The siege of Cyzicus took place in 73 BC between the armies of Mithridates VI of Pontus and the Roman-allied citizens of Cyzicus in Mysia and Roman Republican forces under Lucius Licinius Lucullus. It was in fact a siege and a counter-siege. It ended in a decisive Roman victory. Background After his defeat at the hands of Lucius Cornelius Sulla during the First Mithridatic War (89-85 BC) Mithridates had rebuilt his power and armies. Then, in 74 BC, Nicomedes IV the king of Bithynia died and the Romans claimed he had left his kingdom to Rome in his will. Bithynia had been a buffer state between Rome and Pontus. Its removal caused Mithridates to march his armies westwards and invade Roman territory. Prelude Marcus Aurelius Cotta, the Roman governor of Bithynia, was building up his forces when Mithridates invaded. Cotta, not ready to face Mithridates, retreated to Chalcedon, where he had the fleet to his back, and sent urgent messages to former consular colleague Lucullus, who had secured the command against Mithridates as his proconsular mission. Lucullus was in Asia, training and preparing his army to invade Pontus from the south, but he put his plans on halt and marched towards Bithynia to deal with the invasion. Unfortunately for the Romans, Cotta was drawn into a battle before the walls of Chalcedon and lost 3,000 men. Mithridates followed up this success with a combined land and sea assault in which he captured most of Cotta's fleet. Mithridates left Cotta under siege and marched his main army westward taking city after city until he reached the Roman-allied city of Cyzicus. The siege Cyzicus was located on a peninsula with a very narrow connection to the mainland (like a spearpoint aimed inland). Mithridates had to ship part of his army onto the peninsula to effectively besiege the city. He took the harbour and then started to put up siegeworks. Pontic engineers under the direction of Niconides of Thessaly, Mithridates' chief engineer, began assembling a 150-foot siege tower, battering rams, catapults, and other siege weaponry, including giant crossbows. The counter-siege Unfortunately for Mithridates, Cyzicus held out long enough for Lucullus and his army to arrive. Lucullus, unwilling to fight a pitched battle against the numerically superior Mithridatic army, set up camp on a hill overlooking the city. The Romans were astonished by the size of the Mithridatic army, but from experience Lucullus knew