In today’s show originally broadcast on August 8 2016, TBR Radio’s Andrew Carrington Hitchcock interviews John Tiffany to discuss his article, “Mithradates The Great: The Eastern King Who Befuddled Rome,” from the July/August 2016 issue of The Barnes Review.
John Tiffany, longtime associate, editor and researcher for The Barnes Review, provides an analysis of Mithridates VI, sometimes known as “The Great” who was a warrior against the Roman Senatorial Republic. He was the main opponent of Roman expansion in Greece.
http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-140803/TS-1101198.mp3
Long before the nation was said to exist, this monarch and general was a firm Panhellene, using Greek culture and ethnic specificity as a political weapon as well as a statement of fact. His successes against Rome led to an alliance with Armenia. Portraying Romans as barbarians, he confronted this imperial rapaciousness with Greek tradition. The sacking of Delphi by Sulla’s men proved him correct. Regardless of one’s views on the Roman Empire, Mithridates remains a hero against imperialism everywhere.
John brings the war between the Republic and the great Pontian leader into modern times. While the American empire and the Roman Senate only have their oligarchic constitution in common, it is not difficult to connect him with people such as Milosevic, Qaddafi and others that have, with varying degrees of success, stood up to the liberal Imperial empire. what makes Mithridates different is his tremendous resourcefulness and the intense loyalty he commanded among Greeks.
Source