A History of the Pontic Empire - A Pontus/Roman TL
Chapter One - The Ascension of Mithridates the Great
When Mithridates VI ascended the throne in 120 BC, his kingdom was almost unrecognizable from the empire he left when he died. A small but prosperous kingdom on the shore of the Black sea, it was one of the number of small kingdoms in Anatolia, alongside states like Bithynia and Cappadocia. However, in recent years, the political landscape in Anatolia had changed quite rapidly. In 133 BC, King Attalus of Pergamon had left his kingdom to the Roman Republic, allowing them to gain a foothold in Asia Minor. The Romans were insistent on keeping a balance of power in the region, and for this reason, Mithridates’ father, who was also named Mithridates, was content with building up influence in other kingdoms rather than expanding into them. This way, he was able to keep good relations relatively good with the Romans. However, his reign came to an abrupt end when he was assassinated by his wife in 120 BC, leaving the throne to his son Mithridates.
However, it was not a simple accession for Mithridates. His mother had just killed his father, and based on their family history there was a good chance that she was trying to kill him as well. After a failed assassination attempt, he decided to leave Sinope. For now, this left the reins of power in his mother’s hands, who ruled through Mithridates’ younger brother. His 5 years away from Sinope were largely spent touring Pontus and Asia Minor, learning more about the state of the world, as well as building up support in the interior of his Kingdom. He learned a number of valuable lessons in this time, as well as a fair bit about the political situation of the world. His experiences in his time, which included seeing first-hand the effects of the rapaciousness of Roman taxation, as well as his own personal humiliation of the Roman confiscation of Phrygia from Pontus, which he protested about to the Roman governor of Asia in person, left him distrustful of Romans.
Mithridates returned to Sinope in the summer of 115 BC at the age of 19. He was expecting at least a small civil war, but his mother was not a very popular ruler, alienated the court and the Greek elites of Sinope, and she never had much loyalty amongst the barons of Inner Pontus at any rate. As soon as he took power, he had her executed, along with his younger brother, the puppet king. Although like his father, he used Sinope as the official capital for now, Mithridates himself preferred to spend his time and rule his kingdom from the old capital of Amasya on the river Halys.
The young king appeared to have everything going for him. He was the undisputed ruler of a relatively rich, if not the largest, kingdom. He himself had many personal qualities, such as his intelligence, and his physical prowess. His travels had also given him an insight into the world, one that would prove valuable in later years. One of the impressions he got from his travels in his kingdom was that its true strength was in the interior. The Greeks were harder to rule compared to the peoples of the interior, who accepted Mithridates right to rule without any question, while the Greeks often wanted concessions and such from the king. Mithridates was often known to be uncomfortable with the difficulties of ruling Greeks some of the time, but still appreciated the taxes that the Greeks brought to his coffers, as well as the technical expertise that some Greeks brought.
One of the first policies upon ascending the throne was the improvement of the army. The Pontic army was mainly based around a Phalanx core, supplemented by mercenaries mainly from Galatia and the Pontic steppe at the Northern side of the Black sea. Mithridates however, had read of how the phalanx could be flanked and crushed by more flexible forces, especially the Romans. He identified the Romans as a big threat even before he started ruling properly, so he began reforming the army so they could better face the forces of Rome. Instead of having the army based around the Phalanx, he used the relatively new model of infantry, based around the heavy peltasts. The Thoratikai were armored in chain mail, armed with short swords, and used heavy javelins before the main melee, similar to the Romans. The phalanxes were kept around, but they did not dominate the army as before, and were mainly used in their old role as the “anvil”, which held enemy forces while more maneuverable forces flanked them. Mithridates kept recruiting Galatian mercenaries to serve as medium infantry, and Sarmatians to serve as cavalry, but also looked to other sources of troops, recruiting cavalry from Cappadocia, Archers from Crete, and Skirmishers from Cilicia. However, with semi-unfriendly governments in each of these places, Mithridates’ access to troops from these areas was threatened.
Pontus’ new army would receive its first test in Taurica, when the Greek cities of the region appealed to Mithridates to protect them from Scythian aggression. In a previous Pontic attempt to conquer the Bosporan kingdom, one of the articles in the treaty that was made after the end of the war allowed the Bosporans to call on the Kingdom of Pontus if help was needed. Mithridates was now faced with a brilliant opportunity, to not only seize a rich land, but to be welcomed as a liberator whilst doing it. So in 108bc, he dispatched an army 30,000 to the Crimea with his general, Archelaus, and hoped that the reforms will have made the Pontic army into a force to be reckoned with.
_________________________________________________
Well, hopefully I can stick at this longer then I did my last TL. As always, comments, suggestions, praise, death threats are all welcomed. Though the last one may get you in trouble with the mods...
Chapter One - The Ascension of Mithridates the Great
When Mithridates VI ascended the throne in 120 BC, his kingdom was almost unrecognizable from the empire he left when he died. A small but prosperous kingdom on the shore of the Black sea, it was one of the number of small kingdoms in Anatolia, alongside states like Bithynia and Cappadocia. However, in recent years, the political landscape in Anatolia had changed quite rapidly. In 133 BC, King Attalus of Pergamon had left his kingdom to the Roman Republic, allowing them to gain a foothold in Asia Minor. The Romans were insistent on keeping a balance of power in the region, and for this reason, Mithridates’ father, who was also named Mithridates, was content with building up influence in other kingdoms rather than expanding into them. This way, he was able to keep good relations relatively good with the Romans. However, his reign came to an abrupt end when he was assassinated by his wife in 120 BC, leaving the throne to his son Mithridates.
However, it was not a simple accession for Mithridates. His mother had just killed his father, and based on their family history there was a good chance that she was trying to kill him as well. After a failed assassination attempt, he decided to leave Sinope. For now, this left the reins of power in his mother’s hands, who ruled through Mithridates’ younger brother. His 5 years away from Sinope were largely spent touring Pontus and Asia Minor, learning more about the state of the world, as well as building up support in the interior of his Kingdom. He learned a number of valuable lessons in this time, as well as a fair bit about the political situation of the world. His experiences in his time, which included seeing first-hand the effects of the rapaciousness of Roman taxation, as well as his own personal humiliation of the Roman confiscation of Phrygia from Pontus, which he protested about to the Roman governor of Asia in person, left him distrustful of Romans.
Mithridates returned to Sinope in the summer of 115 BC at the age of 19. He was expecting at least a small civil war, but his mother was not a very popular ruler, alienated the court and the Greek elites of Sinope, and she never had much loyalty amongst the barons of Inner Pontus at any rate. As soon as he took power, he had her executed, along with his younger brother, the puppet king. Although like his father, he used Sinope as the official capital for now, Mithridates himself preferred to spend his time and rule his kingdom from the old capital of Amasya on the river Halys.
The young king appeared to have everything going for him. He was the undisputed ruler of a relatively rich, if not the largest, kingdom. He himself had many personal qualities, such as his intelligence, and his physical prowess. His travels had also given him an insight into the world, one that would prove valuable in later years. One of the impressions he got from his travels in his kingdom was that its true strength was in the interior. The Greeks were harder to rule compared to the peoples of the interior, who accepted Mithridates right to rule without any question, while the Greeks often wanted concessions and such from the king. Mithridates was often known to be uncomfortable with the difficulties of ruling Greeks some of the time, but still appreciated the taxes that the Greeks brought to his coffers, as well as the technical expertise that some Greeks brought.
One of the first policies upon ascending the throne was the improvement of the army. The Pontic army was mainly based around a Phalanx core, supplemented by mercenaries mainly from Galatia and the Pontic steppe at the Northern side of the Black sea. Mithridates however, had read of how the phalanx could be flanked and crushed by more flexible forces, especially the Romans. He identified the Romans as a big threat even before he started ruling properly, so he began reforming the army so they could better face the forces of Rome. Instead of having the army based around the Phalanx, he used the relatively new model of infantry, based around the heavy peltasts. The Thoratikai were armored in chain mail, armed with short swords, and used heavy javelins before the main melee, similar to the Romans. The phalanxes were kept around, but they did not dominate the army as before, and were mainly used in their old role as the “anvil”, which held enemy forces while more maneuverable forces flanked them. Mithridates kept recruiting Galatian mercenaries to serve as medium infantry, and Sarmatians to serve as cavalry, but also looked to other sources of troops, recruiting cavalry from Cappadocia, Archers from Crete, and Skirmishers from Cilicia. However, with semi-unfriendly governments in each of these places, Mithridates’ access to troops from these areas was threatened.
Pontus’ new army would receive its first test in Taurica, when the Greek cities of the region appealed to Mithridates to protect them from Scythian aggression. In a previous Pontic attempt to conquer the Bosporan kingdom, one of the articles in the treaty that was made after the end of the war allowed the Bosporans to call on the Kingdom of Pontus if help was needed. Mithridates was now faced with a brilliant opportunity, to not only seize a rich land, but to be welcomed as a liberator whilst doing it. So in 108bc, he dispatched an army 30,000 to the Crimea with his general, Archelaus, and hoped that the reforms will have made the Pontic army into a force to be reckoned with.
_________________________________________________
Well, hopefully I can stick at this longer then I did my last TL. As always, comments, suggestions, praise, death threats are all welcomed. Though the last one may get you in trouble with the mods...
Last edited:
