Bruttius Sura

Quintus Bruttius Sura was a Roman commander who fought in the First Mithridatic War [1][2]. During the war, he was a legate to Gaius Sentius Saturninus, the Roman propraetor of Macedonia. In 88 BC, Sura and a small detachment from Sentius's army were sent south to battle with Archelaus. Archelaus was the leading general of King Mithridates VI of Pontus, who had invaded Greece. Sura started with a naval engagement in which he was victorious, then captured the island of Sciathos, which the Mithridatics were using as a storehouse. He crucified all escaped slaves on the island, and brutally cut off the hands of the free men. After receiving reinforcements, he pushed further south into Boeotia [3]. Archelaus and his Greek allies moved against him. Sura took care not to become fully committed and to keep his lines of retreat open, engaging in battle with the opposition in at least three encounters over three days. In early 87 BC, Lucullus, a lieutenant of Sulla, arrived and ordered Sura and his forces back to Macedonia[4]. Sura succeeded in keeping Archelaus out of Northern Greece.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great, Rome's Indomitable Enemy, p.54.
  2. ↑ Lee Fratantuono, Lucullus, the life and campaigns of a Roman Conqueror, p.18.
  3. ↑ Timothy Venning, "A Chronology of the Roman Empire", Bloomsbury, 2011
  4. ↑ Telford, 2014, pp.117-18
  5. ↑ Plutarch, Life of Sulla 10ff
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