Mithridatic Wars

The Mithridatic Wars were three conflicts fought between the Roman Republic and King Mithridates VI of Pontus between 89 and 63 BC over control of Anatolia and the Black Sea region. In the First Mithridatic War, 89 to 85 BC, Mithridates overran Roman-controlled Asia Minor and ordered the killing of tens of thousands of resident Romans and Italians in a single coordinated massacre known as the Asiatic Vespers, before the Roman general Sulla defeated his forces in Greece and imposed the Peace of Dardanos. A brief and inconclusive Second Mithridatic War followed in 83 to 81 BC. The Third Mithridatic War, 73 to 63 BC, saw the Roman commander Lucullus drive Mithridates from his kingdom before Pompey the Great took over the campaign, finally crushing Pontic resistance and forcing Mithridates to flee to the Cimmerian Bosporus in Crimea, where he died in 63 BC. Pompey's victory brought Pontus under direct Roman control and let him reorganize the Roman East into a network of provinces and client kingdoms.