Historica Wiki
Advertisement

The Third Mithridatic War was a war fought between the Roman Republic and Pontus from 73 to 63 BC for control of the Mediterranean, Asia Minor, Armenia, Mesopotamia, and the Levant. The Roman general Lucullus succeeded in defeating Mithridates VI at Cyzicus in 73 BC, and he proceeded to push him out of his homeland and into Armenia, where his son-in-law Tigranes the Great took up the leadership of the Mithridatic cause. Lucullus defeated Tigranes at the Battle of Tigranocerta in 69 AD and captured the Armenian capital shortly after, but Mithridates took advantage of the Roman army's absence in Armenia by defeating a small Roman occupation army at Zela in 67 BC. The Romans were forced to return to Anatolia, and Lucullus' mutinying soldiers replaced him with Pompey. Pompey defeated Mithridates at Lycus and chased him into the Caucasus, where he crushed Mithridates' Iberian and Albanian allies. Mithridates murdered his treacherous son Machares upon arriving in the Bosporan Kingdom, but, when his other son Pharnaces rose up against him, a heartbroken Mithridates VI committed suicide in 63 BC, ending the war. The Roman victory in the war was of great consequence to eastern politics, as Pontus and Seleucid Syria became Roman provinces and Judea and Armenia became allied client states. 

Background[]

In the aftermath of the Second Mithridatic War of 83-81 BC, King Mithridates VI of Pontus set about rebuilding his empire. He subdued the unrest in Colchis before returning to Sinope and sending ambassadors to Rome to sign the formal peace agreements. The Roman statesman Sulla commanded Mithridates to abandon his occupation of parts of Cappadocia, and Mithridates - seeking to avoid war - backed down and acquiesced. However, in 78 BC, Sulla passed away, changing the balance of power in the region yet again. Mithridates once again asked his son-in-law Tigranes the Great of Armenia to invade Cappadocia to avoid being seen as the aggressor; meanwhile, the rebellious Roman general Sertorius rebelled against the Roman Senate in Hispania, and a big part of the Roman Army was in the area fighting him. Members of his faction came to Sinope and suggested an alliance with Mithridates, and Sertorius sent some advisors to assist Pontus. However, the main reason for the war was the childless King Nicomedes IV of Bithynia's death in 74 BC; Nicomedes had willed that Bithynia would pass to Rome on his death, but Mithridates claimed Bithynia for himself.

War[]

Siege of Cyzicus

The Siege of Cyzicus

Mithridates made his move that same year, prompting the Roman consuls Lucullus and Marcus Aurelius Cotta to take over the governorships of Asia Minor and Bithynia, respectively. Lucullus was to attack Pontus through Asia Minor by land, while Cotta would launch a naval attack. However, his fleet was blockaded, destroyed, and captured by the Pontic fleet at the harbor of Chalcedon, leaving Mithridates almost unopposed in Anatolia. He left a small portion of his army and fleet at Tenedos to block Roman reinforcements, and he then laid siege to Cyzicus. In 73 BC, Lucullus entered the region with three legions and a number of allied troops, consisting of 30,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry. He quickly defeated the forces left at Tenedos and then marched on Cyzicus, where he besieged Mithridates' besieging army outside of the city walls with the help of some former Sertorians who, since their master's death, had sought to restore their positions in Rome. Ultimately, the Pontic army was cut off from its supplies, and, when winter came, the Pontic army suffered unbearable attritional losses. Mithridates was abandoned by ship, while his army suffered heavy losses escaping over the swollen river (coming under attack by the Romans along the way).

Roman siege of Sinope

The Romans attacking Sinope

Lucullus continued to advance against Mithridates, and both sides won and lost a few minor battles. Ultimately, Mithridates and 2,000 cavalry fled to Armenia, while the Romans captured key cities in the Pontic heartland. By 71 BC, most of Anatolia was under Roman control, including Sinope. That same year, Lucullus sent friendly envoys to the son of Mithridates, Machares (ruler of the Bosporan Kingdom), who betrayed his father and agreed to become a client of Rome. He also demanded that Tigranes surrender his father-in-law, but, as Tigranes controlled eastern Anatolia, Cilicia, parts of Syria, Iran, and the Caucasus, he was confident that he could fight the Romans.

Throughout 70 BC, the Romans built up their presence in Anatolia. In 69 BC, Lucullus and a Roman army of 35,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry moved against Tigranes, who had an army of 80,000 Armenians, Iberians, and Albanians. Tigranes ignored Mithridates' advice to avoid open battle, and he attempted to attack the Romans as they besieged Tigranocerta. Ultimately, the two armies met in battle, and Lucullus surprised and destroyed the Armenian army and took their capital. He then pushed Tigranes to the east, and, in 68 BC, the Romans won another battle at Artaxata. However, in 67 BC, Mithridates returned to his kingdom, which was occupied by only 10,000 Roman troops. Mithridates utterly defeated them at Zela, and Lucullus was forced to retreat from Armenia to avoid encirclement. His army mutinied, and, in 66 BC, he was replaced by Pompey. At that point, the Romans outnumbered Mithridates, whose pleas for peace were ignored. Pompey defeated Mithridates at Lycus, and the Romans then allied with the Parthians, who attacked Armenia and forced Tigranes to become a Roman client. Mithridates was forced to withdraw north into Colchis in 65 BC, and the Romans defeated the Iberians and Albanians along the way. Mithridates murdered his traitorous son Machares while the Romans defeated the Pontic allies, and Mithridates was aiming to attack Rome again when the war-weary populace backed his son Pharnaces in rebellion in 63 BC. Mithridates tried to commit suicide by poison after his son's betrayal; the poison would not work, so his bodyguard killed him. The Third Mithridatic War concluded, but Pompey would continue his campaigns in the east, taking Jerusalem in 63 BC and annexing the Seleucid empire. By the end of 63 BC, Pontus and Seleucid Syria had become Roman provinces, and Armenia and Judea became allied client states of Rome.

Advertisement