by Quintus Aurelius Orcus on Thu Jul 17, 2003 8:56 pm
Macedonian Empire
338 BCE: Battle of Chaeronea
The war between Philipus of Macedonia and the Athenians for supremacy over Greece. Philipus wanted to form a massive army against the Persians. In order to succeed in his task, he must first defeat the Athenians, abolish the Boeotian League, which gave back its member states its independence. In the end, central Greece lost its freedom.
334 BCE: Battle of the Granicus River
In the spring, Alexander left Antipater as governor in Greece and crossed the Hellespont with an army of 32,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry. The army was supported by a navy of 160 ships, mostly made up of Greek allies. Memnon of Rhodes, the commander of Greek forces in the Persian service, advised a tactical retreat, but the satraps insisted on fighting. The Persians were completely defeated by Alexander at the Battle of Granicus.
333 BCE: Battle of Issus
Alexander subdued Caria and Cilicia, then advanced into Syria. He again defeated the Persian army, under the personal command of Darius III, at the Battle of Issus. After this defeat, Darius offered to give up all of Asia west of the Euphrates and to pay 10,000 talents, but Alexander demanded unconditional surrender. After Issus, all of Phoenicia except Tyre submitted to Alexander.
331 BCE: Battle of Gaugamela
In October Alexander met and defeated another Persian army under Darius in the Battle of Gaugamela. Babylonia and Susa soon surrendered. One of the Persian capitals, Persepolis, was looted and burned, ostensibly in revenge for the destruction of Athens in 480.
The wars of the Diadochi (322–315 )
After Perdiccas became regent for Philip III Arrhidaeus, the other generals: Antigonus, Antipater, Craterus, and Ptolemy—formed a coalition against him. Perdiccas's general Eumenes defeated and killed Craterus in Asia Minor, but Perdiccas was himself assassinated while campaigning against Ptolemy in Egypt (320). At Triparadeisus in northern Syria, Antigonus, Ptolemy, and Antipater agreed that the latter should be regent. Antigonus then defeated and besieged Eumenes in Cappadocia. Antipater died (319) leaving Polyperchon as regent. This was unacceptable to Antigonus, to Ptolemy, and to Antipater's son Cassander. After negotiating his release, Eumenes promptly accepted Polyperchon's offer to oppose Antigonus in Asia. Meanwhile Cassander seized Piraeus and left Demetrius of Phaleron in command of Athens (317). He then drove Polyperchon from Macedonia, executed Olympias, who had earlier killed Philip Arrhidaeus, and imprisoned Roxana and her son Alexander IV, both of whom he put to death in 310. Antigonus pursued Eumenes into central Iran and, after the indecisive Battle at Paraetacene, surprised him as he was wintering in Gabiene and executed him (316). Antigonus then drove Seleucus from Babylon to Egypt, where he sought refuge with Ptolemy and where the two, together with Cassander and Lysimachus, who ruled Thrace, formed a coalition against Antigonus.
315–302: The Macedonian Civil Wars
Antigonus, after besieging and capturing Tyre (314–313), took Syria from Ptolemy. Fighting went on in the Aegean, the Peloponnese, and Asia Minor (313–312). Demetrius, Antigonus' son, was defeated at Gaza (312), and Seleucus recaptured Babylon (311). Cassander consolidated his position in Macedonia. Antigonus sent Demetrius to Athens, whence he expelled Demetrius of Phaleron (307).
In 306 Demetrius won a great naval victory over Ptolemy at Salamis in Cyprus after which both Antigonus I Monophthalmos (“one-eyed”) and Demetrius I Poliorcetes (“besieger”) took the title of king. Ptolemy assumed the royal title in 304, followed immediately by Seleucus, Lysimachus, and Cassander. Alexander's empire was thus officially dissolved. Demetrius failed to reduce Rhodes by a year's siege (305–304) but relieved Athens from the Four Years' War waged by Cassander (307–304). He then revived the Hellenic League of Philip II (302). In 302 Lysimachus, Seleucus, Ptolemy, and Cassander formed an alliance against Antigonus and Demetrius.
301: Battle of Ipsus (in Phrygia).
The armies of Lysimachus and Seleucus, but not Ptolemy, defeated and killed the eighty-one-year-old Antigonus. Demetrius escaped and continued hostilities, dominating the Aegean with his fleet. Of Antigonus's possessions, Seleucus received Syria and Lysimachus central Asia Minor. Cassander kept Macedonia, and his brother Pleistarchus was allotted Cilicia. Ptolemy seized Coele-Syria from Seleucus.
295–294 The siege of Athens and northeastern and central Greece.
Demetrius besieged and recovered Athens. He then killed Alexander V, expelled his brother, and ruled Macedonia (294). He conquered northeastern and central Greece except for Aetolia.
290: the Aetolian League:
Emergence of the Aetolian League, a military federation in western Greece. It had a council with proportional representation and a semiannual assembly. A committee of 100 apokletoi and a single general (strategos) handled affairs in wartime. The league expanded into Phocis (254) and Boeotia (245) and dominated Greece from sea to sea. It also included Elis and part of Arcadia (245) and made an alliance with Messene, thus separating Sparta from the Achaean League.
288 A coalition was formed against Demetrius, and Lysimachus and King Pyrrhus of Epirus drove him from Macedonia. Demetrius then attempted to campaign in Asia Minor but was eventually captured by Seleucus in Cilicia (286).
283 Demetrius died in captivity, leaving a son, Antigonus, in Greece.
281: Battle of Corupedium
Lysimachus, who ruled Macedonia, Thrace, and Asia Minor, was defeated and killed at the Battle of Corupedium in Lydia by Seleucus, who became master of Asia Minor. When he tried to seize Macedonia, however, he was treacherously assassinated by the disinherited son of Ptolemy, Ptolemy Ceraunus, who then ruled Macedonia until he was killed opposing the Celtic invasion in 279.
280: the Achean League
Formation of the Achaean League, consisting of twelve towns in the northern Peloponnese. It had a general (two until 255), a board of ten demiourgoi, and a federal council with proportional representation of members. There was also an annual assembly of all free citizens. After 251, Aratus of Sicyon dominated its policy, and after 245 he was strategos in alternate years. With Ptolemaic backing he opposed Macedonian and Aetolian power, extending Achaean influence in the Peloponnese and taking Corinth from Macedonia in 243.
279: the Celtic Invasion
The Celts ravaged Macedonia, defeated the Greeks at Thermopylae, and were turned back at Delphi. Celtic rule was then established in Thrace, lasting until 210. In central Asia Minor the Celtic kingdom of Galatia was established. 10 277–276 Meanwhile Demetrius's son, Antigonus Gonatas, recovered Macedonia from the Celts and established the Antigonid dynasty which lasted until 168.
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