The Battle of Lemnos was fought on the island of

Lemnos Lemnos or Limnos ( el, Λήμνος; grc, Λῆμνος) is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Lemnos regional unit, which is part of the North Aegean region. The p ...

in 73 BC between a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

fleet and a Mithridatic fleet; it was a decisive event during the

Third Mithridatic War The Third Mithridatic War (73–63 BC), the last and longest of the three Mithridatic Wars, was fought between Mithridates VI of Pontus and the Roman Republic. Both sides were joined by a great number of allies dragging the entire east of the ...

. The primary chroniclers of the battle are

Appian Appian of Alexandria (; grc-gre, Ἀππιανὸς Ἀλεξανδρεύς ''Appianòs Alexandreús''; la, Appianus Alexandrinus; ) was a Greek historian with Roman citizenship who flourished during the reigns of Emperors of Rome Trajan, Hadr ...

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...

and

Memnon In Greek mythology, Memnon (; Ancient Greek: Μέμνων means 'resolute') was a king of Aethiopia and son of Tithonus and Eos. As a warrior he was considered to be almost Achilles' equal in skill. During the Trojan War, he brought an army t ...

, but there remain debates about the specifics in these different accounts.

Background

After his defeat at the hands of

Lucius Cornelius Sulla Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (; 138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He won the first large-scale civil war in Roman history and became the first man of the Republic to seize power through force. Sulla had t ...

during the

First Mithridatic War The First Mithridatic War (89–85 BC) was a war challenging the Roman Republic's expanding empire and rule over the Greek world. In this conflict, the Kingdom of Pontus and many Greek cities rebelling against Roman rule were led by Mithridates ...

(89-85 BC) Mithridates had rebuilt his power and armies. In 74 BC,

Nicomedes IV Nicomedes IV Philopator ( grc-gre, Νικομήδης Φιλοπάτωρ) was the king of Bithynia from c. 94 BC to 74 BC. (''numbered as III. not IV.'') He was the first son and successor of Nicomedes III of Bithynia. Life Memnon of Heraclea wro ...

the king of

Bithynia Bithynia (; Koine Greek: , ''Bithynía'') was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), adjoining the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, and the Black Sea. It bordered Mysia to the southwest, Pa ...

died, the Romans claimed he had left them his kingdom and took control of Bithynia. Bithynia served as a buffer state between Rome and Pontus; feeling threatened Mithridates marched his armies westwards and invade Roman territory. The Senate responded by sending the consuls Lucius Licinius Lucullus and

Marcus Aurelius Cotta Marcus Aurelius Cotta was a Roman politician and general who was consul in 74 BC. He was posted to Bithynia with a Roman fleet as part of the Third Mithridatic War. He was defeated by King Mithridates VI of Pontus. Rescued by his fellow consul he ...

to deal with the Pontic threat. The plan was for Cotta to tie down Mithridates's fleet, while Lucullus attacked by land. Cotta stationed his fleet at

Chalcedon Chalcedon ( or ; , sometimes transliterated as ''Chalkedon'') was an ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Asia Minor. It was located almost directly opposite Byzantium, south of Scutari (modern Üsküdar) and it is now a district of the cit ...

, while Lucullus planned to march through

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; grc, Φρυγία, ''Phrygía'' ) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empires ...

with the intention of invading Pontus. Lucullus had not advanced far when news came through that Mithridates had made a rapid march westward, attacked and defeated Cotta at the Battle of Chalcedon, and was now besieging him. Leaving Cotta under siege in Chalcedon, Mithidates moved on and started taking cities in Bithynia. Lucullus marched north and caught the Mithridatic army off guard besieging

Cyzicus Cyzicus (; grc, Κύζικος ''Kúzikos''; ota, آیدینجق, ''Aydıncıḳ'') was an ancient Greek town in Mysia in Anatolia in the current Balıkesir Province of Turkey. It was located on the shoreward side of the present Kapıdağ Peni ...

, he conducted a very effective counter-siege, blockading the Mithridatic army on the Cyzicus

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

and let famine and disease do his work for him. The Mithridatic army eventually broke through the blockade and tried to withdraw back to Pontus, Lucullus pursued them inflicting major losses on the Mithridatic forces at the battles of the Rhyndacus and the Granicus rivers.

Prelude

After defeating the Mithridatic land forces at the

Siege of Cyzicus The siege of Cyzicus took place in 73 BC between the armies of Mithridates VI of Pontus and the Roman-allied citizens of Cyzicus in Mysia and Roman Republican forces under Lucius Licinius Lucullus. It was in fact a siege and a counter-siege. ...

and the battles of the Rhyndacus and the Granicus, Lucullus moved to the

Troad The Troad ( or ; el, Τρωάδα, ''Troáda'') or Troas (; grc, Τρῳάς, ''Trōiás'' or , ''Trōïás'') is a historical region in northwestern Anatolia. It corresponds with the Biga Peninsula ( Turkish: ''Biga Yarımadası'') in the Ç ...

and the

Hellespont The Dardanelles (; tr, Çanakkale Boğazı, lit=Strait of Çanakkale, el, Δαρδανέλλια, translit=Dardanéllia), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli from the Gallipoli peninsula or from Classical Antiquity as the Hellespont (; ...

to raise a fleet. He knew he had to defeat the Pontic navy before he could move on Pontus itself. Here was informed that thirteen Mithridatic ships were headed to

. Lucullus was able to quickly mobilize and capture all 13 ships and execute Isidorus, the Pontic Admiral. Lucullus was then informed that the mass of the naval force was continuing towards Lemnos.

The battle

Once again, quickly mobilizing his fleet, he overtook the combined fleet of the Mithridatic admirals Marcus Marius/Varius, Alexander the Paphlagonian and Dionysius the Eunuch, near Lemnos.Lee Fratantuono, ''Lucullus: The Life and Campaigns of a Roman Conqueror'', p. 62; Philip Matyszak, ''Mithridates the Great: Rome's Indomitable Enemy'', p. 114. The Mithridatic commanders choose not to fight a sea battle, but instead defend against the Roman fleet off the coast of Lemnos; they drew up their ships on the beach and fought from their decks. Lucullus occupied his opponents attention with part of his fleet while secretly landing a contingent of troops on the other side of the island, when these made it across they attacked the Mitrhidatic forces from behind. The Romans captured or sunk 32 ships.

Aftermath

The next day the Romans found the three admirals hiding in a cave on the island. Dionysius had poisoned himself, Alexander was taken captive and preserved to walk in Lucullus's triumphal procession, while Marius/Varius was executed. Like Sertorius, Marius/Varius at some point had lost an eye; when Lucullus gave the order to track down enemy survivors, he specified that no one-eyed men should be killed, so that he could personally oversee the renegade's death: "Lucullus wished Marius/Varius to die under the most shameful insults."Plutarch, ''Lucullus'' 12.5; Orosius, ''Against the Pagans'' 6.2.2. Lucullus sent letters with garland to the Roman Senate declaring his victory and was recognized with significant accolades before joining the forces against Mithridates in the Bosporus.

References

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73 BC Tenedos