Third Mithridatic War

The Third Mithridatic War (73-63 BCE) was part of the Mithridatic Wars (88-63 BCE) between Rome and Mithridates VI of Pontus.
The War resulted in a Roman victory and the defeat and death of Mithridates.

Sulla, who had opposed an attack on Mithridates, died in 78 BCE
When Bithynia was bequeathed to Rome by her King in 73 BCE, it prompted Mithridates to invade Bithynia to prevent Rome from annexing the State.

In the Spring of 73 BCE, Lucullus was appointed Governor of Cilicia with command of five Legions, and he prepared to invade Pontus.
Cotta was made Governor of Bithynia and commanded the Roman fleet.
Mithridates invaded Bithynia with an army of 140,000 soldiers and 16,000 cavalry and defeated Cotta at the Battle of Chalcedon. The Pontic Army had been trained by officers sent by the Roman rebel Sertorius who was fighting a civil war in Spain.

Mithridates next used his huge army to besiege the island fortress of Cyzicus, a major port which he needed as a supply base for his army. But the fortress resisted successfully, isolating Mithridates huge army.
Lucullus had cancelled the invasion of Pontus and arrived to relieve Cyzicus. Lucullus positioned his army on the mainland to prevent Mithridates army from returning.
Eventually, Mithridates decided to return part of his army, but they were caught by Lucullus who captured 15,000 soldiers and 6,000 cavalry. Mithridates abandoned the siege and sent the rest of his army away along the coast whilst he left by sea.
Lucullus pursued the Pontic army and destroyed 20,000 of them at Granicus.

Mithridates awarded Marcus Varius, the Roman rebel sent by Sertorius, the command of the remnant of this army and a fleet of 50 warships with 10,000 soldiers, and sent him into the Aegean.
Mithridates then took his army and attacked Perinthus, but after failing to take the city, he sailed east to Nicomedia.

Lucullus personally commanded a fleet to pursue Marcus Varius and caught up with him at Lemnos where Varius was defeated and killed.
Lucullus ordered two Roman Generals, Rriarius and Barba, to pursue Mithridates to Nicomedia. As the outlying cities fell to the Romans, Mithridates abandoned Nicomedia and escaped back to Pontus through the Bosphorus.

Lucullus decided on an invasion of Pontus and proceeded to besiege and take one city after another.
In c.72 BCE, Mithridates raised a new army of 40,000 soldiers and 4,000 cavalry at made a base at Cabira on the River Lycus.
Mithridates lost a series of skirmishes and decided to withdraw from his main base at Cabira. Due to a misunderstanding during the evacuation, the Pontic soldiers panicked and the camp was overrun by the Roman Army. Mithridates only just managed to escape and crossed into Armenia to join Tigranes.

Lucullus reorganised Pontus into a Roman Province, whilst sending an envoy, Appius Claudius, to Tigranes to request he return Mithridates, but the request was refused.
Lucullus then consolidated Asia into a Roman Province.

Lucullus army, consisting of 12,000 soldiers and 4,000 cavalry, crossed into Armenia and headed towards the Capital, Tigranocerta. Tigranes withdrew to prepare a large army to confront the Romans, whilst Mithridates waited with an army to invade Pontus.
At the Battle of Tigranocerta on 6th October 69 BCE, the two sides met, resulting in an overwhelming victory for the Romans, and Tigranes was forced to flee and rejoin Mithridates.
Lucullus now moved towards the other capital at Artaxata, hoping for a conclusive battle. However, his troops were on the verge of mutiny, and he was forced to withdraw and winter in Nisibis.

Mithridates now invaded Pontus with an army of 8,000 soldiers and defeated the two Roman Legions under Fabius.
Mithridates then won a major victory against Triarius and Fabius at the Battle of Zela in 67 BCE, restoring him to power in Pontus for the next year.
Lucullus was unable to move against him as his army mutinied, knowing that a new Governor, Acilius Glabro, had been appointed to replace him in Cilicia.

Pompey had just completed a victory in 67 BCE removing the Pirates of Cilicia from the Mediterranean.
In 66 BCE, the Senate awarded Pompey command of the East. He took command of three Legions in Cilicia and a reluctant Lucullus gave him another three from his army.
King Phraates of Parthia was persuaded to become a Roman Ally and invaded Armenia laying siege to Artaxata. Although unsuccessful, this prevented Tigranes from joining Mithridates in Pontus.
Pompey opened negotiations with Mithridates, but his offers were turned down and both sides prepared for war.
Pompey destroyed the last Mithridatic Army at the Battle of Nicopolis and Mithridates escaped, but Pompey did not succeed in pursuing him.

Taking advantage of the power vacuum left by Mithridates defeat, Pompey started to expand Rome’s influence in the East.
In 65 BCE Pompey invaded and subdued Mithridates’ former allies and client states of Armenia, Iberia and Albania which all became Roman Client Kingdom.
In 64 BCE, Syria became a Roman Province.
In 63 BCE Pompey besieged Jerusalem and turned Judea into a Roman client kingdom.
Rome now controlled Asia Minor, the Caucasus and part of the Middle East.

Mithridates managed to get back to Armenia, but Tigranes had placed a price on his head, so he retreated to his own territory in Colchis and from there to the Bosphoran Kingdom in the Crimea, which he took over between 66-63 BCE.
However, in 63 BCE, he was overthrown by his son and committed suicide.
Pompey had him buried him in Amasya, the former Capital of Pontus in his Ancestral Rock Tomb.

Asia Minor