Gaio Cassio e Quinto Oppio allo scoppio della Prima guerra mitridatica e la provincia di Cilicia nel I secolo a.C.

Abstract

This article aims at examining which office Oppius and Cassius were holding during the first phase of the First Mithridatic war, the chro- nology of their presence in Asia and the territorial extension of their provinciae. It is also suggested that Oppius' province included Phrygia, as it happened in at least two other moments: during Dolabella's and then Cicero’s proconsulates. The article also examines the history of the first fifty years of the provincia Cilicia down to Cicero, in order to show the strategic continuity and coherence of the Roman presence in Anatolia and the role of provincia Cilicia both in the protection of the eastern flank of Asia and the control of land routes through the Anatolian peninsula.