Rome & the Kings of Asia Minor (164-63 B.C.) Flashcards
What king of Pontus are the Mithridatic Wars named for?
Mithridates VI
When was the First Mithridatic war fought
89-85 B.C.
Who was assassinated so that his wife and Mithridates’s sister could rule as Regent for her son by Gordius a Cappadocian nobleman and ally of Mithridates?
Ariarathes VI
Who did Laodice marry causing a conflict with her brother?
Nicomedes III of Bithynia (Pontus’s traditional enemy)
What did Mithridates do in response to the marriage of Laodice and Nicomedes III?
Drive Nicomedes III out of Cappadocia “on the behalf of Ariarathes VII” his nephew.
What did Ariarathes VII do to antagonize his Uncle, Mithridates VI
Refuse Gordius’s return into Cappadocia
How did Ariarathes VII die? And who took his place?
Mithridates VI invaded and killed him placing his own son also named Ariarathes on the throne under Gordius’s regency.
After Nicomedes appealed to the senate about Mithridates VI’s occupation of Cappadocia, what did the Roman Senate decide to be the solution?
Nicomedes III would be removed from Paphlagonia and Mithridates VI would be removed from Cappadocia. Cappadocia would be under the rule of Ariobarzanes I
What did Mithridates VI do in response to his removal from Cappadocia Immediately Preceding the Aquillian Legation?
Asked his son in law Tigranes the great of Armenia to invade Cappadocia from the east.
What was Rome’s response to Tigranes the great’s first occupation of Cappadocia
Sending Propraetor Lucius Cornelius Sulla, who had been dealing with Cillician pirates, to drive Tigranes and Mithridates’s forces out of Ariobarzanes I’s kingdom
whose death prompted Mithridates to support a bastard son on the throne of Bithynia?
Nicomedes III
who were the two sons fighting for the Bithynian throne in the civil war that immediately preceded the first Mithridatic war.
Nicomedes IV and his bastard half-brother Socrates Chrestus (supported by Mithridates VI)
Who fled to Rome after losing a civil war in Asia minor to convince Rome to restore him to his kingdom of Bithynia in 91 or 90 B.C.
Nicomedes IV
Who, in 90 B.C. led a force to restore Nicomedes IV and Ariobarzanes I to their respective thrones in Asia minor?
Manius Aquillius (and Manlius Maltinus)
Even though Mithridates had not helped the Aquilian Legation restore the joint kings of Cappadocia and Bithynia, he had not actively hindered the process. Despite this Manius Aquillius began doing what? A particularly reckless strategy for what reason?
Provoking Mithridates VI into a confrontation; The social war was still underway so Rome could not put it’s full attention on Mithridates VI.
Since Roman policy toward Asia Minor expected it, the two kings seeking restoration, especially Nicomedes IV took out massive loans to bribe the Romans for their help. This resulted in him, at the behest of his creditors and Aquillius, doing what to get enough money to pay off his debts?
Invading Pontus
After Nicomedes IV raided into Pontus, what series of decisions did Mithridates VI make?
- Sent his Pontic Envoy: Pelopidas to Rome to argue that Bithynia was the aggressor and pointing to the Pontic treaty with Rome
- Built an alliance network (or tried to) throughout all of the former Macedonian Empire
- Built up his military forces in preparation for a war with Rome
Where does Mithridates VI Occupy in 89 B.C. de facto starting a war with Rome
Cappadocia
What philosopher in Mithridates VI’s court encouraged him to commit a genocide against all Roman’s in Asia Minor in the immediate prelude to the first Mithridatic war?
Metrodoros of Skepsis also known as ho misoromaios (the Roman-hater)
What was Mithridates VI’s murder of all Roman Citizens in Asia Minor called?
The Asiatic Vespers
How many Romans were killed in the Asiatic Vespers? (According to Appian)
80,000
What general of Mithridates established Aristion as the tyrant of Athens
Archelaus
How does Sulla reconquer Greece from Archelaus and Mithridates?
Lands in Epirus; Marches towards Boeotia winning a battle that wins him the allegiance of the Peloponnesus; Marches on Athens; Defeats Archelaus at the battle of Chaeronea
After the Battle of Chaeronea, where was Archelaus defeated after receiving 80,000 reinforcements from Mithridates?
Orchomenus
Who was sent by the Marians in Rome to defeat Mithridates and Sulla
Lucius Valerius Flaccus
Who assassinated the Marian Lucius Valerius Flaccus after he crossed the Hellespont?
Fimbria
What treaty ended the war between Rome (Sulla) and Mithridatesin 84 B.C.?
Treaty of Dardanos
What were the terms of the treaty of Dardanos?
Sulla had to remove himself from all conquered territory and the kings of Asia Minor were put back into their kingships
How did Mithridates VI escape Gaius Fimbria after Fimbria invaded the Roman province of Asia and supported the Greek rebellion?
By sailing away because Fimbria was a Marian and so Sulla’s admiral Lucullus didn’t support Fimbria’s operation
How did Fimbria die?
Killed himself after Sulla signed the treaty of Dardanos with Mithridates and he was left exposed and without allies.
How did the second Mithridatic war start?
Sulla hastily left to deal with domestic politics and his Lieutenant Murena managed to immediately break the treaty Sulla had just negotiated, painting Mithridates in a good light as the aggrieved party.
Why did Murena provoke Mithridates VI?
Mithridates was building up his forces, Nominally to deal with a Colchian rebellion, but the scale of the buildup and the fact the Ariobarzanes, king of Cappadocia had not been returned all his territory yet meant that Murena didn’t believe him.
How did Mithridates originally respond to Murena?
Sends envoys to Rome
In response to what action of Murena does Mithridates VI send Gordius to attack Roman Villages?
Murena talking with an envoy and then continuing his provocation implying it was sanctioned by Rome even though Murena was just disobeying orders on a technicality.
Who didn’t want another war with Mithridates, recalled Murena to Rome, and reconciled Mithridates and Ariobarzanes I?
Sulla
Which king of Bithynia did Perseus marry to his sister?
Prusias
What did Prusias do to avoid retribution after his brother in law lost the 3rd Macedonian war at Pydna?
Stayed Neutral throughout the conflict and afterwards, appeared in Rome dressed as a freedman.
Prusias, after the third Macedonian war, became incensed against what king of Pergamum?
Attalus II Philidelphus
When Rome forced an arbitration between Prusias II and Attalus where each of them would meet with 1,000 horses and define their border, what did Prusias II do?
Sent the Romans on ahead and brought his entire army instead of 1,000 horses sending Attalus II and the Romans to flight. He then destroyed Nicephorium and Besieged Pergamum.
What were the consequences as dictated by Rome for Prusias’s incursions into Pergamum?
Deliver 20 decked ships at once, and 500 Talents of Silver within a certain period
Why did Nicomedes II son of Prusias II overthrow his father?
His father was likely planning to have his son killed out of Jealousy.
What king of Pergamum assisted Nicomedes II in taking the throne from his cruel father
Attalus II Philidelphus
What legate of Attalus II went to Rome to argue on behalf of his native Pergamum before conspiring with Nicomedes II and Menas Legate of Prusias II to kill Prusias II?
Androniscus
In the temple of what god, in what city is Prusias II killed?
Zeus; Nicomedia
Who was in charge of the province of Asia during the Aquilian legation, and was asked to support the legation with troops?
Lucius Cassius
During the first Mithridatic war what general did Mithridates take as prisoner first?
Quintus Oppius
Who, taken prisoner by Mithridates in the first of his wars with the romans, also led the the Eponymous legation to Asia Minor?
Manius Aquillius
How did Manius Aquillius die?
Molten gold poured down his throat (to rebuke the romans for taking bribes)
What three cities does Appain claim “received him[Mithridates] gladly” during the first Mithridatic war?
Mytilene, Magnesia, and Ephesus.
What did the senate decide to sell so that Sulla could amass an Army to fight Mithridates?
The treasures of King Numa Pompilius which had been set aside for the gods.
What Island, where the Romans fleeing the Asiatic Vespers fled to, did Mithridates unsuccessfully besiege in 88 B.C.?
Rhodes
Who led the Rhodian navy against Mithridates during it’s besiegement in 88 B.C.?
Demagoras
What battle, expelling the Romans completely from Asia Minor, was a Mithridatic victory in 89 B.C.
The battle of Protopachium
What battle in 89 B.C., fought without Roman aid, was a defeat for Nicomedes IV at the hands of Mithridates VI’s two general Neoptolemus and Archelaus.
The Amnias River
Where was Manius Aquillius captured by Mithridates VI?
Mytilene, Lesbos
What year was the last battle fought by Manius Aquillius against Neoptolemus and Archelaus?
89B.C. (Protopachium)
What was the siege engine used first by Marcus Claudius Marcellus against Syracuse and again by Mithridates VI against Rhodes in 88 B.C.?
Sambuca
Who did Archelaus appoint as Tyrant of Athens
Aristion
How did Archelaus secure the Athenian alliance for Mithridates VI?
He captured Delos and returned it and it’s treasures to Athens.
What school of Philosophy did Aristion profess to be from?
Epicureanism
What roman defeated the Mithridatic general Metrophanes, and then raided Sciathos?
Bruttius
Where did Bruttius meet Archelaus and Aristion in battle?
Near Chaeronea
What caused Bruttius to withdraw to Piraeus?
The reinforcement of Archelaus’s army
How was Bruttius ultimately stymied?
Archelaus captured Piraeus with his fleet.
Which city that had lightly sided with Archelaus and Mithridates immediately defected to Sulla once he arrived?
Thebes
When Sulla besieged Athens, where specifically did he concentrate his assault?
Piraeus
What famous walls, built by Pericles, did Sulla destroy during his siege of Piraeus?
The long walls
According to Appian, how did Sulla receive information about the besieged army at Piraeus?
Two slaves wrote down what was happening inside Piraeus; Sealed them in lead balls, and used slings to send the lead balls to the Roman army.
Who, during the siege of Athens, did Sulla assign as the Naval commander and send to Alexandria and Syria to obtain a fleet that could rival that of Mithridates?
Lucullus
What son of Mithridates VI was present at the battle of the Amnias River and in 87 B.C. invaded Macedonia during the first Mithridatic war?
Called Ariarathes by Plutarch
Called Arcathias by Appian
Order the following events of the Mithridatic war: Capture of Athens and Piraeus, Battle of Orchomenus, Battle of the Amnias river, Battle of Chaeronea, Battle of Protopachium, Siege of Rhodes.
Amnias, Protopachium, Rhodes, Athens & Piraeus, Chaeronea, Orchomenus.
Where was Aristion captured?
Inside Athens once he surrendered from the Acropolis
What Island, after the battle of Chaeronea, does Mithridates punish?
Chios
Where was Flaccus killed?
Nicomedia
When did Lucullus to return Athens’s besiegement with a fleet?
84 B.C.
In what year was the treaty of Dardanos signed?
84 B.C.
Who fled from Mithridates before the breakout of the second Mithridatic war because of Mithridates’s suspicion of him?
Archelaus
How does Murena justify his original attacks on Mithridates?
He said that there was no treaty because Sulla and Mithridates had not written the treaty out.
What battle took place between Murena, Gordius, and later, Mithridates VI?
Battle of Halys (82 B.C.)
How did the second Mithridatic war end?
Mithridates and Ariobarzanes were reconciled and Mithridates was able to keep some of Cappadocia.
What year was the battle of Halys fought?
82 B.C.
When was the second Mithridatic war fought?
83 - 81 B.C.
At the beginning of the 3rd Mithridatic war, what newly acquired Roman province did Mithridates VI invade?
Bithynia
What Marian forms an alliance with Mithridates VI from across the Mediterranean?
Quintus Sertorius
What territorial change took place between the 2nd and 3rd Mithridatic wars at the prompting of Ariobarzanes I
The return of Cappadocia to Ariobarzanes
Who was governor of Bithynia when Mithridates invaded it at the beginning of the 3rd Mithridatic war?
Marcus Aurelius Cotta
What was the immediate cause of the 3rd Mithridatic War?
The invasion of Bithynia by Mithridates upon the death of Nicomedes IV and the bequeathment of his kingdom to Rome
What two Consuls of 74 B.C. were sent to deal with Mithridates VI
Lucius Licinius Lucullus and Marcus Aurelius Cotta
What battle caused the burning or capture of 64 Roman ships and trapped Cotta inside the city waiting for Lucullus’s relief?
Chalcedon
What were the years of the 3rd Mithridatic war?
73-63 B.C.
When was the battle, fought between Cotta and Mithridates, of Chalcedon?
73 B.C.
When Mithridates attempted to Seize Bithynia in 73 B.C. what city was the sole Roman holdout?
Cyzicus
What fortuitous portent occurred for the Citizens of Cyzicus during their besiegement at the hands of Mithridates?
Cyzicus is sacred to Persephone; Her festival was going on; Traditionally a black heifer is sacrificed but because of the siege they had none; one swam out of the sea of Marmara and into not only the city but the temple.
Why did the siege of Cyzicus by Mithridates VI fail?
Lucullus counter-sieged him and starved him out.
After ending the Siege of Cyzicus, to who’s court does Mithridates flee?
Tigranes the great of Armenia
What year did Lucullus march against Tigranes?
69 B.C.
What three legates of Mithridates were captured and Killed by either their own hand or Lucullus’s after the siege of Cyzicus?
Dionysios the Eunuch, Alexandros of Paphlagonia, and Marcus Marius.
Why was the battle of Cabira such a disaster for Mithridates?
Mithridates’s troops found out he was fleeing and panicked causing Chaos that was exploited by Lucullus.
What City was finally captured by Cotta in 71 B.C. after a siege lasting for 2 years?
Heraclea (Pontica)
What three sieges, in what order, took place during Lucullus’s Pontic campaign?
Themiscyra; Amisus; Sinope
At what battle, at a city named for the enemy combatant, did Lucullus meet Tigranes the great of Armenia?
Tigranocerta
When was the battle of Tigranocerta fought?
69 B.C.
When was the first Roman-Armenian war?
69-67 B.C.
What ancestral Armenian capital served as the backdrop for a battle between Lucullus and Tigranes the Great in 68 B.C.?
Artaxata
After what battle did Lucullus’s troops first Mutiny due to a harsh winter?
Artaxata
What city was taken by Lucullus in the Winter of 68 B.C.-67 B.C.
Nisbis
When did Mithridates return to Pontus and surprise the Romans there?
67 B.C. While Lucullus was at Nisibis
Even though Lucullus marched back to Pontus to deal with him, why was Mithridates able to consolidate his hold on Pontus unopposed?
A mutiny due to the soldiers lack of spoils and the influence of Pompey.
When did Pompey take over command against Mithridates?
66 B.C.
What law made Pompey commander in the East against Mithridates?
Lex Manilia
What tribune proposed the Lex Manilia?
Gaius Manilius
What was the first battle fought between Mithridates and Pompey?
Battle of Lycus
When was the battle of Lycus fought?
66 B.C.
After beating Mithridates at the Lycus River, where did Pompey campaign?
The Caucuses
What two Caucasian tribes did Pompey beat in 65 B.C.?
Iberians and Albanians
Where did Pompey first defeat the Albanians and Iberians?
Battle of Pelorus
Where did Pompey crush the Iberians after Pelorus?
Albas
Where after fleeing Pompey, did Mithridates fail to raise an army in 65 B.C.?
Crimea
What stronghold did Mithridates take refuge within in the year of his death?
Panticapaeum
What son of Mithridates VI refused to aid him after the Battle of the Lycus?
Machares
Whose rebellion caused the complete end for Mithridates VI?
His son: Pharnaces II
What king of Pergamum allied with the Romans during the Roman-Selucid War?
Eumenes II
What general won the battle of Corycus in 191 B.C. and forced the Seleucid navy to retreat to Ephesus?
Gaius Livius Salinator
At what battle of 190 B.C. did the Rhodian navy defeat the Seleucids?
Battle of the Eurymedon
What general won the battle of Myonessus in 190 B.C.?
Lucius Aemilius Regillus
Who commanded the Seleucid fleet at the battle of the Eurymedon in 190 B.C.?
Hannibal Barka
Where did Antiochus retreat to negotiate terms after losing at Magnesia?
Sardis
What Consul of 192 B.C., although not nominally in charge, is given most of the credit for winning at Magnesia by Plutarch and Appian?
Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus
What two famous Scipiones led the Romans at the battle of Magnesia?
Scipio Africanus and Scipio Asiaticus
