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87-599: Strabo treats the Hermunduri as a nomadic Suebian people, living east of the Elbe . Cassius Dio first reports that in the year 1 AD, a Roman named Domitius (possibly Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus (consul 16 BC) ), "while still governing the districts along the Ister [Danube], had intercepted the Hermunduri, a tribe which for some reason or other had left their own land and were wandering about in quest of another, and he had settled them in

174-605: A consequence of his time spent in Nysa with Aristodemus. At around the age of 21, Strabo moved to Rome, where he studied philosophy with the Peripatetic Xenarchus , a highly respected tutor in Augustus's court. Despite Xenarchus's Aristotelian leanings, Strabo later gives evidence to have formed his own Stoic inclinations. In Rome, he also learned grammar under the rich and famous scholar Tyrannion of Amisus . Although Tyrannion

261-728: A descriptive history of people and places from different regions of the world known during his lifetime. Although the Geographica was rarely used by contemporary writers, a multitude of copies survived throughout the Byzantine Empire . It first appeared in Western Europe in Rome as a Latin translation issued around 1469. The first printed edition was published in 1516 in Venice . Isaac Casaubon , classical scholar and editor of Greek texts, provided

348-482: A naval blockade of Bosporan Crimea to wear down Mithridates, before he marched south into Syria where Armenia held lands, he seized important cities across the region like Antioch . In 63 BCE, he took cities like Damascus before involving himself in a civil war in Judea to establish it as a client state under Rome. In 63 BCE, Mithridates retreated to the citadel at Panticapaeum where he would try to gather forces to fight

435-586: A part of the Marcomannian territory"; then he had crossed the Albis [Elbe river], meeting with no opposition, had made a friendly alliance with the barbarians on the further side, and had set up an altar to Augustus on the bank of the river. Velleius Paterculus also described their position: Pliny the elder , in his Historia Naturalis , lists the Hermunduri as one of the nations of the Hermiones , all descended from

522-483: A sizeable Pontic force to aid Aristion against the Romans. The city revolted against Roman rule with support from Mithridates with several other cities joining Athens. Aristion sent Apellicon of Teos with a force to seize the sacred treasury stored at Delos which was still loyal to Rome. Apeilicon sacked the island of Delos , killing approximately 100,000 of its inhabitants before enslaving any left alive. Apeilicon seized

609-487: A valuable source of information on the ancient world of his day, especially when this information is corroborated by other sources. He travelled extensively, as he says: "Westward I have journeyed to the parts of Etruria opposite Sardinia; towards the south from the Euxine [Black Sea] to the borders of Ethiopia; and perhaps not one of those who have written geographies has visited more places than I have between those limits." It

696-518: A very rocky mountain, called the Trojan mountain; beneath it there are caves, and near the caves and the river a village called Troy, an ancient settlement of the captive Trojans who had accompanied Menelaus and settled there. Strabo commented on volcanism ( effusive eruption ) which he observed at Katakekaumene (modern Kula , Western Turkey). Strabo's observations predated Pliny the Younger who witnessed

783-569: Is "... pro-Roman throughout the Geography. But while he acknowledges and even praises Roman ascendancy in the political and military sphere, he also makes a significant effort to establish Greek primacy over Rome in other contexts." In Europe , Strabo was the first to connect the Danube (which he called Danouios) and the Istros – with the change of names occurring at "the cataracts," the modern Iron Gates on

870-508: Is little record of his travels until AD 17. It is not known precisely when Strabo's Geography was written, though comments within the work itself place the finished version within the reign of Emperor Tiberius . Some place its first drafts around 7 BC, others around AD 17 or AD 18. The latest passage to which a date can be assigned is his reference to the death in AD ;23 of Juba II , king of Maurousia ( Mauretania ), who

957-484: Is not known when he wrote Geographica , but he spent much time in the famous library in Alexandria taking notes from "the works of his predecessors". A first edition was published in 7 BC and a final edition no later than 23 AD, in what may have been the last year of Strabo's life. It took some time for Geographica to be recognized by scholars and to become a standard. Alexandria itself features extensively in

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1044-431: Is proper,' he observes in continuation, ' to derive our explanations from things which are obvious, and in some measure of daily occurrences, such as deluges, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and sudden swellings of the land beneath the sea; for the last raise up the sea also, and when the same lands subside again, they occasion the sea to be let down. And it is not merely the small, but the large islands also, and not merely

1131-718: Is said to have died "just recently". He probably worked on the Geography for many years and revised it steadily, but not always consistently. It is an encyclopaedic chronicle and consists of political, economic, social, cultural, and geographic descriptions covering almost all of Europe and the Mediterranean: Britain and Ireland, the Iberian Peninsula, Gaul, Germania, the Alps, Italy, Greece, Northern Black Sea region, Anatolia, Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa. The Geography

1218-445: Is the only extant work providing information about both Greek and Roman peoples and countries during the reign of Augustus. On the presumption that "recently" means within a year, Strabo stopped writing that year or the next (AD 24), at which time he is thought to have died. He was influenced by Homer , Hecataeus and Aristotle . The first of Strabo's major works, Historical Sketches ( Historica hypomnemata ), written while he

1305-686: The Asiatic Vespers which saw the systematic killing of Roman and Latin-speaking people in these provinces to remove any Roman influences from his conquered lands. The death toll of these massacres ranged from 80,000 and above. Aristion , an Athenian philosopher was originally sent to Mithridates as ambassador but became close friends with the King and entered into his service. In 88 BCE, Mithridates sent Aristion back to Athens , where Aristion convinced its citizens to revolt and declare him Tyrant of Athens. Mithridates also sent Archelaus, one of his generals, with

1392-514: The Battle of Zela , which the Romans lost, suffering 7,000 casualties, 24 tribunes, and 150 centurions. The loss forced the Romans to withdraw from Pontus, restoring Mithridates to fully control his Kingdom once again. In the winter of 67 BCE, while still sieging Nisibis, Lucullus faced unrest from his soldiers after continuously fighting throughout the war. Lucullus convinced his troops to stay loyal but agreed to march back to Asia Minor and only protect

1479-517: The Mithridatic Wars . As the war drew to a close, Strabo's grandfather had turned several Pontic fortresses over to the Romans. Strabo wrote that "great promises were made in exchange for these services", and as Persian culture endured in Amaseia even after Mithridates and Tigranes were defeated, scholars have speculated about how the family's support for Rome might have affected their position in

1566-689: The Quadian Vannius . Around 50 AD, allied with Vannius' nephews Vangio and Sido and allied Lugii , Vibilius led the deposition of Vannius as well. In 58 AD the Hermunduri defeated the Chatti in a border dispute over a religiously significant river. The Hermunduri shared a disputed border with the Chatti , along a river with salt reserves near it, possibly the Werra or the Saxon Saale . The Hermunduri won this conflict. When Marcus Aurelius died in 180 AD, he

1653-751: The Roman Republic against the Kingdom of Pontus and its allies between 88 and 63 BCE. They are named after Mithridates VI , the King of Pontus during the course of the wars, who initiated the hostilities with Rome. Mithridates led the Pontic forces in every war. The Romans were led by various generals and consuls throughout the wars, namely Lucius Cornelius Sulla , Lucius Licinius Lucullus , and Gnaeus Pompey Magnus . The wars began over Pontus and Rome backing differing kings of Cappadocia and Bithynia . The conflicts ended with

1740-742: The Third Mithridatic War . The Third Mithridatic War (74–63 BCE). The Roman forces were mainly led by Lucius Licinius Lucullus (75–66 BCE) and then by Pompey (66–63 BCE). Several states were drawn into the war through alliances on both Roman and Pontic sides, like the Kingdom of Armenia on Mithridates's side. The war started when the King of Bithynia, an allied client state of Rome, died in 74 BCE and granted his kingdom to Rome in his will, Mithridates launched an invasion as this would mean Rome only gained more influence in Asia Minor. Mithridates launched

1827-470: The "First", "Second", and "Third" in the same texts in which they used the term in the singular. As the Roman Republic faded from general memory, the original legal meaning was not recognized. A few historians folded events prior to the declaration of war into the war. Today, anything to do with the war can be included under it. Hence, the term "First Mithridatic War" is extended to include the wars between

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1914-541: The Acropolis where they were besieged by the Romans until late spring, after which Aristion was killed. In 86 BCE, a Roman force under Lucius Valerius Flaccus was dispatched to apprehend Sulla and defeat Mithridates. Flaccus chose to first deal with Mithridates before Sulla, crossing the Hellespont into Pontic-occupied territory. Flaccus was killed by a mutiny within his forces led by Gaius Flavius Fimbria who took control of

2001-514: The Aristotelian Xenarchus and Tyrannion who preceded him in teaching Strabo, Athenodorus was a Stoic and almost certainly the source of Strabo's diversion from the philosophy of his former mentors. Moreover, from his own first-hand experience, Athenodorus provided Strabo with information about regions of the empire which Strabo would not otherwise have known about. Strabo is best known for his work Geographica ("Geography"), which presented

2088-552: The Euxine [Black Sea] was so great, that its bed must be gradually raised, while the rivers still continued to pour in an undiminished quantity of water. He therefore conceived that, originally, when the Euxine was an inland sea, its level had by this means become so much elevated that it burst its barrier near Byzantium, and formed a communication with the Propontis [Sea of Marmara], and this partial drainage had already, he supposed, converted

2175-695: The Galatian highlands into Pontus. Cotta began the siege of Heraclea Pontic in 73 BCE; it took two years until the city fell to the Romans in 71 BCE. In 72 BCE, Lucullus marched through Galatia into the Pontic Heartland without fighting the native Galatians who let the Roman force pass without engaging them. Lucullus directed his army to raid the fertile Pontic heartlands, forcing Mithridates to assemble an army of 40,000 near Cabira to fight Lucullus. Lucullus occupied an old fort overlooking Cabira, Mithridates attacked

2262-559: The IV, also occupying the kingdom of Bithynia. Following this, Roman forces in the region marshalled an army to force Mithridates back under the direction of Manius Aquillius who was still in Anatolia. Mithridates defeated this force and continue his advance throughout Anatolia unchecked. In 88 BCE, Along with the occupation of Cappadocia, Mithridates fully controlled the Roman provinces of Asia and Cilicia. In spring of 88, Mithridates's forces enacted

2349-520: The Kingdom of Cappadocia by marrying his sister to its king before killing him and installing his young nephew, Ariarathes the IX , on the throne as a puppet ruler. Mithridates supported a rival claimant to the throne of Bithynia, Socrates Chrestus , as another puppet ruler after overthrowing his half-brother, Nicomedes the IV . Rival claimants to these thrones fled to the Roman Senate to plead their cases over

2436-588: The Mithridatic Wars is the History of Rome by Livy (59 BCE – CE 17), which consisted of 142 books written between 27 and 9 BCE, dated by internal events: he mentions Augustus, who did not receive the title until 27 BCE, and the last event mentioned is the death of Drusus, 9 BCE. Livy was a close friend of Augustus, to whom he read his work by parts, which means that he had access to records and writings at Rome. He worked mainly in retreat at Naples. Livy

2523-625: The Periocha are C. Manilius tribunus plebis magna indignatione nobilitatis legem tulit, ut Pompeio Mithridaticum bellum mandaretur , "Gaius Manilius, Tribune of the People, carried the law despite the great indignation of the nobility that the Mithridatic War be mandated to Pompey". The "nobility" are the Senate, who usually had the privilege of mandates. There is a possible pun on "great", as Pompey had received

2610-533: The Pontic Kingdom; Murena refused and continued the conflict. Murena was met by a minor Pontic army led by Gordius , one of Mithridates' generals, later in 82 BCE. The Roman and Pontic forces met at the Halys River where they engaged in the ensuing battle of Halys . During the battle the outnumbered Pontic forces stood against superior Roman forces until Mithridates himself arrived with reinforcements, defeating

2697-470: The Pontic Navy. Cotta's forces engaged Mithridates's forces at Chalcedon , where Cotta was positioned with his navy. The Roman defenders sallied out of their defenses to fight the Pontic force. However, the Pontic army outnumbered the Roman one, forcing them to withdraw into the city, with at least 3,000 soldiers killed. After this, Mithridates launched a raid on the harbor, destroying four ships and capturing

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2784-480: The Pontic army. Mithridates sent a detachment away with the sick and wounded but they were ambushed by the Romans at the Battle of Rhyndacus . Mithridates broke out in the winter of that year, marching towards Lampsacus ; Lucullus pursued them, further depleting the Pontic army. A Pontic navy led by Marcus Marius , a supporter of Sertorius and advisor to Mithridates, set sail into the Aegean Sea. Lucullus would fight

2871-710: The Pontic side and causing Mithridates to flee to Colchis. Mithridates crossed the Black Sea in the following year, 65 BCE, to the Crimean lands that his eldest son, Machares , held with the support of Rome. After Mithridates landed in Crimea , Machares died, letting Mithridates seize control of the lands from Roman-supported rule. Following the victory at the Lycus, Pompey marched into Armenia and came to terms with Tigranes, making Armenia an allied state of Rome. By 64 BCE, Pompey had established

2958-557: The Roman ally of Cappadocia to remove its senate-supported king. Rome was busy with the Social War and was slow to direct forces eastward to stop Mithridates. One of the Consuls for the year, Sulla, was dispatched with 5 legions after 18 months of preparations in 87 BCE, the first major force sent by Rome since the start of the war. In 89 BCE, Mithridates continued from occupation of Cappadocia to and moved to Bithynia where he defeated Nicomedes

3045-700: The Roman client state's attacks. Rome responded that Bithynia shouldn't raid Pontus but didn't allow Mithridates to attack Bithynia in retaliation. In the summer of 89 BCE, Mithridates sent an army lead into Cappadocia to remove the Roman-appointed Ariobarzanes the I and occupy the kingdom. This military action went against what the Aquilian Legation had enforced and was used as justification for war against Mithridates and Pontus, beginning war between Rome and Pontus. The First Mithridatic War (89–85 BCE) resulted from Mithridates sending an army into

3132-406: The Roman force. Flaccus besieged and took the city of Pergamon where Mithridates was at the time, however, he was unable to stop Mithridates from fleeing to safety by sea. Archelaus escaped the city with his forces and engaged Sulla in the battle of Chaeronea in central Boeotia . Mithridates sent another of his generals, Taxiles , with reinforcements for Archelaus. The Pontic force outnumbered

3219-404: The Roman one, however, the Romans won the battle, capturing Taxiles and forcing Archelaus to flee with the survivors to Chalcis . While there, Archelaus received reinforcements and returned to mainland Greece where he would engage Sulla again in 85 BCE at the Battle of Orchomenus . Archelaus' force outnumbered the Roman once again, but the Roman force emerged victorious. Archelaus managed to flee

3306-414: The Roman position, starting the Battle of Cabira . Mithridates's initial attack faltered, allowing the Romans to counterattack. The Pontic army broke and retreated before the Roman position. Mithridates fled eastward into Armenia to his son-in-law and ally, King Tigranes II. After Mithridates fled Pontus, Lucullus used the opportunity to secure the kingdom, dispatching forces to occupy it. Lucullus directed

3393-478: The Roman provinces rather than invading Pontus or Armenia. In the following year, 66 BCE, the Senate granted Gnaeus Pompey , one of the influential generals of Rome, command of Roman forces in the east to end the war. Pompey led his forces into Pontus where he engaged Mithridates at the of the Lycus River in central Pontus by the end of the year. Pompey defeated Mithridates, inflicting at least 10,000 casualties on

3480-649: The Romanian/Serbian border. In India , a country he never visited, Strabo described small flying reptiles that were long with snake-like bodies and bat-like wings (this description matches the Indian flying lizard Draco dussumieri ), winged scorpions, and other mythical creatures along with those that were actually factual. Other historians, such as Herodotus , Aristotle , and Flavius Josephus , mentioned similar creatures. Charles Lyell , in his Principles of Geology , wrote of Strabo: He notices, amongst others,

3567-452: The Romans. After his son, Pharnaces II , rebelled against him with the support of a weary populace, Mithridates killed himself. Pharnaces sent his father's body to Pompey who granted him the Crimean lands he still held, also establishing him as a Roman ally. The Anatolian and Syrian lands that were occupied would be incorporated as Roman provinces, while Armenia and Judea would become allied client kingdoms allied to Rome. Pompey's successes in

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3654-555: The Romans. The decisive battle was the only major engagement between Roman and Pontic forces in the Second Mithridatic War. The war ended when Sulla dispatched envoys to Murena to end the conflict as Mithridates hadn't broken the treaty they had agreed upon years earlier. Peace was established between Pontus and Rome by 81 BCE after which Murena was recalled from Anatolia back to Rome. This peace continued until 74 BCE when Mithridates invaded Roman territory in Asia Minor sparking

3741-546: The Rome-supported figures onto the thrones of Bithynia and Cappadocia. The Legation was led by Manius Aquillius , a prominent politician who previously served as consul in 129 BCE. The legation gained the army of Cassius, the governor of the Roman province of Asia . Mithridates did not oppose the Roman legation and by the fall of 90 BCE both Nicomedes the IV and Ariobarzanes the I were installed as kings of their respective countries without any fighting. With their goal achieved,

3828-399: The Senate in 88 BCE after the Asiatic Vespers (modern term), the casus belli . Mandates were assigned to the consuls, who, as the name implies, must perform them on penalty for refusal or failure of death. Similarly, only the Senate could declare the termination of a mandate, which is why Livy does not speak of three Mithridatic Wars. Sulla reached an agreement with Mithridates but it

3915-617: The battlefield, returning to Mithridates. Mithridates did not launch another invasion of Greece and withdrew his forces back to Anatolia. Later in 85 BCE, Mithridates and Archelaus met with Sulla at Dardanos to discuss a peace treaty. The war ended with the Treaty of Dardanos . It stipulated that the Kingdoms of Bithynia and Cappadocia would be restored to the Roman-supported kings, but Mithridates would maintain his own kingdom of Pontus. After ending

4002-444: The conflict because of the peace established by the treaty of Dardanos, Murena replied that there was no treaty as Sulla hadn't written it out. Mithridates plundered Pontic villages in 82 BCE before returning to Cappadocia. Mithridates then sent envoys to the Roman senate asking for them to recall the Roman forces that were laying waste to his territory. The senate agreed with Mithridates, ordering Murena to withdraw and end his attack on

4089-405: The consuls, it would not end until the death of Mithridates or the declaration by the Senate that it was at an end. As there were no intermissions in the warrant until the death of Mithridates in 63 BC, there was officially only one Mithridatic War. Subsequently, historians noticed that the conduct of the war fell into three logical subdivisions. Some of them began to term these subdivisions

4176-515: The death of Mithridates in 63 BCE and the annexation of Pontus and Syria into Rome. The Kingdom of Armenia and the Bosporan Kingdom ruled by Mithridates's son, Pharnaces II became allied client states of Rome after the conclusion of the wars. The bellum Mithridaticum ("Mithridatic War") referred in official Roman circles to the mandate, or warrant, issued by the Roman Senate in 88 BCE declaring war against Mithridates. Handed at first to

4263-574: The eruption of Mount Vesuvius on 24 August AD 79 in Pompeii : …There are no trees here, but only the vineyards where they produce the Katakekaumene wines which are by no means inferior from any of the wines famous for their quality. The soil is covered with ashes, and black in colour as if the mountainous and rocky country was made up of fires. Some assume that these ashes were the result of thunderbolts and subterranean explosions, and do not doubt that

4350-531: The explanation of Xanthus the Lydian, who said that the seas had once been more extensive, and that they had afterwards been partially dried up, as in his own time many lakes, rivers, and wells in Asia had failed during a season of drought. Treating this conjecture with merited disregard, Strabo passes on to the hypothesis of Strato , the natural philosopher, who had observed that the quantity of mud brought down by rivers into

4437-448: The first critical edition in 1587. Although Strabo cited the classical Greek astronomers Eratosthenes and Hipparchus , acknowledging their astronomical and mathematical efforts covering geography, he claimed that a descriptive approach was more practical, such that his works were designed for statesmen who were more anthropologically than numerically concerned with the character of countries and regions. As such, Geographica provides

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4524-475: The following spring. Lucullus marched on the Armenian capital at Tigranocerta , where he engaged and destroyed a larger Armenian force in the subsequent Battle of Tigranocerta . In the summer of 68 BCE, Lucullus marched on Artaxata and defeated another Armenian force at the Battle of Artaxata . He then besieged the city of Nisibis , the main fort and treasury of Northern Mesopotamia. The city fell to Lucullus by

4611-502: The hot masses burst out from the ground as estimated by a logical reasoning. Such type of soil is very convenient for viniculture , just like the Katanasoil which is covered with ashes and where the best wines are still produced abundantly. Some writers concluded by looking at these places that there is a good reason for calling Dionysus by the name ("Phrygenes"). Mithridatic Wars The Mithridatic Wars were three conflicts fought by

4698-483: The inheritance disputes and influence of Pontus in their kingdoms. Ariobarzanes , a Cappadocian nobleman, also made his case against Ariarathes the IX and was selected as the senate-approved king of Cappadocia. A senatorial legation was dispatched to head east to supplant the Mithridates-backed kings for Roman-favored ones. This legation, the Aquilian Legation, was sent from Rome in the summer of 90 BCE to install

4785-505: The invasion around the time that Quintus Sertorius , an old supporter of Gaius Marius's Populist faction who still opposed the senate, was in the middle of a major revolt against Rome in Hispania . The Senate responded to Mithridates's invasion by sending the consuls Lucius Licinius Lucullus and Marcus Aurelius Cotta , Lucullus to Cilicia, and Cotta to Bithynia. Lucullus's force would invade Pontus by land while Cotta's force would deal with

4872-412: The islands, but the continents, which can be lifted up together with the sea; and both large and small tracts may subside, for habitations and cities, like Bure, Bizona, and many others, have been engulfed by earthquakes.' Strabo commented on fossil formation mentioning Nummulite (quoted from Celâl Şengör ): One extraordinary thing which I saw at the pyramids must not be omitted. Heaps of stones from

4959-464: The last book of Geographica , which describes it as a thriving port city with a highly developed local economy. Strabo notes the city's many beautiful public parks, and its network of streets wide enough for chariots and horsemen. "Two of these are exceeding broad, over a plethron in breadth, and cut one another at right angles ... All the buildings are connected one with another, and these also with what are beyond it." Lawrence Kim observes that Strabo

5046-728: The left side into marshy ground, and that, at last, the whole would be choked up with soil. So, it was argued, the Mediterranean had once opened a passage for itself by the Columns of Hercules into the Atlantic, and perhaps the abundance of sea-shells in Africa, near the Temple of Jupiter Ammon , might also be the deposit of some former inland sea, which had at length forced a passage and escaped. But Strabo rejects this theory as insufficient to account for all

5133-478: The legation left the following winter. Before the legation left, however, Aquillius urged the kings to attack Mithridates to repay loans they had taken out previously to bride senators in supporting their claims. Nicomedes the IV began hostilities with Mithridates in 90 BCE, almost immediately after being installed as king of Bithynia. Nicomedes launched raids into Pontic territory by the spring of 89 BCE which led to Mithridates sending delegates to Rome in response to

5220-458: The legendary story of Typhon takes place in this region. Ksanthos adds that the king of this region was a man called Arimus. However, it is not reasonable to accept that the whole country was burned down at a time as a result of such an event rather than as a result of a fire bursting from underground whose source has now died out. Three pits are called "Physas" and separated by forty stadia from each other. Above these pits, there are hills formed by

5307-511: The local community, and whether they might have been granted Roman citizenship as a reward. Strabo's life was characterized by extensive travels. He journeyed to Egypt and Kush , as far west as coastal Tuscany and as far south as Ethiopia in addition to his travels in Asia Minor and the time he spent in Rome . Travel throughout the Mediterranean and Near East, especially for scholarly purposes,

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5394-506: The master of rhetoric Aristodemus , who had formerly taught the sons of the Roman general who had taken over Pontus. Aristodemus was the head of two schools of rhetoric and grammar, one in Nysa and one in Rhodes . The school in Nysa possessed a distinct intellectual curiosity in Homeric literature and the interpretation of the ancient Greek epics. Strabo was an admirer of Homer 's poetry, perhaps as

5481-408: The navy at an island near Lemnos , where it was camped, destroying or capturing 32 ships and taking Marius prisoner. After dealing with both the army and navy, Lucullus and Cotta planned out an invasion of Pontus to end Mithridates's threat, however before they could, Mithridates seized the important city of Heraclea Pontica . Cotta was tasked with retaking the city while Lucullus would march through

5568-452: The other 60, several thousand more Roman soldiers died in the fighting before Mithridates left Chalcedon. Cotta's force was reduced to a fraction of what it once was, giving Mithridates impunity to take the nearby cities of Nicaea , Lampsacus , Nicomedia , and Apameia . The city of Cyzicus resisted Mithridates's advance, forcing him to besiege it in 73 BCE. The city held out until Lucullus's arrival with reinforcements that counter-sieged

5655-401: The phenomena, and he proposes one of his own, the profoundness of which modern geologists are only beginning to appreciate. 'It is not,' he says, 'because the lands covered by seas were originally at different altitudes, that the waters have risen, or subsided, or receded from some parts and inundated others. But the reason is, that the same land is sometimes raised up and sometimes depressed, and

5742-417: The quarries lie in front of the pyramids. Among these are found pieces which in shape and size resemble lentils. Some contain substances like grains half peeled. These, it is said, are the remnants of the workmen's food converted into stone; which is not probable. For at home in our country (Amaseia), there is a long hill in a plain, which abounds with pebbles of a porous stone, resembling lentils. The pebbles of

5829-416: The same line of descent from Mannus . In the same category he places the Chatti , Cherusci , and Suebi . In his Germania , Tacitus describes the Hermunduri after listing some of the Suebian nations, placing them near the Danube , and the sources of the Elbe : In his Annales , Tacitus recounts how the Hermundurian Vibilius in 18 AD led the overthrow of the Marcomannic king Catualda in favor of

5916-401: The sea also is simultaneously raised and depressed so that it either overflows or returns into its own place again. We must, therefore, ascribe the cause to the ground, either to that ground which is under the sea, or to that which becomes flooded by it, but rather to that which lies beneath the sea, for this is more moveable, and, on account of its humidity, can be altered with great celerity. It

6003-400: The sea-shore and of rivers suggest somewhat of the same difficulty [respecting their origin]; some explanation may indeed be found in the motion [to which these are subject] in flowing waters, but the investigation of the above fact presents more difficulty. I have said elsewhere, that in sight of the pyramids, on the other side in Arabia, and near the stone quarries from which they are built, is

6090-433: The siege of Amisus , which was holding out against the Romans, before taking the city. After taking Amisus, Lucullus besieged Sinope , the main port city of Pontus, taking it after fierce resistance. Lucullus stayed in Anatolia while Cotta returned to Rome in 70 BCE. In 69 BCE, Tigranes brought Armenia into conflict with Rome after refusing to hand over Mithridates, his father-in-law, to the Romans; Lucullus invaded Armenia

6177-400: The states of Asia Minor as well as Roman support or lack of it for the parties of these wars. The officers offering this support were acting under other mandates from the Senate; to do anything not mandated was to risk criminal charges at home. The Mithridatic Wars resulted from Mithridates consolidating his neighboring kingdoms into his realm which was opposed by Rome. Mithridates incorporated

6264-418: The title of "The Great" in the service of Sulla, the original recipient of the mandate. Sulla was deceased; Lucullus held the mandate in his place. This is an intervention by the tribune in the legal business of the Senate. Now it was the indignation that was great. The "Mithridatic War" is not just a descriptive term of the historians; it is the name of a mandate. As such it began with the declaration of war by

6351-659: The war further propelled his political career as the general, granting him a triumph in Rome for his efforts during the war. Enough remains of Diodorus Siculus to relate a summary of the Mithridatic Wars mixed in with the Civil Wars in the fragments of Books 37–40. A brief summary of the events of the Mithridatic Wars starting with the Asiatic Vespers combined with events of the Civil Wars can be found in Velleius Paterculus , Book II. The surviving history closest to

6438-569: The war, Sulla quickly withdrew back to Rome as a power struggle was developing into a civil war between factions within the senate. The Second Mithridatic War (83–81 BCE) began when Roman forces attacked the Kingdom of Pontus, reigniting conflict between Rome and Mithridates. This ended the peace that the previous Treaty of Dardanos in 85 BCE which ended the First Mithridatic War three years earlier. The Roman forces were commanded by Lucius Licinius Murena who had served as Sulla's legate and

6525-543: The wealth kept on the island, particularly the sacred Treasury of the temple of Apollo the island was famous for before returning to Athens. Sulla landed in Epirus in 87 BCE, before marching on Athens which was the leader of the revolt in Greece. In the summer of that year he besieged Athens; the siege lasted until early 86 when Roman forces broke through the defenses to storm Athens. Aristion and some of his followers retreated into

6612-703: The whole work proved to be far too long for any copyist. The events of the Mithridatic Wars survive only in the Periochae. The term "Mithridatic War" appears only once in Livy, in Periocha 100. The Third Mithridatic War was going so badly that the Senators of both parties combined to get the Lex Manilia passed by the Tribal Assembly removing command of the east from Lucullus and others and giving it instead to Pompey . The words of

6699-456: The winter of 68 BCE. During the spring of 67 BCE, while Lucullus was still at Nisibis, Mithridates returned to Pontus and fought the Roman forces that were still in the region. Legate Gaius Valerius Triarius , who was bringing troops to reinforce Lucullus at the siege of Nisibis, took command of Roman forces in Pontus to fight the sudden return of Mithridates. The Pontic and Roman forces engaged at

6786-449: The writings of other authors. Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus (in present-day Cappadocia ) in around 64   BC. His family had been involved in politics since at least the reign of Mithridates V . Strabo was related to Dorylaeus on his mother's side. Several other family members, including his paternal grandfather, had served Mithridates VI during

6873-502: Was a Greek geographer , philosopher , and historian who lived in Asia Minor during the transitional period of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire . He is best known for his work Geographica ("Geography"), which presented a descriptive history of people and places from different regions of the world known during his lifetime. Additionally, Strabo authored historical works, but only fragments and quotations of these survive in

6960-427: Was also a Peripatetic, he was more relevantly a respected authority on geography, a fact of some significance considering Strabo's future contributions to the field. The final noteworthy mentor to Strabo was Athenodorus Cananites , a philosopher who had spent his life since 44 BC in Rome forging relationships with the Roman elite. Athenodorus passed onto Strabo his philosophy, his knowledge and his contacts. Unlike

7047-480: Was born a few years after the last Mithridatic War, and grew up in the Late Republic. His location at Padua kept him out of the Civil Wars. He went to the big city perhaps to work on his project. Its nature sparked the interest of the emperor immediately (he had eyes and ears everywhere), who made it a point to be Octavian, not Augustus, to the circle of his friends (he often found duty tedious and debilitating). Livy

7134-724: Was in Rome ( c.  20 BC ), is nearly completely lost. Meant to cover the history of the known world from the conquest of Greece by the Romans, Strabo quotes it himself and other classical authors mention that it existed, although the only surviving document is a fragment of papyrus now in the possession of the University of Milan (renumbered [Papyrus] 46). Strabo studied under several prominent teachers of various specialities throughout his early life at different stops during his Mediterranean travels. The first chapter of his education took place in Nysa (modern Sultanhisar , Turkey) under

7221-886: Was involved in conflict with an alliance of the Marcomanni , the Hermunduri, the Sarmatians , and the Quadi . Some have suggested that the remnants of the Hermanduri went on to become the Thuringii , arguing that ( -duri ) could represent corrupted ( -thuri ) and the Germanic suffix -ing , suggests a meaning of "descendants of (the [Herman]duri)". This has been argued against by other scholars such as Matthias Springer. Strabo Strabo ( / ˈ s t r eɪ b oʊ / ; Greek : Στράβων Strábōn ; 64 or 63 BC – c.  24 AD )

7308-399: Was never accepted by the Senate. Interim peace was never anything more than a gentleman's agreement. Tiring of this political game the ad hoc peace party bypassed the Senate, not only preempting the mandate but also giving to Pompey the power himself to declare it at an end. It ended automatically, however, with the death of Mithridates in 63 BCE, the mission being complete. Florus writes

7395-507: Was popular during this era and was facilitated by the relative peace enjoyed throughout the reign of Augustus (27 BC – AD 14). He moved to Rome in 44 BC, and stayed there, studying and writing, until at least 31 BC. In 29 BC, on his way to Corinth (where Augustus was at the time), he visited the island of Gyaros in the Aegean Sea. Around 25 BC, he sailed up the Nile until he reached Philae , after which point there

7482-463: Was stationed in the region to oversee its defense. Murena ordered an attack on the Pontic city of Comana out of fear that Mithridates was preparing a renewed invasion into Roman territory when Mithridates was raising forces to deal with a rebellion of Crimean tribes in the north. Murena marched his forces into the Kingdom of Pontus after his attack on Comana, his advance unopposed by Mithridates's forces. Mithridates sent an ambassador to Murena to stop

7569-402: Was thus only one generation away from the Mithridatic Wars writing in the most favorable environment under the best of circumstances. Only 35 of the 142 books survived. Livy used no titles or period names. He or someone close to him wrote summaries, or Periochae , of the contents of each book. Books 1–140 have them. Their survival, no doubt, can be attributed to their use as a "little Livy", as

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