When Being a Friend of Rome Makes You a King (or a Queen)
Gaius Cassius found himself in a bind. Earlier that year,
Mithridates VI, the king of
Pontus, had invaded the Roman province of
Asia (modern
Turkey) and killed more than 80,000 Italians residing there. The Pontic king had then swiftly invaded the rest of the Province of Asia, while important cities like the Phrygian
Laodicea willingly handed over Roman generals to Mithridates.
Figure 1. Roman Asia Minor.
Cassius and his troops, barricaded in the neighboring city of
Apamea, were about to face a difficult winter since the enemy armies had cut off their supply lines. Then, right when it was needed most, an exceedingly rich man from the Lydian town of