Pontus!

[HarunTaiwan]

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...books&n=507846


I just finished reading this book about king Mithridates of Pontus.

I guarantee the first thing you will do after finishing this book will be to power up the PC and play Pontus.

[_Aetius_]

Claiming Pontus was Rome's greatest enemy is just well....incorrect.

[HarunTaiwan]

Sulla, Lucullus, and Pompey had to deal with him...I can only think Hannibal was a bigger threat.

I read about him in the Masters of Rome series, as well. Sounds like quite a character.

[Kraxis]

The difference was that Pontus was a local nuisance. There was never any question about who was the stronger. That can't be said about Carthage, in fact Carthage was nominally stronger prior to the 1st Punic War due to its vastly larger economic powerbase and its impressive fleet, that it didn't use either to any great effect is down to poor management.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

You'll definitely want to get EB when it becomes available. A lot of work has been put into poor little Pontos! I will say that they are one of the blasted awfulest hard to find information on factions on the whole vanilla board. Especially their early years.

[Quietus]

::shameless plug::: You can read my story, it's only a couple pages long.

You would think the Dacians are all that. (It's fiction btw).

[The Stranger]

when does EB comes out

[_Aetius_]

Sulla, Lucullus, and Pompey had to deal with him...I can only think Hannibal was a bigger threat.

I read about him in the Masters of Rome series, as well. Sounds like quite a character.

Was Pontus ever going to conquer Rome? no they didnt have a hope in hell, they put up a good fight and gave Rome trouble but so did countless other kingdoms, tribes, mini empires etc.

Parthia for example was a massive threat to the Roman empire for centuries, the barbarians in the north were far more dangerous and subsequently overran the empire, Vandals, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Huns, were all at there own moment in time life threatening to the empire, Pontus is insignificant in the end.

[Hambut_bulge]

Sulla, Lucullus, and Pompey had to deal with him...I can only think Hannibal was a bigger threat.

Mithridates (the Pontic King in question) was nothing more than a perennial thorn in the side; an constant irritation; the itch that simply would not go away. The only reason it took three attempts by the Republic under separate Generals, and about 30 years to bring Pontus to heel was because the Romans kept getting distracted.

The trouble kicked off when Mithridates, a self glorifier if ever there was one, decided he was the mythic King referred to in the Sibylline Prophecies (the Romans took these very seriously) who would save the ancient kingdoms in the East from the rising new power in the West (ie Rome). The Romans, ever since taking control of Pergamum, had been fleecing the province of Asia to death and Mithridates decided to make his example here. In 88BC he captures the local tax collector, the unfortunate Manius Aquillis, and after parading him through the streets poured molten gold down his throat! This obvious slap in the face couldn't go unpunished and it just so happened that the murder of Manius coincided with elections for the Consulship in Rome. The main rivals for the Consulship in this year (and the subsequent prize of being the one to teach Mithridates a lesson) were Gaius Marius (yes, he of the Marian reforms) going for his, quite unprecedented, 7th consulship and the younger, but highly talented Sulla. Sulla won the election (reasonably fairly by Roman standards) but just as he was about the leave with his army for the East, Marius with the help of his supporters managed to get the elections declared void, Sulla stripped of his Consulship, Marius awarded said Consulship by default, and most humiliatingly of all for Sulla, command of the Army that would fight Mithridates. Unfortunately for Marius, Sulla had no intention of just letting this humiliation be heaped upon him. More importantly Sulla had an army, Marius didn't. Sulla turned around and marched on Rome, and spent the next few years fighting a civil war which he eventually wins, driving the Marians into exile. Sulla now installs himself as dictator and turns back to his previous task; applying Roman boot to Pontic behind. However because of the dodgy political situation he'd left behind in Rome, Sulla didn't dare be away too long. The result was that he talked up a victory over Mithridates in 85BC into a major defeat for Pontus; established a very generous peace treaty that allowed Mithridates to keep not only his head, but his crown, and most of his kingdom; and then hurried back home. Job done.

Mithridates didn't take the hint however and in 74BC started up again. The King of Bithnyia, Nicomedes, had recently died and bequeathed the entire realm to Rome. Very generous of him. Mithridates however didn't think so and invaded Bithnyia. The Senate dispatched Lucullus against him. Lucullus was an able commander who inflicted heavy defeats on the King. However, Mithridates proved very adept at slipping away at the last minute and eventually fled to the safety of Armenia in 71BC. With the Armenians refusing to give Mithridates up, Lucullus in 69 invaded. The problem with this was that it was now an 'illegal' war. The Senate hadn't sanctioned an invasion of Armenia, even though with Mithridates rebuilding his army in safety it made sound military sense. The move cost Lucullus heavily in popularity in Rome, and even more heavily in the field. He was never a "soldier's general" and in 68 his army refused to go any further. Lucullus was recalled to Rome in disgrace.

And so in 66BC command of the ongoing war against Mithridates is given to Pompey; who blew him off the map in a single campaigning season. The King though, wily (or lucky) as ever, evaded capture again but was forced into hiding and died in 63BC. Pompey continued to demonstrate who was now boss by invading Armenia, Georgia, Syria and Jerusalem before returning home to his Triumph, draped in the Robes (so it was said) of Alexander himself.