It is a regular afternoon in the summer, 74 BC.
On the wall of the port town of Chalcedon, situated on the Anatolian peninsula, stood
Roman consul Marcus Aurelius Cotta.
He looks over the plain in front of the town's gates.
An incredibly large army, some sources indicate up to 170.000-strong stared back at him.
One man rode into the plain from among the ranks and stared back directly at him.
Cotta knew who this man was: the infamous King Mithridates VI of Pontus.
The first major engagement of the Third Mithridatic War was about to commence.
[After Halys]
Relations between King of Pontus Mithridates VI and Rome had been strained from the very
beginning of his ascending to the throne.
And for a good reason - both sides distrusted each other, and two wars had been fought.
In the decade following the Second Mithridatic War, Mithridates continued growing his army.
Despite his victory at the Battle of Halys, he didn't enjoy significant territorial gains
aside from parts of Cappadocia's periphery.
Rome's policy now turned to secure the coastal regions of Anatolia.
They did so with great zeal.
Between 82 and 74 BC Rome expanded along Anatolia's southern coast.
Mirroring Rome's expansion, Mithridates sent armies to his Black Sea territories in an
attempt to link up his lands there.
All the while, he pursued nothing short of an offensive marriage policy, marrying off
his offspring to the rulers of Egypt and Crete to secure neutrality in the event of war.
During this time, in 78 BC, Sulla passed away.
Mithridates learned of this when an embassy he sent to Rome, with the mission to put the
Peace of Dardanus into writing, returned empty-handed.
Despite being out of office, Sulla's presence and reputation prevented any significant unrest
from emerging on Rome's periphery.
As soon as news of his death travelled through the empire, the power dynamics changed entirely.
Arguably, Rome and Pontus never concluded a legal peace.
Mithridates' first act upon hearing of Sulla's death was to contact the rebel Sertorius in
Hispania.
He recognised Mithridatic's claims to Bithynia, Cappadocia and Galatia.
A great victory for the King, albeit an intangible one.
Not in the least thanks to the distance between the two' allies.'
Other rulers in the region too capitalised on Sulla's death.
Throughout the years, Tigranes of Armenia, Mithridates' son in law, had encroached on
the weakened Parthian Empire and the remnants of the Seleucid Empire.
So when his father in law suggested he'd invade Cappadocia, he was all too happy to do so.
One of his primary motivations was his need for citizens for his new capital, Tigranocerta.
As a result, over 300.000 Cappadocians were forcibly relocated.
Once Tigranes essentially removed Cappadocia's riches and population, he simply withdrew.
Rome never adequately responded; they were too busy fighting the rebel Sertorius.
Tigranes and Mithridates didn't seem too bad to regular citizens despite all this.
Relatively speaking.
A string of corrupt Roman governors extorted their governorates on the peninsula.
Matyszak writes that "Municipal properties were mortgaged to the hilt and private citizens
first prostituted their offspring and then sold them into slavery in an attempt to pay
their debts."
Among all this, Mithridates continued expanding his army.
By 74 BC, ancient sources reveal he commanded up to 140.000 infantry, 16.000 cavalry and
400 ships.
These soldiers were subject to gruelling training and drilling, as the previous two wars against
Rome made it clear this was required to beat the formidable Republic.
However, thanks to Bithynia being a significant buffer state between Rome and Pontus, we can
consider the relations a Cold War.
When in 74 BC Nicomedes, King of Bithynia, passed away, he supposedly bequeathed his
entire Kingdom to Rome.
Using this as a pretext, Rome occupied and annexed the Kingdom.
Consul Marcus Aurelius Cotta received Bithynia as his governorate, while Consul Lucius Licinius
Lucullus, Sulla's accomplice, received Cilicia.
Two consuls, traditionally also commanding the Roman army, stationed on the peninsula,
revealed Rome's expectations of how Mithridates would take the annexation of Bithynia.
Suddenly having his arch-enemy's frontiers bordering his Kingdom left Mithridates quite
unnerved.
Their annexation of Bithynia also meant the Black Sea opened up to Rome.
Even more reason for worry.
Lastly, Mithridates rightly envisioned a nightmare scenario as the Second Mithridatic War unfolded.
Back then, Murena had to march along the river Halys to seize Sinope.
Now, Rome could simply reach the port city by travelling along the Bithynian coast.
As we've grown to know Mithridates, he wasn't a person known to search for diplomatic solutions.
After a brief deliberation, he performed multiple good fortune rituals.
Roman historian Justin immortalised the speech Mithridates supposedly gave:
'Even if the case is hopeless, a true man will draw his sword against robbers, if only
to ow achieve some measure of revenge.
Their founders, as they themselves claimed, were suckled by the teats of a wolf, so the
whole race has the disposition of wolves, insatiable in their lust for blood and tyranny,
desperately hungry for wealth'.
Then, he marched his enormous army into Bithynia.
While he was at it, he invaded Cappadocia as well.
He counted many high-ranking Roman defectors among his ranks.
Some were sent by Sertorius, some came independently.
It led to Mithridates' army being a well-drilled, Romanised army.
Finally, he passed the location of the Battle of the River Amnias, where he gained his great
victory in battle during the First Mithridatic War.
For months Mithridates barely faced any resistance.
There are two discernible reasons.
Firstly, due to domestic political turmoil and schemes, it took a while before Lucullus
was elected as a commander against the Pontic King.
The army at his disposal was the infamous Fimbrian legion, known for its insubordination
and lack of discipline.
Mithridates defeated the Fimbrian legions a decade earlier at the Battle of Halys, concluding
the Second Mithridatic War with a victory.
The Fimbrians were just as difficult to command as they were a decade before.
Lucullus found a great challenge in organising his army.
That brings us to the second reason.
Mithridates was actually welcomed by many Birthynians.
Rome stationed ample tax collectors in the Kingdom.
As Mithridates invaded, he purged cities of these tax collectors.
Most cities were forced to contribute to Pontus' war effort, admit a Pontic garrison, and contribute
ships.
They considered this an acceptable trade-off.
All these events took place in a period of close to a year.
In the meantime, Lucullus managed to gather and train four legions.
With these legions, he marched to Phyrigia.
Archelaus, Mithridates' foremost general who defected to the Romans a decade earlier, assured
him invading Pontus from the south would result in an inevitable victory.
But he didn't account for a rapid Pontic advance through Bithynia.
Meanwhile, Mithridates dispatched a small contingent of soldiers to delay Lucullus around
the Halys passes.
At the same time, he embarked on his mission to quickly defeat Cotta - the more accessible
and less experienced target of the two.
Before too long, Mithridates' army reached the west of the peninsula.
Most cities, fortresses and towns capitulated to him.
But, Cotta fled to one of the last strongholds in Roman hands: Chalcedon.
As Mithridates advanced, this maritime town on the small peninsula north of the Sea of
Marmara was about to become the first significant battle scene of the Third Mithridatic War.
When Cotta arrived in Chalcedon, he sent a continuous burst of messengers to Lucullus.
The Roman fleet supporting him would hardly be enough to resist a major Pontic offensive.
To prevent Mithridates from scaling the wall in Lucullus' absence, Cotta ordered his naval
prefect Nudus to take strategic positions against Mithridates outside the city gates.
There were ample hills and rocks to use as strategic outposts.
Although we aren't given any figures, these Roman stake-outs could not have numbered more
than 5000 men.
They took their positions, waiting for Mithridates to arrive.
When he arrived, Mithridates reportedly rode ahead of his army.
Although Appian, Plutarch and Memnon of Heraclea all claim different figures for the size of
Mithridates' army, it is safe to say it numbered between 120 and 170.000.
These figures aren't too different from the massive armies he commanded during the previous
wars.
It was enormous, and it certainly outsized the Romans holding Chalcedon.
Sources reveal the Pontic army and its advance force, mainly consisting of sell-swords and
auxiliaries from territories west of the Black Sea, swept over the Roman defenders.
Archers launched volleys against the fleeing soldiers, while the cavalry and Pontic infantry
gave chase.
Before they knew it, the Romans were in a complete, disorganised rout.
This lack of organisation during the retreat led to the next problem.
The Chalcedon gate could only take on so many soldiers fleeing through.
So men were pushing each other to get through the gate, and an enormous crowd of soldiers
massed in front, trying to get through.
All the while, Pontic archers pestered the panicked, fleeing men while Pontic soldiers
slew all those unfortunate enough to be in the rear.
The defenders of Chalcedon saw the carnage and the rapidly advancing Pontic army.
When the infantry charged into the helpless soldiers stuck outside, their response was
to drop the portcullis.
As a result, over 3000 Roman soldiers were locked in front of the gate, screaming and
begging for their lives.
Though a few, including Nudus, managed to climb the walls, the vast majority were killed.
This clear victory gave Mithridates a taste for battle.
He subsequently ordered both land and naval assault on the city's port.
Auxiliaries broke the chains protecting the port.
The Pontic fleet sailed into the harbour, giving battle against the Roman ships laying
there.
After sinking four, the fleet surrendered.
Most of Rome's naval strength east of Athens was concentrated in the port, and Mithridates
reportedly captured 64 ships, towing them away to safety.
The soldiers remaining on the city walls kept Chalcedon in their possession.
None of the ancient sources gives a clear account of what happened to them, although
it is known Cotta was stuck in the town for a long while, awaiting rescue from Lucullus.
Upon the defeat, and the continued siege, most cities in the region abandoned Cotta
and opened their gates to Mithridates.
Cities in the region fell—all, except Cyzicus, a port town to Chalcedon's south.
Mithridates left Cotta under siege in Chalcedon while he marched a large part of his army
towards the defiantly resisting Cyzicus.
The subsequent siege of Cyzicus was the final remaining piece of the puzzle for Mithridates
to establish dominance over the entire Anatolian peninsula.
Lucullus was well-aware of this, and despite Mithridates' army outnumbering his up to 10
to 1, he marched his army towards the city under siege.