The king of Pontus Mithridates VI Eupator would emerge in one of the most important opponents of the Late Roman Republic, as he tried to impose his sovereignty on neighboring kingdoms and in the Greek area, which at that time was a Roman province. The result of his movements was the outburst of the First Mithrian War (88-84 BC) between his kingdom and the Rome.
During it, the Romans arrived in Greece in the spring of 87 BC. Having led the general Lefkio Cornelius Sulla. The leader of his staff, Lukoulos, was already in front of him to negotiate with Brouti Sura, the then Roman commander in Greece, to put his troops under the command of Sulla. Subsequently, in Chaeronea, ambassadors from the great cities of Greece met with the Roman general, who announced to them Rome’s decision to attack Mithridates.
After this meeting, the majority of the Greek cities-states allied with the Romans. Exception was the Athenswhich had not even sent an ambassador to meet with Sulla, as the other Greek cities had done. The tyrant of Athens Aristonas had been imposed by Mithridates VI, so there was no way to “capitulate the invaders”.
Sulla was informed by Athenians about the poor state of part of the city walls.
The denial of capitulation, however, would result in the siege of the city, which lasted a long time. With the residents being now On the verge of hungerafter five months, it is explained why Aristonas became less popular day by day and also why Sulla was informed by Athenians about the poor state of part of the city walls. Having this information, he immediately ordered his soldiers to tear them down at that point. After that, the invasion of the city was now possible.
Thus, on 1 March 86 BC. began the Last nightly looting of Athenswhich proved to be particularly cruel. It is said that the streets of the city were literally painted with blood and that only after the pleas that some Greek friends and the calls of the Roman Senators did Sulla decided to stop.
On the other hand, Aristonas and his forces fled to the Acropolis, where they had gathered supplies in the past weeks, after They set fire to large parts of the city. The same was done by Archelaus, the leader of the Mithridates of Greek forces, who abandoned Piraeus and gathered his forces on the Acropolis. In an attempt to prevent the escape of Archelaus, who, according to Sulla, was to reinforce the army that Mithridates VI had sent to Greece in the meantime, the head of the Roman forces entrusted the occupation of the Acropolis to Gaios Skrimonio. And in this case, however, he proved his particularly cruel face. He completely burned down Piraeus and then proceeded to Boeotia to face the rest of the opposing army and remove him one and good from Greece.
Sella’s disasters have remained legendary for centuries. For some, in fact, its ugly end did not seem to be irrelevant to them. According to Pausanias, for example, this man, who had a fury against the cities and gods of Greece, eventually died the most horrible illness that exists: with his body filled with worms.
Column: Myrto Katsigera, Vassilis Minakakis, Antigoni-Despina Poumenidou, Athanasios Syroplakis
