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Antigonos Gonatas – Greek Macedonian King: 277-239
B.C.
Bronze 15mm (3.20 grams) Struck 277-239 B.C.
Reference: SNGCop 1223
Macedonien shield, ANTI monogram in center.
BA – ΣI, Macedonian helmet, monogram in
field to right.
Son of Demetrios Poliorketes,
Antigonos Gonatas claimed his father’s throne after achieving a notable victory
over the Gallic invaders in Thrace. The Macedonian kingdom prospered again under
his long and enlightened rule.
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The army
of the
Kingdom of Macedonia
was among the greatest
military forces of the ancient world. It became formidable under King
Philip II of Macedon
and his son,
Alexander the Great
.
The latest innovations in weapons and tactics, along with unique combination
of military elements introduced by Philip II, came together into the army that
won an intercontinental empire. By introducing military service as a full-time
occupation, Philip was able to drill his men regularly, ensuring unity and
cohesion in his ranks. In a remarkably short time, this led to one of the finest
military machines that Asia
or
Greece
had ever seen.
Tactical innovations included adaptations of the latest tactics applied to
the traditional Greek
phalanx
by men such as
Epaminondas
of Thebes (who twice defeated the
Spartans), as well as coordinated attacks (early
combined arms
tactics) with the various arms of
his army — the phalanx, cavalry, missile troops, and (under Alexander III)
siege engines
. A novel weapon was introduced,
the sarissa
, a type of counter-weighted (like all
Greek spears)
pike
, which gave its wielder many advantages
both offensively and defensively. For the first time in Greek warfare cavalry
became a decisive arm in battle.
The new Macedonian army was an amalgamation of different forces. Macedonians
and other Greeks (especially
Thessalian
cavalry) and a wide range of
mercenaries from across the
Aegean
and Balkans were employed by Phillip. By
338 BC, more than a half of the army for his planned invasion of
Persia
came from outside the borders of
Macedon
— from all over the Greek world and the
nearby barbarian tribes.
Unfortunately, the primary historical sources for this period have been lost.
As a consequence, scholarship is largely reliant on the writings of
Diodorus Siculus
and
Arrian
, both of whom lived centuries later than
the events they describe.
Origins
If Philip II had not been the father of Alexander the Great, he would be more
widely known as a first-rate military innovator, tactician and strategist, and
as a consummate politician. The conquests of Alexander would have been
impossible without the army his father created. Though considered semi-barbarous
by the metropolitan Greeks, the Macedonians in their native state were a martial
people; they drank deeply of unwatered wine (the very mark of a barbarian) and
no youth was considered to be fit to sit with the men at table until he had
killed, on foot with a spear, a wild boar.
When Philip took over control of Macedon it was a backward
state on the fringes of the Greek world and was beset by its traditional
enemies: Illyrians, Paeonians and Thracians. Macedon itself was not unified, it
consisted of a heartland inhabited by the Macedonians proper and many highland
‘baronies’ peopled by tribesmen ruled by semi-hellenised chieftains who
recognised the power of the king only when it was in their interest. Previous
kings of Macedon had raised armies including good quality cavalry, a small
number of hoplite
infantry and fairly numerous light
infantry; however, these forces were not rigorously trained or organised and
were only just capable of keeping Macedon intact — the kingdom often being
raided or invaded by the surrounding barbarian peoples.
Philip’s first achievement was to unify Macedon through his army. He raised
troops and made his army the single fount of wealth, honour and power in the
land; the unruly chieftains of Macedonia became the officers and elite
cavalrymen of the army, the highland peasants became the footsoldiers. Philip
took pains to keep them always under arms and either fighting or drilling.
Manoeuvres and drills were made into competitive events, and the truculent
Macedonians vied with each other to excel.[3]
As a political counterbalance to the native-born Macedonian nobility, Philip
invited military families from throughout Greece to settle on lands he had
conquered or confiscated from his enemies, these ‘personal clients’ then also
served in the Companion cavalry. After taking control of the gold-rich mines of
Mount Pangaeus, and the city of
Amphipolis
that dominated the region, he
obtained the wealth to support a large army, moreover it was a professional army
imbued with a national spirit. By the time of his death, Philip’s army had
pushed the Macedonian frontier into southern Illyria, conquered the Paeonians
and Thracians, destroyed the power of
Phocis
and defeated and humbled
Athens
and
Thebes
. All the states of Greece, with the
exception of Sparta, Epirus and Crete, had become subservient allies of Macedon
(League
of Corinth) and Philip was laying the foundations of an invasion of
the Persian Empire, an invasion that his son would successfully undertake.[4]
One important military innovation of Philip II is often overlooked, he banned
the use of wheeled transport and limited the number of camp servants to one to
every ten infantrymen and one each for the cavalry. This reform made the baggage
train of the army very small for its size and improved its speed of march.[5]
Troop types
and unit organisation
Ancient depiction of a Macedonian cavalryman (left). This shows
Alexander the Great as a cavalryman. He wears a helmet in the form
of the lion-scalp of Herakles. Detail of the so-called
Alexander Sarcophagus
, excavated at
Sidon.
Heavy Cavalry
The Companion Cavalry
The Companion cavalry, or
Hetairoi
(Ἑταῖροι),
were the elite arm of the Macedonian army, and have been regarded as the best
cavalry[6]
in the
ancient world
. Along with Thessalian cavalry
contingents, the Companions—raised from landed nobility—made up the bulk of the
Macedonian heavy cavalry. Central Macedonia was good horse-rearing country and
cavalry was prominent in Macedonian armies from early times. However, it was the
reforms in organisation, drill and tactics introduced by Philip II that
transformed the Companion cavalry into a battle-winning force.
The term hetairos became an
aulic title
in the
Diadochi
period, and the hetairoi were
divided into squadrons called ilai (singular: ilē), each 200 men
strong, except for the Royal Squadron, which numbered 300. The Royal Squadron
was also known as the Agema – “that which leads.” Each squadron was
commanded by an ilarchēs (ilarch) and appears to have been raised from a
particular area of Macedon. Arrian for instance described squadrons from
Bottiaea, Amphipolis, Apollonia and Anthemus.[7]
It is probable that Alexander took 8 squadrons with him on his invasion of Asia
totalling 1,800 men, leaving 7 ilai behind in Macedon (the 1,500
cavalrymen mentioned by Diodorus).[8]
Between 330 BC and 328 BC the Companions were reformed in to regiments (hipparchies)
of 2-3 squadrons. In conjunction with this each squadron was divided into two
lochoi. This was probably undertaken to allow for the increase in size of each
squadron, as reinforcements and amalgamations meant the Companion cavalry grew
in size. At this time Alexander abandoned the regional organisation of the ilai,
choosing their officers regardless of their origins.[9]
The individual Companion cavalry squadron was usually deployed in a wedge
formation, which facilitated both manoeuvrability and the shock of the charge.
The advantage of the wedge was that it offered a narrow point for piercing enemy
formations and concentrated the leaders at the front. It was easier to turn than
a square formation because everyone followed the leader at the apex, “like a
flight of cranes.” Philip II introduced the formation, probably in emulation of
Thracian and Scythian cavalry, though the example of the rhomboid formation
adopted by Macedon’s southern neighbours, the Thessalians, must also have had
some effect.[10]
The primary weapon of the Macedonian cavalry was the
xyston
, a double ended lance, with a sword as a
secondary weapon. From descriptions of combat, it would appear that once in
melee the Companion cavalryman used his lance to thrust at the chests and faces
of the enemy. It is possible that the lance was aimed at the upper body of an
opposing cavalryman in the expectation that a blow which did not wound or kill
might have sufficient leverage to unseat. If the lance broke, the Companion
could reverse it and use the other end, or draw his sword.
Cleitus
, an officer of the Companions, saved
Alexander the Great’s life at the Granicus by cutting off an enemy horseman’s
arm with his sword.[11]
Companion cavalrymen would normally have worn armour and a helmet in battle.
Although the Companion cavalry is largely regarded as the first real shock
cavalry of Antiquity, it seems that Alexander was very wary of using it against
well-formed infantry, as attested by Arrian in his account of the battle against
the Malli, an Indian tribe he faced after Hydaspes. There, Alexander did not
dare assault the dense infantry formation with his cavalry, but rather waited
for his infantry to arrive, while he and his cavalry harassed their flanks. It
is a common mistake to portray the Companion cavalry as a force able to burst
through compact infantry lines. Alexander usually launched the Companions at the
enemy after a gap had opened up between their units or disorder had already
disrupted their ranks. The Companions that accompanied Alexander to Asia
numbered 1,800 men. This number steadily grew as the campaign progressed, with
300 reinforcements arrving from Macedon after the first year of campaigning.
They were usually arrayed on the right flank (this being the position of honour
in Hellenic armies, where the best troops would be positioned), and typically
carried out the decisive maneuver/assault of the battle under Alexander’s direct
leadership.[12]
Thessalian Cavalry
A heavy cavalryman of Alexander the Great’s army, possibly a
Thessalian. He wears a cuirass (probably a linothorax) and a
Boeotian helmet, and is equipped with a scabbarded xiphos
straight-bladed sword. Alexander Sarcophagus.
Following the defeat of Lycophron of
Pherae
and
Onomarchos
of
Phocis
, Philip II of Macedon was appointed
Archon of the
Thessalian League
; his death induced the
Thessalians to attempt to throw off Macedonian hegemony, but a short bloodless
campaign by Alexander restored them to allegiance. The Thessalians were
considered the finest cavalry of Greece.
The Thessalian heavy cavalry accompanied Alexander during the first half of
his Asian campaign and was at times employed by the Macedonians as allies
throughout the later years until
Macedon
‘s final demise under the Roman gladius.
Its organization and weaponry were similar to the Companion Cavalry. However,
shorter spears and javelins were wielded in conjunction with the
xyston
. The Thessalian cavalry was famed for
its use of
rhomboid formations
, said to have been
developed by the Thessalian Tagos (head of the Thessalian League)
Jason of Pherae
. This formation was very
efficient for manoeuvring, as it allowed the squadron to change direction at
speed while still retaining cohesion.[13]
The numbers given for Alexander’s invasion of the
Persian Empire
included 1,800 such men. This
number would have risen no higher than 2,000. They were typically entrusted with
the defensive role of guarding the left flank from enemy cavalry, allowing the
decisive attack to be launched on the right. They often faced tremendous
opposition when in this role. At
Issus
and
Gaugamela
, the Thessalians withstood the attack
of Persian cavalry forces, though greatly outnumbered.
At Ecbatana, the Thessalians with Alexander’s army were mustered out and sent
home. Some remained with the army as mercenaries yet these too were sent home a
year later when the army reached the
Oxus River
.
Other Greek cavalry
The Hellenic states allied to, or more accurately under the hegemony of,
Macedon provided contingents of heavy cavalry and the Macedonian kings hired
mercenaries of the same origins. Alexander had 600 Greek cavalrymen at the start
of his campaign against Persia, probably organised into 5 ilai. These
cavalrymen would have been equipped very similarly to the Thessalians and
Companions, but they deployed in a square formation eight deep and sixteen
abreast.[8]
The Greek cavalry was not considered as effective or versatile as the Thessalian
and Macedonian cavalry.
Light Cavalry
Light cavalry, such as the Prodromoi, secured the wings of the army
during battle and went on
reconnaissance
missions. Apart from the
Prodromoi, other horsemen from subject or allied nations, raised from a variety
of places, filling various tactical roles and wielding different weapons,
rounded out the cavalry. By the time Alexander campaigned in India and
subsequently, the cavalry had been drastically reformed and included thousands
of horse-archers from Iranian peoples such as the
Dahae
(prominent at the
Battle of Hydaspes
), other mounted missile
troops, plus Asiatic heavy cavalry.
Prodromoi
The Prodromoi were Macedonians, they are sometimes referred to as
Sarissophoroi, or “lancers”, which leads to the conclusion that they sometimes
were armed with an uncommonly long xyston (believed to be 14 ft long), though
certainly not an infantry pike. They acted as scouts reconnoitering in front of
the army when it was on the march. In battle they were used in a shock role to
protect the right flank of the Companion cavalry. Their abilities as scouts
would seem to have been mediocre because when Persian light cavalry were
recruited into the Macedonian army following Gaugamela they took over these
duties, with the Prodromoi assuming a purely battlefield role as shock cavalry.
Four ilai, each 150 strong, of Prodromoi operated with Alexander’s army in Asia.[14]
Paeonian cavalry
These light cavalry were recruited from
Paeonia
, a tribal region to the north of
Macedonia. The Paeones had been reduced to tributary status by Philip II. Led by
their own chieftains the Paeonian cavalry were usually brigaded with the
Prodromoi and often operated alongside them in battle. They appear to have been
armed with javelins and swords. Initially only one squadron strong, they
received 500 reinforcements in Egypt and a further 600 at Susa.[15]
Thracian cavalry
Javelin-armed Thracian horseman – hunting wild boar.
Largely recruited from the Odrysian tribe, the Thracian cavalry also acted as
scouts on the march. In battle, they performed much the same function as the
Prodromoi and Paeonians, except they guarded the flank of the Thessalian cavalry
on the left wing of the army. The Thracians deployed in their ancestral wedge
formations and were armed with javelins and swords. At Gaugamela, the Thracians
fielded 4 ilai and were about 500 strong.[15]
Horse Archers
In 329 BC Alexander, in
Sogdiana
, created a unit of horse archers 1,000
strong recruited from various Iranian peoples. They were very effective at
scouting and in screening the rest of the army from the enemy. Firing their bows
whilst mounted, they offered highly mobile missile fire on the battlefield. At
the Battle of Hydaspes, the massed fire of the horse archers was effective at
disordering the Indian cavalry and helped to neutralise the Indian chariots.[16]
Antigonus II Gonatas (Greek:
Αντίγονος B΄ Γονατᾶς “knock-knees” 319 BC—239 BC) was a powerful ruler
who firmly established the
Antigonid dynasty
in
Macedonia
and acquired fame for his victory over the
Gauls who had
invaded the Balkans
.
//
Birth
and family
Antigonus Gonatas was born around 319 BC, probably in
Gonnoi
in
Thessaly
or
his name is derived from an iron plate protecting the knee (Ancient
Greek: gonu-gonatos, English: knee;
Modern
Greek
: epigonatida, English: kneecap). He was related to the
most powerful of the
Diadochi
(the generals of
Alexander
who divided the empire after his death in 323 BC). Antigonus’s
father was
Demetrius Poliorcetes
, who was the son of
Antigonus
, who then controlled much of Asia. His mother was
Phila
, the daughter of
Antipater
.
The latter controlled Macedonia and Greece and was recognized as regent of the
empire, which in theory remained united. In this year, however, Antipater died,
leading to further struggles for territory and dominance.
The careers of Antigonus’s grandfather and father showed
great swings in fortune. After coming closer than anyone to reuniting the empire
of Alexander, Antigonus Monophthalmus was defeated and killed in the great
battle of Ipsus
in 301 BC and the territory he formerly controlled was
divided among his enemies,
Cassander
,
Ptolemy
,
Lysimachus
,
and
Seleucus
.
Demetrius’s
general
The fate of Antigonus Gonatas, now 18, was closely tied with
that of his father Demetrius who escaped from the battle with 9,000 troops.
Jealousy among the victors eventually allowed Demetrius to regain part of the
power his father had lost. He conquered
Athens
and much
of Greece and in 294 BC he seized the throne of Macedonia from
Alexander
, the son of Cassander.
Because Antigonus Gonatas was the grandson of Antipater and
the nephew of Cassander, through his mother, his presence helped to reconcile
the supporters of these former kings to the rule of his father.
In 292 BC, while Demetrius was campaigning in
Boeotia
, he
received news that Lysimachus, the ruler of
Thrace
and the
enemy of his father had been taken prisoner by
Dromichaetes
, a barbarian. Hoping to seize Lysimachus’s territories in
Thrace and Asia, Demetrius, delegated command of his forces in Boeotia to
Antigonus and immediately marched North. While he was away, the Boeotians rose
in rebellion, but were defeated by Antigonus, who bottled them up in
Thebes
.
After the failure of his expedition to Thrace, Demetrius
rejoined his son at the siege of Thebes. As the Thebans defended their city
stubbornly, Demetrius often forced his men to attack the city at great cost,
even though there was little hope of capturing it. It is said that, distressed
by the heavy losses, Antigonus asked his father: “Why, father, do we allow these
lives to be thrown away so unnecessarily?” Demetrius appears to have showed his
contempt for the lives of his soldiers by replying: “We don’t have to find
rations for the dead.” But he also showed a similar disregard for his own life
and was badly wounded at the siege by a bolt through the neck.
In 291 BC, Demetrius finally took the city after using siege
engines to demolish its walls. But control of Macedonia and most of Greece was
merely a stepping stone to his plans for further conquest. He aimed at nothing
less than the revival of Alexander’s empire and started making preparations on a
grand scale, ordering the construction of a fleet of 500 ships, many of them of
unprecedented size.
Such preparations and the obvious intent behind them,
naturally alarmed the other kings, Seleucus, Ptolemy, Lysimachus, and
Pyrrhus
, who immediately formed an alliance. In the Spring of 288 BC
Ptolemy’s fleet appeared off Greece, inciting the cities to revolt. At the same
time, Lysimachus attacked Macedonia from the East while Pyrrhus did so from the
West. Demetrius left Antigonus in control of Greece, while he hurried to
Macedonia.
By now the Macedonians had come to resent the extravagance
and arrogance of Demetrius, and were not prepared to fight a difficult campaign
for him. In 287 BC, Pyrrhus took the Macedonian city of
Verroia
and Demetrius’s army promptly deserted and went over to the enemy
who was much admired by the Macedonians for his bravery. At this change of
fortune, Phila, the mother of Antigonus, killed herself with poison. Meanwhile
in Greece, Athens revolted. Demetrius therefore returned and besieged the city,
but he soon grew impatient and decided on a more dramatic course. Leaving
Antigonus in charge of the war in Greece, he assembled all his ships and
embarked with 11,000 infantry and all his cavalry to attack
Caria
and
Lydia
, provinces
of Lysimachus.
By separating himself from his son and departing into Asia,
Demetrius seemed to take his bad luck with him, but in reality it was the fear
and the jealousy of the other kings. As Demetrius was chased across
Asia Minor
to the
Taurus Mountains
by the armies of Lysimachus and Seleucus, Antigonus
attained success in Greece. Ptolemy’s fleet was driven off and Athens
surrendered.
In
the wilderness
In 285 BC, Demetrius, worn down by his fruitless campaign,
surrendered to Seleucus. At this point he wrote to son and his commanders in
Athens and Corinth
telling them to henceforth consider him a dead man and to ignore any
letters they might receive written under his seal. Macedonia, meanwhile had been
divided between Pyrrhus and Lysimachus, but like two wolves sharing a piece of
meat, they soon fought over it with the result that Lysimachus drove Pyrrhus out
and took over the whole kingdom.
Following the capture of his father, Antigonus proved himself
a dutiful son. He wrote to all the kings, especially Seleucus, offering to
surrender all the territory he controlled and proposing himself as a hostage for
his father’s release, but to no avail. In 283 BC, at the age of 55, Demetrius
died in captivity in Syria. When Antigonus heard that his father’s remains were
being brought to him, he put to sea with his entire fleet, met Seleucus’s ships
near the Cyclades
, and took the relics to Corinth with great ceremony. After this,
the remains were interred at the town of
Demetrias
that his father had founded in
Thessaly
.
In 282 BC, Seleucus declared war on Lysimachus and the next
year defeated and killed him at the
battle of Corupedium
in Lydia. He then crossed to Europe to claim Thrace and
Macedonia, but
Ptolemy Ceraunus
, the son of Ptolemy, murdered him and seized the Macedonian
throne. Antigonus decided the time was ripe to take back his father’s kingdom,
but when he marched North, Ptolemy Ceraunus defeated his army.
Ptolemy’s success, however, was short lived. In the Winter of
279 BC, a great horde of
Gauls descended on
Macedonia from the northern forests, crushed Ptolemy’s army, and killed him in
battle, starting two years of complete anarchy in the kingdom. After plundering
Macedonia, the Gauls invaded Greece. Antigonus cooperated in the defense of
Greece against the barbarians, but it was the
Aetolians
who took the lead in defeating the
Gauls
. In 278 BC, a Greek army with a large
Aetolian
contingent resisted the Gauls at
Thermopylae
and Delphi
, inflicting heavy casualties and forcing them to retreat.
The next year (277 BC), Antigonus, sailed to the
Hellespont
,
landing near
Lysimachia
at the neck of the
Thracian Chersonese
. When an army of Gauls under the command of
Cerethrius
appeared, Antigonus laid an ambush. He abandoned his camp and beached his ships,
then concealed his men. The Gauls looted the camp, but when they started to
attack the ships, Antigonus’s army appeared, trapping them with the sea to their
rear. In this way, Antigonus was able to inflict a crushing defeat on them and
claim the Macedonian throne. It was around this time, under these favorable
omens, that his son and successor,
Demetrius II Aetolicus
was born.
King
of Macedonia
Antigonus
against Pyrrhus
Pyrrhus
, king of
Epirus
, Macedonia’s Western neighbor, was a general of mercurial ability,
widely renowned for his bravery, but he did not apply his talents sensibly and
often snatched after vain hopes, so that Antigonus used to compare him to a dice
player, who had excellent throws, but did not know how to use them. When the
Gauls defeated Ptolemy Ceraunus and the Macedonian throne became vacant, Pyrrhus
was occupied in his campaigns overseas. Hoping to conquer first
Italy
and then
Africa, he got involved in wars against
Rome
and Carthage
, the two most powerful states in the Western
Mediterranean
. He then lost the support of the Greek cities in Italy and
Sicily
by his
haughty behavior. Needing reinforcements, he wrote to Antigonus as a fellow
Greek king, asking him for troops and money, but Antigonus politely refused. In
275 BC, the Romans fought Pyrrhus at the
Battle of Beneventum
which ended inconclusively, although many modern
sources wrongly state that Pyrrhus lost the battle. Pyrrhus had been drained by
his recent wars in Sicily, and by the earlier Pyrrhic victories over the Romans,
and thus decided to end his campaign in Italy and return to Epirus.
Pyrrhus’s retreat from Italy, however, proved very unlucky
for Antigonus. Returning to Epirus with an army of eight thousand foot and five
hundred horse, he was in need of money to pay them. This encouraged him to look
for another war, so the next year, after adding a force of Gallic mercenaries to
his army, he invaded Macedonia with the intention of filling his coffers with
plunder. The campaign however went better than expected. Making himself master
of several towns and being joined by two thousand deserters, his hopes started
to grow and he went in search of Antigonus, attacking his army in a narrow pass
and throwing it into disorder. Antigonus’s Macedonian troops retreated, but his
own body of Gallic mercenaries, who had charge of his elephants, stood firm
until Pyrrhus’s troops surrounded them, whereupon they surrendered both
themselves and the elephants. Pyrrhus now chased after the rest of Antigonus’s
army which, demoralized by its earlier defeat, declined to fight. As the two
armies faced each other, Pyrrhus called out to the various officers by name and
persuaded the whole body of infantry to desert. Antigonus escaped by concealing
his identity. Pyrrhus now took control of upper Macedonia and Thessaly while
Antigonus held onto the coastal towns.
But like the dice player who wasted his good fortune, Pyrrhus
now wasted his victory. Taking possession of
Aegae
, the
ancient capital of Macedonia, he installed a garrison of Gauls who greatly
offended the Macedonians by digging up the tombs of their kings and leaving the
bones scattered about as they searched for gold. He also neglected to finish off
his enemy. Leaving him in control of the coastal cities, he contented himself
with insults. He called Antigonus a shameless man for still wearing the purple,
but he did little to destroy the remnants of his power.
Before this campaign was finished, Pyrrhus had embarked upon
a new one. In 272 BC,
Cleonymus
, an important
Spartan
,
invited him to invade
Laconia
.
Gathering an army of twenty-five thousand foot, two thousand horse, and
twenty-four elephants, he crossed over to the
Peloponnese
and occupied
Megalopolis
in
Arcadia
.
Antigonus, after reoccupying part of Macedonia, gathered what forces he could
and sailed to Greece to oppose him. As a large part of the Spartan army led by
king Areus
was in Crete
at
the time, Pyrrhus had great hopes of taking the city easily, but the citizens
organized stout resistance, allowing one of Antigonus’s commanders, Aminias, the
Phocian
, to
reach the city with a force of mercenaries from Corinth. Soon after this, the
Spartan king, Areus, returned from Crete with 2.000 men. These reinforcements
stiffened resistance and Pyrrhus, finding that he was losing men to desertion
every day, broke off the attack and started to plunder the country.
The most important Peloponnesian city after Sparta was
Argos
. The two
chief men,
Aristippus
and
Aristeas
were keen rivals. As Aristippus was an ally of Antigonus, Aristeas
invited Pyrrhus to come to Argos to help him take over the city. Antigonus,
aware that Pyrrhus was advancing on Argos, marched his army there as well,
taking up a strong position on some high ground near the city. When Pyrrhus
learned this, he encamped about
Nauplia
and
the next day dispatched a herald to Antigonus, calling him a coward and
challenging him to come down and fight on the plain. Antigonus replied that he
would choose his own moment to fight and that if Pyrrhus was weary of life, he
could find many ways to die.
The Argives, fearing that their territory would become a war
zone, sent deputations to the two kings begging them to go elsewhere and allow
their city to remain neutral. Both kings agreed, but Antigonus won over the
trust of the Argives by surrendering his son as a hostage for his pledge.
Pyrrhus, who had recently lost a son in the retreat from Sparta, did not.
Indeed, with the help of Aristeas, he was plotting to seize the city. In the
middle of the night, he marched his army up to the city walls and entered
through a gate that Aristeas had opened. His Gallic troops seized the market
place, but he had difficulty getting his elephants into the city through the
small gates. This gave the Argives time to rally. They occupied strong points
and sent messengers asking Antigonus for help.
When Antigonus heard that Pyrrhus had treacherously attacked
the city, he advanced to the walls and sent a strong force inside to help the
Argives. At the same time Areus arrived with a force of 1.000 Cretans and
light-armed Spartans. These forces attacked the Gauls in the market place.
Pyrrhus, realizing that his Gallic troops were hard pressed, now advanced into
the city with more troops, but in the narrow streets this soon led to confusion
as men got lost and wandered around. The two forces now paused and waited for
daylight. When the sun rose, Pyrrhus saw how strong the opposition was and
decided the best thing was to retreat. Fearing that the gates would be too
narrow for his troops to easily exit the city, he sent a message to his son,
Helenus
, who was outside with the main body of the army, asking him to break
down a section of the walls. The messenger, however, failed to convey his
instructions clearly. Misunderstanding what was required, Helenus took the rest
of the elephants and some picked troops and advanced into the city to help his
father.
With some of his troops trying to get out of the city and
others trying to get in, Pyrrhus’s army was now thrown into confusion. This was
made worse by the elephants. The largest one had fallen across the gateway and
was blocking the way, while another elephant, called Nicon, was trying to find
its rider. This beast surged against the tide of fugitives, crushing friend and
foe alike, until it found its dead master, whereupon it picked him up, placed
him on its tusks, and went on the rampage. In this chaos Pyrrhus was struck down
by a tile thrown by an old woman and killed by Zopyrus, a soldier of Antigonus.
Thus ended the career of the most famous soldier of his time.
Alcyoneus, one of Antigonus’s sons, heard that Pyrrhus had
been killed. Taking the head, which had been cut off by Zopyrus, he rode to
where his father was and threw it at his feet. Far from being delighted,
Antigonus was angry with his son and struck him, calling him a barbarian and
drove him away. He then covered his face with his cloak and burst into tears.
The fate of Pyrrhus reminded him all too clearly of the tragic fates of his own
grandfather and his father who had suffered similar swings of fortune. He then
had Pyrrhus’s body cremated with great ceremony.
After the death of Pyrrhus, his whole army and camp
surrendered to Antigonus, greatly increasing his power. Later, Alcyoneus
discovered Hellenicus, Pyrrhus’s son, disguised in threadbare clothes. He
treated him kindly and brought him to his father who was more pleased with his
behaviour. “This is better than what you did before, my son,” he said, “but why
leave him in these clothes which are a disgrace to us now that we know ourselves
the victors?” Greeting him courteously, Antigonus treated Helenus as an honored
guest and sent him back to Epirus.
This was not the end of Antigonus’ problems with Epirus:
shortly after
Alexander II
, the son of Pyrrhus and his successor as king of Epirus,
repeated his father’s adventure by conquering Macedonia. But only a few years
after Alexander was not only expelled from Macedonia by Antigonus’ son
Demetrius, but he also lost Epirus and had to go into exile in
Acarnania
.
His exile didn’t last long, as the Macedonians had at the end to abandon Epirus
under pressure from Alexander’s allies, the Acarnanians and the
Aetolians
. Alexander seems to have died about 242 BC leaving his country
under the regency of his wife
Olympias
who proved anxious to have good relations with Epirus’ powerful
neighbor, as was sanctioned by the marriage between the regent’s daughter
Phthia
and Antigonus’ son and heir Demetrius.
Chremonidean
War
With the restoration of the territories captured by Pyrrhus,
and with grateful allies in Sparta and Argos, and garrisons in Corinth and other
cities, Antigonus securely controlled Macedonia and Greece. The careful way he
guarded his power shows that he wished to avoid the vicissitudes of fortune that
had characterized the careers of his father and grandfather. Aware that the
Greeks loved freedom and autonomy, he was careful to grant a semblance of this
in as much as it did not clash with his own power. Also, he tried to avoid the
odium that direct rule brings by controlling the Greeks through intermediaries.
It is for this reason that
Polybius
says, “No man ever set up more absolute rulers in Greece than Antigonus.”
The next stage of Antigonus’s career is not documented and
what we know has been patched together from a few historical fragments:
Antigonus seems to have been on very good terms with
Antiochus
, the
Seleucid
ruler of Asia, whose love for
Stratonice
, the sister of Antigonus, is very famous. Such an alliance
naturally threatened the third
successor state
,
Ptolemaic Egypt
. In Greece, Athens and Sparta, once the dominant states,
naturally resented the domination of Antigonus. The pride, which in the past had
made these cities mortal enemies, now served to unite them. In 267 BC, probably
with encouragement from Egypt, an Athenian by the name of
Chremonides
persuaded the Athenians to join the Spartans in declaring war on
Antigonus (see
Chremonidean War
).
The Macedonian king responded by ravaging the territory of
Athens with an army while blockading them by sea. In this campaign he also
destroyed the grove and temple of Poseidon that stood at the entrance to
Attica
near the
border with Megara
.
To support the Athenians and prevent the power of Antigonus from growing too
much,
Ptolemy II Philadelphus
, the king of Egypt, sent a fleet to break the
blockade. The Egyptian admiral,
Patroclus
, landed on a small uninhabited island near
Laurium
and
fortified it as a base for naval operations.
The Seleucid Empire had signed a peace treaty with Egypt, but
Antiochus’s son-in-law,
Magas
, king of
Cyrene
, persuaded Antiochus to take advantage of the war in Greece to attack
Egypt. To counter this, Ptolemy dispatched a force of pirates and freebooters to
raid and attack the lands and provinces of Antiochus, while his army fought a
defensive campaign, holding back the stronger Seleucid army. Although
successfully defending Egypt, Ptolemy II was unable to save Athens from
Antigonus. In 263 BC, the Athenians and Spartans, worn down by several years of
war and the devastation of their lands, made peace with Antigonus, who thus
retained his hold on Greece.
Ptolemy II continued to interfere in the affairs of Greece
and this led to war in 261 BC. After two years in which little changed,
Antiochus II
, the new Seleucid king, made a military agreement with
Antigonus, and the
Second Syrian War
began. Under the combined attack, Egypt lost ground in
Anatolia
and Phoenicia
,
and the city of Miletus
, held by its ally,
Timarchus
, was seized by
Antiochus II Theos
. In 255 BC, Ptolemy made peace, ceding lands to the
Seleucids and confirming Antigonus in his mastery of Greece.
Antigonus
against Aratus
Having successfully repelled the external threat to his
control of Greece, the main danger to the power of Antigonus lay in the Greek
love of liberty. In 251 BC,
Aratus
, a young nobleman in the city of
Sicyon
expelled
the tyrant
Nicocles
,
who had ruled with the acquiescence of Antigonus, freed the people, and recalled
the exiles. This led to confusion and division within the city. Fearing that
Antigonus would exploit these divisions to attack the city, Aratus applied for
the city to join the
Achaean League
, a league of a few small
Achaean
towns
in the Pelopennese.
Preferring to use guile rather than military power, Antigonus
sought to regain control over Sicyon through winning the young man over to his
side. Accordingly, he sent him a gift of 25
talents
, but, Aratus, instead of being corrupted by this wealth, immediately
gave it away to his fellow citizens. With this money and another sum he received
from
Ptolemy II Philadelphus
, he was able to reconcile the different parties in
Sicyon and unite the city.
Antigonus was troubled by the rising power and popularity of
Aratus. If he were to receive extensive military and financial support from
Ptolemy, Aratus would be able to threaten his position. He decided therefore to
either win him over to his side or at least discredit him with Ptolemy. In order
to do this, he showed him great marks of favour. When he was sacrificing to the
gods in Corinth, he sent portions of the meat to Aratus at Sicyon, and
complimented Aratus in front of his guests: “I thought this Sicyonian youth was
only a lover of liberty and of his fellow-citizens, but now I look upon him as a
good judge of the manners and actions of kings. For formerly he despised us,
and, placing his hopes further off, admired the Egyptians, hearing much of their
elephants, fleets, and palaces. But after seeing all these at a nearer distance,
and perceiving them to be but mere stage props and pageantry, he has now come
over to us. And for my part I willingly receive him, and, resolving to make
great use of him myself, command you to look upon him as a friend.” These words
were readily believed by many, and when they were reported to Ptolemy, he half
believed them.
But Aratus was far from becoming a friend of Antigonus, whom
he regarded as the oppressor of Greek freedom. In 243 BC, in an attack by night,
he seized the
Acrocorinth
, the strategically important fort by which Antigonus controlled
the
Isthmus
and thus the Pelopennese. When news of this success reached Corinth,
the Corinthians rose in rebellion, overthrew Antigonus’ party, and joined the
Achaean League. Next Aratus took the port of
Lechaeum
and
captured 25 of Antigonus’s ships.
This setback for Antigonus, sparked a general uprising
against Macedonian power. The
Megarians
revolted and together with the
Troezenians
and Epidaurians
enrolled in the Achaean League. With this increased strength,
Aratus invaded the territory of Athens and plundered
Salamis
. Every Athenian freemen whom he captured was sent back to the
Athenians without ransom to encourage them to join the rebellion. The
Macedonians, however, retained their hold on Athens and the rest of Greece.
Relations
with India
Antigonus is mentioned in the
Edicts of Ashoka
, as one of the recipients of the Indian Emperor
Ashoka
‘s Buddhist
proselytism.
No Western historical record of this event remain.
Ashoka also claims that he encouraged the development of
herbal medicine
, for men and animals, in the territories of the Hellenistic
kings
Death
and appraisal
In 239 BC, Antigonus died at the age of 80 and left his
kingdom to his son
Demetrius II
, who was to reign for the next 10 years. Except for a short
period when he defeated the Gauls, Antigonus was not an heroic or successful
military leader. His skills were mainly political. He preferred to rely on
cunning, patience, and persistence to achieve his goals. While more brilliant
leaders, like his father Demetrius, and Pyrrhus his neighbour, aimed higher and
fell lower, Antigonus achieved a measure of mediocre security. By dividing the
Greeks and ruling them indirectly through tyrants, however, he retarded their
political development so that they later fell an easy prey for the
Roman
conquest. It is also said of him that he gained the affection of his
subjects by his honesty and his cultivation of the arts, which he accomplished
by gathering round him distinguished literary men, in particular philosophers,
poets, and historians.
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