Third Mithridatic War: Difference between revisions

{{Infobox military conflict

| conflict = Third Mithridatic War

{{Campaignbox Mithridatic Wars}}

 

 

==Background==

No battle occurred. For Marius, delay posed a logistical problem. He had only a few days of supplies for his troops. Lucullus learned of the shortage through prisoner interrogations and decided to wait him out. Marius was forced to move on without the fight he had sought.

 

{{main|Siege of Cyzicus|Battle of the Rhyndacus (73 BC)}}

While Mithridates was besieging Cyzicus, Lucullus and his army arrived; the Romans, with the help of some turncoats, were able to establish a counter-siege, trapping Mithridates' army on the Cyzicus [[peninsula]]. During the siege Mithridates sent his cavalry away, with the sick and the wounded, but they were ambushed and slaughtered at the river Rhyndacus. In the middle of a snowstorm, Lucullus met these forces with ten cohorts and attacked them in mid-crossing on both sides of the river. [[Plutarch]] and [[Appian]] record 15,000 men and 6,000 horses as being captured during the battle.<ref>Lee Fratantuono, ''Lucullus'', p. 60; Philip Matyszak, ''Mithridates the Great'', p. 112.</ref> The disaster at the Rhyndacus combined with the famine and a plague which had struck his main army forced Mithridates to completely abandon his position, sailing north while his army marched overland. Lucullus pursued the army and defeated them at the confluence of the [[Aesepus River|Aesepus]] and [[Granicus River]]s, slaughtering many (20,000 were killed while crossing the river Granicus). Eventually, of the 300,000 who had set out for Bithynia, only 20,000 effective troops remained. The siege of Cyzicus and the subsequent retreat could be considered an unmitigated disaster.<ref>Philip Matyszak, ''Mithridates the Great, Rome's Indomitable Enemy'', pp. 112–113.</ref>

While Lucullus and Cotta prepared to invade Pontus, Mithridates gained control of the strategically important city of [[Heraclea Pontica]] and garrisoned it with 4,000 men.<ref>Lee Fratantuono, ''Lucullus: the Life and Campaigns of a Roman Conqueror'' p. 159; Memnon, ''History of Heraclea'', 29.</ref> Hearing of the situation at Heraclea, Lucullus and Cotta decided that Cotta would march on Heraclea while Lucullus would move through the [[Galatia]]n highlands and invade Pontus from there.<ref>Lee Fratantuono, ''Lucullus: the Life and Campaigns of a Roman Conqueror'' p. 159.</ref>

 

In 72 BC, while Cotta moved against [[Siege of Heraclea|Heraclea]] and Triarius managed naval affairs, Lucullus marched his army through [[Galatia]] and into Pontus. The [[Galatians (people)|Galatians]] were only too happy to supply the Romans because they detested Mithridates. They were keen to see the Roman legions pass through Galatia without plundering it.<ref>Philip Matyszak, ''Mithridates the Great: Rome's Indomitable Enemy''; Plutarch, ''Life of Lucullus'', 14.</ref> Once Lucullus was in the Pontic heartland and he let his troops plunder the rich and fertile area. Mithridates could do nothing to stop the despoiling of his lands for he had to rebuild his army. He eventually assembled 40,000 men (4,000 cavalry) near Cabira and waited for Lucullus.<ref>Philip Matyszak, ''Mithridates the Great: Rome's Indomitable Enemy'', p. 119; Appian, ''Mithridatica'', 78.</ref>

 

While Lucullus stayed in the East, Cotta returned to [[Rome]] in 70 BC, where he at first was widely acclaimed for his victory at Heraclea.<ref>T. Robert S. Broughton, ''The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, Vol II'' (1952), p. 127</ref> However, around 67 BC he was accused of appropriation of war booty by Gaius Papirius Carbo. He was convicted of the offence and expelled from the [[Senate of the Roman Republic|Senate]].<ref>T. Robert S. Broughton, ''The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, Vol II'' (1952), pp. 127 & 144</ref>

 

After the [[Battle of Cabira]] Mithridates fled to his son-in-law [[Tigranes II]] the king of the [[Greater Armenia (antiquity)|Armenian Empire]]. Lucullus, busy mopping up resistance in Pontus and [[Lesser Armenia|Armenia Minor]] (also part of Mithridates's former dominions), sent his brother-in-law [[Appius Claudius Pulcher (consul 54 BC)|Appius Claudius Pulcher]] as an emissary to the Armenian king demanding he hand over Mithridates. Since handing over his father-in-law would make him look like nothing more than a puppet of Rome, Tigranes had no other choice than to refuse and prepare for war.<ref>Philip Matyszak, ''Mithridates the Great'', pp. 123–125; Lee Frantatuono, ''Lucullus'', p. 77.</ref>

 

[[Category:Wars of succession involving the states and peoples of Asia]]

[[Category:Wars of succession involving the states and peoples of Europe]]