The Battle of Chaeronea was fought by the Roman forces of Lucius Cornelius Sulla and Mithridates' general, Archelaus, near Chaeronea, in Boeotia, in 86 BC during the First Mithridatic War. The battle ended with a complete rout of the Pontic army and a decisive victory for the Romans.<!--
The Pontic numbers present at the battle are varied in estimates ranging from a "modest" 76,500 up to a possible total of 120,000. Of these, anywhere between 75,000 and 110,000 are infantry troops while the rest, 1,500 to 10,000, are cavalry and chariot troops. Roman numbers are more stable at an estimated 30,000 men total, with around 17,000 of these being Romans and the rest being a composition of Macedonian and Greek allied troops. The total number of casualties and losses are also disputed, Sulla cites himself that 110,000 Pontic soldiers were killed while only 14 of his own men had gone missing, with two of those even returning the next day.-->
Forces
thumb|right|upright=0.7|alt=Photo of an ancient coin shows a clean-shaven man with wavy hair.|King Mithridates VI
Pontic troops
One of Mithridates generals, Taxiles, and a large force were sent to join up with Archelaus and his forces in the Elatean plains. Baker cites a Roman army of less than 17,000, excluding allied troops, and the enemy Pontic army outnumbering those troops 5 to 1, or around 85,000 troops. Delbruck presents both a "supposed" figure of 120,000 troops and a reduced figure of a "more modest" 60,000 Asiatics. Delbruck further makes comments on the available primary sources and specifically refers to "vague and boastful" memoirs of Sulla which were the primary source that other historians of the time used, such as Plutarch.
Mithridates' armies were a compound make-up of Greek and Oriental elements, the infantry was made up of Macedonian style phalanxes, with Pontic phalangists for missile units, and the cavalry a combination of horse and scythe-wheeled chariots. with Baker commenting that of these less than 17,000 were Romans and the rest were composed of Macedonian and Greek allies. Baker, however, doesn't give a concrete value for the number of Macedonian and Greek soldiers involved in the battle, merely noting a disparity of "over three to one" between the Roman and Pontic troops once the allies are accounted for.
Prelude
The Pontic forces, encamped in the valley, sent out numerous foraging parties which plundered and burned the countryside. The exercise was twofold in intention, first Sulla sought to ensure the discipline of his soldiers and second, he hoped to tire the soldiers out so that they were more willing to battle. When his troops came to him requesting battle, Sulla challenged the men, citing that their new found will to fight was a response to inherent laziness to work, to occupy the hill of Parapotamii. Finally, Gabinius and one full legion were sent to occupy the town of Chaeronea itself.
thumb|left|upright|alt=Photograph of a Roman coin that depicts a man with an aquiline nose.|Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Murena, assisted by the force of natives from Chaeronea, cautiously launched an attack against the right flank, which, being attacked from above, was forced down the hill with disastrous consequences and possibly up to 3,000 casualties. In exchange, the Pontic chariots charged forth against Gabinius in the centre, who withdrew his troops behind the defensive stakes he had prepared, which stymied the chariots. The legionaries, indignant at having to fight against slaves instead of free men, fought with a terrible fury. They parried the enemy's long pikes with their short swords and shields and in some cases simply grappled them away with their bare hands.
In the meantime, Archelaus continued extending his line rightward to outflank Murena on the Roman left wing. Hortensius, with the reserve cohorts under his command, came to Murena's rescue, but Archelaus, with 2,000 cavalry, promptly wheeled and pushed him back to the foothills, whence Hortensius's force stood isolated and in danger of being annihilated. Seeing this, Sulla raced across the field with his cavalry from the Roman right which was not yet engaged, forcing Archelaus to withdraw. The Pontic commander now took the opportunity to ride against the weakened Roman right, left vulnerable by Sulla's absence, and at the same time left Taxiles with the bronze-shields to continue the attack on Murena, who was now exposed due to the retreat of Hortensius.
Sending Hortensius with 4 cohorts to reinforce Murena, Sulla quickly returned to the right with his cavalry, bringing also one cohort from Hortensius' force and another two from (presumably) the other reserve under Galba. The Romans there were resisting well, and when Sulla arrived they broke through the Pontic line and pursued them towards the Cephissus river and Mount Akontion. The centre began advancing forward being led by Gabinius who was slaughtering the enemy troops.
Aftermath
thumb|Silver [[denarius issued by Sulla. Obverse: Head of Venus; at right, Cupid holding palm. Right: Capis and lituus between two trophies, which might be the two trophies erected by Sulla after the Battle of Chaeronea. and seem to be depicted on coinage issued by Sulla after the battle. Several fragments from the Thurium trophy were uncovered on Isoma Hill by archaeologists in 1990. It was a square base of whitish-gray marble with a double rebate at the bottom and a torus moulding on top, which supported an unfluted column, which would probably have culminated in a stone sculpture of a panoply (this was not found, but is indicated by parallels, depictions of a pair of trophies on Athenian coinage minted after the battle, and one has been found from this period at Orchomenus). An irregularly-spaced inscription on the front of the base reads:
Plutarch, who came from Chaeronea, reports that the trophy was also inscribed with Sulla's name and the names of the gods Ares, Nike, and Aphrodite (= Mars, Victoria, and Venus), but this inscription does not survive.
After the battle, Archelaeus fled to the island of Euboea and immediately started using the fleet stationed there to harass his opponents naval traffic and sending raids against the Romans and their allies. When Sulla arrived at Thebes he held victory games, during which he may have been made aware of the approach of Lucius Valerius Flaccus who had recently landed in Epirus. No attack came, and after some time Flaccus' soldiers began to desert in favour of Sulla, at first slowly but with time in increasing numbers, eventually Flaccus had to break camp or lose his entire army. Sulla moved his army a few miles to the east of Chaeronea and into position near Orchomenos, a place he chose for its natural entrenchment.