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The Asiatic Vespers (also known as the Vespers of 88 BC) refers to an infamous episode during the First Mithridatic War. In response to increasing Roman power in Anatolia, the king of Pontus, Mithridates the Great tapped into local discontent with the Romans and their taxes to orchestrate the alleged execution of roughly 80,000 Roman citizens in Asia Minor, or any person who spoke with a Latin accent. Needless to say, this act led to the usually prudent Roman Senate committing a huge invasion force aimed at breaking the power of the Kingdom of Pontus and eventually annexing their territory in a series of conflicts known as the Mithridatic Wars.
