The Mithridatic Wars were three conflicts between the Roman Republic and Mithridates VI Eupator, king of Pontus on the Black Sea coast of Anatolia. Mithridates built a large kingdom and challenged Roman power in Asia Minor and Greece. In 88 BCE he ordered the massacre of tens of thousands of Romans and Italians in Asia, known as the Asiatic Vespers, and then sent armies into Greece. Sulla defeated his forces in the first war, and Lucullus and finally Pompey the Great fought him in the later ones. Pompey crushed him and then reorganised Rome's eastern provinces. Mithridates, hunted in Crimea, ended his life in 63 BCE.
Before and after
- c. 100 BCEEruption of Okmok
- July 100 BCEBirth of Julius Caesar
- c. 90s BCEPublication of Records of the Grand Historian
- from 91 BCE to 88 BCESocial War of 91-87 BCE
- from 88 BCE to 63 BCEMithridatic Wars
- from September 87 BCE to March 86 BCESiege of Athens
- 86 BCEDeath of Sima Qian
- 83 BCEBirth of Mark Antony
- 78 BCEOrigins of Tabularium
More in Wars, politics & history
- 335 BCEAlexander the Great crosses into Asia
- from 264 BCE to 146 BCEPunic Wars
- 217 BCEHannibal destroys the Roman army at Cannae
- from 59 BCE to 51 BCECaesar begins the conquest of Gaul
- 2 September 31 BCEOctavian defeats Antony and Cleopatra at Actium
- August 70 CEThe Romans destroy the Temple in Jerusalem
The era
This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires. You can also browse everything in the 1st century BCE.