Three legions and an unknown number of auxiliaries 40,000 men[1] The Battle of Cabira was fought in 72 or 71 BC between forces of the Roman Republic under proconsul Lucius Licinius Lucullus and those of the Kingdom of Pontus under Mithridates the Great.
Mithridates, anticipating a war with Rome, had invaded the country in 73 BC, defeating the proconsul Marcus Aurelius Cotta, the Roman governor of Bithynia, in battle and besieging him in the city of Chalcedon.
Lucullus, Cotta's consular partner, had also anticipated war and had used his influence to get the command against Mithridates, he had also obtained the proconsular governorship of the Roman province of Cilicia from which he wanted to invade Pontus.
[4][pages needed] Mithridates left Cotta under siege at Chalcedon and headed westward to the city of Cyzicus, then allied to Rome, which he hoped to take before Lucullus arrived.
A heavily armed supply convoy, escorted by no less than ten cohorts of infantry, under the command of the legate Sornatius was attacked by the Pontic cavalry.
[9] The battle was another turning point in the war against Mithridates and forced him to withdraw from his kingdom, nearly penniless, and seek shelter with his ally, his father-in-law Tigranes of Armenia.
Before fleeing from Pontus Mithridates ordered one of his eunuchs, Bacchus, to make his way to the royal palace and see to the deaths of the king's sisters, wives and concubines.
[10] Lucullus continued the ongoing sieges throughout Pontus and organized it as a new Roman province, while Appius Claudius was sent to find Armenian allies and demand Mithridates from Tigranes.