Vespers from Ephesus

Kingdom of Mithridates VI.

As Vespers of Ephesus (also Asian Vespers , blood order from Ephesus ), the bloodbath of around 80,000 Romans and Italians in 88 BC That Mithridates had ordered in all the poles of the province of Asia occupied by him .

The Vespers of Ephesus falls during the Mithridatic Wars . These had their starting point in attempts by Mithridates to expand his domain in Asia Minor , and led to conflicts with Rome, which refused to tolerate such a concentration of power in this region. In 89/88 the city of Ephesus went over to Mithridates. The Pontic King Mithridates intended by the Asiatic Vespers every Italic opposition in the area under his control off. At the same time, his aim was to satisfy the material expectations of his partisans. Mithridates had proclaimed himself the liberator of the Greeks in the course of his annexionist endeavors, but until then he had not succeeded in replenishing his war chest. He identified the Italians residing in Asia Minor as a worthwhile target group, who did not belong to his politics because of their origins. In addition, these people were wealthy, as they were mainly active in commerce and administration. Another reason for the pogrom ordered by Mithridates is assumed to be the pent-up hatred of the population of the province of Asia for the Roman tax farmers who had exploited the province for over 40 years. Thus Mithridates ordered by decree from his residence in Ephesus the murder of all Italians regardless of age, class or sex on a certain day. The burial of those killed was prohibited.

The First Mithridatic War was brought about by the peace treaty of Dardanos in 85 BC. Ended. In the reorganization of Asia Minor, Sulla imposed in 84 BC A criminal court over the city of Ephesus, which had too willingly sided with Mithridates. The city lost large parts of its territory and the heads of the anti-Roman party were executed. There was a pillage . Sulla set up his winter quarters here as an additional burden.

literature

• Karl Christ : Sulla. A Roman career. Beck, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-406-49285-1 , p. 82.
• Wolfram Letzner : Lucius Cornelius Sulla. An attempt at a biography (= writings on the history of antiquity. Vol. 1). Lit, Münster et al. 2000, ISBN 3-8258-5041-2 , p. 153 f.
• Théodore Reinach : Mithradates Eupator. King of Pontus. Teubner, Leipzig 1895, p. 123 f., (Reprint. Olms, Hildesheim et al. 1975, ISBN 3-487-05585-6 ).

Remarks

1. ^ Wolfram Letzner: Lucius Cornelius Sulla. Attempt a biography. Münster et al. 2000, p. 154. The numbers differ. Valerius Maximus 9.2 names 80,000 victims. Plutarch, Sulla 24.4 speaks of 150,000 dead.
2. ^ Elmar Schwertheim : Asia Minor in antiquity. From the Hittites to Constantine (= Beck series 2348 CH Beck knowledge ). Beck, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-406-50848-0 , p. 89.
3. ↑ Appian, Mithridates 61-63.
4. ^ Wolfram Letzner: Lucius Cornelius Sulla. Attempt a biography. Münster et al. 2000, p. 211.