Empire of the Black Sea

Duane W. Roller is Professor Emeritus of Classics at The Ohio State University and the author of numerous books, including Cleopatra: A Biography, Cleopatra's Daughter: And Other Royal Women of the Augustan Era, and Ancient Geography

• IllustrationsGenealogical ChartPreface Introduction Part 1: Pontos to 120 BC 1: Pontos 2: The Founder 3: The Kingdom Becomes an Independent State 4: The Arrival of the Romans 5: The Collapse of Pergamon Part 2: The Last Generation of the Kingdom6: The Rise of Mithridates VI 7: The Early Expansion of the Kingdom of Mithridates VI 8: The Gathering Storm 9: The Eruption of Hostilities 10: The Aftermath of the First War 11. Lucullus and Mithridates VI 12. The Royal Court 13: The End of the Mithridatic Kingdom AbbreviationsNotes Bibliography List of Passages CitedIndex

Roller's clear prose, as well as his choice for a relatively strict chronological presentation, makes the region's complex history intelligible to non-specialists, despite the fact that it is only patchily recorded in ancient sources and replete with generations of identically-named sovereigns and often unfamiliar "minor" Hellenistic kingdoms. The fact that Roller offers a rare discussion of the long-term development of the kingdom, meanwhile, offers avenues of consideration even for those with deeper interests in the region.