English Explanatory Dictionary

Asiatic Vespers

English dictionary entry

Meanings

name
  1. An incident in 88 BCE, in which a coordinated massacre of Roman citizens in various towns in Anatolia was undertaken at the behest of King Mithridates VI of Pontus, which served as casus belli for Rome to instigate the First Mithridatic War.

Word forms

Asiatic Vespers Asian Vespers Ephesian Vespers Vespers of 88 BC

Etymology

Alternative version of a calque of French Vèpres éphésiennes (“Ephesian Vespers”), coined 1890 by historian Théodore Reinach by analogy with Sicilian Vespers. Ephesus was one of the towns where the massacre occurred.

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