Customer Reviews

MITHRIDATES THE GREAT: Rome's Indomitable Enemy

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"Chronicling the life of Mithridates has been a fascinating experience, and I strongly suspect that, even after two millenia, the defiant Pontic battle king will still attract new followers," opines doctor Philip "Maty" Matyszak. If this prediction is borne out, it will be due to nothing less than the author's meticulous scholarship and enchanting prose, both of which vividly animate an unforgettable yet heretofore largely unknown persona in Roman history. With the grand politics of the late Republic, enthralling military clashes, and larger than life personalities sketched by an eloquent pen, this could very well be the book of the year for Romanophiles.

What prompted this grand endeavor, I suspect, is a certain resonance between Roman history that is always, for better or for worse, played against American domestic and foreign policy. Rome was an upstart military and economic giant, though cultural pygmy, whose perceived arrogance, corruption and bungling of foreign policy were resented by older, more culturally advanced nations that had lost center stage in the international arena. Many people griped, but Mithridates was one of the few Hellenistic dynasts to actually translate widespread anti-Roman sentiment into a plan for action. The wily and powerful king fought Rome in three devastating wars, and had some things gone differently Roman expansion into the Greek East might have come to an abrupt halt.

But Matyszak does not in any way redeem Mithridates into a heroic savior of those allegedly exploited by a malignant imperial power. He carefully documents Mithridates ruthlessness: the murder of relatives, the massacre of Roman civilians, the cruel tax exploitation of subjects (which ironically was his subjects' chief grievance against the Romans). Matyszak goes so far to say Mithridates was simply doing what his Roman opponents were doing - conquest for the sake of empire and personal glory.

The author points out that what is to be admired in the man is his audacious personality, his bold ambition, and his implacable will to triumph. That Mithridates made himself immune to poison by incrementally ingesting toxins is something fairly well known, and the author relays those episodes in great detail. But did you know that even on the brink of final defeat, Mithridates was building siege engines for a daring plan to invade Italy itself? Whether genius or lunacy, such details give us a sense of this remarkable man.

At this point I would like to compare the author to two other popular Roman historians. I am not usually one to enjoy the minutiae of military exploits, but Matyszak has enumerated the many military clashes in this epic with a clarity and vividness friendly to the general reader. On this level his writings are up there with Adrian Goldsworthy, that modern giant of Roman military history (except Matyszak is less verbose). In the author's acknowledgment he mentions Goldsworthy as having commented on some of the battles, and I think it shows.

Second, while I have always enjoyed Matyszak's wit and prose from his numerous previous books, I believe in this work he takes it to a new level. I had praised Tom Holland, author of "Rubicon," as the best historian around who can write for the general reader. I believe Matyszak begins to equal or exceed Holland in that regard with "Mithridates". While obviously grounded in scholarship, it felt much more like reading a good dramatic novel. I had it finished the same day it was delivered to me.

The book has plenty of first class maps of the Pontic area, as well as tactical maps used to recreate some of the more significant battles. There are four back-to-back pages of stunning photographs and illustrations, some done personally by the author. In the back is a convenient section of notes and sources, and a bibliography. Pen and Sword has made a sturdy book with a great dust cover.

In the sum of things, this will be a seminal book in bringing the Mithridatic Wars to the general reader. It should appeal to a wide variety of people: Romanophiles, military buffs, and general history enthusiasts.

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This is an excellent book and a great introduction to people interested in this towering figure of history, and the Mithridatic Wars.
Philip Matyszak's writing is written for the general reader, and even made me laugh out loud a couple of times while reading. He is humorous, and has a great way with words. Definately a book that I think everyone should read. He describes each of his battles and sieges in detail, has maps drawn up for the more significant battles, like that of Chaeronea and Orchomenus, and really gives you a full, rounded out picture of Mithridates and his enemies. He also gives an introduction to fill you in on the politics of the Hellenistic Era before Mithridates was born. Be warned however, he does make a few mistakes during his writing, and even the first sentence has an inaccuracy in it. He claims Mithridates was born in 120 BC, but this was the year Mithridates' reign began, and he also claims the Rhodians made the Colossus of Rhodes after a Seleucid Failure to take the city, but it was actually Demetrius Poliorcetes of the Antigonid Macedonian Dynasty that failed to take the city. The Seleucids, as far as I know, never besieged the city of Rhodes. Anyway, great book, I recommend it to anyone interested in Ancient History.

This book is a good introduction to the Mithridatic Wars for young readers. Matyszak's writing style, as always, is engaging and humourous, but there are some errors and inconsistencies. The very first sentence of the book is incorrect--giving Mithridates' birth date as 120 BC. That is the actually the year that his reign began

From the author's Introduction:
"And it is true that the life of Mithridates VI Eupator of Pontus reads like an overblown film script of the 1950s. It has palace coups, plots and assassinations. It features incest, fratricide and an unhealthy fascination with poison. There are epic battles, sieges and massacres, kingdoms in turmoil, distressed princesses, corrupt officials and pirates. All that is lacking in the epic drama that was the life of Mithridates is a hero - in the entire saga of battle, double-dealing and betrayal, a good man is indeed hard to find."

This is an excellent history of Mithridates and his war against Rome. As the (eventual) winners, Rome wrote the history books (although the Greeks managed to sneak in a few subversive volumes here and there), but we still get a reasonable amount of information about Mithridates' side of the argument. The chapters are:
P001: Winning Pontus
P013: Building a Kingdom
P035: The First Clash With Rome
P043: Imperial Pontus
P057: Battleground Greece
P073: The Road to Dardanus
P089: The Failed Peace
P101: Mithridates Attacks
P117: Defeat and Exile
P137: The Return of the King
P152: The Last Stand
P163: Epilogue
Notes, Bibliography, Index pp169-180
There are four pages of maps, which for some reason are for the wrong period in Asia Minor's history; and several pages of excellent battle plans for Amnias River, Chaeronea and Tigranocerta - we get a Roman war with Armenia as part of the deal, as Mithridates managed to spread his web of alliances from Spain to the Steppes, and out as far as Parthia.

I don't know how cause and effect worked here, but this war plays out against the first act of the end of the Roman Republic. Rome's empire has spread to Spain, North Africa and Greece, and is now edging into Asia Minor. The Pontic state, and several of its neighbours, has emerged from the collapse of the Seleucid empire, which has sucked Rome into the area. The expansion of Rome has lead to widespread exploitation and corruption in its empire, with consequent stresses on Italy and Roman Society. This is the age of Marius and Sulla, and the first Civil War, which Mithridates takes full advantage of, and of the hatred for Roman oppression and corruption within its empire. Caesar and Pompey are just taking the central stage as Mithridates' story closes, ready for the second act of the Civil Wars. However, Mithridates suffers from the same problems all the Hellenistic successor states suffered from, but which Rome was able to avoid for so long, of the fact that Hellenistic kingship was primarily earned by killing off your predecessor and all other claimants - and keeping your heirs under your eye at all times. This led to great instability in the Hellenistic kingdoms which Rome was able to exploit, if only by luck rather than judgement. See Pyrrhus of Epirus and Alexander the Great Failure: The Collapse of the Macedonian Empire (Hambledon Continuum) for other famous examples.

The only `problem' I had with the book was occasionally with the author's style - he has read too many Terry Pratchett novels...

Further reading:
The Crisis of Rome: The Jugurthine and Northern Wars and the Rise of Marius

An Aside - the Hellenistic period (Philip and Alexander to Actium) can be confusing, especially when there are both Greek and Roman versions of names. I have found that playing historical board games help in learning names & places. The following are particularly useful for this period. `Spartacus' covers the period of the Mithridatic war, including Spain and Asia Minor.

Sword of Rome (GMT Games)
Successors (GMT Games)
Hannibal (Valley Games)
Julius Caesar (Columbia Games)
Spartacus (Compass Games)
www boardgamegeek com
www boardgameguru co uk

The confluence of two distinct cultures (Persian and Hellenistic) created this unique man - Mithridates VI Eupator. He wasn't a hero, not by a long shot, but he was an ambitious, stubborn, brave, visionary and ruthless ruler. He was undaunted by the most gruesome defeats and always ready for another go. In defeat, Mithridates managed to raise armies, raise morale and supplies in a never before seen way...not even the Romans had such a mastery of logistics and human resource recruiting! It's absolutely impressive the amount of men he managed to recruit even after being decisively defeated several times.

He adapted his armies, fought internal dissensions, eliminated temporarily the Roman presence in Asia Minor and managed to defeat several minor engagements against small Roman forces. Rome had a lot of mediocre generals, and if Mithridates had fought against most he probably had much better results but the ruler of Pontus had the huge misfortune to face not one but three great Roman generals: Sulla, Lucullus and Pompey...what are the odds of that?!?? Facing great generals leading the most powerful army of that age, obviously his demise was assured. Or wasn't it? Mithridates was a capable diplomat and knew how to force a region to have one sole option (help him - like when he massacred the roman civilians), how to use crisis in internal Roman politics (socii wars, Sertorius), etc. The author believes that this was one of the most dangerous and indomitable foes Rome had, and I totally agree with him.

In this remarkable book, you can follow the remarkable life and career of Mithridates. The writing is fabulous; Matyszak "discovered" the perfect way to transmit history to the public. Almost like hearing a friendly scholar in a "café"! He explains with a fabulous sense of humor but with academic rigor!

This book clearly deserves five stars; doesn't get them because of the mistake in the first sentence of the book (already mentioned by other reviewer) and many typos, excusable in a seventies or eighties book without modern proofreading techniques but that shouldn't appear in a XXI century book by an excellent publisher like Pen & Sword. Great cover, nice internal plates, very good maps and battle descriptions (Philip consulted one of the best...ok, the best imho...Roman era battle scholar - Adrian Goldsworthy).

Highly recommended.

What an AWESOME book. So much information on the Man and his Wars with Rome. Good info for the wargamer or the ancient historian. It was a great read!!

Bill