Third Mithridatic War The Third Mithridatic War ( 73 – 63 BC ) was the last and longest of three Mithridatic Wars fought between Mithridates VI of Pontus and his allies and the Roman Republic . The war ended in defeat for Mithridates , ending the Pontic Kingdom and resulted in the Kingdom of Armenia becoming an allied client state of Rome . Prior to War . The period between the Second and Third wars of Rome and the Pontic Kingdom ( 81 – 75 BC ) is discussed under the Kingdom of Pontus . There it can be seen how the long piracy wars were a development out of the First Mithridatic War and especially of the alliance between Mithridates VI and Sertorius , which in joining those two threats into a unity much larger than its parts had the serious potential of overturning Roman power . The immediate cause of the Third War was the bequest to Rome by King Nicomedes IV of Bithynia of his kingdom upon his death ( 74 BC ) . Forces and initial deployments , 74 – 73 BC . Having launched an attack at the same time as a revolt by Sertorius swept through the Spanish provinces , Mithridates was initially virtually unopposed . The Senate responded by sending the consuls Lucius Licinius Lucullus and Marcus Aurelius Cotta to deal with the Pontic threat . The only other possible general for such an important command , Pompey , was in Gaul , marching to Hispania to help crush the revolt led by Sertorius . Lucullus was sent to govern Cilicia and Cotta to Bithynia . The original plan was that Cotta should tie down Mithridates ' fleet , while Lucullus attacked by land . Cotta was therefore ordered to station his fleet at Chalcedon , while Lucullus marched through Phrygia with the intention of invading Pontus . Lucullus had not advanced far when news came through that Mithridates had made a rapid march westward , attacked Cotta , and forced him to flee behind the walls of Chalcedon . Sixty - four Roman ships had been captured or burnt , and Cotta had lost three thousand men . There Cotta was forced to remain until Lucullus could come to his rescue . Having made his way to Nicomedia , Cotta watched in frustration as Mithridates , after destroying his fleet , escaped the city and sailed down the Bosporus to the town of Heraclea Pontica . Joined by Lucullus at Nicomedia in 73 BC , Cotta was assigned the task of securing Lucullus ' rear by taking the town of Heraclea , which Mithridates had reinforced with 4 , 000 troops . After reducing the Pontic coast , Cotta began besieging Heraclea , which took him two years to complete , sacking the city in 71 BC . During this time he was forced to dismiss one of his quaestors , P . Oppius , charging him with bribery and conspiracy . While Lucullus stayed in the East , Cotta returned to Rome in 70 BC , where he at first was widely acclaimed for his victory at Heraclea . However , around 67 BC he was accused of appropriation of war booty by Gaius Papirius Carbo . He was convicted of the offence and expelled from the Senate . Roman - Armenian War . Lucullus in Command . Upon his arrival , Lucullus met up with Roman forces which had been campaigning in Asia Minor . In 69 BC Lucullus led a campaign into Armenia against Tigranes II , Mithridates ' son - in - law and ally , to whom Mithridates had fled after Cabeira . He began a siege of the new Armenian imperial capital of Tigranocerta in the Arzenene district . Tigranes returned from mopping up a Seleucid rebellion in Syria with his main host , and sought battle with the Romans . Lucullus ' army annihilated the Armenian host , despite odds of about more than two to one against him . This was the famous battle of Tigranocerta . It was fought on the same ( pre - Julian ) calendar date as the Roman disaster at Arausio 36 years earlier , the day before the Nones of October according to the reckoning of the time ( or October 6 ) , which is Julian October 16 , 69 BC . Tigranes then retired to the northern regions of his kingdom to gather another army and defend his hereditary capital of Artaxata . Meanwhile , Lucullus moved off south - eastwards to the kingdom of the Kurds ( Korduene ) on the frontiers of the Armenia n and Parthian empires . During the winter of 69 - 68 BC both sides opened negotiations with the Parthian king , Arsakes XVI , who was presently defending himself against a major onslaught from his rival Frahates III coming from Bactria and the far east . In the summer of 68 BC Lucullus marched against Tigranes and crossed the Anti - Taurus range heading for the old Armenian capital Artaxata . Once again Tigranes was provoked to attack and in a major battle at the Aratsani River Lucullus was heavily defeated by the Armenian army . Soon he left this campaign and when winter came on early in the Armenian tablelands , his troops mutinied , refusing to go further , and he was forced to withdraw southwards back into Arzenene . From there he proceeded back down through Korduene into old Assyria and in the late autumn and early winter besieged and took Nisibis , the main Armenia n fortress city in Northern Mesopotamia . During the winter of 68 - 67 BC at Nisibis , his authority over his army was more seriously undermined by the efforts of his young brother - in - law Publius Clodius Pulcher , apparently acting in the interests and pay of Pompey the Great , who was eager to succeed Lucullus in the eastern command . After mutiny spread in the legions with the troops refusing to obey Lucullus ' commands , the senate sent Pompey to succeed Lucullus . This lull allowed Mithridates and Tigranes to retake part of their respective kingdoms . Pompey in Command . On the approach of Pompey , Mithridates retreated towards Armenia but was defeated . As Tigranes the Great now refused to receive him into his dominions , Mithridates resolved to plunge into the heart of Colchis , and thence make his way to his own dominions in the Cimmerian Bosporus . Pompey now marched against Tigranes , whose kingdom and authority were now severely weakened . Tigranes then sued for peace and met with Pompey to plead a cessation of hostilities . The Armenian Kingdom now became an allied client state of Rome . In 65 BC , Pompey had set out in pursuit of Mithridates meeting opposition from the tribal Caucasians and after advancing as far as Phasis in Colchis , where he met up with Servilius , the admiral of his Euxine fleet . Pompey now retook his steps , and spent the winter at Pontus , which he declared would become a Roman province . Complete Roman Victory . After his defeat by Pompey in 65 BC , Mithridates VI fled with a small army from Colchis ( modern Georgia ) over the Caucausus Mountains to Crimea and attempted to raise yet another army to take on the Romans but failed to do so . In 63 BC , he withdrew to the citadel in Panticapaeum . His eldest son , Machares , now king of Cimmerian Bosporus , whose kingdom had been reorganized by the Romans , was unwilling to aid his father . Mithridates had Machares murdered and took the throne of the Bosporan Kingdom , intent on retaking Pontus from the Romans . His younger son , Pharnaces II , backed by a disgruntled and war weary populace , led a rebellion against his father . This betrayal , after the decisive defeat in battle , hurt Mithridates more than any other and seeing his loss of authority he attempted suicide by poison . The attempt failed as he had gained immunity to various poisons from taking tiny doses of all available poisons throughout his life to guard against assassination . According to Appian ' s " Roman History " , he then ordered his Gallic bodyguard and friend , Bituitus , to kill him by the sword : Mithridates ' body was buried in Sinope , the capital of Pontus , on the orders of Pompey himself . - ed . René Henry " Photius Bibliotheque " Tome IV : Codices 223 - 229 ( Association Guillaume Budé , Paris , 1965 ) , pp . 48 – 99 : Greek text with French translation References . Ancient sources . - ed . K . Müller " FHG III " , 525 : Greek text with Latin translation - ed . F . Jacoby " FGrH " no . 434 : Greek text , detailed commentary in German - ed . K . Müller " FHG III " , 602ff . - ed . F . Jacoby " FGrH " no . 257 - English translations and commentary by William Hansen , " Phlegon of Tralles ' Book of Marvels " ( University of Exeter Press , 1996 ) Modern works . Abbreviations " RE " = " Real - Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft " , eds . Pauly , Wissowa , Kroll Major studies . I . Introduction . " Klio " , 9 ( 1909 ) , 400 - 412 II . Das Kriegsjahr 69 . " Klio " , 10 ( 1910 ) , 72 - 115 III . Das Kriegsjahr 68 . " Klio " , 10 ( 1910 ) , 192 - 231 Shorter articles .