Manius Aquillius (consul 101 BC)

As consul he crushed a slave revolt in Sicily by defeating Athenion of Cilicia in single combat, a victory that was commemorated by Aquillius's family by coinage issued decades later.

[1] At the start of the First Mithridatic War he was defeated and captured by Mithridates VI of Pontus who had him executed by pouring molten gold down his throat.

Manius Aquillius fought with the Roman army of Gaius Marius defeating the Teutones and Ambrones at the Battle of Aquae Sextiae.

As a reward for his loyal services, Gaius Marius ran with Aquillius under a joint ticket for the consulship of 101 BC.

[3] In 90 BC, Aquillius was sent as ambassador to Asia Minor to restore Nicomedes IV of Bithynia, who had recently been expelled from his kingdom by Mithridates VI of Pontus.

It was generally thought that Manius Aquillius the younger would follow in the footsteps of his father as a tax profiteer and was hated by some of the local peoples.

[7] The method of execution became famous and, according to some unreliable accounts,[8] was repeated by Parthian contemporaries to kill Marcus Licinius Crassus who was at the time the richest man in Rome and a member of the First Triumvirate.