Battle of Andros (246 BC)

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Battle of Andros
Part of Third Syrian War
Cyclades-Satellite GREEK.png
Map of Cyclades, Greece
Date246/245 BC
Location
Result Antigonid victory
Belligerents
Antigonid Macedon Ptolemaic Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
Antigonus II Gonatas Sophron of Ephesus
Ptolemy Andromachou
Strength
numerically inferior numerically superior

The Battle of Andros was an obscure naval battle during the Third Syrian War. Despite its numerical superiority, the Egyptian fleet, probably commanded by Sophron of Ephesus, lost to a Macedonian fleet led by Antigonus II Gonatas. The Egyptian captain Ptolemy Andromachou, an illegitimate half-brother of the Pharaoh, lost his ship and crew, barely escaping to Ephesus.

The date of the battle is uncertain, but generally the year 246/245 BC is accepted. [1] Following the battle, the Egyptian king Ptolemy III Euergetes lost the dominion of the Nesiotic League to Antigonus Gonatas. [2]

See also

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Ptolemy I Soter was a Macedonian Greek general, historian and successor of Alexander the Great who went on to found the Ptolemaic Kingdom centered on Egypt and led by the Ptolemaic dynasty from 305 BC – 30 BC. Ptolemy was basileus and pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt from 305/304 BC to his death, during which time Egypt became a thriving bastion of Hellenistic civilization and Alexandria a great seat of Greek culture.

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Chremonides, son of Eteokles of Aithalidai, was an Athenian 3rd century BC statesman and general. He issued the Decree of Chremonides in 268 BC, creating an alliance between Sparta, Athens, and Ptolemy II, the Macedonian King of Egypt. This was a defensive alliance against King Antigonus of Macedon and led to the Chremonidean War. He is also recorded as having led an Egyptian fleet during the Battle of Ephesus in c. 258 BC.

The Ptolemaic navy was the naval force of the Ptolemaic Kingdom and later empire from 305 to 30 BC. It was founded by King Ptolemy I. Its main naval bases were at Alexandria, Egypt and Nea Paphos in Cyprus. It operated in the East Mediterranean in the Aegean Sea, the Levantine Sea, but also on the river Nile and in the Red Sea towards the Indian Ocean.

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References

  1. Reger, Gary (1994). "The Political History of the Kyklades 260–200 B.C.". Historia . 43 (1): 33. ISSN   0018-2311. JSTOR   4436314.
  2. Morkot, Robert (2003). Historical Dictionary of Ancient Egyptian Warfare. Lanham: Scarecrow Press. p. 18.