Battle of Cabira

The Battle of Cabira was fought in 72 or 71 BC between the forces of the Roman Republic under Consul Lucius Licinius Lucullus and those of the Kingdom of Pontus under Mithridates the Great. It was a decisive Roman victory.

Background

The Kingdom of Bithynia had been bequeathed to the Roman Republic on the death of King Nicomedes in 74 BC. Mithridates, who had long presumed the kingdom for himself, invaded the country in 73 BC, putting the small Roman garrison under pressure and isolating them from assistance. Lucullus was in Cilicia and immediately set out to confront the Pontic army.

Lucullus established a counter-siege during Mithridates investment of Cyzicus and successfully mounted a naval expedition against Mithridates's navy in the Black Sea and crushed a contingent of Pontic troops at the Rhyndacus. Having failed to take the city before the onset of winter, Mithridates was forced to withdraw. He fled via ship while his army was to make its way over land to the port of Lampsacus. These men continued to be harried by Lucullus, who met them at the confluence of the Aesupus and the Granicus. Cotta then invested Heraclea Perinthus before returning to Rome.

Battle

Without confirmation from the Senate, Lucullus moved east into Pontus. In the summer of 72 or 71 BC, he reached the Lycus valley. Losing an initial skirmish against Mithridates's cavalry, he took up a defended position on the hills opposite Cabira and both sides waited.

Lucullus's supply lines came north from Cappadocia. A Pontic attack on a grain caravan turned into the decisive battle, when Lucullus realized the narrow valley at the scene limited the effectiveness of his opponent's cavalry. The Romans won tellingly, and the disorder caused by Mithridates's preparations to depart the area led to the complete destruction and looting of his camp.

Aftermath

The battle was a key point in the war against Mithridates and forced him to retreat nearly penniless to his ally, Tigranes of Armenia. Lucullus continued the ongoing sieges throughout Pontus and organized it as a new Roman province, while Appius Claudius was sent to find Armenian allies and demand Mithridates from Tigranes. Tigranes refused, stating he would prepare for war against the Republic.

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