Zea Harbour Project - Ancient History

Ancient History - Sulla sacks the Piraeus

In 88 BC, Mithridates VI Eupator of Pontos challenged Roman power in the eastern Mediterranean. Athens sided with Mithridates, and the Roman naval commander Bruttius captured the Piraeus in 87 BC. Later that year Mithridates' general, Archelaos, liberated the Piraeus, but Sulla arrived from Italy shortly after with a large army and laid siege to Athens and the Piraeus.

Even though Archelaos was able to reinforce the Piraeus from the sea, Sulla accomplished his victory without the aid of a fleet, and the Piraeus fell in 86 BC. The ensuing destruction left the Athenian ship-sheds in ruins.

During the Roman period, the Piraeus may have functioned as a naval base, as the travel writer Pausanias tells us that there were shipshed in the Piraeus when he visited Greece in the second century AD.

Mithridates VI © The National Museum of Denmark

Mithridates VI

© The National Museum of Denmark