The Hellenistic Era 2 – The Triumph of Rome 200 to 145 BC
200
Italy/Greece
March – Publius Sulpicius Galba and Gaius Aurelius Cotta are elected as consuls. The Senate declares war on Philip, and Athens sends an appeal for aid against Philip’s general Philocles’ invasion; Sulpicius is granted command against Philip; Ptolemy V’s regency sends envoys promising troops for Greece if Rome desires it; Attalus of Pergamum sends ships to assist in the defence of Athens.
Cycliadas elected pro-Macedonian annual ‘strategos’ of the Achaean League; Philopoemen leaves for Crete.
Sulpicius arrives in Epirus, and sends Caius Claudius Cento with twenty warships and 1000 men to relieve Philip’s army’s siege of Athens while Philip is at Abydus on Hellespont attacking Ptolemy’s local garrisons; Philip ignores visiting Roman envoy Marcus Aemilius, en route back from Egypt, and outrages neutral Greek opinion by brutal sack and slaughter at Abydus.
Claudius, at Athens’ port Piraeus with his ships, raids and destroys the Macedonian base at Chalcis on the Euboean straits, and in revenge Philip hastens south from Thessaly and nearly takes Athens by surprise; he besieges the city again and ravages countryside, but fails to lure the Achaean League’s council at Argos into sending troops to assist him in return for his attacking their enemy Nabis of Sparta.
Philip ravages Attica but withdraws; Sulpicius, based near Apollonia in Epirus, sends Lucius Apustius to attack the Macedonian frontier, and Antipatreia is taken and Codrio surrenders; the Dardani tribe on Macedonian frontier and Pleuratus, leader of the Illyrians who were Roman allies in earlier war, send envoys to Sulpicius to join Roman coalition, and Roman envoy Purpurio and others from Philip and Athens all fail to secure a favourable decision on an alliance by the council of the Aetolian League.
Sulpicius marches into the Pindus Mountains towards Macedonia, plunders the territory of the Dassaretti, and skirmishes with Philip’s army; he defeats Philip in a confused battle where the king is unhorsed and nearly killed, but fails to follow up pursuit enabling him to get away and campaigns into Orestis (south-western Macedonia), taking Celytrum and Pelion; meanwhile, Pleuratus’ Illyrians and the Dardani raid Macedonia in support of Rome, and Aetolians belatedly decide to join the latter after hearing of Philip’s reverses.
The Aetolians and their Athamanian allies sack Cercinium, and raid into Thessaly but are caught unexpectedly by Philip and routed. Apustius’ Roman fleet joins Attalus and his navy at Hermione, the eastern tip of Peloponnese near Epidaurus, and they storm the island of Andros and other pro-Philip garrisons in the Aegean but fail in a raid on Cassandreia in Chalcidice.
Autumn – Oreus, on the north coast of Euboea, is taken with Aetolian help.
Seleucids/Egypt
Ptolemy’s general Scopas defeats Antiochus in Palestine, but the latter then wins the battle of Panium near the Jordan; the Egyptians retreat to Gaza in disarray and are forced to stave off the invasion threat by ceding Palestine and Phoenicia to the Seleucid kingdom.
199
Italy/Greece
March – Lucius Cornelius Lentulus and Publius Villius Tapulus are elected as consuls; Villius is sent to Macedonia and Lentulus is to remain in Italy.
Villius deals with a mutiny of troops and campaigns indecisively in the Pindus against Philip who has fortified the passes around Antigoneia to block the frontier; Philip strengthens his alliance with Achaea.
Villius eventually moves up the Aous valley avoiding Macedonian defences, and ?wins a battle with Philip; however, he cannot enter Macedon.
198
Italy/Greece
March – Sextus Aelius Paetus and Titus Quinctius Flaminius are elected as consuls; Flaminius is granted command in Macedonia, and Aelius in Cisalpine Gaul. Attalus sends a delegation to warn that he is being attacked by Antiochus III in Asia Minor and would like his auxiliaries returned as soon as possible; the Senate sends envoys to Antiochus to request him to leave Rome’s allies alone, and in April? Flaminius arrives with reinforcements in Corcyra, earlier than expected, to take over Villius’ army.
As the Romans and Macedonians confront each other, Philip offers talks and he and Flaminius meet on the banks of the River Aous where Flaminius requires the removal of Philip’s garrisons in Greek cities, evacuation of Thessaly, and return of plunder and Philip will only accept what arbitrators judge he should do, not Roman terms; Flaminius uses a local shepherd with knowledge of the mountain-paths to send a picked force to circumvent Philip’s defences and when they signal that they are in place launches a frontal attack, which they assist; Philip is taken by surprise and flees to safety in the mountains, and with the road clear Flaminius advances through Lyncestis into Thessaly; the Aetolians and Athamanians join Romans in ravaging Thessaly, and Philip retires into Macedon.
Flaminius’ brother Lucius Quinctius with fleet arrives in Athens and joins Attalus for assault on Euboea; Eretria is taken without Philip’s commander Philocles (at Chalcis) intervening, and Carystus surrenders; Flaminius fails to take Atrax, near Larissa in Thessaly, and moves into Phocis to secure coastal towns for the landing of supplies from Corcyra; he takes Anticyra but is held up at Elatia.
After the Achaeans expel Cycliadas, leader of their pro-Philip faction, Flaminius is hopeful of securing an alliance and, arriving at Cenchrae to attack nearby Corinth, sends envoy Lucius Calpurnius to the Achaean council with Pergamene and Rhodian assistance; the Achaeans vote to ally with Attalus and Rhodes, and for a treaty with Rome subject to its acceptance by the votes of the Senate and Assembly; Achaean troops join Flaminius and Attalus to besiege the Macedonian garrison in Corinth, but the garrison holds out and Philocles’ Macedonian fleet brings reinforcements to Corinth so the siege abandoned; Argos deserts to Philip, but Elatia finally falls to Flaminius.
Winter – At Philip’s request, Flaminius and Attalus, with representatives of their allies, meet him for peace-talks on the shore of the Malian Gulf; Flaminius requires the evacuation of Macedonian garrisons in Greece, surrender of prisoners and deserters, and the return of Illyrian areas seized from Rome since peace, and his allies put in claims for other places; a two-month truce is agreed, and Philip’s proposals of which places he will cede (not all of those demanded) are relayed by a Roman/allied delegation to the Senate to obtain their reaction; the allies convince Senate that as long as Philip holds his current garrisons at key positions of Demetrias (Thessaly), Chalcis (Euboea) and Corinth, the ‘fetters of Greece’, he can advance elsewhere and intimidate Greece at will.
Philip sends envoys to Nabis of Sparta against Achaea, offering him Argos; Nabis is admitted to the city by Macedonians but at a subsequent truce-meeting with Flaminius and Attalus deserts to them instead.
197
Italy/Greece
March – Caius Cornelius Cethegus and Quintus Minucius Rufus are elected as consuls; due to tribunes’ advice, the Senate agrees to continue with Flaminius in command in Macedonia until such time as the consuls, allocated to Italy for the new Gallic campaign, have finished war and one of them can go out to replace him.
Reinforcements are sent out to Greece; Cornelius fights Insubres in Cisalpine Gaul and Minucius suppresses a revolt in Liguria and ravages Boii territory to draw them off from the combined Gallic army.
Flaminius advances from Elatia into Boeotia, and joins Attalus at Thebes to secure an alliance with the Boeotian League at their council-meeting in the city, while Philip receives his unsuccessful envoys back from Rome and raises levies; Flaminius advances to Thermopylae and thence into Pthiotis, and Philip marches into Thessaly; Flaminius reaches Pherae, and the two armies manoeuvre in southern Thessaly until accidental confrontation at Cynoscephalae where the darkness of storm hides how close they are to each other.
Battle of Cynoscephalae (‘The Dog’s Head’): Philip has possession of an advantageous position on a ridge and drives the initial Roman attack back, but his men descend into the plain and their rigid ‘phalanx’ tactics are outmanoeuvred by skilful Roman and Aetolian attacks with the help of Rome’s elephants, particularly when a tribune attacks Philip’s right wing from the flank; c. 8,000 Macedonians are killed and 5000 prisoners (Polybius/Livy). Philip flees north.
Flaminius receives Philip’s envoys at Larissa, and rejects Aetolian demands to depose him and seize his kingdom with irritation at their claims to have played major role in the victory, warning that if Macedonia is destroyed the northern tribes will pour through it into Greece; a truce is granted, and at a peace-conference held at the Vale of Tempe the Aetolians fail to secure their claim that the terms of their alliance with Rome in 211 mean that they should obtain the territory Rome has taken in war (i.e. Boeotia and Thessaly) and Rome should just have the loot; Philip surrenders his son Demetrius and other hostages and proposed terms, centring on Macedonian evacuation of Greek garrisons, are sent to the Senate.
The Rhodians send envoys to Antiochus, who is now besieging Coracesium during the campaign along the southern coast of Asia Minor against remaining Ptolemaic garrisons and allies there, and successfully threaten him into not sending his fleet west, thus preserving the independence of Caria and Lycia.
Autumn? – Death of Attalus of Pergamum after forty-four-year reign; he is succeeded by his son Eumenes.
196
Antiochus winters at Ephesus to threaten independent cities and rival powers’ garrisons in western Asia Minor.
Italy/Greece
March – Lucius Furius Purpurio and Marcus Claudius Marcellus are elected as consuls; Marcellus’ manoeuvres for command in Macedon are defeated and Flaminius’ command is continued, while the proposed terms of peace with Philip are accepted in votes by the Senate and Assembly; it is agreed that Philip should evacuate all garrisons in Greece and some also in Asia Minor, surrender all deserters and all but five warships, reduce the army to 5000 (no elephants) and not wage war without Roman permission, and pay 1000 talents, half immediately and the rest in annual instalments; ten commissioners are sent to Greece to carry out the terms and decide on what to do about Demetrias, Chalcis, and Corinth. Both consuls are granted Italy as province.
Greek states ratify the treaty, with the exception of the angry Aetolians; Flaminius joins the commissioners and persuades them to return Corinth to Achaea but keep the other two positions in question until the threat of invasion by Antiochus is sorted out; his heralds announce the ‘freedom of Greece’ from occupation or tribute at the Isthmian Games, amidst enthusiastic scenes.
Antiochus’ envoys are warned that he must not attack the lands of Philip, Ptolemy, or Greek states; the commission’s settlement of Macedonian frontiers grants independence to the subordinate tribes of Orestis, Perrhaebia, and Dolopians who are in revolt, together with Thessaly, and on the western frontier Lychnidus is given to the Illyrians; on commissioner Cnaeus Cornelius’ advice Philip sends envoys to Rome for alliance.
Antiochus besieges Lampsacus and Zmyrna and in spring crosses the Hellespont where he rebuilds the ruined city of Lysimacheia (ex-capital of Alexander’s general Lysimachus’ state c. 320–281), once capital of the Macedonian Thracian realm.
Lucius Cornelius, the Senate’s envoy to mediate between Antiochus and Ptolemy, arrives at Lysimacheia with some of the commissioners from Greece; they demand that Antiochus evacuate places taken from Philip and Ptolemy and accuse him of intending to invade Europe, but he rejects them; a rumour that Ptolemy has died sends him off to Ephesus to prepare for a possible attack on Egypt, and on discovering that story is false he returns via Cyprus to Syria.
Scopas the Aetolian and his fellow-exiles from Greece are rounded up and executed after their rival Aristomenes accuses them of plotting a coup; Aristomenes becomes chief minister.
Ptolemy V is crowned ‘Pharoah’ at Thebes with traditional Egyptian cultic ceremonies in a bid to improve his legitimacy with the majority population of the country.
195
Italy/Greece
The Senate receives report of the returning commissioners from Greece who warn that Antiochus and Nabis are both serious threats – as Antiochus is back in Syria Nabis is the more immediate threat, and it is left to Flaminius to decide what to do.
Commissioners are sent to Carthage to investigate complaints that Hannibal is in touch with Antiochus offering him support.
June? – Hannibal flees to the port of Cercina and secretly takes a ship to Tyre, en route to join Antiochus as he arrives at Ephesus.
Flaminius holds a conference of Greek states at Corinth where general opinion agrees with him about the need to curb Aetolians and Nabis, tells Antiochus’ envoys to him to go to Rome, and leads an army against Argos with Aristaenus’ Achaean army joining him; Flaminius’ arrival fails to lead to revolt in Spartan-garrisoned Argos, so he invades Laconia with assorted Spartan exiles (including the expelled legitimate king, Agesipolis) joining him and Philip sending troops. The Roman fleet moves in on the coast as Rhodian ships and Eumenes’ Pergamene fleet arrive, and Nabis summons Cretan aid to assist his mercenaries; Flaminius defeats a Spartan sally at the town of Sellasia, encamps at Amyclae outside Sparta, and devastates Laconia, and then he joins his brother Lucius Quinctius’ fleet and the Pergamenes to besiege the port of Gytheum, which surrenders; Nabis sues for truce and unsuccessfully appeals to Flaminius on the grounds that Sparta has a treaty with Rome and Argos was Philip’s ally against Rome, and is told that the treaty was with legitimate kings who he displaced; Rome’s Greek allies are unwilling to launch a siege of Sparta, and terms are agreed whereby Nabis evacuates Argos and all his other garrisons outside Laconia, returns deserters, runaway slaves, and loot, and loses the Laconian coast and his navy; Nabis recovers his nerve and decides to reject terms and await aid from Antiochus, so Sparta is besieged and nearly falls in Roman attack on walls until Nabis’ general Pythagoras sets buildings near the walls afire to halt Roman advance. Argos is seized by a revolt of citizens from those Spartans Nabis has left garrisoning it, and Nabis surrenders and accepts the peace-terms. The Aetolians object that Rome has left the tyrant in power and ignored his legitimate rival Agesipolis.
Hannibal arrives in Antioch to meet Antiochus’ eldest son, Antiochus, at the Games there.
194
Greece
Flaminius, having wintered at Elatia, holds a Greek conference at Corinth and announces that he is leaving the country, evacuating Chalcis and Demetrias, and returning Corinth to Achaea; he proceeds via the two evacuations to Thessaly to install new local government by cities to replace the long Macedonian rule, and marches on to Epirus and Brundisium; back at Rome he holds a three-day triumph, with Philip’s (younger) son Demetrius and Nabis’ son Armenes among the parade of hostages.
194/3
Seleucids/Egypt
Antiochus III marries his daughter Cleopatra (I) to Ptolemy V of Egypt.
193
Italy/Greece
March – Lucius Cornelius Merula and Quintus Minucius Thermus are elected as consuls; the Senate receives a delegation from Antiochus, which refuses to give up his claims to the European provinces of Lysimachus’ former realm (i.e. the Chersonese and Thrace) of which Antiochus has taken the Asian part or to liberate formerly independent cities in Ionia; the envoys of Greek and Ionian states complain to Senate about Antiochus’ threat to their independence, and a delegation is sent to him to demand evacuation of European lands; envoys from Carthage warn Rome that Antiochus is preparing war with the aid of refugee Hannibal, and Rome is suspicious of how the city allowed Hannibal’s detected agent Aristo to escape rather than arresting him at once; Scipio Africanus is among commissioners sent to Africa to adjudicate in border-dispute between Carthage and Masinissa.
Aetolians, led by Thoas, send envoys to Philip, Nabis, and Antiochus urging alliance against Rome and the Achaeans warn Rome as Nabis tries to cause revolt in his former Laconian coastal possessions; Nabis seizes the port of Gytheium and attacks Achaea but is repulsed.
Seleucids
Antiochus campaigns against the local tribes in Pisidia (south Asia Minor) and then goes on to Ionia.
Roman envoys Publius Sulpicius and Publius Villius arrive at Pergamum to consult Eumenes, and while illness delays his colleague Villius goes to Ephesus to meet Antiochus and (?accompanied by Africanus) meets Hannibal; talks at Apamea are delayed by the death of Antiochus’ son Antiochus, and when Sulpicius arrives negotiations resume but meet no success; the Seleucid claim to the European territories of Lysimachus is maintained and Antiochus decides for war.
192
Italy/Greece/Seleucids
Flaminius’ brother Lucius Quinctius Flaminius is elected as consul.
Praetor Atilius is sent to Greece with a fleet, followed by Flaminius and other envoys to secure troops from allies, while troops muster at Brundisium; Attalus, brother of Eumenes of Pergamum, brings the news that Antiochus has crossed into Europe; Flaminius’ delegation secures adherence of the Thessalians, and then persuades the local Magnesians’ meeting at Demetrias to reject overtures from the Aetolians who are claiming that Rome intends to return Demetrias to Philip; Thoas brings Antiochus’ delegate Menippus to the Aetolian conference which is debating war and secures an alliance with his master despite an appeal by Flaminius, and Aetolians (under Diocles) seize Demetrias; the Aetolians send Alexamenus with troops to supposedly aid Nabis at Sparta, but then to assassinate him and seize the city; Alexamenus kills Nabis at a military review, but furious Spartans slaughter him and his men and Philopoemen arrives from Achaea to secure an alliance with his League and Rome.
Failing in sieges of Lampsacus and Alexandria Troas on the Hellespont, Antiochus is told that Demetrias is in Aetolian hands and sails there with his army; he meets the Aetolian leadership at Lamia and is elected their commander, unsuccessfully attacks Chalcis, and sends delegates to the Achaean congress at Aegium; Flaminius persuades the Achaeans to stay loyal to Rome, but Chalcis falls to second attack and the rest of Euboea deserts to Antiochus.
191
March – Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica and Marcus Acilius Glabrio are elected as consuls.
War with Antiochus is voted for by the Senate, and Glabrio is granted Greece and Nasica the war with Boii in Cisalpine Gaul; Flaminius’ command in Spain is extended, and Aemilius Paullus (future conqueror of Macedonia and son of the consul killed at Cannae in 216) is among his praetors.
Antiochus visits Thebes to secure the adherence of the Boeotians; Epirus and the Athamanians send delegates for an alliance with him; he marches into Thessaly, fails to seduce the local cities or Philip from Rome, successfully attacks Pherae, and besieges Larissa until the approach of the Roman force under Appius Claudius and bad weather forces his withdrawal to Lamia.
May – Philip promises Rome money and troops and Ptolemy V promises money and grain.
Spring – Antiochus’ troops muster at Chaeronea after a winter of lax discipline; he marches to Naupactus on the Gulf of Corinth via friendly Aetolia to invade Acarnania, but Cnaeus Octavius’ arrival at Leucas off the west coast inspires locals to resist and he abandons the siege of Thyrraeum and retires; Marcus Baebius’ army from Illyria and Philip with the Macedonians retakes towns in Thessaly.
Glabrio arrives in Thessaly, and Antiochus’ Athamanian allies are defeated and surrender garrisons, after which Philip marches into and recovers Athamania as King Amynander flees. Glabrio marches south, and Antiochus moves up from Chalcis with an army of c.10,000 infantry and 500 cavalry (Livy) but fewer local allies than he expected; he camps at Thermopylae with the aid of c. 4,000 Aetolians who garrison the town of Heraclea and are told to seize the heights of Callidromus above the pass but do not do so in full strength as ordered. Glabrio moves to Thermopylae, and sends lieutenants Marcus Poricus Cato (Cato ‘the Elder’) and Lucius Valerius Flaccus to storm the heights.
Antiochus’ (?smaller) army holds defensive walled positions across the narrows of the pass, and in the resultant battle the Seleucids hold out in the narrows until Cato secures his objective and descends to attack them in flanks and causes panic; Antiochus flees with cavalry via Elatia to Chalcis, leaving most of infantry to be caught by Glabrio during the pursuit. Phocis and Boeotia surrender to Roman advance, followed by Chalcis after Antiochus’ departure for Ephesus; Cato is sent to Rome with news of the victory; the Aetolians at Heraclea refuse to surrender to Glabrio so it is stormed, and Philip besieges Lamia until the Romans take over and it surrenders; the Aetolians, having sent envoys to Antiochus to assure they are ready to fight on before they hear of the fall of Heraclea, change their minds and send envoys to Glabrio, but are ordered to surrender their anti-Roman leaders and Amynander of Athamania and refuse; Glabrio advances into Aetolia to besiege Naupactus, while Flaminius, as Roman commissioner in Greece, answers an appeal from Messene against attack by the Achaeans by forcing the latter to withdraw and to hand over seized island of Zacynthus as well.
Caius Livius brings a new Roman fleet to Aegean to supersede Atilius as commander, while Antiochus sends Hannibal and admiral Polyxenidas to the Hellespont to resist Roman attack from Europe but decides to tackle the Roman fleet, now at Delos, instead.
Autumn? – Flaminius arrives at siege of Naupactus, and the Aetolians inside appeal to him as liberator of Greece to secure their pardon; he intercedes with Glabrio to negotiate their surrender and arrange for Aetolian delegation to go to Rome to negotiate terms, and the Senate returns Philip’s hostage son Demetrius to him with thanks for his aid in the war.
Livius’ Roman fleet joins up with Eumenes’ Pergamene fleet at Phocaea, and defeats Polyxenidas’ Seleucid fleet nearby, capturing thirteen ships; Antiochus leaves his eldest surviving son Seleucus (born 217?) in command in Aeolis while he raises troops inland in Phrygia, including the Celts of Galatia, and Hannibal is sent to Syria for more ships.
190
Early – Scipio Africanus’ brother Lucius Cornelius Scipio and his ally Caius Laelius are elected consuls to finish the war with Antiochus.
The Aetolians’ envoys try to negotiate easier terms but are told to choose between accepting whatever the Senate decides and paying 1000 talents and only having what friends and allies Rome allows; they return home. Lucius Scipio is granted command in Greece thanks to Africanus announcing that if that happens he will assist his brother’s campaign, and Laelius is given Italy; the Aetolians seize the pass of Mount Corax to hold up the Roman advance to Naupactus, but Glabrio captures Lamia and attacks Amphissa.
Spring – Lucius Scipio and his brother arrive in Aetolia, fail to force Hypata to surrender, and join Glabrio at Amphissa where the Athenians intercede with Africanus for the Aetolians; Lucius Scipio repeats the Senate’s terms despite Aetolian pleas of poverty concerning the amount of indemnity to be paid, and the Aetolians secure a six-month truce while they send envoys back to Rome; the Scipios lead an army across Macedon and Thrace to the Hellespont, aided by Philip, and Livius sails the Roman fleet up there to secure the crossing and attack Sestos; meanwhile, Polyxenidas, as a Rhodian exile, approaches the Rhodian fleet-commander Pausistratus pretending to be able to secure Antiochus’ fleet for them and Rome if he is helped to be pardoned in Rhodes. Once he has lulled the Rhodians into a sense of security, he attacks their fleet and sinks most of it.
Prince Seleucus recovers Phocaea and Cyme for his father once Livius has sailed north.
Livius calls off the surrender-talks at Abydus to speed back to Ionia on news of the Rhodian disaster, reaches the survivors at Samos, and raids the Ephesus area where the Seleucid navy shuns battle; Aemilius Regillus takes over the fleet and demonstrates against Ephesus again, while Livius and a smaller force raid Lycia and win the battle outside Patara but fail to take the town; Livius returns home.
Seleucus invades Pergamum and besieges the city, and Antiochus brings his Gallic levies down to the coast to camp at Sardes. The Roman and Rhodian fleets land at Elaea, and Antiochus advances to meet them, leaving the attempt on Pergamum to Seleucus; his envoys for truce and talks are told that nothing can be done until the consul arrives, and he marches to Adramyttium to intercept the Scipios as they march south from the Hellespont; Diophanes’ Achaean reinforcements drive Seleucus off Pergamum.
Hannibal’s fleet, en route from Syria, is intercepted and defeated off Side by the main Rhodian squadron under Eudamus; Antiochus fails to scare King Prusias of Bithynia into joining him against alleged intended Roman enslavement of all the Greek sovereigns, thanks to Africanus’ reassurances to Prusias; Antiochus besieges pro-Roman Colophon, close to Ephesus, while Regillus takes his ships to stop the island of Teos giving supplies to the Seleucids, clashes with a squadron of pirates and pursues them to the promontory of Myonessus, and lands on Teos to plunder island until the inhabitants surrender their provisions; Polyxenidas brings his fleet to Teos in hope of trapping the Romans in harbour of Geraestus, but they move out in time and his ships are spotted hiding nearby.
Battle of Myonessus: fifty-eight Roman and twenty-two Rhodian ships defeat Polyxenidas’ eighty-nine Seleucid ships (Livy), helped by the use of burning torches on prows. The Romans break the enemy line in the centre and then assist the Rhodians; thirteen Seleucid ships are sunk and thirteen captured. The Romans lose two ships.
Antiochus abandons his siege of Colophon and withdraws his garrison from Lysimacheia in the Chersonese, and while Lucius Aemilius Scaurus’s squadron transports the Scipios’ army over the Hellespont Regillus recaptures Phocaea. Proposals from Antiochus’ envoy Hercaclides of Byzantium for a settlement based on Antiochus withdrawing remaining troops from various cities and paying half Rome’s expenses are rejected and he is told Antiochus must free all Aeolis and Ionia; the Scipios advance via Ilium (Troy), where Africanus offers sacrifices, to the River Caicus where Eumenes of Pergamum joins them, and Antiochus retires from Thyatira to fortify camp at Magnesia-ad-Sipylum.
Battle of Magnesia: Antiochus’ surprise weapon of scythed chariots is negated by Eumenes’ Cretan archers showering them with missiles and causing horses to panic, and as neighbouring infantry are exposed by the chariots’ flight and flee Roman attack the Seleucid armed ‘Cataphracts’ (heavy cavalry, ?of Persian origin) are exposed too; the Romans charge the disordered enemy line and rout them, though on the wing Antiochus with his cavalry outflanks and drives back the Roman auxiliaries and attacks the Roman camp behind them, which commander Marcus Aemilius (Lepidus) saves; Eumenes’ brother Attalus brings his cavalry to the rescue, and Antiochus flees; c.50,000 Seleucid infantry and 3000 cavalry are killed (Livy) to c. 320 Romans.
Magnesia and Ephesus surrender, and Polyxenidas flees to Syria; the Scipios enter Sardes, and Antiochus sends envoys to negotiate terms.
Eumenes requests the granting of inland Asia Minor West of the Taurus range to him to prevent Antiochus threatening the area again. Meanwhile, Antiochus has marched into Galatia and Phrygia to establish his rule there and acquire new revenue and recruits (especially ferocious ‘Celtic’ Galatians), hoping Rome will accept it. The Roman army is based at Ephesus.
Early? – The Senate ratifies Scipio Africanus’ proposal that Antiochus pays 15,000 Euboean talents as indemnity, including 1,000 p.a. for twelve years, and 400 talents are to go to Eumenes; Hannibal, Thoas the Aetolian, and other leading troublemakers are to be handed over to Rome; all Western inland Asia Minor to the Taurus is to be given to Pergamum, and Lycia and Caria to Rhodes; all Asia Minor tributaries of Attalus of Pergamum (d. 197) are to pay the same tribute to Eumenes, but Seleucid tributaries are to be free; other minor arrangements are made regarding specific cities. A Roman commission is sent out to supervise the arrangements.
March – Marcus Fulvius Nobilior and Gnaeus Manlius Vulso take office as consuls; Fulvius is sent to Aetolia, which has now overrun Athamania and Ambracia, and advances from Apollonia through Epirus to besiege Ambracia. Aetolian commander Nicander fails to relieve Ambracia and instead drives Philip’s elder son Perseus back out of Amphilocia. Pleuratus’ Illyrian fleet joins the Achaeans to ravage Aetolian coast on Gulf of Corinth. The Aetolians, surrounded with now no hope of rescue by Antiochus, hold a council and send Phaneas and Damoteles to Fulvius to sue for peace, and he tells them to pay 2000 talents (half at once), disarm, and accept only the same allies as Rome’s without further argument. Negotiations at Ambracia are aided by Amynander of Athamania, and the town surrenders; the Aetolians agree to pay 500 talents (200 at once and the rest over six years) and return all prisoners and deserters, and Fulvius advances into Aetolia where their council agrees to peace.
Delegates are sent to the Senate to secure their approval, and terms are agreed despite Philip’s complaints of the recent Aetolian attacks on his frontier: Aetolia is to have the same friends and enemies as Rome, surrender deserters and prisoners, and give no aid to any army hostile to Rome.
Summer – Manlius Vulso, with an army in Ionia, and Eumenes’ brother Attalus campaign in Galatia to suppress Antiochus’ Celtic tribal allies; various towns are taken, but the Tolostobogii, Tectosages, and Trocmi tribes retire into the mountains; Manlius drives out the Tolostobogii defending the Mount Olympus range and kills c. 10,000 and captures c. 30,000 (Livy), and moves to Ancyra where the other two tribes pretend to open peace-talks but use the delay to evacuate non-combatants over the River Halys and then ambush the consul; the attack is routed, and the tribes are defeated in another battle in mountains and flee over the Halys.
Fulvius Nobilior arrives in the Peloponnese from supervising the settlement of Cephallonia, and attends the Achaean League council at Argos; Achaean leader Philopoemen uses the excuse of alleged Spartan attacks over their new frontier against exiles based in the Laconian coastal towns to demand the extradition of those responsible, and furious Spartans kill pro-Achaean leaders in their city, renounce the alliance with Achaea, and send an appeal to Fulvius for Rome to take Sparta under its protection; he refers them to the Senate.
Bactria
?Death of Euthydemus, ruler of Bactria for past thirty years or so; his son by the Seleucid princess Theophila, Demetrius, succeeds to his kingdom. ?Antimachus, his younger son, rules the province of ‘Great Margiane’.
Italy/Greece
Early? – The Roman reply to the rival claims of Achaea and Sparta does not alter the status quo, but is regarded as favourable by both sides; Philopoemen marches into Spartan lands to demand the handover of the anti-Achaean leaders, and Spartan negotiators sent to his camp end up being assaulted by aggrieved Spartan exiles in the Achaean army; Philopoemen requires Sparta to demolish its walls, abrogate the ancient laws of Lycurgus that make Sparta a distinctive community, and accept back all exiles; Rome does not intervene.
March – Marcus Valerius Messala and Caius Livius Salvinator are elected as consuls.
Seleucids
In Asia Minor, Manlius receives peace-envoys from the Celts of Galatia and from Antiochus’ ally Ariathares of Cappadocia who is told to pay 600 silver talents; he marches into Pamphylia to collect supplies and 2500 talents promised by Antiochus, then back to Apamea on hearing that Eumenes has arrived from Rome; at Apamea the treaty with Antiochus is finalized. Antiochus is not to allow any armies that are hostile to Rome across his territory, surrender all his elephants and all but ten large and ten small warships, hand over all territory west of the Taurus Mountains as earlier arranged, pay 12,000 Attic talents to Rome and 350 to Eumenes, hand over 540,000 ‘modi’ of wheat, and surrender Hannibal, Thoas the Aetolian, and others. Quintus Minucius Thermus takes the treaty to Antiochus to receive his oath of adherence, and Quintus Fabius Labeo takes the Roman fleet to Patara to receive and burn the Seleucid navy; Manlius and the Roman commissioners sort out the affairs of former Seleucid cities, and once all is settled Manlius leads the army back into Thrace where he is ambushed near Cypsela by tribesmen and Thermus is killed and some baggage looted.
Autumn – Manlius arrives at Apollonia.
Hannibal flees to Prusias of Bithynia, a ruler not included in the Treaty of Apamea.
Ariathares IV of Cappadocia has to apologize to Rome for backing Antiochus III, and marries his daughter Stratonice to Eumenes of Pergamum so the latter will speak up for him with Rome.
187
Italy/Greece
Marcus Aemilius Lepidus and Caius Flaminius are elected as consuls.
Lepidus, blaming Fulvius Nobilior for the delay in his consulship, promotes the cause of the Ambracian delegation, which arrives in Rome to accuse him of sacking and looting their city and enslaving the populace when they were at peace with Rome; Flaminius defends Fulvius’ actions on the grounds that Ambracia was hostile, but the Senate resolves to restore Ambracian property. Manlius returns to secure a triumph and defeat charges that he had no right to attack the Galatians as the Senate and people had not declared war and that he incompetently allowed himself to be ambushed in Thrace.
Lucius Scipio is accused of accepting a bribe from Antiochus to improve the terms of peace-treaty and is fined ?four million ‘sesterces’ as part of rival nobles’ attack on the Scipio brothers.
Death of Antiochus III, who is killed plundering a temple in Elymais (Persia) (aged around fifty-three) in search of treasure to rebuild his denuded treasury; succeeded by his elder son Seleucus (IV), who is around thirty.
Late summer – Achaea renews its alliance with the Seleucids at the request of the new king.
Egypt
The recapture of Thebes ends rebellion in Upper Egypt; the Ptolemaic army reaches the First Cataract frontier, but probably rebels escape up-river into Nubia (‘Ethiopia’) and are pursued there as war with that power follows in a year or two.
Bactria
?King Demetrius I, relieved from the threat of Seleucid attack by Antiochus III’s death, takes the opportunity to detach Arachosia (Herat province) and Areia from the Seleucid kingdom and extends his power to the Paropamisadae/Hindu Kush. This is the probable end of Seleucid rule in eastern Iran.
186
Greece
Seleucus sends an embassy to Athens to renew friendship; Rome does not interfere.
185
Italy/Greece
Complaints reach the Senate about Philip’s annexation of Athamania and advances in Thessaly, Perrhaebia, and Thrace, to which Eumenes of Pergamum adds warnings, and with the cities of Aenus and Maronea near the Hellespont under new Macedonian garrisons a senatorial commission goes out to investigate; the commissioners call a conference of those concerned at Tempe in Thessaly and hear complaints, and Philip defends his annexations on Thessalian and Perrhaebian frontiers as replying to neighbours’ aggression but is told to restore the places in dispute; Philip insists on his right to Aenus and Maronea free from Roman interference as they are not covered by any treaties and reminds commissioners of his services to Rome.
Rome assists Eumenes of Pergamum with the war against Prusias of Bithynia; Hannibal commands the Bithynian fleet and in one battle has jars of snakes thrown over from his ships onto the Pergamene ones.
184
Italy/Greece
The Senate receives the commissioners’ report.
March – Publius Claudius and Lucius Porcius are elected as consuls. Appius Claudius is sent out to see that Philip has evacuated the border-positions and does so at Aenus and Maronea as well. When Claudius arrives in Macedon Philip reluctantly evacuates the towns, but has his opponents in Maronea massacred first. Claudius demands that Philip send his agent in Maronea, Cassander, to Rome for questioning but the accused is mysteriously poisoned en route. Philip sends his younger son Demetrius to Rome to win support and hastens to annex more of Thrace.
?Philip sends to the tribes of Istria close to north-east Italy to ask them to invade Roman territory and distract his main enemy.
Claudius goes on to the Peloponnese to meet the council of Achaean League at Cleitor and accuses the Achaeans concerning Philopoemen’s behaviour at Sparta, whose leading exiles are accompanying the Roman commissioners; Lycortas leads the Achaean defence of their actions.
India
?Death of the last Maurya king, Brinadratha, in a coup at capital of Pataliputra; the collapse of his disintegrating realm into anarchy encourages Greek king Demetrius of Bactria to cast covetous eyes on the upper Indus valley. The first Greek expedition since 305 to this region follows in a few years.
183
Italy/Greece
Complaints from Philip’s neighbours, especially the Thracians and Eumenes, are delivered to the Senate and answered by Philip’s son Demetrius; Eumenes complains about Prusias of Bithynia (Hannibal’s host), and Spartan accusations against Achaea are renewed.
Messene revolts against the Achaean League, and the latter’s attacking general Philopoemen is captured in an ambush in hilly country as he leads a force to Corone to take it before the Messenians get there; his horse falls on him as he is guarding his cavalry’s rear in retreat. He is executed by poison, aged seventy; the Messenians are later overwhelmed and forced to rejoin the League.
Quintus Marcius Philippus is sent as commissioner to Macedon and the Peloponnese; Flaminius goes to Bithynia, and Prusias considers handing over Hannibal to appease Rome and puts his house under guard but Hannibal takes poison and dies, aged sixty-four. Prusias signs peace with Rome and Eumenes.
Philip returns the Thracian coastal positions that Rome demands, but as his son Demetrius returns to popular acclaim as the kingdom’s saviour from Roman assault he becomes jealous of his son; he campaigns inland to retake Philippopolis and the Hebrus valley.
182
Complaints from Philip’s neighbours multiply as he forcibly evacuates suspect inhabitants of coastal cities inland and replaces them with loyal Thracian colonists.
Quarrel between Philip’s sons Perseus and Demetrius, the latter being accused of excessive partiality towards Rome the national enemy; Perseus alleges that his brother intends to murder him in concert with Roman agents (with Flaminius in Rome assisting them) to secure the throne.
Anatolia
Prusias (I) of Bithynia, Hannibal’s ex-host, dies; he is succeeded by his son Prusias II.
Greece
Philip takes his army on a training-expedition into northern Thrace, and climbs Mount Haemus from which it is supposedly possible to see towards Italy (which Livy writes is his intended target for next campaign, of revenge on Rome). He has Demetrius sent home under escort from Didas, governor of Paeonia, who is told to win the young man’s confidence and find out if he is plotting treason; supposedly, Demetrius discusses fleeing to Rome and asks Didas if he can help provide a safe exit from Macedon through his territory. Perseus, Didas’ ally, is told then forges a friendly letter from Flaminius to Demetrius to show to his father who believes it. Later, Demetrius is sent off to receive some tribal hostages in a remote part of Paeonia and is poisoned by Didas at Heraclea on his father’s orders.
Egypt
Death of Ptolemy V, aged twenty-eight; his widow Cleopatra (I), daughter of Antiochus III and sister of Antiochus IV, becomes regent for their elder son, Ptolemy VI, who is aged around six.
180
?There is peace between Pharnaces of Pontus and Eumenes.
Egypt
?Death of Aristophanes of Byzantium, head of the ‘Great Library’ of Alexandria; he is succeeded by Aristarchus of Samothrace.
Bactria/India
At around this date, Demetrius of Bactria crosses the Hindu Kush along Alexander’s route to invade the upper Indus valley, which becomes new province of his extended kingdom. He rules this area, ‘Gandhara’ centred on Taxila, personally with his ?brother Apollodotus in the central Indus valley (probably extending down-river to its mouth within a few years); their general Menander is sent on into the Punjab. Demetrius’ sons Euthydemus of Bactria and Demetrius II of the Hindu Kush rule the Western provinces.
179
Greece
?Philip discovers that the letter from Flaminius to Demetrius concerning a ‘plot’ that caused him to order his son’s murder was forged by Perseus’ men; he considers replacing Perseus as heir with his cousin Antigonus but before he can do anything dies at Amphipolis, aged fifty-nine; Perseus succeeds amidst suspicion of murder. He defeats the invasion by the Bastarnae tribe, and sends envoys to Rome to renew Philip’s treaty of alliance.
178
Eumenes of Pergamum and his brothers visit Athens, and attend the Panathenaic Games where Eumenes’ chariot wins a race. His brother Attalus stays on at the Academy for a philosophical course run by Carneades.
Anatolia
A Lycian embassy under Nicostratus is sent to Rome to complain about the oppression of local cities, e.g. Xanthus, by Rhodian rulers since 187; the Senate orders the furious Rhodians to behave better.
Seleucids/Greece/Anatolia
Seleucus IV marries his daughter Laodice to Perseus, and his Rhodian allies escort her to Macedon. This is followed by Perseus’ sister Apame marrying Prusias II of Bithynia, possibly implying Perseus is building up an anti-Rome coalition.
India
?At around this date Menander commences the Greek conquest of the Ganges valley, in due course extending down-river to the Maurya heartland and the city of Pataliputra.
176
Egypt
Death of Queen and regent Cleopatra I, mother of Ptolemy VI and sister of Seleucus IV.
175
Greece
Perseus drives the Bastarnae out of Dardania.
Seleucids
3 September – Assassination of Seleucus IV in his capital, Antioch in Syria, aged around forty-three, by his treasurer Heliodorus who proclaims his small son Antiochus king. His adult younger brother Antiochus IV, currently in Athens, challenges this and sails to Pergamum where Eumenes backs him and lends him troops; the latter escort him home, and the new regime is swiftly overthrown. Seleucus’s infant sons (Antiochus and Demetrius) are superseded and Antiochus IV marries his brother’s widow. The talented but egocentric and religiously quirky new ruler soon develops a (politically unifying) cult of himself as a god personified, calling himself ‘Theos Epiphanes’ (‘god manifest’). This may be influenced by the Eastern cults or by the 300s cult of Demetrius ‘Poliorcetes’ in Athens.
India
?At around this date, death of Euthydemus of Bactria; his probable brother Demetrius II succeeds to rule all of the Western lands of the Bactria/Indus/Ganges state, with a relative or lieutenant called Agathocles in Arachosia (Herat province) succeeded within a few years by Pantaleon.
174
Greece/Italy
Perseus suppresses the Dolopian tribes on his frontier, who are considering an approach to Rome for aid, and takes his army on to Delphi, which causes alarm among neighbouring rulers such as Eumenes and warnings to the already suspicious Senate; he attempts to seduce the Achaean League by offering to return escaped slaves if they will rescind their law banning Macedonians from entering Achaean territory (which could enable his armies to enter Achaea during war with Rome); the Achaeans do not respond.
A Roman commission is sent to Aetolia to sort out civil disturbances among the factions in towns.
Palestine
?Death of ‘High Priest’ of Jerusalem, Onias; his brother Joshua, aka ‘Jason’ as he is a Hellenist enthusiast, pays the new Seleucid king Antiochus IV to be appointed his successor and vigorously promotes Greek culture in the city to the horror of the traditionalists. Some Hellenizers abandon circumcision over the next few years, and attend gymnasia for naked sport.
173
Italy/Greece
Appius Claudius is sent to Thessaly and Perrhaebia to sort out factional disturbances; Marcus Marcellus mediates between Aetolians while on a trip to Delphi, and addresses the Aegean League at Aegium to congratulate them for banning the kings of Macedon from their territory. Eumenes sends a warning of Perseus’ preparations for war with Rome via his brother and ambassador Attalus, and a commission is sent to Pergamum to investigate and then go on to Egypt to renew the treaty with the regency government for Ptolemy VI (acceded 181); envoys led by Apollonius are received from Antiochus IV of the Seleucid kingdom to renew the treaty signed with his father and apologize for lateness in paying war-reparations due from 188.
172
Eumenes arrives in Rome and addresses the Senate on a list of Perseus’ anti-Roman actions, including the overthrow of pro-Roman tribal rulers and attempt to seduce Achaeans, and his preparations for war; Perseus’ envoy Harpalus denies it but assures that his master will defend himself if attacked; on his way home Eumenes is attacked on a visit to Delphi and nearly killed by stones rolled down the mountainside onto his party as he walks along a narrow part of the road. He is stunned, and the attackers think he is dead and run off up the mountains while he is rescued and taken to a ship and thence to Aegina to recover. Macedonian agents are blamed, and the returning Roman commissioner to Greece, Caius Valerius, collects evidence of the attack in Delphi and presents it to the Senate together with his findings about Perseus’ preparations for war and allegations of Perseus’ friend Lucius Rammius of Brundisium that on a visit to Perseus the latter asked him to arrange poisonings of Roman commanders. War is decided and troops are mustered by praetor Caius Sicinius and sent to Epirus.
Returning Roman commissioners who were sent earlier to Perseus, to demand reparations and observe the situation, report that he denied it all, treated them insolently, wants to renegotiate the treaty with Philip, which he denounced as unequal, and secretly met Asian delegations; an Illyrian delegation sent to Rome by King Gentius is accused of spying for Perseus on their master’s orders.
Commissioners return from Antiochus IV, Ptolemy V, and Eumenes saying that all three kings have rejected anti-Roman offers from Perseus.
171
Italy/Greece
January – Publius Licinius Crassus and Caius Cassius Longinus are elected as consuls; as they assume office they carry out the sacrifices necessary to precede declaration of war, and once the soothsayers pronounce favourable omens for quick action the Senate sends a motion for war to the Popular Assembly.
The Macedonian campaign is awarded to Licinius and Italy to Cassius, and four new legions are to be raised – two per consul, with Licinius’ containing 6000, not the usual 5200 men.
Perseus sends envoys who declare that he is at a loss to understand the reasons for war, and the Senate is addressed by Spurius Carvilius, sent by their commissioners in Greece, on Perseus’ attacks on Perrhaebia and Thessaly and tells the Macedonians that if their king wishes to make reparations he can do so to Licinius when he arrives with his army; commissioners Marcius Philippus, Aulus Atilius, the Corneli Lentuli brothers, and Lucius Decimius bring 1000 troops to Corcyra to tour Rome’s allies and seek aid, Philippus and Atilius visiting Epirus, the Lentuli visiting Peloponnese and Geminius visiting the would-be neutral king Gentius of the Illyrians.
The Aetolians rally to Philippus and Atilius, who then go on to Thessaly; Perseus appeals to Philippus as their fathers were ‘guest-friends’, secures an interview on the River Peneus on frontier, and successfully requests a truce with a promise to send envoys to Rome, Philippus agreeing to his proposals in order to secure more time for mustering of armies; Boeotia decides to reject offers from Perseus’ local supporters and hold to the Roman alliance, and arrests the pro-Macedonian leaders and sends them to the Roman commissioners as prisoners, but Coronea and Haliartus dissent from the Theban-led Roman alliance and try to secure troops from Perseus; Achaeans are requested to supply 1000 troops to Rome. Another Roman commission (Claudius, Postumius, and Junius) secures the adherence of Rhodes and the other Aegean islands, and Rhodians show them forty ships ready for war; the only lack of Roman success occurs with Decimius’ mission to Illyria.
Late spring? – Perseus’ embassy arrives in Rome, and Philippus and Atilius return to report on their commission’s work and assure that Greece is ready for war. Some senators demur at Rome’s bad faith towards Perseus at using delaying-tactics but not being prepared to negotiate once Rome is ready, in case he genuinely wants peace, but they are outvoted; the envoys are reminded of Perseus’ crimes such as the attack on Eumenes and are sent home. Atilius is sent to garrison Larissa against a Macedonian attack on Thessaly, and Licinius is told to join his army from Italy and sail to Greece, while praetor Caius Lucretius takes fleet to Greece to link up with allied navy; Lucretius’ brother Marcus impounds some Illyrian ships he finds en route.
Perseus sends the refugee ruler of the Ardaei in Illyria, Pleuratus, as envoy to Gentius of Illyria to urge alliance against Rome.
Ptolemy VI’s army fails in an invasion of Seleucid Palestine and Phoenicia.
170
Italy/Greece
January – Aulus Hostilius Mancinus and Aulus Atilius Serranus are elected as consuls.
The inhabitants of Chalcis, base of the assembling Roman fleet in Greece, complain of extortion, billeting, illegal slavery, and theft of art-treasures by praetor Caius Lucretius and his recent replacement Lucius Hortensius, and are promised redress and given presents; Lucretius is recalled, tried, and heavily fined.
Appius Claudius is sent with troops to the Illyrian/Epirot frontier at Lychnidus to watch Gentius, while Roman ships proceed to Illyrian coast; Claudius over-confidently tries to secure the Macedonian frontier town of Uscana but is surprised by a sally and driven back with heavy losses.
Egypt/Seleucids
War between Antiochus IV and Ptolemaic Egypt over Coele-Syria; Antiochus sends Meleager’s embassy to Rome to seek support, Ptolemy VI sends Timotheus and Damon.
Greece
Hagesander and Agesilochus lead a Rhodian embassy to Rome to reassure the Senate about Rhodian support as the current struggle between pro- and anti-Perseus parties on the island leads to rumours of an imminent Macedonian alliance.
Seleucids
?Death of Antiochus IV’s elder son and heir, Antiochus.
169
Italy/Greece
January? – Perseus retakes Uscana from a Roman garrison, which he promises to free if they surrender but does not; he marches into Illyria to take allied towns and encourage Gentius to join him, and sacks Oaeneum; Gentius refuses to join war, but after Perseus has left Cloelius’ Romans unsuccessfully attack Uscana.
January – Quintus Marcius Philippus and Cnaeus Servilius Caepio are elected as consuls.
Caius Popilius and part of army winter in Ambracia.
Ariston is elected as pro-Roman ‘strategos’ for the year 169–8 in Achaea.
March? – Perseus marches into Aetolia expecting support, but a Roman garrison under Popilius is hurried into the main town, Stratus, before he can arrive and Diophantus’ Aetolian cavalry join them, not Perseus; the King has to give up his hopes of alliance and return home as supplies are low; however, his local allies harass Claudius during the latter’s advance to assist Popilius.
April? – Philippus and the fleet-commander, Caius Marcius Figulus, cross from Brundisium to Actium in Ambracia with their forces; Philippus marches overland to Thessaly to take over the army there. The future historian Polybius is an Achaean envoy to Philippus in Thessaly, sent at ‘strategos’ Archon’s suggestion to ask him when and where the Romans would like their troops to report.
When Marcius brings up the fleet from Chalcis the generals invade Macedonia where Perseus is encamped on the coast at Dium. The Roman force manages to cross the mountains near Lake Ascuris on difficult paths, engages Hippias’ waiting Macedonian force, which Perseus fails to assist, and then struggles down the steep mountains to emerge on the coast near Dium, to Perseus’ rear, where they are not expected. The Romans are now cut off from their other troops and supplies across the main passes by Perseus’ remaining garrisons around Dium, but Perseus panics and flees north to Pydna; Philippus temporarily occupies Dium before moving to Phila to link up with the fleet and receive supplies.
Philippus avoids an advance and immediate battle amidst grumbling; Popilius storms the nearby Macedonian fort at Heracleum; Popilius besieges Meliboea on slopes of Mount Ossa but is driven off by the Macedonian general Euphranor.
Prusias of Bithynia and the Rhodians send unsuccessful embassies to the Senate for peace with Perseus; the Rhodians’ recital of all their services to Rome, complaint at war’s disruption of their trade, which is Rome’s fault for requiring them to break relations with Perseus, and threat to attack whichever party prevents peace annoy their hearers. Eumenes leaves the Roman camp in Macedonia for the winter after developing a bad relationship with Philippus, and suspicion of his lack of support rises.
Egypt/Seleucids
Envoys of the new young King Ptolemy VIII (‘Euergetes’, nicknamed ‘Physcon’ – ‘Fat Belly’), who has recently deposed his elder brother Ptolemy VI, arrive in Rome to plead for help against Antiochus IV who has invaded Egypt to restore (his sister Cleopatra I’s son by Ptolemy V) Ptolemy VI and is besieging Alexandria; Antiochus cannot take Alexandria, but on his withdrawal he leaves Ptolemy VI at the old capital Memphis in control of the rest of Egypt.
Ptolemy VI negotiates his brother’s surrender in return for their becoming joint sovereigns.
Seleucids
Antiochus IV carries off the sacred treasures from the Temple in Jerusalem to help pay off his 188 war-indemnity debts to Rome; the ex-‘High Priest’ Jason and his anti-Seleucid supporters attack Jerusalem, and besiege pro-Seleucid ‘High Priest’ Menelaus in the Temple until Seleucid troops arrive to expel them.
168
Italy/Greece
January – Aemilius Paullus and Caius Licinius are elected as consuls.
Ptolemy VIII’s envoys arrive in Rome appealing for help against Antiochus and Caius Popilius Laenas is sent with a mission to warn the Ptolemies to agree to mutual peace, the defaulter to be regarded as unfriendly to Rome.
Eumenes, alarmed at Roman power spreading, tries to negotiate a settlement that would leave Perseus with his kingdom, and sends secret envoys to ask Perseus for 500 talents in return for his not sending Rome military aid and 1500 for negotiating peace; Rome becomes suspicious of him.
Ptolemy’s envoys arrive in Achaea to try to hire mercenaries and ask for a commander to assist against Antiochus – Lycortas or Polybus are suggested.
Gentius of Illyria finally arrives at Dium to aid Perseus, but the latter’s attempt to win over Eumenes fails as his price is too high; Perseus is offered help by the Gauls/Celts inland from Illyria and marches to the Axius River to meet them, but their demands for pay are too high and they go home.
Aemilius Paullus is granted two legions to take to Macedonia; praetor Cnaeus Octavius is to command the fleet and Lucius Anicius to succeed Claudius at Lychnidus; the levy is held.
Early April – The consular army leaves Rome; the Romans arrive in Epirus, and Anicius joins Claudius and marches against Gentius to relieve siege of Bassania and take Lissus; he chases Gentius up the coast to his base at Scodra, besieges it, and forces him to surrender; Gentius and his relatives and leading nobles are rounded up and deported to Rome.
Paullus and Perseus confront each other on the banks of the River Elpeus near Pydna, where the narrow coastal strip and mountains inland mean that the Macedonian defensive position cannot be outflanked; Paullus launches a frontal attack to keep Perseus occupied while troops under Scipio Nasica and his own son Quintus Fabius Maximus (so-called as adopted by a childless member of the Fabii Maximi) secretly march inland to cross passes in the Olympus range into Perrhaebia and emerge in Perseus’ rear; Scipio’s men succeed and take Pytheum to Perseus’ rear, and the Macedonians retire to Pydna, allowing the Roman army to advance.
21 June – The eclipse of the moon precedes 22 June. Battle of Pydna: the Macedonian phalanx is attacked at different points by Roman ‘spearheads’ rather than being allowed a straight infantry clash with the opposing line, which is to its advantage, and the elephants and Latin allies on the Roman right rout the Macedonian left wing, after which the Second Legion breaks through the phalanx in the centre. The Macedonian cavalry under Perseus flee, and c. 20,000 are killed and 11,000 captured (Livy). Paullus’ younger son Publius Scipio (Aemilianus) is among the Roman cavalry in the pursuit.
Perseus flees to Pella, his capital, and thence Amphipolis whence he sends envoys to ask for terms but goes on to the island of Samothrace, and Pella and the other cities and districts of Macedonia submit; Paullus enters Pella to assume control of all Macedonia and sends his son Fabius to announce the victory to Rome.
Octavius brings the Roman fleet to Samothrace. Perseus, accused of impiety to an important shrine there by murdering his friend Evander who was evading trial over the 172 attack on Eumenes at Delphi, has to flee the island. He and his son Philip fail to reach their boat and the royal pages, offered amnesty by Octavius in return for surrender, identify their whereabouts; Perseus has to surrender and is taken to Paullus’ camp on the mainland and received honourably.
Anicius marches into Epirus, and Phanote and other towns surrender; he takes up winter quarters at Scodra in Illyria.
The Senate appoints ten commissioners to settle affairs of Macedonia and five for Illyria.
Egypt/Seleucids
Popilius’ commissioners, en route to Egypt, call in at Rhodes to complain about the hostile behaviour of assorted Rhodian politicians, and the scared island Assembly votes to condemn to death anyone found guilty of conspiring against Rome; they go on to Alexandria, where Antiochus IV is now demanding the surrender of the Pelusium area and Cyprus from the restored Ptolemy VI and sails to Pelusium at the eastern mouth of the Nile to invade the country.
Achaeans and Athens send envoys to Antiochus at Pelusium for peace with Ptolemy VI, and blame the ill-will that Antiochus says Ptolemy’s regime has shown to him on the chief minister Eulaeus, for whose behaviour he should not blame the young king. Antiochus claims that his illustrious predecessors Antigonus ‘Monopthalmus’ and Seleucus I were accepted as rulers of Coele-Syria by the Ptolemies and the region was not a dowry for Ptolemy’s mother Cleopatra I as the Egyptians claim.
Popilius arrives at Antiochus’ camp at Eleusis, four miles from Alexandria, and delivers the Senate’s decree demanding withdrawal; Antiochus says he will consult the council before replying, and traditionally Popilius draws a circle in the sand round the King with his staff and demands a reply before he steps out of it; Antiochus agrees to withdraw and the commission goes on to Cyprus to send the Seleucid fleet home. This is seen subsequently as emblematic of haughty Rome taking control over the Greek Eastern Mediterranean rulers’ destinies.
Macron, Ptolemaic governor of Cyprus, defects to Antiochus IV.
Anatolia
There is a tribal Galatian revolt against Pergamum, backed secretly by Rome to weaken Eumenes; it is suppressed after campaigns of about a year.
167
Italy/Greece
January – Marcus Junius and Quintus Aelius are elected as consuls; Junius is to have Liguria and Aelius Cisalpine Gaul.
Delegations bringing congratulations from across the East for the downfall of Perseus are received in Rome, and it is agreed to install ‘free’ republics in Macedonia and Illyria, each country to be divided into independent districts under the protection of Rome, which receives half the taxes normally paid to the deposed kings; there are four districts in Macedonia, three in Illyria.
Attalus leads his brother Eumenes’ Pergamene delegation to Rome, delivering an appeal for commissioners to be sent to Galatia to deal with the anti-Pergamene revolt.
The Rhodian delegates, Philophron and Astymedes, are refused normal courtesies of ‘friends and allies’ on account of their countrymen’s equivocal behaviour over the war, but praetor Marcus Juvenius Thala’s attempt to have war declared on Rhodes is defeated; however, Rhodes loses its formal allied status and is required to evacuate Lycia and Caria, which it does.
Delos is handed to Athens on condition that it is made a ‘free port’; this stimulates trade there at Rhodes’ expense, annoying the latter, which already resents having to evacuate Caria and Lycia.
Paullus tours through Greece, and in autumn calls a Macedonian conference at Amphipolis where the division of the state into four republics is announced – going from east to west, the areas are to have as capitals Amphipolis, Thessalonica, Pella, and Pelagonia. ‘Senators’ are appointed to run each district and Paullus organizes a new administration and laws, but the popular reduction of taxes is offset by the new difficulties for commerce across the formerly unified country. The Greek states send delegations to Paullus to list and accuse their anti-Roman leadership, plus assorted victims of political spite by the triumphant pro-Roman parties, and they are sent on to Rome; Paullus holds celebratory Games at Amphipolis, and then marches back through Epirus to the Adriatic coast, requiring the leaders of surrendered pro-Perseus towns in Epirus to collect their gold and silver, which is then seized before the towns’ walls are pulled down.
Caius Claudius Pulcher and Cnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus are sent to Achaea to deliver Roman terms: Achaea is required to send 1000 suspected anti-Romans it has named to Rome as hostages; they include the future historian Polybius of Megalopolis, who becomes a friend of Aemilius Paullus and his ‘Hellenophile’ circle of eminent Romans open to Greek ideas (which includes Paullus’ teenage youngest son, who as ‘Scipio Aemilianus’ later becomes the conqueror of Carthage).
Anatolia
Prusias of Bithynia visits Rome to congratulate the Senate on victory, hand over his son Nicomedes (effectively as a hostage) for Roman education, and appeal unsuccessfully for the lands of Antiochus’ former realm in Asia Minor, which were not given to anyone by Rome in 187 but have since been seized by Galatians to be given to him.
Bactria/India
Eucratides overthrows and kills Demetrius I, king of the Indus valley state and overlord of Bactria and the Ganges valley, but is defied both by the latter’s general Menander, ruler of the Ganges region, and by Apollodotus (?brother of Demetrius) in the upper Indus valley (‘Gandhara’). The position and longevity of Demetrius I’s son Demetrius II of Bactria/Hindu Kush is unclear, but probably Eucratides removes him within a year or two.
Palestine
December – Antiochus IV enters Jerusalem with an army to install a garrison and build a temple of Zeus in the ‘Temple’ precinct in a mixture of security-concerns and aggressive Hellenism, thus touching off the Maccabean revolt.
166
Italy/Greece
Perseus of Macedonia dies under house-arrest at Alba Longa near Rome.
Seleucids
?Spring – Antiochus IV holds grand games at Antioch’s suburb Daphne, in imitation of Roman celebrations, for his Egyptian and Bactrian wars and satisfies Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus’ mission of inspection to see that he is keeping to the terms of his father’s treaty with Rome.
Antiochus invades Armenia.
There is an outbreak of guerrilla war in the Judaean hills against the Seleucid regime and their ‘Hellenizing’ vassals in Jerusalem at the Temple, led by the militant nationalist Temple priest Mattathias (‘Maccabeus’) and his sons, especially Judas; they proclaim the current Temple rituals ‘unclean’ and want the return of traditional, non-Greek ways. Mattathias is soon killed and Judas takes over the resistance-movement.
165
Judas Maccabeus’ Jewish rebels defeat several Seleucid armies in guerrilla war around Jerusalem, killing the general Antiochus.
Anatolia
Prusias sends an embassy under Python to complain to Rome of encroachments by Pergamum; other Asian embassies also encourage the Senate to believe that Eumenes is treating with Antiochus against them; Astymedes’ Rhodian embassy secures restoration of alliance.
164
Palestine
Jonathan Macabbeus defeats Antiochus’ general Lysias at the battle of Beth-Sur; he then defeats generals Ptolemy and Gorgias in battle at the main Seleucid base, Emmaus. Antiochus agrees terms whereby the Seleucids hold onto a garrison in Jerusalem and the rebels are allowed to reside in the city and worship at the Temple.
December – Jonathan breaks the treaty by leading his followers to ‘purify’ the Temple, expelling their ‘Hellenizing’ enemies, and blockades the Seleucid garrison.
Seleucids
Autumn – Antiochus IV dies at Tabae in western Iran, near Ecbatana, on a Parthian expedition, allegedly struck by insanity after despoiling a local shrine; he is succeeded by under-age son Antiochus V under the regency of minister Lysias; the Senate rejects his nephew Demetrius’ (aged around twenty?) appeal to be allowed to return to rule as their client, and sends Cnaeus Octavius, Spurius Lucretius, and Lucius Aurelius to ‘assist’ the regency for Antiochus V.
163
Egypt
Early – Ptolemy VI of Egypt, deposed from co-rule by his younger brother Ptolemy VIII again the previous year, goes to Rome to request moves for his restoration and arrives in ostentatious poverty with a few servants to show his state. With the help of Seleucus IV’s son Demetrius, a hostage in Rome for Antiochus IV’s good behaviour, he secures the granting of a Senatorial commission to go to Egypt and mediate.
May – An Alexandrian revolt expels Ptolemy VIII before they return; the latter goes to Rome for help (163/2) and the Senate is told by his elder brother’s agents and Roman supporters that he was so hated in Alexandria he barely escaped with his life so he would be useless as a ruler. The Senate agrees for Ptolemy VIII to rule, in Cyprus, as his brother’s junior colleague, and Titus Torquatus and Cnaeus Merula escort him there. He is told to wait in western Egypt while they negotiate his peaceful installation. However, while they are vainly trying to talk Ptolemy VI into accepting it he hears of a revolt by mercenary troops at Cyrene and tries to use them to gain Cyrene instead; the populace hate him on account of his autocratic misrule in Alexandria as king earlier and successfully resist. Luckily, the Senate now quarrels with Ptolemy VI and orders that Ptolemy VIII be given Cyrene to keep the kingdom divided and weak.
Anatolia
Ariathares V succeeds Ariathares IV in Cappadocia.
Bactria
Euthydemus declares independence of the Seleucid realm. ?Treaty of peace between him and his foe Menander, ruler of northern India, and around this time Apollodotus of ‘Gandhara’ either dies or is expelled by Euthydemus.
162
Seleucids
Octavius the Roman commissioner is murdered at Laodicea in Syria by a group led by Leptines, and despite the assurances of Lysias’ regency that they were not involved Rome suspects them.
Lysias defeats Judas Maccabeus in battle near Jerusalem, but agrees to a treaty (possibly as he fears he will soon face invasion from Demetrius and needs peace) and agrees to an autonomous Maccabean regime in Jerusalem and the sacking of unpopular ‘High Priest’ Menelaus as pro-Greek and not sufficiently Jewish in his rituals.
Demetrius escapes from Rome with the connivance of Polybius the historian, an exiled Achaean politician living there as hostage, and the assistance of Ptolemy VI’s ambassador Menyllus who provides a ship; his local friends lay a false trail on his supposed holiday trip to Circeii to account for him being missing so he has five days’ start. He sails back to Syria where he lands at Tripoli and marches inland to the army headquarters at Apamea. The army defects to him, and he overthrows Antiochus V; the Senate sends Gracchus, Lucius Lentulus, and Servilius Glaucia east to watch the developing situation and report back. Demetrius defeats rebel Timarchus of Babylon.
161
?Gracchus reports favourably on Demetrius’ loyalty, and the new Seleucid regime is accepted with Demetrius sending gifts and Octavius’ killer to Rome.
Rome accepts an embassy from Judas Maccabeus led by his brother Simon, as rebels against the Seleucids, showing it intends to undermine Demetrius. There is a treaty between Judas Maccabeus and Rome for an alliance against Demetrius, who refuses to accept Maccabean autonomy; there is war between Jews and Demetrius with the latter’s numbers gradually prevailing.
?Demetrius marries off his cousin Nysa, daughter of Antiochus IV, to new ally Pharnaces of Pontus. It is from this marriage that later Mithridates VI will claim his Seleucid/Asia Minor inheritance against Rome.
Palestine
Judas Maccabeus is defeated and killed by Demetrius’ general Bacchides; the Seleucid army occupies Jerusalem, but Judas’ brothers Jonathan and Simon flee across the Jordan to build up a new army in the desert.
159
Anatolia
Death of Eumenes of Pergamum; he is succeeded by his brother Attalus, who is regarded as more trustable by Rome.
Bactria/India
?Eucratides of Bactria is killed in battle, and is succeeded by his son Heliocles; probably the general Menander, viceroy of the upper Indus and upper Ganges by this point, becomes independent.
158
Anatolia
Ariarathres of Cappadocia, deposed in revolt by Orophernes, visits Rome to secure help; Orophernes sends a rival embassy.
157
The Senate orders the division of Cappadocia between Ariarathres and Orophernes; the latter refuses to accept it.
156
Orophernes of Cappadocia is murdered; Ariarathres returns home as King with Pergamene military assistance.
Egypt/Rome
After an attempt by his brother’s men to assassinate him, Ptolemy VIII flees to Rome and asks for help for deposing him, and displays his scars to the Senate; he fails to get support, partly due to the opposition of Cato ‘the Elder’.
155
Greece
The heads of the principal philosophical schools in Athens (excepting the Epicureans) visit Rome with an embassy that is sent to secure remit of a Senate fine for Athens sacking the town of Oropus; Diogenes the Stoic and Critolaus the Cynic are received with enthusiasm by Hellenophile young nobles and teach classes of students, but Carneades the Sceptic is less popular for saying that if the Romans wanted to be truly virtuous they would return their conquests.
Achaean mission under Xenon and Telecles fails to have their hostages allowed home; Claudius Cento, Lucius Hortensius, and Caius Aurunculieus are sent to Pergamum to halt the war but are unsuccessful and on return they blame Prusias for treating them badly.
155/4
Egypt
Archias, Ptolemy VI’s governor of Cyprus, plans to defect to Demetrius but is arrested and put on trial; he commits suicide before condemnation.
Ptolemy blames Demetrius for the plot and joins his foes, linking up with Attalus and Ariathares.
154
Anatolia
Attalus invades Bithynia but is driven out by Prusias; ?he takes up the cause of a pretended son of Antiochus IV living in Smyrna, Alexander Balas (who has recently had a favourable reception on visit to Rome), to the Seleucid throne against the hostile Demetrius, crowns him at Pergamum, and assists his cause.
Egypt
Ptolemy VIII appeals to Rome for aid against his elder brother Ptolemy VI.
153
Anatolia
Ten Roman commissioners visit Attalus to warn him against an attack he is planning on Bithynia with the aid of Pontus and Cappadocia, and then go on to Prusias who rejects most of their demands but changes his mind after they leave; peace is settled on Roman terms, namely the territorial ‘status quo’ and Prusias paying Attalus 500 talents in twenty years with twenty warships.
Seleucids
?Alexander Balas visits Rome to secure support with his adviser Heracleides, addresses the Senate, and despite failing to satisfy them is recognized as the legitimate son of Rome’s ally Antiochus IV and allowed to recruit mercenaries to attack Demetrius.
Greece
The Achaean hostages in Italy are finally allowed to return home.
152
Seleucids
Autumn – Alexander Balas and his mercenary army land at Ptolemais/Acre and march inland to fight Demetrius over Syria; Jonathan Maccabeus joins the invaders and agrees treaty of autonomy/alliance.
Jonathan Maccabeus becomes ‘High Priest’ of Jerusalem by grant of his new ally Alexander Balas, still technically his overlord, combining political and religious leadership for the precarious new state.
150
Seleucids
Summer – Alexander Balas defeats Demetrius who falls in battle; and takes the Seleucid kingdom. He executes his foe’s widow Laodice and eldest? son, but is generally merciful. Ptolemy VI agrees an alliance with him and sends him one of his two daughters (by Cleopatra II), Cleopatra Thea, as his wife.
Alexander Balas, as ‘Theos Epiphanes’, is dominated by his increasingly unpopular chief minister Ammonius.
Anatolia
(or 151) Attalus gets Prusias’ son Nicomedes, sent to Rome as his ambassador to get a fine for mid-150s aggression remitted, to revolt as the suspicious King’s orders to his mission in Rome to kill the Prince are revealed to the target by defecting Andronicus. Nicomedes is to take over Bithynia as a Pergamene ally; a Roman mission sent to mediate arrives too late to save Prusias who is defeated and killed.
Greece
May? – Belligerent demagogue Diaeus is elected as the annual general commanding the Achaean League.
Andriscus of Adramyttium (Troad, north-west Asia Minor), a pretender who claims to be the late King Perseus’ son who died in Italy in c. 164 and has already made one recent attempt to revolt in Macedon, goes to Thrace after his patron Demetrius’ overthrow and persuades King Teres to lend him troops for an anti-Roman revolt.
149
Greece
Invasion of Macedon by rebel exile Andriscus, the ‘Pseudo-Philip’, with an army of Thracians; he wins victory over the forces of the easternmost republic on the east side of the Strymon River, and crosses to defeat the scattered forces of the other republics one by one; Scipio Nasica II is sent there by the Roman Senate to organize resistance.
An Achaean dispute with Sparta over the latter’s special legal status leads to Achaean demagogue Diaeus and Callicrates going on an embassy to Rome, which is unsuccessful in securing Roman support for their position on Sparta. On their return, Diaeus proposes a military attack on Sparta, without waiting for permission from Rome, which should be consulted as Sparta’s protector but is too preoccupied to send immediate reply to Achaea as the latter requested.
148
In Macedon, Andriscus defeats a Roman army whose praetor commander Juventius Thalna falls in battle; Carthage sends the rebels a delegation.
The Senate orders Achaea to leave Sparta alone, and requests that their League grant full independence (i.e. in making foreign policy) to two of their most powerful members, Corinth and Argos. Caecilius Metellus leads a large Roman army to Macedon, and defeats and kills Andriscus; Macedon is turned into a Roman province under permanent Roman military occupation, which alarms some Greeks (especially the Achaeans).
Metellus proposes the reduction of Achaean League’s centralized powers, leaving the new Roman province and army dominating Greece; it leads to fears of a ‘divide and rule’ policy and rising hostility in Achaea where Diaeus promotes a war with Rome.
Seleucids
?Parthians overrun Media and drive Seleucids out of the Iranian plateau.
Africa
Roman siege of Carthage commences.
India
?Death of Menander, ruler of the Ganges valley and Punjab with the upper Indus; succeeded by son Strato under the regency of the boy’s maternal uncle Agathocles, governor of Arachosia (Herat province).
147
Greece
The dispute between the Achaean League and Sparta leads to the belated despatch of a conciliatory Roman embassy to investigate, suspending the earlier request to the League to ‘free’ members Corinth and Argos.
Following a stormy reception given to Roman ambassador Aurelius Orestes at the meeting of Achaean League council where Achaeans led by Critolaus accused Rome of wanting to break up the League, Rome sends a second embassy under Sextus Caesar; they call discussions with Achaea and Sparta at Tegea, and after the hostile behaviour of Achaean representative Critolaus they judge Achaea at fault in the dispute with Sparta and send reports to the Senate and to new governor Metellus in Macedonia. Metellus’ delegates Cnaeus Papirius, Popilius Laenas the younger, Aulus Gabinius, and Caius Fannius go to the Achaean assembly at Corinth but are shouted down by hostile Achaeans, led by Critolaus, who believe Rome is too preoccupied with Carthage to respond aggressively.
May? – Critolaus is elected as the annual Achaean ‘strategos’ and imposes taxes on the richer citizens to help raise an army, including freed slaves.
Seleucids
Demetrius’s young son Demetrius II, probably thirteen, is placed at the head of an anti-Alexander Balas conspiracy then an invasion, by Ptolemy VI; Lasthenes the Cretan leads a mercenary army to invade Cilicia with Demetrius II and Egyptian support.
Demetrius II invades Phoenicia and is joined by Jonathan Maccabeus, who fights Balas’ governor of Coele-Syria, Apollonius; the realm is split in two.
Italy/Greece
Cnaeus Cornelius Lentulus and ‘novus homo’ Lucius Mummius are elected as consuls. Mummius is sent to Greece to deal with the Achaean League. Aemilianus is voted continued command in Africa for duration of the war.
Critolaus leads an Achaean expedition to besiege revolted member Heraclea-ad-Oetum in Malis, near Thermopylae; Metellus advances to defeat him and relieve the town, and the Achaeans retreat into allied Boeotia where the insurrectionary lower classes have taken up their cause against Rome.
Death of Critolaus, but his successor Diaeus is even more hostile to Rome and organizes an army of freed slaves to assist resistance while disturbances in cities lead to executions of leading pro-Romans.
Metellus marches south and reaches the isthmus of Corinth where Mummius arrives to take over his army; he defeats the Achaeans outside Corinth after which Diaeus kills himself, occupies the city, and has it demolished as an example to Greece; its inhabitants are enslaved and art-treasures are carried off to Rome. Achaean states of the Peloponnese are turned into an unofficial Roman province together with Attica, Boeotia, Malis etc. as the Boeotian and Phocian leagues are disbanded – the states are officially autonomous but are dependent on the Roman governor of Macedonia, whose province annexes some nearby areas.
Africa
Scipio Aemilianus takes and destroys Carthage.
145
Seleucids/Egypt
Summer – Alexander Balas, the Seleucid ruler, asks for help from Egypt. Ptolemy VI lands in Syria and marches to Antioch; the allies quarrel after Ptolemy demands that Balas hand over his chief minister Ammonius for alleged murder-plot, and Ptolemy seizes Antioch; Ammonius is lynched in a riot.
Ptolemy turns down offer of the throne, probably due to fear of Rome, and agrees to recognize Demetrius II in return for Coele-Syria and Pheonicia.
Ptolemy defeats Balas in battle of the River Oenoparas near Antioch but is mortally wounded there, aged around forty-two; Balas is killed in retreat by an Arab chieftain.
Demetrius II gains the Seleucid realm and marries Cleopatra Thea; Ptolemy VIII arrives in Egypt from Cyrene to depose Ptolemy VI’s son by Cleopatra II (Ptolemy, usually referred to as Ptolemy VII as he is king of Egypt for several months); he then marries Cleopatra II. A few days later he has the boy murdered at a banquet.
(?Late summer 145) A revolt against Demetrius and his plundering Cretan mercenaries at the army headquarters at Apamea in Syria is led by the local officer Diodotus ‘Tryphon’, who elevates a son of Alexander Balas called Antiochius (VI), aged two, to the throne as his puppet in a civil war.
Palestine
Demetrius II sends troops to stop Jonathan Maccabeus blockading his garrison in the Jerusalem citadel, and is recognized as his overlord. The city and district of Samaria are given to Jonathan Maccabeus by Demetrius II as an ally.