The First Mithridatic War was a war fought between the Roman Republic and Pontus from 89 to 85 BC for control of the Greek world. King Mithridates VI of Pontus briefly conquered the Roman client states of Bithynia and Cappadocia and the Roman province of Asia following a series of great victories, and he even sent 80,000 troops to assist an Athenian uprising against Roman rule in Greece. However, the Roman general Sulla came to Greece with an army, recaptured and destroyed Athens and Piraeus, and decisively defeated the Pontians at Chaeronea and Orchomenus, allowing for the Romans to counterattack with an invasion of Anatolia. In 85 BC, with the Treaty of Dardanos, Mithridates was forced to give up his conquests in Anatolia and pay Rome an indemnity of 80 warships and 3,000 silver talents.
Background[]
Pontus was one of the successor kingdoms of Alexander the Great's empire which was formed during the Wars of the Diadochi. Mithridates I of Pontus wrested northern Cappadocia and eastern Paphlagonia from Antigonus I Monophthalmus and founded a new kingdom in 280 BC, and Pontus expanded to the north by conquering the Greek colonies along the Black Sea as well as Galatia.
By the end of the 2nd century BC, the Roman Republic had control of Greece and established the provinces of Asia and Cilicia in Anatolia. Neighboring Bithynia, Paphlagonia, and Cappadocia became Roman client states. In 113 BC, the ambitious Mithridates VI of Pontus took power, and, in the next ten years, he conquered Colchis, defeated the Scythians, and forced the Bosporus to submit to his rule in exchange for protection against the nomads. Mithridates was eager to subjugate other Anatolian kingdoms, and, in 108 BC, he allied with Nicomedes III of Bithynia and partitioned Paphlagonia. The Romans were busy with the Jugurthine War and the Cimbrian War, so they were unable to intercede. From 102 to 97 BC, Mithridates took Cappadocia. The Romans were not at war anymore, so, when the Senate ordered the Kings to leave Paphlagonia and Cappadocia in 95 BC, they chose to obey. The Governor of Cilicia, Sulla, appointed Ariobarzanes the new King of Cappadocia, but the situation was not resolved. In 94 BC, Mithridates married his daughter to King Tigranes the Great of Armenia. Three years later, the Armenians invaded Cappadocia as the Pontians invaded Bithynia, taking advantage of Rome's preoccupation with the Social War. Rome sent Manius Aquillius to restore the Roman clients to their thrones, and Aquillius achieved his goals by the end of 90 BC, as neither the Pontians nor Armenians wanted war with Rome. In 89 BC, he provoked the Bithynians into attacking the Pontians, and the Romans refused to restrain the Bithynians. Mithridates had no choice but to invade Cappadocia again, starting the First Mithridatic War.
War[]
The Romans had just one legion in Asia, but they quickly raised 40,000 warriors in three auxiliary armies; they were supported by 50,000 Bithynians under King Nicomedes IV of Bithynia, who was already in Paphlagonia. Mithridates had up to 200,000 troops, and his army met the Bithynians near the Amnias River. Only 20,000 Bithynians survived the defeat, returning to the positions of the 40,000-strong Roman army. The Romans were still outnumbered two-to-one by Mithridates, and the Pontic king moved quickly and defeated the Romans at Protopachium in 85 BC. Half of the Roman troops were killed, and the locals handed over Aquillius to Mithridates, who executed him by pouring molten gold down his throat. The second Roman army under Lucius Cassius withdrew to the island of Rhodes under Pontic pressure, and the third army tried to flee to the province of Asia and find shelter at Laodicea. Its citizens betrayed the Romans over to Mithridates in exchange for amnesty, breaking Roman rule in Asia. Mithridates gained popularity among the nobles after promising not to collect taxes for five years.
The arrival of Flaccus' troops in Greece
The Roman general Sulla was then appointed to take command of an army and deal with Mithridates, although his appointment over Gaius Marius led to civil war in Rome. Mithridates wasted no time, and, in 88 BC, he ordered all Romans and Italics in Asia Minor to be killed; 100,000 were killed in the "Asiatic Vespers", one of the first genocides in history. In the spring, Ariston, the leader of the anti-Roman faction in Athens, was elected Strategos and invited Mithridates to Greece. Mithridates sent Archelaus to Greece, causing anti-Roman rebellions in southern Greece; at the same time, the two Roman legions in Greece were busy fighting the Thracians. In 87 BC, Sulla landed in Aetolia, besieging Athens and Piraeus. It was impossible to prevent Pontic supplies and reinforcements from arriving in Athens, and, at the same time, a new Pontic army under Dorylaeus was arriving through Thrace and Macedon. On 1 March 86 BC, the Romans broke into Athens and slaughtered most of the anti-Roman party, and Sulla and his army marched north to Boeotia to meet the Pontians at Chaeronea, where Philip II of Macedon had put an end to Greek freedom in 338 BC. The ensuing battle was a decisive Roman victory, with only 10,000 of the 70,000 Pontic soldiers escaping to the sea. However, the sea was still controlled by Mithridates, who sent 80,000 additional troops to Greece. At the same time, Sulla was replaced by Lucius Valerius Flaccus, whose appointment had been engineered by Sulla's rivals in the Senate.
Sulla was not interested in being replaced, and he positioned himself in central Greece so that he could fight either Flaccus or Archelaus. Archelaus landed in Boeotia and met Sulla in battle again at the Battle of Orchomenus. The Pontic army was utterly destroyed once again, forcing Mithridates to sue for peace. Sulla's demands were too high for the Pontic king, however. The defeats weakened Mithridates' hold over Anatolia, and many of his holdings rebelled. Flaccus and his army then advanced through Thrace, and, although the soldiers mutinied, killed Flaccus, and appointed Gaius Flavius Fimbria in his stead, the movement of the Roman army into Asia Minor continued. The Pontic army sent against them was defeated, and Mithridates was again forced to sue for peace. The 85 BC Treaty of Dardanos forced Pontus to give up its conquests in Asia Minor, send Rome 80 warships, and pay 3,000 talents of war indemnity. Sulla restored Roman rule in Asia, dealt with Fimbria, and returned to Italy in 84 BC to deal with his enemies.