Sulla’s chief of staff was Lucullus, who went ahead of him to scout the way and negotiate with Bruttius Sura, the existing Roman commander in Greece.

He sent Lucius Licinius Lucullus to raise a fleet from the remaining Roman allies in the eastern Mediterranean to deal with the Pontic navy.

Wood was also needed, so he cut down everything, including the sacred groves of Greece, up to 100 miles from Athens' main town.

With his political enemies having taken power in Rome, Sulla realized that the money and reinforcements he believed were coming to bolster his forces could no longer be counted on.

The chronicles state that one of the people sent on such a sacking mission became afraid due to ominous voices having been heard upon entering the temple.

Deciding not to continue sacking the temple, the soldier returned to Sulla, who ordered him back, stating that he had heard laughter because the gods would be pleased with his victory.

Blood was said to have literally flowed in the streets, it was only after the entreaties of a couple of his Greek friends (Midias and Calliphon) and the pleas of the Roman Senators in his camp that Sulla decided enough was enough.

After setting fire to large portions of the city, Aristion and his forces fled to the Acropolis, where they had gathered a store of supplies over the preceding few weeks.

Sulla, in a bid to stop an escape by Archelaus, who would surely join his reinforcement army sent by Mithridates VI elsewhere in Greece, left the taking of the Acropolis to Gaius Scribonius Curio Burbulieus.

While Aristion and his party were able to stave off the Roman attackers for some time, they eventually surrendered after their water ran out and they had heard of the Pontic defeat at the Battle of Chaeronea.

Sulla and Mithridates VI of Pontus finally got together in 85 BC to sign the Treaty of Dardanos, concluding the First Mithridatic War.

The siege of Athens was a long and brutal campaign, Sulla's rough battle hardened legions, veterans of the Social War thoroughly devastated the city.