Mithridates Eupator Pontic conquests at the end of the IIcBC

[bachmat66]

Hello gents,
I am not sure if this has been discussed before...
Well, I am curious about the Mithridates Eupator conquests of the northern and southern shores of the Pontus Euxinus aka Black Sea.
Map on Wikipedia shows the largest extend of his kingdom, at the height of his wars with Rome, with the subjugated lands of Bospran Kingdom, Thracian shores, Olbia and the mouth of Dnepr (Dnieper) River, Colchis etc included http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PonticKingdom.png
I find these late 2nd century BC conquests in Europe quite astonishing and amazing, also it is interesting that they coincided with the march of the Sarmatian tribes from the eastern Don steppes onto the Ukrainian steppes and annihilation of the Scythians as military power in the Pontic steppes.
I wonder what kind of army Mithridates trained and sent to have his generals achieve all these conquests. From reading various accounts and the inscription http://www.chersonesos.org/?p=museum_coll_ep1&l=eng I gather that his strategos Diophantes may have used various Pontic peoples, including Sarmatians , and also Hellenic infantry.
Any ideas on the Mithridates armies and their content?
Appearance and standards?
Literature on the subject?
all are welcome

[hoplite14gr]

Mithridates was a man of ability or else he would not have been such a problem to the Romans.

Yet he and his kingdom was plagued by the worst form of evil a hellenistic period establishment suffered.

His family were out to get him. He failed to combine his mulitude of different allies-subjects as Hannibal had done. His armies might revolt at any time. His subjects who were different tribes nationalities were ready to revolt too. He encouraged the mob rule by enticing simple people to mass murder Romans and "pro-Romans".
He regularly threw ill trained mobs to battle. He allowed his ill-disiplined troops to plunder at random and he encouraged piracy.
He had lost the war before even going to the battle-field.

The Romans came to be viewed a power of stability against the murderous whim of an Asiatic despot.

Kind regards

[S SEVERUS]

Also read this : http://www.livius.org/mi-mn/mithridates/mithridates.htm

[Ioannis]

Also read this: http://asiaminor.ehw.gr/forms/fLemma.as ... ontlang=58

[bachmat66]

Also read this: http://asiaminor.ehw.gr/forms/fLemma.as ... ontlang=58

Also read this : http://www.livius.org/mi-mn/mithridates/mithridates.htm

Bueno colegas,
thanks
... the links, however well indented they might have been, are not exactly what I had in mind - I am quite aware who Mithridates Eupator and his life achievements were about, eg pertinent chapters from B. C. McGing's The foreign policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus provide more than enough about the conquests on the shore of Black Sea towards the end of the II century BC.
I am interested in his military (armies), warriors, horses, equipment etc.
And here I should mention that I already had read the splendid little introduction page provided by Jona Lendering on his page, it is always very useful to visit livius.org
In my opinion as far as his wars with Rome go he was not a worse failure than Hannibal, after all he was fighting against ROME, who could defeat that superpower, only other Romans like Sulla, Caesar, Octavian
Polish archaeologist dr Mielczarek, author of Cathaphractoi and Clibanarii, wrote a book about the Bosporan Kingdom armies but I have never read it and I heard that it deals with the later than 2nd cetnury time frame, the Roman period etc.?

[hoplite14gr]

Try to get info on the Museum of Pontus and Krimea findings. Try also to see what translations are available from the old Soviet archeological lists.
Gorelic work is a good place to start. See also what you can getfrpm the Yerevan Museum in Armenia.

Kind regards

[bachmat66]

Try to get info on the Museum of Pontus and Krimea findings.
... See also what you can get from the Yerevan Museum in Armenia.

Kind regards

u la la - I am not that interested to make a trip to foreign countries yet //www.orientarch.uni-halle.de/sfb586/d3/conf/">http://www.orientarch.uni-halle.de/sfb586/d3/conf/ perhaps someone read their publication?

T

Gorelic work is a good place to start.

Kind regards

I am not aware of any Gorelik's work on the MIthridates Kingdom? Are you talking about the little entry in the Monvert Publications' Warriors of Eurasia?
Actually I just realized that Mielczarek's The Sarmatians has a plate and several funerary stelae from around the end of the II c BC in the Crimea. Plate F, figure F1.

. Try also to see what translations are available from the old Soviet archeological lists.
Kind regards

I have not yet seen Russian language publications on the Mithridates Pontic armies on the net - indirectly a bit here http://www.iananu.kiev.ua/archaeology/2003-1/zubar.htm with several images from Crimea http://www.iananu.kiev.ua/archaeology/2 ... 1-03-3.jpg (article is in Ukrainian and I am better reader of Russian)
But thanks for reminding me about the Russians etc, so with little effort I found this book -????? ????????? ????????? ??????? ????? ? ????? ( The Late Scythians in Crimea), Moskwa 1991. wholly available here http://annals.xlegio.ru/skif/skifkrim/cover.htm actually I will have to look closer at the articels and books available on that web library. Also this interesting book ???????? ?.?. "?????????? ???????. ??????????? ?????? ? ???????? ? ?????????????". (The Pontic kingdom, Greek and barbarian state on the Black Sea coast) ??????: ?????, 1996. 348 ?.
also, I have just renumbered that I need to look into immortal Mihail I. Rostovtzeff and equally important E.H. Minns...