The lex Manilia (Law of Manilius) was a Roman law passed in 66 BC granting Pompey the military command in the East against Mithridates VI of Pontus.
Previously, the war against Mithridates (commonly known as the Third Mithridatic War) had been conducted by Lucius Licinius Lucullus. By the winter of 68–7 BC, Lucullus had ejected Mithridates from his kingdom of Pontus and had invaded the Armenian empire of Mithridates' ally, Tigranes the Great.
However, Lucullus was forced to halt his advances when his discontented legions (the 'Fimbrian Legions', many of whom who had been in the East since the command of Gaius Flavius Fimbria in 86 BC) mutinied under the leadership of Publius Clodius Pulcher. [1] Mithridates and Tigranes took advantage and renewed their offensives, Mithridates invading Pontus while Tigranes invaded Cappadocia. Mithridates inflicted a crushing defeat on Roman forces under Lucullus' legate Triarius at the Battle of Zela in summer 67 BC. [2]
Lucullus was promptly superseded in the command against Mithridates by the consul for 67 BC, Manius Acilius Glabrio, though Lucullus remained in the East for a while nonetheless. [3] However Glabrio, realising the difficulty of the situation, lingered in Bithynia, allowing Mithridates to recover the whole of his former kingdom by the end of 67 BC. [4]
The law, proposed in 66 BC by the tribune Gaius Manilius in response to the escalating crisis in Asia Minor, recalled the three commanders presently in the East (Lucullus in Pontus, Glabrio in Bithynia, and Quintus Marcius Rex in Cilicia). It granted all their legions and the entire conduct of the eastern war to Pompey, who was conveniently already present in the East completing his command against the pirates (as granted to him by the lex Gabinia of 67 BC). [5]
Unlike the lex Gabinia of the previous year, which had been almost universally opposed in the Senate, [6] Manilius' proposal was supported by many senators and several eminent ex-consuls. These included Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus (consul 79 BC), Gaius Scribonius Curio, Gaius Cassius Longinus Varus (consul 73 BC), and Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Clodianus (consul 72 BC). [7] [8] The proposal was also supported by Cicero, at the time serving as praetor, in his extant speech De Imperio Cn. Pompei . [9] Opposition to the law was largely confined to Quintus Hortensius and Quintus Lutatius Catulus, whose arguments against granting Pompey the command are addressed at length by Cicero in his speech. [10]
Manilius' law was passed in the Comitia Tributa without any of the violence that had occurred the year before with Gabinius' proposal. [11] Pompey soon moved against Mithridates and Tigranes, and had defeated both by the end of 65 BC (though Mithridates was not killed until 63 BC).
As for Manilius, he was prosecuted twice upon leaving his office in December 66 BC. On the first occasion, he was defended from a charge of extortion (de repetundis) by Cicero, but the charges were dropped in January 65 BC amid disturbances and violence. However, on the second occasion he was condemned on the charge of maiestas and exiled. [12]
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of Rome from republic to empire. He was a student of Roman general Sulla as well as the political ally, and later enemy, of Julius Caesar.
This article concerns the period 69 BC – 60 BC.
This article concerns the period 79 BC – 70 BC.
80s BC is the time period from 89 BC – 80 BC.
Year 66 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Lepidus and Tullus. The denomination 66 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Year 67 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Piso and Glabrio. The denomination 67 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Manius Acilius Glabrio was a Roman statesman and general, grandson of the jurist Publius Mucius Scaevola.
Lucius Licinius Lucullus was a Roman general and statesman, closely connected with Lucius Cornelius Sulla. In culmination of over 20 years of almost continuous military and government service, he conquered the eastern kingdoms in the course of the Third Mithridatic War, exhibiting extraordinary generalship in diverse situations, most famously during the Siege of Cyzicus in 73–72 BC, and at the Battle of Tigranocerta in Armenian Arzanene in 69 BC. His command style received unusually favourable attention from ancient military experts, and his campaigns appear to have been studied as examples of skillful generalship.
The Mithridatic Wars were three conflicts fought by Rome against the Kingdom of Pontus and its allies between 88 BC and 63 BC. They are named after Mithridates VI, the King of Pontus who initiated the hostilities after annexing the Roman province of Asia into its Pontic Empire and committing massacres against the local Roman population known as the Asian Vespers. As Roman troops were sent to recover the territory, they faced an uprising in Greece organized and supported by Mithridates. Mithridates was able to mastermind such general revolts against Rome and played the magistrates of the optimates party off against the magistrates of the populares party in the Roman civil wars. Nevertheless, the first war ended with a Roman victory, confirmed by the Treaty of Dardanos signed by Sulla and Mithridates. Greece was restored to Roman rule and Pontus was expected to restore the status quo ante bellum in Asia Minor.
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, ending the Pontic Kingdom, ending the Seleucid Empire, and also resulting in the Kingdom of Armenia becoming an allied client state of Rome.
Gaius Manilius was a Roman tribune of the plebs in 66 BC. He is primarily known for his Lex Manilia, the bill which gave Pompey the Great command of the war against Mithridates.
Gaius Cassius Longinus was a Roman consul in 73 BC.
Pontus was a Hellenistic kingdom centered in the historical region of Pontus and ruled by the Mithridatic dynasty, which possibly 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. The western part of it was incorporated into the Roman Republic as the province Bithynia et Pontus; the eastern half survived as a client kingdom until 62 AD.
De Imperio Cn. Pompei, also known as Pro Lege Manilia, was a speech delivered by Cicero in 66 BC before the Roman popular assembly. It was in support of the proposal made by Gaius Manilius, a tribune of the people, that Pompey the Great be given sole command against Mithridates in the Third Mithridatic War.
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Nepos was an ancient Roman politician during the Late Republic. He was a son of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Nepos and served as tribune of the plebs in 62 BC, consul in 57 BC, and the governor of Hispania Citerior from 56–55 BC.
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus was a politically active member of the Roman upper class. He was praetor in 74 BC and pontifex from 73 BC until his death. He was consul in 69 BC along with Quintus Hortensius Hortalus.
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 gens Manilia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are frequently confused with the Manlii, Mallii, and Mamilii. Several of the Manilii were distinguished in the service of the Republic, with Manius Manilius obtaining the consulship in 149 BC; but the family itself remained small and relatively unimportant.
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.