Asiatic Vespers

“	In the meantime Mithridates built a large number of ships for an attack on Rhodes, and he wrote secretly to all his satraps and magistrates that on the thirtieth day thereafter they should set upon all Romans and Italians in their towns, and upon their wives and children and their domestics of Italian birth, kill them and throw their bodies out unburied, and share their goods with himself. He threatened to punish any who should bury the dead or conceal the living, and offered rewards to informers and to those who should kill persons in hiding, and freedom to slaves for betraying their masters. To debtors for killing money-lenders he offered release from one half of their obligations.	„
	~ The Roman historian Appian about the Asiatic Vespers.

The Asiatic Vespers, also called the Asian Vespers, the Ephesian Vespers and the Vespers of 88 BC, was the genocide of the Latin-speaking peoples in Western Anatolia by Emperor Mithridates VI Eupator of the Kingdom of Pontus. The purpose of the massacre was to purge the influence of the Roman Republic from Asia Minor. One of the deadliest recorded genocides in the Classical Era, the event resulted in around 80, 000 deaths and served as the inciting incident of the Mithridatic Wars between Pontus and Rome.

History

Background

In 90 BC, Emperor Nicomedes of Bithynia appealed to the Roman Republic to help him regain his throne after he was driven out of his kingdom by Emperor Mithridates of Pontus. After deliberation, the Roman Senate agreed to support Nicomedes and sent troops to help him take back power, which was successful. However, his Roman advisors, led by Manius Aquillius, urged Nicomedes to attack Mithridates in order to deter another invasion. Nicomedes followed their advice and Bithynian troops, supported by Roman legions, began to ravage Pontic territory.

Massacres

In the course of his counterattack, Mithridates marched on a number of territories in Western Anatolia, all of which allied themselves with him. He was then advised by a member of his court, Metrodorus of Scepsis, to eradicate all Romans in these territories in order to ensure they would not undermine his war efforts.

Once Mithridates had secured all the provinces in question, he proceeded with his plans. He sent orders to the civil authorities of all cities under his control that on the thirtieth day after the letters were sent, they were to round up all Italian-born persons in the cities and kill them, regardless of age, sex or status. The massacres were carefully planned so that they would all occur on the same day, preventing the intended victims from having any forewarning.

When the appointed day came, the civil authorities in all the towns targeted rounded up all Roman men, women and children and their Italian slaves and executed them en masse. In many cities, such as Ephesus and Pergamum, the Romans were killed even as they attempted to seek refuge at the local temples, which traditionally should have granted them sanctuary. The Adramytteans forced their Romans into the sea and killed those who would not swim out to drown. In one city, Tralles, a single man identified by Appian as Theophilus of Paphlagonia was hired to do the work, bringing all the Romans into the Temple of Concord and cutting their hands off for embracing the sacred idols before killing them.

Aftermath

Approximately 80, 000 people were killed in the massacres. Some Romans survived and fled to Rhodes, with Mithridates declaring them enemies of the state. Mithridates duly invaded Rhodes but was repelled by the skill of the Rhodian navy.

News of the genocide outraged Rome and directly led to the first direct declaration of war against Pontus by the Roman Senate. Once the concurrent Roman civil conflict had been concluded in favour of General Lucius Sulla, Roman armies crossed the Adriatic and began battling Mithridates in mainland Greece, the beginning of the Mithridatic Wars which would eventually end in the death of Mithridates and the destruction of the Kingdom of Pontus.