Orobius (identified as Lucius Orbius) was a Roman general, who defeated the supporters of
Mithridates VI (reigned 120–63 BC) at
Delos
The island of Delos (; el, Δήλος ; Attic: , Doric: ), near Mykonos, near the centre of the Cyclades archipelago, is one of the most important mythological, historical, and archaeological sites in Greece. The excavations in the island are ...
. The battle was part of the
Mithridatic Wars (88 – 63 BC).
Battle of Delos
He heard that the
Athenian
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
soldiers, under the command of
Apellicon of Teos, had been placed in a very careless manner on the side of Delos, leaving all of the back of the island unguarded. He led his force of
Romans and
Delian
The Delian League, founded in 478 BC, was an association of Greek city-states, numbering between 150 and 330, under the leadership of Athens, whose purpose was to continue fighting the Persian Empire after the Greek victory in the Battle of Pl ...
s against the Athenians on that moonless night, falling on Apellicon and his soldiers, who were all asleep and drunk, he cut the Athenians and all those who were in the army with them to pieces, like so many sheep, to the number of six hundred, and he took four hundred alive.
Apellicon fled away without being perceived, and came to Delos; and Orobius seeing that many of those who fled with him had escaped to the farmhouses round about, burnt them in the houses, houses and all; and he destroyed by fire also all the engines for besieging cities together with the
Helepolis which Apellicon had made when he came to Delos. Orobius erected in that place a trophy and an altar.
References
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1st-century BC Romans
Ancient Roman generals
Mithridatic Wars
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