Ierapytna (Ierapetra), a Dorian city in continual…

Ierapytna (Ierapetra), a Dorian city in continual rivalry with Praisos, the last Minoan city in the island, had gained supremacy on eastern Crete in the Classical Age.

Hierapytna was later notorious in the third century BCE for its tendency to piracy and had taken part in the Cretan War along with other Cretan cities in the side of Philip V of Macedon against Knossos and Rhodes.

Crete according to Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus was aiding Mithridates VI, king of Pontus, by supplying him with mercenaries in the first century BCE.

Mithridates, intent on halting the advance of Roman hegemony in the Aegean, is at war with the Romans for the third time, and Rome is having a difficult time with him.

The Cretans also contribute to and are in alliance with the pirates of the Mediterranean, which represent a terrible problem at this time; they add the risk of kidnapping to sailing, they pilfer grain from shipments to Rome, and they attack ports.

Marcus Antonius, father of the famous Mark Antony, sends legates to Crete concerning their involvement with Mithridates and the pirates; the Cretans dismiss the matter, and a war begins.