Battle of Chaeronea

Overview

The Battle of Chaeronea was fought by the Roman forces of Lucius Cornelius Sulla and Mithridates' general, Archelaus, near Chaeronea, in Boeotia, in 86 BC during the First Mithridatic War. The battle ended with a complete rout of the Pontic army and a decisive victory for the Romans.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The Battle of Chaeronea was a decisive engagement of the First Mithridatic War, in which Roman forces under Lucius Cornelius Sulla defeated the Pontic army commanded by Archelaus and Taxiles near Chaeronea in Boeotia. Facing a Pontic force recorded at roughly double the Roman strength — 60,000 against 30,000 — Sulla's legions nonetheless achieved a complete rout, inflicting some 10,000 casualties on the Pontic side. The outcome significantly degraded Mithridates VI's military capacity in Greece and affirmed Roman operational dominance in the theater, pressing the war toward its conclusion in 84 BCE. Chaeronea stands as one of the principal Roman battlefield successes of the conflict, demonstrating the capability of a numerically inferior but disciplined Roman force to defeat a larger Pontic army in open battle.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (4)