> And it all started with an appeal from Chersonesos to help them
> against the Scythians.'
No, I'm not convinced. I think what came first was Mithridates getting involved on the northwest litoral.
****GK: That's why I asked for specifics. Where? You now offer the following:****
(TP) He might have been helping out Olbia, for that matter.
****GK: That won't work. It's not just because of the scholarly consensus that Olbia was not made part on the Mithradatic control system until ca. 105 (not before: based on analysis of the numismatic material), but also because Olbia, unlike Chersonesos, was not a self-governing city at that time, but was part and parcel of the Scythian polity, issuing Skilur coins... There were Scythian strong points all around and inside the city too. Leading an army there in 110 would have been suicide. The Olbians did not control anything... Things changed with the death of Skilut and with the first Diophantos victories, which, among other things might well have produced a weakening at the top among the Scythians (remember how many brothers Palak had to compete with? Olbia won't do. Another specific point of entry?*****
Mithridates was a man of one idea, he would not have started what he eventually devoted his life to from a simple opportunity.
*****GK: There's no problem here. He could have had the 'dream' and then, suddenly, the opportunity came to get started.***
I think the plan came first, and his lucky breaks came relative to his mental involvement. It would not have been lost on the city council in Chersonesos that Mithridates was the man to trust if you were having problems with your procurers/clients.
****GK: Not just that. I doubt if they knew of his "plan" assuming it existed then. But they did have a defensive treaty which they could invoke, and the crisis was very real. They had lost most of their chora and it looked like they would be overwhelmed.****
And Mithridates' particular motive for that campaign, besides that of building an alliance against the Romans, might have been slave procurement of his own for financial gain, bypassing Chersonesos and that big market Panticapaeum.
*****GK: So he thought the Scythians would be an easier target than Chersonesos or Bosporus in 110? Doesn't sound reasonable...***
Rest separately, so as not to confuse (GK)