Neoptolemus (Pontic army officer)

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Neoptolemus (

Like his brother Archelaus, Neoptolemus was a Cappadocian^[2] Greek nobleman, possibly of Macedonian descent from unknown parents. Perhaps his ancestors descended from those Greeks who arrived in Anatolia after the expedition of King Alexander the Great. Neoptolemus's family were active in the Pontic Court.^[3] Like his brother, Neoptolemus was a general and admiral in the First Mithridatic War (89 BC-85 BC). 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.^[4][5] He took part in campaigns as far as the mainland west of the Crimea, reaching possibly as far west as Tyras, where he erected a fortress which continues to bear his name.^[6] Also in the Crimea, in the Sea of Azov, he fought two battles on the Palus Maeotis in two years.^[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. At the Amnias River the brothers commanded the advance guard and won their first victory of the war.^[4] Neoptolemus then went on to defeat a Roman-led army at Protopachium, probably without his brother. The Roman army led by Manius Aquillius was forced to retreat to Pergamon.^[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.

Neoptolemus accompanied his brother and the Pontic army to

References

Sources

• http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0271.html
• http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/2264.html Archived 2005-11-09 at the Wayback Machine
• http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/people_archelaus.html
• http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/people_neoptolemus.html
• D. Dueck, H. Lindsay and S. Pothecary, Strabo’s cultural geography: the making of a kolossourgia, Cambridge University Press, 2005