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MITHRIDATIC WARS

by ebrandt

Cataloging Mommsen, probably Appian, maybe others

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  1. Mommsen by Theodor Mommsen (pp 3-6)
  2. Roman attention focused on Africa, Spain, Transalpine neighbors
    Annexation of the Attalid kingdom (from Troas to Halicarnassus)
    Marcus Antonius in 102 drives out the pirates from Cilicia (just north of Iskanderun/Antioch)
    Egypt is divided from Cyrene and Cyprus
    Cyrene left to Romans, allowed to govern cities like free cities
    Syria is in civil war between Antiochids (early 90s)
    Armenia becomes independent (94)

  3. Mommsen by Theodor Mommsen (pp 7-)
  4. Mithridates is forced by regents to escape court, live as a hunter, perhaps legendary
    Charioteer, horseman, eater, drinker, womanizer
    Superstitious, roughly Hellenistic
    "Oriental"
    put his wives, concubines and sister (wife) to death
    Fluent in perhaps twenty-two tongues -- the tongues of the peoples of the nations under his rule

  5. Mommsen by Theodor Mommsen (pg 13)
  6. Conquest of Colchis by Mithridates (Phasis, Rize contra Trabzon, the Georgian Black Sea coast)

  7. Mommsen by Theodor Mommsen (pg 16)
  8. Greeks were forced to pay tribute to wandering Scythians, e.g. at the mouth of Dnieper (Kherson?)

  9. Mommsen by Theodor Mommsen (pp 19-20)
  10. Nicomedes and Mithridates jointly occupy Paphlagonia
    the senate demands Mithridates leave
    and Cappadocia, where Ariarthes VI (Bithynian proxy?) is murdered by Gordius for Mithridates Eupator
    the Cappadocian line is later extinguished through treachery

  11. Mommsen by Theodor Mommsen (pp 23-24)
  12. Mithridates uses Tigranes of Armenia as a proxy force in Cappadocia
    Sulla expels Gordius with Asiatic troops
    Ariobarzanes now king of Cappadocia
    Sulla meets with Ariobarzanes and the king of Parthia on the Euphrates to confirm the Senate's decrees on Anatolia
    Sulla is well-remembered for this meeting
    Nicomedes refuses to evacuate Paphlagonia but the senate doesn't care
    the Scythians who had been vanquished by Mithridates were to be restored
    not much of the peace is implemented
    Tigranes expels Ariobarzanes from Cappadocia, replaces him with Pontic proxy Ariarthes
    Nicomedes II dies, Nicomedes III is acclaimed
    Aquillius is made ambassador of the Romans

  13. Mommsen by Theodor Mommsen (pp 26-27)
  14. Aquillius uses Nicomedes as a Roman proxy to declare war on Mithridates to incite Mithridates to declare war on Rome
    Bithynia blockades the Bosporus
    occupies and destroys Amastris (western northern turkey)
    Mithridates still uses diplomatic options, tries to argue that he may use self-defence
    Aquillius negates that self-defence claim

  15. Mommsen by Theodor Mommsen (pp 28-30)
  16. MIthridates begins to prepare for war, collects a bunch of both proxy forces (Cilician piracy, thracian uprising, enrolling of Cretans in the Pontic army)
    Scythians and Medes come into the army
    Armenia provides considerable forces, 250k infantry, 40k cavalry
    Lucius Cassius in Bithynia
    Manius Aquillius in Galatia
    Quintus Oppius in Cappadocia
    Bithynians still occupy Paphlagonia between Amastris and Sinope and blockade the Bosporus
    Mithridates finds the Bithynians near the Amnias river off the Halys river
    Neoptolemus and Archelaus forge success for Pontus here
    Lucius Cassius is in Phrgyia and hides in the upper Maeander near Apamea
    Oppius flees Pamphylia and flees to Laodicea in Phrygia
    Aquillius flees to Pergamum
    Pergamum is overrun by Pontic army

  17. Mommsen by Theodor Mommsen (pp 31-32)
  18. Mithridates gives order for general massacre of Italians in Asia, for the kingdom to claim half their property

  19. Mommsen by Theodor Mommsen (pp 34-35)
  20. Thracians overrun Macedonia, Epirus
    Archelaus commands the navy and controls the Aegean, occupies Delos
    Euobea occupied
    Brutttus Sura for Rome, governor of Macedonia, forced to flee to isle of Sciathus
    Athens rises up for Pontus because of the Epicurean philosopher demagogue Aristion
    Achaeans, Boeotia, Thessaly pledge to Pontus

  21. Mommsen by Theodor Mommsen (pp 37-38)
  22. Sulla crosses into the east having landed on Epirus with 30k men and no funds
    Defeats Archelaus at Mt Tilphossium and occupies Boetia, all greek mainland except Piraeeus and Athens
    Sulla besieges athens, has few resources
    athens falls in 86
    Sulla has no fleet

  23. Mommsen by Theodor Mommsen (pp 39-40)
  24. Sulla dispatches Lucius Licinius Lucullus as commander of navy
    Lucullus acquires 8 ships from Rhodians, others (Pontus has ~300 ships)
    Gets laughed out of Egyptian court when requesting fleet from them
    Sulla rades the treasuries of Olympian Zeus, Delphic Apollo and Epidaurian Asklepios

  25. Mommsen by Theodor Mommsen (pp 41-42)
  26. Ariarthes son of Mithridates marches against Sulla in Macedonia, dies en route
    Taxiles takes command
    Archelaus evacuates Piraeeus, reunites with Pontic army in Boeotia
    Battle of Chaeronea
    Rome is outmatched 3-1 in infantry, worse in cavalry
    Archelaus leads cavalry charge which Roman infantry are able to handle
    Sulla leads his own charge and the Asiatic forces give way

  27. Mommsen by Theodor Mommsen (pp 43-44)
  28. Flaccus lands two legions in Epirus, leads them to Thessaly, the troops meet but do not engage in battle
    Flaccus goes to Thrace
    Sulla winters in Athens
    Battle of Orchomenus, the Pontic cavalry forces the Roman infantry to stutter and Sulla raises the standard and rallies his troops to defeat the horse
    Sulla winters in Thessaly in 85-84

  29. Mommsen by Theodor Mommsen (p 45-46)
  30. Turkish cities revolt against Mithridates after Mithridates becomes as a despot to them -- Smyrna and Colophon and Ephesus
    Mithridates orders deaths of all Celtic chieftains (and wives and children) in Galatia

  31. Mommsen by Theodor Mommsen (pp 47-)
  32. Flaccus marches from Thrace to Byzantium to Cacledon and Fimbria, demagogue, coups Flaccus and defeats Mithridates fils at Miletopolis on the Rhyndacus near Brussa
    Lucullus arrives with his fleet, refuses to aid Flaccus
    Lucullus wins victory in Troas at Lectum, Tenedos
    Mithridates tries to negotiate with both Sulla and Fimbria
    Sulla demands surrender and restoration of status quo ante bellum
    Mithridates claims he should keep his fleet and paphlagonia
    Sulla croses the Hellespont and wars against Fimbria at Thyatira near Pergamum
    Most of Fimbria's soldiers desert to Sulla's camp

Timeline updated: Oct. 25, 2024


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