Quote Originally Posted by Brennus View Post
Sorry, that was my fault. That joke didn't really work.
It did; I just wanted to clarify since my OP could have been clearer.

Quote Originally Posted by seleucid empire View Post
is there any chance the numbers might not be inflated???
Well, it's a given that the numbers were inflated. The question is by how much. From periods in history where we have access to sources from both sides, we know that chroniclers would often report twice (if not more) as many enemies as there actually were. Possibly that's because they counted non-combatants, or because it's in no-one's interest to downplay the enemy threat.

Given Greek-Roman contempt for Easterners, I wouldn't be surprised if the numbers for these particular battles are heavily inflated. Easterners were supposedly too effeminate to be able to fight, so a victory against them only counted if it was at 5:1 odds at least.

That's not to say the Romans weren't outnumbered, just that such enormous numbers are meaningless. A group of 100.000 levies isn't an army. It's a mob; a logistical nightmare that takes days to assemble in one place. It's not impossible, but not particularly effective either. And, whatever else they may have been, Mithradates and Tigran weren't stupid.