It was a late summer day in 85 BC. Roman commander Lucius Cornelius Sulla stood
with his back to his base camp, where some 20.000 of his soldiers quartered.
Across the plain among the Boeotian hills stood another, larger camp. In it, the Pontic General
Archelaus was closely monitoring his every move. Sulla knew the Pontic army outnumbered his army
nearly 5 to 1. With Mount Hedylium and swamps to his back, and part of his infantry already
battered by an earlier cavalry charge, he did not have much choice but to fight to the death.
He ordered his infantry to dig trenches and prepare for the inevitable battle.
This time, the deciding factor would not only be bravery and combat skill but cunning and strategy.
[After Chaeronea]
In 86 BC, a major war waged on the eastern border of the Roman Republic. The rogue King Mithridates
of Pontus had annexed and bullied smaller Roman client states before invading Greece
under the pretence of liberating the Hellenistic world from the Roman yoke.
One Roman commander in particular, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, rose to the task of ejecting
Pontus from Greece. With considerable success. That summer, at his headquarters in Pergamum,
Mithridates received news that unnerved him significantly. At Chaeronea, his mighty
force of over 80.000 soldiers was defeated by Sulla, who commanded perhaps a third of that.
Despite the enormous loss and tongues claiming only betrayal could have caused such a defeat,
Mithridates acted resolutely. The first thing he did was raise taxes in Asia Minor,
conscripting and hiring another massive army which did not do
under for the one defeated at Chaeronea. Despite his victory, Sulla, too,
felt the heat. A factional dispute within Rome was gliding towards civil war. His enemies,
personified by Gaius Marius, had entrenched themselves in powerful positions in Rome.
As a result, Rome became dangerous for Sulla's supporters. Many fled the city.
Around this time, news that worried both Mithridates and Sulla reached them.
Rome declared Sulla an outlaw and dispatched a separate army commanded by Lucius Valerius Flaccus
to wage a separate war against Mithridates and deal with Sulla. Thus, the extraordinary
situation of a potential three-way war developed. Mithridates' large army received the task to link
up with Archelaus, the General who lost at Chaeronea and defeat Sulla once and for all.
A large fleet brought them over to Chalcis. Here, they linked up with Archelaus,
who had killed time with piracy until then. Within several months the brand new army
reached the scene of the defeat at Chaeronea. They seized Boeotia with the support of a local
popular uprising against the Romans. When Sulla received news of the Pontic seizure of Boeotia,
he decided he had to deal with the Pontic threat before he could deal with Flaccus' Roman army.
However, Archelaus learned from his previous defeat,
and he was well aware of Sulla's predicament. As such, he delayed the inevitable battle, using
scouts to evade Sulla's army and never travelling through areas where Sulla's army excelled.
Time was running out for Sulla. He decided to take the gamble
and send a message to Archelaus. In it, he proposed to him one final all-or-nothing battle.
Sulla set up camp at the town of Orchomenos.
To his east, the valley stretched some 30 miles, mainly consisting of marshes.
The Pontic generals decided to take the bait and set up camp nearby. Snuggled between hills
but with a wide-open plain, it was definitely good ground for the Pontic cavalry. Together,
the generals commanded some 90.000 soldiers, eager to avenge the previous defeat.
Sources estimate in total they commanded around 10.000 horsemen and 80.000 infantry soldiers.
The generals made sure to be wary of swamps that encompassed the plain.
Meanwhile, Sulla commanded no more than 20.000 soldiers. He faced daunting odds.
He also noted the marshes surrounding the plain and ordered his men to dig trenches to funnel
the Pontic army towards them or simply break the cavalry's effectiveness. But as the Roman
infantry was digging, Archelaus understood he had to act fast to maintain his advantage.
So he ordered the Pontic cavalry to charge against them.
Seeing 10.000 horsemen charge at them, the Romans fled in a panic. Sulla rode around between them,
trying to rouse them to fight. When the lines remained chaotic, he dismounted his horse,
picked up a dropped banner and shouted, "Romans, I'll win an honourable death here with you! When
they ask where you betrayed your commander, you'll have to tell them about Orchomenos!"
This sign of bravery was enough to have the fleeing Romans stop in their tracks,
turn around and face the charging Pontic cavalry. Ferocious fighting ensued. Many
soldiers were slain during the chase, and even more, as they made a stand against the cavalry.
But they held out long enough for two cohorts to reinforce their lines. Stationary cavalry wasn't
nearly as effective as when in charge and engaged in the stagnant battle. The Roman infantry slowly
gained the upper hand. It was likely during this skirmish that the Romans slew Archelaus' son.
In the rear, Pontic archers tried to support their cavalry. But after a brutal battle and
rapidly losing, the horsemen saw no other option but to retreat. As they withdrew,
many archers suddenly faced Roman infantry attacking them.
With virtually no distance between them, they fought with bundled arrows as improvised swords.
But of course, lightly armoured Pontic archers were no match for the veteran Roman soldiers.
So with mounting casualties, they too retreated to the Pontic camp.
When Archelaus returned to the Pontic camp, Sulla immediately gave his men the order to dig
ditches. This time Archelaus ordered his entire army to leave the camp and march onto the Roman
positions. He positioned his scythed chariots in the vanguard, followed by his phalanx. Behind
the phalanx followed the slaves who fought at Chaeronea, this time with armour and weaponry
similar to Roman auxiliaries. The flanks of his army were manned by the cavalry, who
weren't in an ideal position for Sulla's funnel ditch would hamper their charge significantly.
Sulla ordered his army in three separate lines. There was space between lines, so Roman cavalry or
light infantry could rush to the aid if need be. His front line stood far in front of the second
two lines. It was peculiar positioning, and Archelaus would soon find out why.
He ordered the scythed chariots to charge into the Roman frontlines.
Just as had happened at the battle of Chaeronea, the Roman infantry was disciplined
enough to simply step aside as the chariots approached. Them stepping aside revealed thick
wooden stakes at an angle towards the approaching chariots. The men on the chariots saw too late,
they were running into a severe killing field. Those unfortunate enough not to
turn around crashed into the stakes. If they were unfortunate enough to survive this horrific crash,
they would surely succumb to the hail of javelins thrown by the Romans.
But a few chariots managed to swerve around. The phalanx was already approaching in their
rear, expecting to find a battered Roman front line for easy picking.
Instead, the soldiers faced allied chariots racing towards them.
The chariots indeed did do a lot of damage, but unfortunately not to the enemy.
The phalanx suffered incredible damage from the panicked fleeing chariots.
Sulla ordered his infantry forward. Archelaus understood he was losing
momentum and ordered his cavalry to charge as a hail mary. Hopefully,
the time the charge would buy him would lead to his phalanx recollecting themselves.
Now, charging horsemen were dangerous for infantry. As such, Sulla ordered his vastly
outnumbered cavalry to charge. He hoped they would stop the Pontic horsemen in their tracks
and hold them aground long enough until the infantry caught up. They would then
be able to deal with the stationary cavalry. Unfortunately for Archelaus, Sulla was right.
By the time the Roman infantry caught up, his phalangites were still not battle-ready.
Instead, he allowed them to retreat to the camp while his cavalry held off the advancing Romans.
As a result, his stationary cavalry suffered heavy casualties until they, too, fled to the basecamp.
By the time night fell, the battlefield had quieted down. Archelaus ordered Pontic soldiers
to collect their dead. They suffered 15.000 casualties already. That night
Sulla realised he had put his enemies on the back foot. His number of deaths was significantly
lower than the Pontic army. But he was well aware the Pontic army still outnumbered his.
As the sun rose, he ordered his army to decimate their adversaries. Initially,
the infantry constructed earthworks some 200 metres from the Pontic camp. Then, the Roman army
marched forward while the Pontic defenders hastily tried to take their positions to fight the Romans.
The two armies approached each other and stopped briefly across without a word being said.
Appian describes what happened next: "A Roman soldier dashed out
and chopped down the man in front of him. Then all hell broke loose. There
was a great rush and shouting on each side, followed by many valiant deeds."
Though unclear in which direction, the Pontic army was pushed back towards the marshes.
Many drowned or became stuck and were slain by Romans eagerly hacking away
at the helpless men. The soldiers ran deep into the swamps in an attempt to escape.
It appeared Archelaus was killed during the fleeing frenzy.
Any soldiers who surrendered were slain as Sulla had no use for prisoners. According to Plutarch,
even two centuries later, people still discovered swords and breastplates in the swampy territories.
As night fell, the battlefield lay littered with corpses. It was not until dawn, two days
after the battle was over, that the swamp's reeds moved involuntarily. Archelaus emerged from the
wetlands. The General hid there for two days until the Romans abandoned the battleground. He survived
the battle, but he undoubtedly worried about how his King would take the news of his second defeat.
With his decisive victory, Sulla ordered the construction of monuments and ornaments to
commemorate the occasion. He also allowed his men to raze Boeotia, taking revenge
for their willingness to submit to Mithridates. News reached him of Flaccus, who marched through
Thracia on his way to deal with Sulla. Sulla probably rightfully estimated he would not be
able to continue the fight against Mithridates as his enemies became ever more entrenched in Rome.
A unique situation developed. Because Mithridates too understood
Sulla's predicament. It is nothing short of ironic that Flaccus' Roman army was his best bet
at getting rid of Sulla. To have Sulla consider attacking Flaccus, he neutralised the entire
Pontic threat in Greece. All garrisons were withdrawn, and Archelaus ended any naval piracy.
Flaccus' army was suffering its own trouble. As Sulla set up winter camp in Thessaly,
Flaccus figured he would subject his men to a winter march to meet the outlaw general in battle.
But Flaccus was a politician, not a military man. In fact, most of the military advice was given
by a legate accompanying him, Gaius Flavius Fimbria. The thing is, Flaccus did not listen
to Fimbria whatsoever. By the time they reached Thessaly, Flaccus was hated by his soldiers and
Fimbria enough for them to assassinate him. Instead of attacking Sulla, Fimbria took his
army to Asia Minor. Unprepared, Mithridates' territories could not adequately deal with the
Romans wreaking havoc. Instead of vying to get rid of Sulla, concluding peace suddenly became
all the more pressing to the King. So he sent Archelaus to conduct negotiations with Sulla.
The negotiations took place in a Roman camp close to Delion.
Both men were itching to get the war over with and to attend to different matters. In the end,
Archelaus agreed to take terms to Mithridates, which were nothing short of capitulation. He had
to sacrifice most conquered territories in Asia Minor, give Sulla 70 ships and pay indemnities.
The King refused Sulla's terms, much to his anger. Archelaus tried to convince Mithridates this was
his best bet at keeping his head attached to his body. In the background, Fimbria's army was still
ravaging Asia Minor. Having to feed a sizeable army, Fimbria decided to besiege Pergamum,
one of the wealthiest areas and the location of Mithridates' court.
Another significant military disaster followed, with Fimbria ambushing most
of Mithridates' mercenaries and levies before they even got a chance to put up a real fight.
Fimbria began preparing the besiegement of Pergamum, a dangerous position to
be in for the fallen from grace King. Accepting his less than favourable situation,
Mithridates retreated to Pitane, awaiting his fleet to take him back to Pontus.
But at the worst possible time, Lucius Licinius Lucullus' fleet arrived in the region. This
requires some explanation. Now, this Lucullus had been dispatched to Alexandria in 86 BC,
before the Battle of Chaeronea. Sulla ordered him to gather a fleet as the siege of Athens
commenced. That was well over a year ago, and as far as Sulla was concerned, Lucullus had not
succeeded in his dangerous mission. But he did succeed, albeit in an untimely manner.
Fimbria's troops were rapidly advancing on the shores. Fimbria asked Lucullus to block
Mithridates' escape. They would quickly finish the war, and Mithridates would soon meet his end.
However, Lucullus remained loyal to the outlaw Sulla, and informed Fimbria he
would do no such thing. The direct result was Mithridates simply sailing away from the harbour
through Lucullus' blockade. There is no doubt Fimbria flew into an impotent rage.
Lucullus then turned around to pick up Sulla from his camp to conduct peace negotiations in person.
In late 85 BC, Mithridates and Sulla met nearby Troy. The talks between them were
a great display of showmanship. In the end, they sealed the Peace of Dardanus with a kiss.
Mithridates agreed to withdraw from Bithynia, Cappadocia and Paphlagonia. Their former kings
were re-installed as Roman clients. He also paid a fine of 2000 talents, turned over 70 ships and
500 archers. In return, the King got to keep his head and even received the dubious title
of rex socius et amicus: Rome's ally and friend. After establishing peace, many of Fimbria's
legions deserted to Sulla, who was nothing short of a living legend. Finally, when even
his closest advisors left him, Fimbria took his own life. Thus, the thorn in both Mithridates'
and Sulla's sides resolved itself. Frankly, in the big scheme of things,
the established peace was nothing short of a truce. It was in both Sulla and Mithridates'
mutual interest to pause the bloodshed while attending to different matters.
The peace was the first chapter's end of a war that would involve multiple generations.
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