Mithridates the Great (35 page)

7. Plutarch,
Life of Sulla
, 10ff, for details of this early campaign

Chapter 5

1. Plutarch,
Life of Sulla
, 11.

2. Ibid, 2.

3. Appian,
Mithridatica
, 38.

4. Plutarch,
Life of Sulla
, 14.

5. What follows is largely a synthesis of the accounts of Appian, Plutarch and others, though precedence has been given to Plutarch as Charonea was, after all, his home town and he had merely to take an afternoon stroll to see the battleground for himself.

6. W. Kendrick Pritchett, ‘Observations on Chaironeia’, in
American Journal of Archaeology
, Volume 62, No 3 (July, 1958), pp 307-311, is mainly interested in the earlier battle of 338 but still has some useful observations on topology.

7. Plutarch,
Life of Sulla
, 18. It was thanks to the downhill slope that Roman light artillery was able to participate in the battle - an unusual occurrence on ancient battlefields.

Chapter 6

1. Appian,
Mithridatica
, 47.

2. Plutarch,
Life of Sulla
, 21.

3. Memnon, 33.

4. Frontinus,
Strategems
, 2.3.17.

5. See E Badian, ‘Waiting for Sulla’, in
The Journal of Roman Studies
, (1962), for the situation in Italy at this time

6. Cf: J Madden and A Keaveney, ‘Sulla Pere and Mithridates’, in
Classical Philology
, Vol 88, No 2 (1993).

7. Plutarch,
Life of Lucullus
, 3.

Chapter 7

1. Plutarch,
Life of Sulla
, 22.9, says Pontus had to pay 2,000 talents as well. Memnon, 35.2, puts the figure at 3,000 talents.

2. Modern discussions of this settlement are surprisingly rare. Perhaps the best is Sherwin-White,
Roman Foreign Policy in the East, 168 BC to AD 1
(Norman, Oklahoma, 1983), pp143-149.

3. For a full treatment of what this term entailed, see ‘Rex Socius to Rex Datus’, in
Maurice Sartre, The Middle East under Rome
(Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2005), pp 71-90.

4. Plutarch,
Life of Lucullus
, 7.

5. Memnon, 26.3. Information for the period between the first and third Mithridatic wars is scanty and often contradictory. The description of this campaign is a synthesis drawn largely from the work of Plutarch, Appian and Memnon.

6. Appian,
Mithridatica
, 65.

7. Ibid, 66.

8. Suetonius,
The Life of Caesar
, 2.

9. Tigranes is another character whose life has been sadly under-chronicled. The most comprehensive modern work, Herant K Armen,
Tigranes the Great
(Detroit, 1940), is a somewhat flawed and haphazard text.

10. No-one is quite sure exactly where. Cf: T Rice Holmes, ‘Tigranocerta’, in
The Journal of Roman Studies
(1917).

11. Figures, as ever, courtesy of Appian,
Mithridatica
, 70.

Chapter 8

1. Justin, 38.4-7. Justin explicitly states he is passing on the speech unaltered as he received it from Trogus, a historian contemporary with Mithridates.

2. As Vellius Paterculus adds, Mithridates was the last king in the region, apart from that of the Parthians, who was totally independent of Rome. Vellius Paterculus, 2.40.1.

3. For a fuller discussion of this complex question, see B C McGing, ‘The Date of the Outbreak of the Third Mithridatic War’, in
Phoenix
, Volume 38, No 1 (1984), pp 12-18.

4. Memnon, 37.

5. Plutarch,
Life of Lucullus
, 8.

6. Appian,
Mithridatica
, 69. Strabo, 12.8.11, puts the numbers at 150,000.

7. Cicero, in
Pro Murena
, 33, calls Cyzicus the key to Asia:
‘eamque urbem sibi Mithridates Asiae ianuam fore putasset qua effracta et revolsa tota pateret provincial
.

8. The description of Cyzicus in antiquity is drawn from Robert de Rustafjaell, ‘Cyzicus’, in
The Journal of Hellenic Studies
(1902).

9. The siege is mainly from Appian,
Mithridatica
, 74, with Plutarch,
Life of Lucullus
, 9-12.

10. Eutropius, 6.6.

11. Assuming these are the 100 described in Florus 3.5.18.

Chapter 9

1. Much of the geography of military action in Pontus is based on the work of J Munro over a century ago: J Munro, ‘Roads in Pontus, Royal and Roman’, in
Journal of Hellenic Studies
(1901).

2. Plutarch,
Life of Lucullus
, 14.

3. Appian,
Mithridatica
, 78.

4. Plutarch,
Life of Lucullus
, 15; Appian,
Mithridatica
, 79, gives the same story, but dates the event later, probably in 71 BC.

5. Memnon, 45.

6. Plutarch,
Life of Lucullus
, 15.

7. Two articles which make valuable reading in conjunction with this account are: C Konrad, ‘Reges Armenii Patricios Resalutare Non Solent?’, in The
American Journal of Philology
(1983); and a sceptical reading of Plutarch and Appian by D Mulroy, ‘The Early Career of P. Clodius Pulcher: A Re-Examination of the Charges of Mutiny and Sacrilege’, in
Transactions of the American Philological Association
(1974-1988), which is also sympathetic toward the Fimbrian legions.

8. Cicero, in his speech On the Command of Pompey, 23, shows this was indeed the reaction in Rome.

9. Strabo, 12.2.1.

10. Appian,
Mithridatica
, 85.

11. Plutarch,
Life of Lucullus
, 26.

12. Phlegon, fr12.

13. Plutarch,
Life of Lucullus
, 27, is the main source for this reconstruction, with help from Appian,
Mithridatica
, 85; Frontinus,
Strategems
, 2.1.14; and Memnon, 57M. Valuable geographical detail is to be found in T Rice Holmes, ‘Tigranocerta’, in
The Journal of Roman Studies
, 1917.

Chapter 10

1. Sallust,
Letter of Mithridates
, 1.1.

2. Ibid, 20.

3. Appian,
Mithridatica
, 87. Most modern historians agree this figure is too high for the population available, and is in any case not borne out by the kings’ conduct in the subsequent campaign.

4. Dio, 36.5.

5. Alternatively spelled ‘Mush’, in the Taron region of modern Armenia.

6. Appian,
Mithridatica
, 89. Further help on reconstructing the battle is found in Dio, 36.12.

7. Plutarch,
Life of Lucullus
, 35.

8. Cicero, On the command of Pompey, 3; cf W Loader, ‘Pompey’s Command under the Lex Gabinia’, in
The Classical Review
(1940) for discussion of what this command entailed.

9. Plutarch,
Life of Crassus
, 9.

10. Cicero, On the command of Pompey, 12.

11. Plutarch,
Life of Pompey
, 31.

12. Army numbers based on the work of Sherwin-White (1983) and
Cambridge Ancient History
(1951)

13. Plutarch,
Life of Pompey
, 32.

14. The main sources for this reconstruction of events are Appian,
Mithridatica
, 100; Plutarch,
Life of Pompey
, 32; Cassius Dio, 36.48; and Livy,
Epitome
, 101, with geographical assistance from Strabo, 12.3.28.

Chapter 11

1. Plutarch,
Life of Pompey
, 32.

2. Cassius Dio, 36.50.

3. For details of this and other Pompeian foundations in Pontus see W Fletcher, ‘The Pontic Cities of Pompey the Great’, in
Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association
, volume 70 (1939).

4. Strabo, 11.13.1.

5. J Thorley, ‘The Development of Trade between the Roman Empire and the East under Augustus’, in
Greece & Rome
(1969), p.215.

6. Site of the modern city of Kertsch.

7. Cicero,
Pro Murena
, 30-33.

8. Appian,
Mithridatica
, 107.

9. Ibid, 109.

10. Florus, 1.40.25; Strabo, 7.5.1.

11. Appian,
Mithridatica
, 109.

12. Ibid, 110.

13. Ibid

14. The last hours of Mithridates are recorded in Appian,
Mithridatica
, 111, and Cassius Dio, 38.12-14.

Chapter 12

1. J C G Anderson, ‘Pontica’, in
The Journal of Hellenic Studies
, volume 20 (1900), pp 151-158; A J Marshall, ‘Pompey’s Organization of Bithynia-Pontus: Two Neglected Texts’, in
The Journal of Roman Studies
, volume 58, parts 1 and 2 (1968).

2. Adrian Goldsworthy,
Caesar: Life of a Colossus
(London, 2006) pp 446-447.

Bibliography

Anderson, J, ‘Pontica’, in
The Journal of Hellenic Studies
, Vol 20 (1900), pp 151-158.

Armen, H,
Tigranes the Great
(Detroit, 1940).

Badian, E, ‘Waiting for Sulla’, in
The Journal of Roman Studies
(1962).

Bosworth, W, ‘The Origins of the Pontic House’, in
The Journal of Hellenic Studies
, Vol 118 (1998) pp 155-164.

Bugh, G, ‘Athenion and Aristion of Athens’, in
Phoenix
(1992).

Campbell, D,
Ancient Siege Warfare
(Oxford, 2005).

Darbyshire, et al, ‘The Galatian Settlement in Asia Minor’,
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(2000)

Deniz Burcu Erciyas, ‘Comana Pontica: A City or a Sanctuary?’, in
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(Aarhus).

de Rustafjaell, R, ‘Cyzicus’, in
The Journal of Hellenic Studies
(1902).

de Souza, P,
Piracy in the Graeco-Roman World
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Classical Philology
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, Vol 70 (1939)