Battle of Myus

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Battle of Myus
Part of the Wars of the Diadochi
Date311 BC
Location
Myus (?) / Syria - Levant
Result Antigonid decisive victory
Peace of 311 BC
Belligerents
Ptolemies Antigonids
Commanders and leaders
Cilles Demetrius I Poliorcetes

The Battle of Myus was a military engagement that took place in 311 BC. The battle occurred in Syria or more generally, the Levant, at an unknown location named Myus, between an Antigonid force led by Demetrius I Poliorcetes and a Ptolemaic force under the command of a close associate of Ptolemy, Cilles. It concluded with an Antigonid victory, permitting to mitigate the defeat of Gaza, and likely led to the Peace of 311 BC among the various Diadochi.

Contents

Background

The Third War of the Diadochi saw Ptolemy and Seleucus, who had taken refuge in Egypt, opposing Antigonus I Monophtalmus and his son, Demetrius I. [1] The latter was in charge of the Antigonid armies in Syria. [1] During a decisive confrontation in Palestine, less than a year earlier, Demetrius was defeated by his adversaries and had to flee the battlefield, during the Battle of Gaza. [1] Ptolemy then sent one of his generals, a Macedonian named Cilles, described as one of his close associates by Diodorus Siculus, [2] to take advantage of the victory at Gaza and decisively defeat Demetrius in Syria. [3]

Battle

Course

The sources are particularly vague and elusive regarding this battle: it took place at an unknown location, likely in Syria [4] or the Levant, named Myus. [1] [5] Demetrius set an ambush for his adversary and managed to destroy a sufficiently significant portion of their forces, although ancient sources varied between the entirety [2] [3] and a small number, [6] to repel the Egyptian incursion. [1] [7]

After receiving news of the battle, while he was in Celaenae, [5] Antigonus responded by moving towards the Levant to assist his son in case of an Egyptian counter-offensive, but it never came. [1] He also emulated publicly his son for the victory. [8] Instead, this victorious ambush seemed to establish a status quo, freezing the Levantine borders; it likely also tilted the balance slightly in favor of the Antigonids, after the defeat at Gaza, in the context of the upcoming peace of 311 BC. [1]

Legacy

Besides Diodorus Siculus, [2] Plutarch, [3] and Pausanias [6] who mention the event, Plautus referenced it in one of his works, Curculio (The Weevil). [9] [10]

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demetrius I Poliorcetes</span> King of Macedon (294–288 BC)

Demetrius I Poliorcetes, was a Macedonian Greek nobleman and military leader who became king of Asia between 306 – 301 BC and king of Macedon between 294–288 BC. A member of the Antigonid dynasty, he was the son of its founder, Antigonus I Monophthalmus and his wife Stratonice, as well as the first member of the family to rule Macedon in Hellenistic Greece.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antigonus I Monophthalmus</span> Macedonian general, Diadochus, King of Asia

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wars of the Diadochi</span> Series of wars between Alexander the Greats successors, 322–281 BC

The Wars of the Diadochi, or Wars of Alexander's Successors, were a series of conflicts fought between the generals of Alexander the Great, known as the Diadochi, over who would rule his empire following his death. The fighting occurred between 322 and 281 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Salamis (306 BC)</span> Naval battle during the Wars of the Diadochi

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Gaza (312 BC)</span> Battle of the Third War of the Diadochi

The Battle of Gaza of 312 BC, was fought between the invading army of Ptolemy I Soter and his ally Seleucus I Nicator and the defending army of Demetrius I of Macedon, son of Antigonus I Monophthalmus. The battle was part of the Third War of the Diadochi and was fought near the city of Gaza.

The Babylonian War was a conflict fought between 311–309 BC between Antigonus I Monophthalmus and Seleucus I Nicator, ending in a victory for Seleucus. This conflict ended any possibility of restoration of the former empire of Alexander the Great, a result confirmed in the Battle of Ipsus. The battle also marked the birth of the Seleucid Empire by giving Seleucus control over the eastern satrapies of Alexander's former territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antigonid–Nabataean confrontations</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Byzantium</span> Battle during Second War of the Diadochi

The Battle of Byzantium (Byzantion) took place during the wars of the successors of Alexander the Great between the generals Antigonus Monopthalmus and Cleitus the White. It was a two-day-battle fought near Byzantium at the Hellespont in 317 BC and resulted in a stunning Antigonid victory.

The battle of the river Tigris was an engagement between the Diadochi Seleucus and the Antigonid general Nicanor, on the southern bank of the river Tigris in the year 311 BC. Nicanor was on route to recapture the city of Babylon from Seleucus, but he was defeated when Seleucus surprised him with an assault on his camp during the night, forcing Antigonus to cease hostilities with the other Diadochi, in order to concentrate his efforts on recapturing the city of Babylon himself.

The First Siege of Babylon was a successful siege of one of its citadels, loyal to Antigonus, by forces under Seleucus in 311 BC.

The Second siege of Babylon took place during the Babylonian War in 310 BC. Antigonid forces under Antigonus's oldest son, Demetrius, besieged the Seleucid garrison of the city of Babylon under the command of Patrocles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Campaign of the Chersonese</span> Military campaign of Demetrius Poliorcetes

After the disaster of the Battle of Ipsus, Demetrius I Poliorcetes launched a campaign of raids in the Thracian Chersonese in 300-299 BCE. These raids, directed against Lysimachus, were a last-ditch effort by the Antigonid to rebuild his forces and buy time to avoid complete annihilation.

Cilles was a Macedonian Greek general of the 4th century BC. He served Ptolemy I and was defeated by Demetrius I Poliorcetes at the Battle of Myus in 311 BC.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Wheatley, Pat; Dunn, Charlotte (2020). Demetrius the besieger. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. pp. 49–77. ISBN   978-0-19-883604-9.
  2. 1 2 3 "LacusCurtius • Diodorus Siculus — Book XIX Chapters 73‑101". penelope.uchicago.edu. Archived from the original on 2020-05-27. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
  3. 1 2 3 "Plutarch • Life of Demetrius". penelope.uchicago.edu. Archived from the original on 2024-06-07. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
  4. ↑ McTavish, John E. (2019). "A New Chronology for Seleucus Nicator's Wars from 311–308 B.C.E." Phoenix. 73 (1): 62–85. doi:10.1353/phx.2019.0055. ISSN   1929-4883.
  5. 1 2 Wheatley, Pat (1998). "The Chronology of the Third Diadoch War, 315-311 B. C." Phoenix. 52 (3/4): 257–281. doi:10.2307/1088670. ISSN   0031-8299. JSTOR   1088670. Archived from the original on 2024-04-13. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
  6. 1 2 "Pausanias, Description of Greece, Attica, chapter 6". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
  7. ↑ Hensel, Benedikt; Nocquet, Dany; Adamczewski, Bartosz; Faculté de théologie protestante (Montpellier, France), eds. (2020). Yahwistic diversity and the Hebrew Bible: tracing perspectives of group identity from Judah, Samaria, and the Diaspora in biblical traditions. Forschungen zum Alten Testament. 2. Reihe. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. p. 189. ISBN   978-3-16-158304-9.
  8. ↑ Wheatley, Pat (2001). "The Antigonid Campaign in Cyprus, 306 Bc". Ancient Society. 31: 133–156. doi:10.2143/AS.31.0.49. ISSN   0066-1619. JSTOR   44079822.
  9. ↑ Elderkin, G. W. (1934-01-01). "The Curculio of Plautus". American Journal of Archaeology. 38 (1): 29–36. doi:10.2307/498924. ISSN   0002-9114. JSTOR   498924.
  10. ↑ "Plaute : le charançon (Curculio)". remacle.org. Archived from the original on 2023-07-20. Retrieved 2024-06-09.

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