Exeter Press, 1996)
- Plutarch Parallel Lives.
- translated by John Dryden, with revision by Arthur Hugh Clough, as Plutarch: Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans (London, John Lane The Bodley Head Ltd.)
Caius Marius, pp. 494–524
Sylla, pp. 545–573
The Comparison of Lysander with Sulla, pp. 573–577
Cimon, pp. 577–592
Lucullus, pp. 592–624
The Comparison of Lucullus with Cimon, pp. 624–626
- translated by Rex Warner, with Introductions and notes by Robin Seager, as Fall of the Roman Republic, Six Lives by Plutarch: Marius, Sulla, Crassus, Pompey, Caesar, Cicero (Penguin Books, 1958; with noted added by Robin Seager, 1972)
Modern works
- Abbreviations
RE = Real-Encyclopädie der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft, eds. Pauly, Wissowa, Kroll
- Major studies
- Bernhardt, H: Chronologie der Mithridatischen Kriege und Aufklärung einiger Teile derselben (University of Marburg dissertation, 1896)
- Gelzer, Matthias: "L. Licinius Lucullus cos.74", RE vol.XIII (1926), s. v. Licinius no.104, colls.376-414
- Baker, George Philip: Sulla the Fortunate, Roman General and Dictator, (London, 1927; reprint by Cooper Square Press, 2001)
- Geyer, F: "Mithridates VI Eupator Dionysos", RE vol.XV (1932), s. v. Mithridates no.12, colls.2163-2205
- Magie, David: Roman Rule in Asia Minor, 2 vols. (Princeton University, 1950)
- Van Ooteghem, J: Lucius Licinius Lucullus, (Brussels, 1959)
- Janke, M: Historische Untersuchungen zu Memnon von Herakleia (University of Würzburg dissertation, 1963)
- McGing, B C: The Foreign Policy of Mithridates VI Eupator King of Pontus (Mnemosyne Bibliotheca Classica Batava, Supplement no.89, 1986)
- Keaveney, Arthur: Lucullus. A Life. (London/New York: Routledge, 1992). ISBN 0-415-03219-9.
- Shorter articles and summaries
- Beesley, A.H., The Gracchi Marius and Sulla, 1921.
- Kroll: "Metrodoros von Skepsis", RE s. v. Metrodoros no.23, colls.1481-2
- Hammond, N. G. L.: "The two battles of Chaeronea (338 B.C. and 86 B.C.)", Klio 31 (1938), 186-218
- Luce, T. J.: "Marius and the Mithridatic Command", Historia 19 (1970), 161-194
- Olshausen, Eckart: "Mithradates VI. und Rom", art.25, pp. 806–15 in Hildegard Temporini (ed.) ANRW I.1 (Walter de Gruyter, 1972)
- Lintott, Andrew W.: "Mithridatica", Historia 25 (1976), 489-91
- Badian, Ernst: "Rome, Athens and Mithridates", AJAH 1 (1976), 105-128
- Glew, Dennis G.:
- "Mithridates Eupator and Rome: A Study of the Background of the First Mithridatic War", Athenaeum 55 (1977), 380-405
- "The Selling of the King: A Note on Mithridates Eupator's Propaganda in 88 B.C.", Hermes 105 (1977), 253-56
- Sherwin-White, Adrian Nicholas: "Ariobarzanes, Mithridates, and Sulla", Classical Quarterly n.s.27 (1977), 173-183
- Alexander, Michael C.: "The Legatio Asiatica of Scaurus: Did it take place?", TAPA 111 (1981), 1-9
- Leydold, Miran: "Wann eroberte Mithridates die Provinz Asia?", Klio 102 (2020), 579-600
Further reading
- Burcu Erciyas, Deniz. 2005. Wealth, aristocracy and royal propaganda under the Hellenistic kingdom of the Mithridatids in the central Black Sea region of Turkey. Leiden: Brill.
- Gabrielsen, Vincent, and John Lund, eds. 2007. The Black Sea in Antiquity: Regional and interregional economic exchanges. Aarhus, Denmark: Aarhus University Press.
- McGing, Brian C. 1986. The foreign policy of Mithridates VI Eupator king of Pontos. Leiden: Brill.
- Sherwin-White, Adrian N. 1984. Roman foreign policy in the East 168 B.C. to A.D. 1. London: Duckworth.
- Sullivan, Richard D. 1990. Near Eastern royalty and Rome: 100–30 B.C. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.