Battle of the Lycus | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of Third Mithridatic War | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Roman Republic | Pontic Empire | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Pompey the Great | Mithridates VI | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
c. 50,000 [1] | c. 30,000 infantry [2] and 2,000–3,000 cavalry [3] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Unknown | More than 10,000 [4] |
The Battle of the Lycus was fought in 66 BC between an army of Roman Republic under the command of Pompey the great and the forces of Mithridates VI of Pontus. The Romans won the battle with few losses; their victory turned out to be decisive with Mithridates fleeing to the Kingdom of the Bosporus (north of the Black Sea) and committing suicide a few years later (in 63 BC), finally ending the Third Mithridatic War. [5] [6] [7] [8]
In 67 BC, after the Battle of Zela, king Mithridates VI of Pontus had regained control of the kingdom of Pontus. Whilst the Roman commanders were involved in internal politics, Mithridates had been building up his forces and preparing for the inevitable confrontation. Unfortunately for him that confrontation did not take long to materialize in the form of Pompey, Rome's foremost commander, and a very large Roman army. Pompey first established a blockade of the whole coastline of Asia Minor. Secondly he convinced the new Parthian king, Phraates III, to invade Armenia, Mithridates' main ally, forcing Tigranes II of Armenia to turn his attention to protecting his own empire. Thirdly he sent three legions to secure Cappadocia to the south of Pontus. Pompey then marched his numerically superior army into his enemy's heartland. Mithridates withdrew to the centre of his mountainous kingdom, drawing Pompey after him, denying him supplies by burning the crops, and harassing him with his own superior cavalry. Eventually Mithridates marched into the Lycus valley and encamped on a well-watered hill called Dasteira. [9] [10]
Approaching Mithridates' camp an engagement broke out between Pompey's vanguard and Mithridates' rearguard in a defile. According to Appian some of the Pontic cavalrymen were fighting the Romans dismounted and making a good show of it until a large contingent of Roman-allied cavalry showed up. The cavalrymen ran back to the camp to get their horses but this caused a general retreat because their companions did not know why they were running away and they did not want to stay and find out. Pompey wanting to make use of this blow to his enemy's morale and fearing Mithridates would escape during the night decided to launch an assault of the Pontic camp during the night.
As the Romans attacked with the moon to their backs the Pontic troops launched their missiles too early. The Romans were able to get right up to and into the Pontic camp. Once the experienced Roman legionaries got among the Pontic troops the fight was as good as won (Roman legionaries excelled at close-range fighting). Mithridates had made his camp at a site that was difficult to get into. As his desperate troops now found out, it was also hard to get out of. Mithridates with 800 horsemen cut his way out of the trap and escaped but at least 10,000 of his men did not. [11] [6]
With his army destroyed Mithridates at first intended to return to the sanctuary of Armenia, but the beleaguered Tigranes was having none of it. Suspecting Mithridates of plotting with one of his own sons (also called Tigranes), he put a huge 100-talent bounty on Mithridates' head. He might have also recognized the old king's cause as lost and did not want to go down with him. With Pompey to the west, Cappadocia to the south in Roman hands, the Black Sea closed off by a Roman blockade and Armenia unwelcoming, the only way out was the northern route to the Bosporan kingdom (including parts of the Crimea) ruled by his son Machares. After a difficult journey around the eastern half of the Black Sea, Mithridates arrived in the Bosporan Kingdom and made himself its king after murdering his son. Pompey, busy establishing Roman rule in the east, left him to his own devices. In 63 BC, while Mithridates was planning another campaign against Rome, his army rebelled and crowned Pharnaces, one of his many sons, king. Cornered, Mithridates tried to poison himself but this failed, and he was instead killed by his Gallic bodyguard.
Pharnaces II of Pontus was the king of the Bosporan Kingdom and Kingdom of Pontus until his death. He was a monarch of Persian and Greek ancestry. He was the youngest child born to King Mithridates VI of Pontus from his first wife, his sister Queen Laodice. He was born and raised in the Kingdom of Pontus and was the namesake of his late double great grandfather Pharnaces I of Pontus. After his father was defeated by the Romans in the Third Mithridatic War and died in 63 BC, the Romans annexed the western part of Pontus, merged it with the former Kingdom of Bithynia and formed the Roman province of Bithynia and Pontus. The eastern part of Pontus remained under the rule of Pharnaces as a client kingdom until his death.
The Mithridatic Wars were three conflicts fought by the Roman Republic against the Kingdom of Pontus and its allies between 88 and 63 BCE. They are named after Mithridates VI, the King of Pontus during the course of the wars, who initiated the hostilities with Rome. Mithridates led the Pontic forces in every war. The Romans were led by various generals and consuls throughout the wars, namely Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Lucius Licinius Lucullus, and Gnaeus Pompey Magnus.
The First Mithridatic War was a war challenging the Roman Republic's expanding empire and rule over the Greek world. In this conflict, the Kingdom of Pontus and many Greek cities rebelling against Roman rule were led by Mithridates VI of Pontus against Rome and the allied Kingdom of Bithynia. The war lasted five years and ended in a Roman victory, which forced Mithridates to abandon all of his conquests and return to Pontus. The conflict with Mithridates VI later resumed in two further Mithridatic Wars.
The Third Mithridatic War, the last and longest of the three Mithridatic Wars, was fought between Mithridates VI of Pontus and the Roman Republic. Both sides were joined by a great number of allies, dragging the entire east of the Mediterranean and large parts of Asia into the war. The conflict ended in defeat for Mithridates; it ended the Pontic Kingdom and the Seleucid Empire, and also resulted in the Kingdom of Armenia becoming an allied client state of Rome.
The Battle of Artaxata was fought near the Arsanias River in 68 BC between an army of the Roman Republic and the army of the Kingdom of Armenia. The Romans were led by proconsul Lucius Licinius Lucullus, while the Armenians were led by Tigranes II of Armenia, who was sheltering Mithridates VI of Pontus, his father-in-law and refugee King of Pontus. The battle was part of the Third Mithridatic War and ended in a Roman victory.
The siege of Cyzicus took place in 73 BC between the armies of Mithridates VI of Pontus and the Roman-allied citizens of Cyzicus in Mysia and Roman Republican forces under Lucius Licinius Lucullus. It was in fact a siege and a counter-siege. It ended in a decisive Roman victory.
The Battle of Cabira was fought in 72 or 71 BC between forces of the Roman Republic under proconsul Lucius Licinius Lucullus and those of the Kingdom of Pontus under Mithridates the Great. It was a decisive Roman victory.
The Battle of Lemnos was fought on the island of Lemnos in 73 BC between a Roman fleet and a Mithridatic fleet; it was a decisive event during the Third Mithridatic War. The primary chroniclers of the battle are Appian, Cicero and Memnon, but there remain debates about the specifics in these different accounts.
Pontus was a Hellenistic kingdom centered in the historical region of Pontus in modern-day Turkey, and ruled by the Mithridatic dynasty of Persian origin, which may have been directly related to Darius the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty. The kingdom was proclaimed by Mithridates I in 281 BC and lasted until its conquest by the Roman Republic in 63 BC. The Kingdom of Pontus reached its largest extent under Mithridates VI the Great, who conquered Colchis, Cappadocia, Bithynia, the Greek colonies of the Tauric Chersonesos, and for a brief time the Roman province of Asia. After a long struggle with Rome in the Mithridatic Wars, Pontus was defeated.
Mithridates or Mithradates VI Eupator was the ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus in northern Anatolia from 120 to 63 BC, and one of the Roman Republic's most formidable and determined opponents. He was an effective, ambitious, and ruthless ruler who sought to dominate Asia Minor and the Black Sea region, waging several hard-fought but ultimately unsuccessful wars to break Roman dominion over Asia and the Hellenic world. He has been called the greatest ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus. He cultivated an immunity to poisons by regularly ingesting sub-lethal doses; this practice, now called mithridatism, is named after him. After his death, he became known as Mithridates the Great.
Cappadocia was a province of the Roman Empire in Anatolia, with its capital at Caesarea. It was established in 17 AD by the Emperor Tiberius, following the death of Cappadocia's last king, Archelaus.
The Battle of Zela, not to be confused with the more famous battle in 47 BC, was fought in 67 BC near Zela in the Kingdom of Pontus. The battle resulted in a stunning Pontic victory and King Mithridates' successful reclamation of his kingdom. Mithridates' victory was short-lived however, as within a few years he would be completely defeated by Pompey the Great.
The Battle of Chalcedon was a land and naval battle between the Roman Republic and King Mithridates VI of Pontus near the city of Chalcedon in 74 BC. It was the first major clash of the Third Mithridatic War. The Roman forces were led by Marcus Aurelius Cotta, one of the consuls for 74 BC, while Mithridates had the overall command of the Pontic forces. The Mithridatic forces were victorious on both land and sea.
The Battle of the Rhyndacus occurred in 73 BC between a Roman Republican force under the command of the proconsul Lucius Licinius Lucullus and a division of the army of Mithridates VI of Pontus as part of the Third Mithridatic War. The Romans were victorious.
Caucasian campaign of Pompey was a military campaign led by Pompey that took place in 65 BC and was a consequence of the third Mithridatic War fought over Georgian lands and its neighboring frontiers. Rome sought to expand its influence and establish itself as the overlord of the Middle East. After conquering the Kingdom of Pontus and receiving the subjugation of Tigranes II of Armenia the Romans marched on the Kingdom of Iberia, whose king, Artoces had been an ally of Mithridates VI of Pontus, Rome's premier enemy during the 80's, 70's and early 60's BC.
The Fimbrian or Valerian legions were two Roman legions which served and fought in all three wars against King Mithridates of Pontus, one of the Roman Republic's chief adversaries during the 80s, 70s and 60s BC. They became a body of long serving legionaries known for their fierce fighting reputation and also, more infamously, for mutiny and abandoning their commander. The legions take their name from the consul Lucius Valerius Flaccus, who first recruited them in 86 BC, and from his subordinate, Gaius Flavius Fimbria, who took command of the legions after inciting a mutiny and murdering Flaccus.
The Battle of Protopachium was fought in 89 BC at the start of the First Mithridatic War, between the Roman Republic and the Pontic Empire. The battle ended in a Roman defeat and their expulsion from Asia Minor.
The siege of Rhodes took place in 88 BC between the people of Rhodes and Mithridates VI of Pontus' army. The Rhodian forces were led by an admiral called Demagoras and the proconsul of Asia, Lucius Cassius, with them. After the defeat of Rome in the Battle of Protopachium, Rome was forced to retreat from Asia and the only major independent power left in that province was Rhodes. Rhodes had previously been an ally to both Mithridates and Rome, but now it only preferred Rome.
The siege of Heraclea was a military investment of the city of Heraclea Pontica during the Third Mithridatic War. The siege was conducted by the Roman proconsul Marcus Aurelius Cotta and the legate Gaius Valerius Triarius. They were besieging the adherents of Mithridates of Pontus, who held the city for the Pontic king. Heraclea was located on the strategically important northern land route into the kingdom of Pontus and had been taken and garrisoned by Mithridates on his retreat from the Siege of Cyzicus. The 4,000-man strong Mithridatic garrisoned was commanded by Connacorex, one of the king's generals, and held out for almost two years. After taking Heraclea, the Romans plundered the city extensively.
Gaius Valerius Triarius was a First Century BC Roman politician and general, a member of the gens Valeria. During the Third Mithridatic War he served as a legate to Lucius Licinius Lucullus, the Roman commander in charge of the war effort against king Mithridates VI of Pontus. He played a pivotal role in the capture of Heraclea Pontica, but was later defeated by Mithridates at the Battle of Zela in 67 BC.