Mithridatic Wars

The Mithridatic Wars were three conflicts fought between the Roman Republic and the Pontic kingdom of Mithridates VI Eupator. Fought across Greece and Asia Minor, the wars started in 88 BC and, while intermittent, only concluded with Mithridates' death in 63. The final settlement in 63 saw the Romans annex Pontus and Syria while also establishing a number of client kingdoms in Asia Minor.

Starting in 88 BC in the aftermath of the Asiatic Vespers, the first war was conducted by Lucius Cornelius Sulla, alongside and independent of Marian generals also assigned to the war, mainly in Greece and mostly concluded in 85 with the Treaty of Dardanos expelling Mithridates from the Aegean and forcing him to give up occupied territories in western Asia Minor. The second conflict lasted a few years in the late 80s BC and ended inconclusively.

The third conflict started in 73 and only ended in 63 BC. Against Mithridates the main Roman commanders were Lucius Licinius Lucullus and Pompey. Invading Roman Asia to forestall the Roman inheritance of Bithynia, Roman successes by 69 had forced Mithridates to flee to Armenia; with the Armenians refusing to hand the Pontic king over and joining the war, Lucullus led an invasion of Armenia until 66 when he was replaced in command by Pompey. Pompey forced the Armenians to capitulate and invaded Syria but Mithridates fled to Crimea. There, facing a revolt by one of his sons, Mithridates killed himself.

Pompey's eastern settlements after the third war saw Rome annex Pontus (it became part of provincial Bithynia) and annex Syria. It also established a network of client kingdoms on the eastern Anatolian plateau partially from portions of the dismantled Armenian Empire. The two and a half decade effort had drawn Rome much more deeply into the eastern Mediterranean and committed it to a lasting presence. Provincial policy in Rome permanently shifted towards imperial exploitation, with large portions of Anatolia coming under Roman taxation for the first time, with the concomitant stationing of large garrisons to compel compliance with collections.