Re: Torsten's novel

--- On Mon, 7/12/10, Torsten <tgpedersen@...> wrote:



 

> Plutarch takes Olthacus' murderous intentions as a fact
> http://tinyurl.com/25yqmos
> whereas Appian is divided between assuming that and assuming
> Olcaba's intentions were those he stated himself
> http://tinyurl.com/327l7py §79
>
>
> GK: Given what we know of Mithradates' suspicious nature, and
> his proclivities towards eliminating unreliable (to his mind)
> elements from his entourage, I think the earlier Plutarch version of
> Olthaces' motivation is preferable to Appian's dichotomic musing. I
> don't see how Olcaba/Olthacus couyld have survived a return to
> Mithradates if he had originally defected from him to Lucullus on
> his own initiative rather than as described by Plutarch.

On the other hand, if the whole thing had been a preconceived plot, it is difficult to see how Oltacus could have fingered the would-be defector Sobdacus after his return to Mithridates, as Appian states.

****GK: No difficulty whatever. Sobdacus wasn't "in" on the preconceived plot. Many others had already defected to Lucullus before Olthacus' pseudo-defection. Sobdacus was just unlucky. He decided to defect and contacted Olthacus (then apparently in Lucullus' good graces) He didn't realize Olthacus was Mithradates' agent and paid the price.*****

ibd.
'Thereupon the Scythian mounted his horse and went immediately to Mithridates, either because he had plotted against Lucullus and now thought that he was suspected, or because he considered himself insulted and was angry on that account. He exposed to Mithridates another Scythian, named Sobdacus, who was about to desert to Lucullus. Sobdacus was accordingly arrested.'


> > 73 BC
> > http://www.attalus.org/bc1/year73.html
> > Beginning of Third Mithridatic War (- 63 BC)
>
>
>
> >
> > 63 BC
> > http://www.attalus.org/bc1/year63.html
> >
> > Mithridates VI plans invading Italy
> > http://tinyurl.com/32p539j
>
> GK: He seems to have planned this (initially) in Colchis in the
> winter of 66/65: cf. Appian #101. Cf.
http://www.livius.org/ap-ark/appian/appian_mithridatic_21.html#%A7101****

It seems more likely to me that the Bosphorus mentioned was the 'real' Bosphorus, since that is connected with the legend of Hera's travels
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosphorus
not the Maeotian one (as note 1 seem to imply), and that Mithridates was accordingly planning a tour around the Black sea and attack the Romans from the rear in Asia Minor.

****GK: He would probably arrange to attack the Romans everywhere. But here the issue is his plan to invade Italy. The route painted in Appian#101 was obviously the main thrust.*****

...
> > The "Scythians" (Scythians proper
> > and Sarmatians) were independent auxiliaries who had to be bought
> > off by promises of dynastic alliances (Appian,#108). This did not
> > work. It is very clear that apart from "his own army"
> > Mithridates intended to draw on the Gauls, whom he had been
> > cultivating for some time (#109). He intended to lead his large
> > motley crew "through Thrace to Macedonia, through Macedonia to
> > Pannonia, and passing over the Alps into Italy" (#102)
>
> You seem to want to imply that Scythians and similar folk (this is
> Olthacus/Olcaba's home country, according to Plutarch) could not be
> made interested in such a large undertaking.
>
> GK: The point is that Appian used the term "Scythian" quite
> vaguely. He seems to include ancient Georgians (like the Heniochi),
> Maeotians (like Dardanians and others, usually subject to the
> Bosporan kingdom) and occasionally Scythians proper (whom he
> confuses with Sarmatians at e.g. ) as well as Sarmatians. The "Azov
> country" pertains to the Maeotians connected politically to
> Bosporus, like Olthaces' Dardanians, like Sinds and others listed by
> Strabo. These are the "princes" Mithradates initially drafted via
> dynastic alliances as described in Appian #102, which you cite here:
>
> Here is the full quote from Appian Mithridates §102
> 'Mithridates finally reached the Azov country, of which there were
> many princes, all of whom received him, escorted him, and exchanged
> presents with him, on account of the fame of his deeds, his empire,
> and his power, which were still not to be despised. He formed
> alliances with them in contemplation of other and more novel
> exploits, such as marching through Thrace to Macedonia, through
> Macedonia to Pannonia, and passing over the Alps into Italy. With
> the more powerful of these princes he cemented the alliance by
> giving his daughters in marriage.'
>
> This text does not support your view.
>
> GK: But Appian #108/109 does. Mithradates needed to cement
> alliances with the powerful steppe nomads (Scythians and Sarmatians)
> who had earlier supported him. But he was betrayed. Cf. http://www.livius.org/ap-ark/appian/appian_mithridatic_22.html#%A7109
>
> "Mithridates, observing these frequent defections, and having
> suspicions of the army itself, lest it should fail him because the
> service was compulsory and the taxes very heavy, and because
> soldiers always lack confidence in unlucky commanders, sent some of
> his daughters in charge of eunuchs to be married to the Scythian
> princes, asking them at the same time to send him reinforcements as
> quickly as possible. Five hundred soldiers accompanied them from his
> own army. Soon after they left the presence of Mithridates they
> killed the eunuchs who were leading them (for they always hated
> these persons, who were all-powerful with Mithridates) and conducted
> the young women to Pompey.
>
> [§109] Although bereft of so many children and castles and of his
> whole kingdom, and in no way fit for war, and although he could not
> expect any aid from the Scythians, still no inferior position, none
> corresponding to his present misfortunes, even then found a place in
> his mind. He proposed to turn his course to the Gauls, whose
> friendship he had cultivated a long time for this purpose, and with
> them to invade Italy, hoping that many of the Italians themselves
> would join him on account of their hatred of the Romans;"

And here you have to argue that none of the many planned contingents went on with the plan, supported with Roman gold.

*****GK: That is clear enough from Appian's description of the plan's collapse.****

>
> > The expedition was to start from
> > Panticapeion (today's Kertch in the Crimean Ukraine).
>
> I can't find your source for that?
>
> GK: It's in Appian #107. Mithradates made Panticapeion his
> center of operations. He was there in Appian #108, when he was
> drafting "his own army" (prior to his unsuccessful appeal to the
> steppe nomads) and there is no record of his leaving it.

Right.

> > *Mithridates VI gives Olthaces the task of invading Italy.
> >
> > GK: Acc. to Appian, the King himself was to lead the army
>
> Where does he say that?
>
> > (there is no hint of any delegation in the text).
>
> I'll make an emendation: Olthaces was to be the leader of the allied
> Dandarian/Scythian army / expeditionary force.
>
> GK: We don't know that.

There might have been several such 'Scythian' (in the loose sense) armies, and Olthaces might have commanded only his own Dandarian army, but with financially powerful backers, who knows how many others could be enticed to join.

*****GK: Certainly. But the plan centered on Mithradates. The Dandarians were subjects of the Bosporan Kingdom. They had no independent policy.****

> In any case this, "Mithradates' own army", which he organized from
> Panticapeion, was to be assisted by the steppe nomads, and
> (hopefully) Burebista (since Mithradates wished to reach Italy via
> Thrace and Pannonia). But they never got started.

Not on that path, which any contemporary historian would have noted. But would they have noted a 'Scythian' army/armies moving into Przeworsk? This is the time of the suddenly appearing 'upper layer' there.

****GK: The plan to invade Italy died with Mithradates. There is no evidence to the contrary. BTW you still haven't provided anything concrete about the inventory of the 'upper layer' Przeworsk inhumations of that period. This is crucial if you wish to establish a "Dandarian" or other "Scythian" connection. I've told you this many times. Otherwise we must fall back on "Celtic" or other local explanations.*****

> > *Olthaces as leader (*wod-in-) of an army (*wod-)
> > *invades Przeworsk by 'Schlieffen plan'
> > *going around Burebista's Dacia
> >
> > GK: The Mithridatian army gathered near Panticapeion, but the
> > expedition never got under way. There is no mention of any
> > out-movement by anyone.
>
> Movements in Scythian lands would be beyond the Roman horizon of
> interest.
>
> GK: Appian was certainly interested enough to point out that no
> such movement occurred in the steppes (#109)

I can't find that in §109?

****GK: The steppe nomads weren't drawn into the plan. Appian is clear on this.*****

> > Mithridates VI commits suicide
> >
> > GK: With the assistance of a Gaulish warrior.
>
> Named Bituitus, a name known otherwise only from a king of the
> Arverni
> http://www.attalus.org/names/b/bituitus.html
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bituitus
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arverni
> so perhaps the Arverni were the Gauls Mithridates was in contact
> with?

And perhaps that's why Caesar mentions the old Arverni/Aedui conflict in connection the recent one between Sequani and Aedui, although he doesn't detail any involvement of the Arverni in the latter.

> > End of Third Mithridatic War
> > *Olthaces, the wod-in- in Przeworsk,
> > *must give up attempt for 'Schlieffen plan' against Italy and
> > *reconsider his options
> >
> > GK: This is pure novelistic fantasy. There is no evidence which
> > would link the career of Ariovistus to the figures of Mithradates
> > and Olthaces.
>
> Well, there's Snorri, of course (*hides under sofa*).
>
>
> > BTW it is possible (though hardly certain) that the Olthaces in
> > Pompey's triumph in 62 was Olthaces the Dandarian. He seems to
> > have been a very trusted ally of Mithradates, who just might have
> > appointed him "king" of reconquered Colchis (or parts thereof)
> > after the unsuccessful attempt on Lucullus. It is however equally
> > plausible that these Olthaces were distinct personalities.
> >
...

> > Olthaces was not Ariovistus.
>
> There's exactly fourteen years between Olthacus' defection to
> Mithridates
>
> GK: ?? what defection?

Come on. Appian mentions it as a possiblity.

****GK: Cf. above for a refutation given what we know of Mithradates' character in such matters.*****

Defection or return, then. No matter.

> and Ariovistus telling Caesar that his army had been without a roof
> for fourteen years.
>
> GK: This is incoherent. Olthacus the Dardanian certainly had a
> roof with Mithradates.

Incoherent yourself. Whatever roof Olthacus had with Mithridates was made of canvas, M. was constantly at war. The third, to be exact, 75-63.

*****GK: Well then the numbers would have been 17 not 14 (:=)))*****

> > And we have no evidence the Germanics were involved in
> > Mithradates' Italian plans.
>
> By 60/59, Burebista
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burebista
> conquers the Boii and Taurisci; in 65 he would already have been a
> force to avoid, and Olthaces would have been in a position to know
> that better than Mithridates.
>
> GK: Mithradates didn't seem to think so in Colchis. Cf. Appian
> #101.

The mutiny you pointed out yourself took place because of his troops' very different assessment of that.

*****GK: Not of Burebista, but of the fact that since the steppe nomads had not been drawn in, Mithradates' army wasn;t even sure of safe passage out of the Crimea...*****

A more cautious general would have agreed.

****GK: And consequently would hardly have embarked on a hopeless raid with a small army such as you postlate for Olthacus and his Dandarians (assuming that the man was not the same as Pompey's captive).*****