Cilician Governorship
Returning to Rome, Sulla was Praetor urbanus for 97 BC. The next year he was appointed pro consule to the province of Cilicia (in Anatolia). While in the East, Sulla was the first Roman magistrate to meet a Parthian ambassador, Orobazus, and by taking the seat between the Parthian ambassador and the ambassador from Pontus (the centre seat being the place of honour), he sealed, perhaps unintentionally, the Parthian ambassador's fate. Orobazus was executed upon his return to Parthia for allowing Sulla to outmanoeuvre him. It was at this meeting he was told by a Chaldean seer that he would die at the height of his fame and fortune. This prophecy was to have a powerful hold on Sulla throughout his lifetime. In 96 BC Sulla repulsed Tigranes the Great of Armenia from Cappadocia. Later in 96 BC Sulla left the East and returned to Rome, where he aligned himself with the Optimates in opposition to Gaius Marius.
Read more about this topic: Lucius Cornelius Sulla