Battle of Lysimachia

Last updated
Battle of Lysimachia
Date277 BC
Location
Result Antigonid victory
Belligerents
Antigonid dynasty Gauls
Commanders and leaders
Antigonus II Gonatas Cerethrius

The Battle of Lysimachia was fought in 277 BC between the Gallic tribes settled in Thrace and a Greek army of Antigonus at Lysimachia, Thracian Chersonese. After the Greek defeat at Battle of Thermopylae, the Gauls retreated out of Greece and moved through Thrace and finally into Asia.

Antigonus' father, Demetrius Poliorcetes, had been driven from the Macedonian throne by Pyrrhus of Epirus and Lysimachus in 288 BC. Tired of war, Demetrius surrendered himself to Seleucus I Nicator in 285 BC, leaving Antigonus as the Antigonid heir to the Macedonian throne.

In 277 BC Antigonus organized an expedition to take Macedon from Sosthenes of Macedon. He sailed to the Hellespont, landing near Lysimachia at the neck of the Thracian Chersonese. The site of the landing was the territory of wild Gallic tribes, who had settled the place after being driven out of Greece. 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 [1] and claim the Macedonian throne. It was around this time, under these favorable omens, that his son and successor, Demetrius II Aetolicus was born by his niece-wife Phila.

Citations

Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, R.D. Hicks, Ed.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">3rd century BC</span> Century

The 3rd century BC started the first day of 300 BC and ended the last day of 201 BC. It is considered part of the Classical Era, epoch, or historical period.

This article concerns the period 229 BC – 220 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Macedonia (ancient kingdom)</span> Ancient kingdom in the southern Balkans

Macedonia, also called Macedon, was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, which later became the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by the royal Argead dynasty, which was followed by the Antipatrid and Antigonid dynasties. Home to the ancient Macedonians, the earliest kingdom was centered on the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, and bordered by Epirus to the southwest, Illyria to the northwest, Paeonia to the north, Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south.

This article concerns the period 359 BC – 350 BC.

This article concerns the period 289 BC – 280 BC.

This article concerns the period 279 BC – 270 BC.

Year 358 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Ambustus and Proculus. The denomination 358 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demetrius I of Macedon</span> King of Macedonia

Demetrius I, also called Poliorcetes, was a Macedonian nobleman, military leader, and king of Macedon. He belonged to the Antigonid dynasty and was its first member to rule Macedonia. He was the son of Antigonus I Monophthalmus and Stratonice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lysimachus</span> Macedonian officer (c. 360–281 BCE)

Lysimachus was a Thessalian officer and successor of Alexander the Great, who in 306 BC, became King of Thrace, Asia Minor and Macedon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antigonus II Gonatas</span> King of Macedonia

Antigonus II Gonatas was a Macedonian Greek ruler who solidified the position of the Antigonid dynasty in Macedon after a long period defined by anarchy and chaos and acquired fame for his victory over the Gauls who had invaded the Balkans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hellenistic period</span> Period of Greek history from 323 to 31 BC

In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII, followed by the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the conquest of Ptolemaic Egypt the following year. The Ancient Greek word Hellas was gradually recognized as the name for Greece, from which the word Hellenistic was derived. "Hellenistic" is distinguished from "Hellenic" in that the latter refers to Greece itself, while the former encompasses all ancient territories under Greek influence, in particular the East after the conquests of Alexander the Great.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hellenistic Greece</span> Historical period of Greece following Classical Greece

Hellenistic Greece is the historical period of the country following Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the annexation of the classical Greek Achaean League heartlands by the Roman Republic. This culminated at the Battle of Corinth in 146 BC, a crushing Roman victory in the Peloponnese that led to the destruction of Corinth and ushered in the period of Roman Greece. Hellenistic Greece's definitive end was with the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, when the future emperor Augustus defeated Greek Ptolemaic queen Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony, the next year taking over Alexandria, the last great center of Hellenistic Greece.

<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 that were 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">Tylis</span> 3rd century capital of a Balkan Celtic state

Tylis or Tyle was a capital of a short-lived Balkan state mentioned by Polybius that was founded by Celts led by Comontorius in the 3rd century BC. Following their invasion of Thrace and Greece in 279 BC, the Gauls were defeated by the Macedonian king Antigonus II Gonatas in the Battle of Lysimachia in 277 BC, after which they turned inland to Thrace and founded their kingdom at Tylis. It was located near the eastern edge of the Haemus (Balkan) Mountains in what is now eastern Bulgaria. Some bands of Celts, namely the Tectosages, Tolistobogii and Trocmi, did not settle in Thrace, but crossed into Asia Minor to become known as the Galatians. The last king of Tylis was Cavarus who maintained good relations with the city of Byzantium. His capital was destroyed by the Thracians in 212 BC and this was also the end of his kingdom. The modern Bulgarian village of Tulovo in Stara Zagora Province now occupies the site.

Lysimachia was an important Hellenistic Greek town on the north-western extremity of the Thracian Chersonese in the neck where the peninsula joins the mainland in what is now the European part of Turkey, not far from the bay of Melas.

Persaeus of Citium, son of Demetrius, was a Greek Stoic philosopher, and a friend and favourite student of Zeno of Citium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Celtic settlement of Southeast Europe</span> Military campaign by Celtic peoples in southeastern Europe

Gallic groups, originating from the various La Tène chiefdoms, began a southeastern movement into the Balkans from the 4th century BC. Although Gallic settlements were concentrated in the western half of the Carpathian basin, there were notable incursions and settlements within the Balkans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antigonid Macedonian army</span> Army of the Kingdom of Macedonia during the Antigonid dynasty (276-168 BC)

The Antigonid Macedonian army was the army that evolved from the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia in the period when it was ruled by the Antigonid dynasty from 276 BC to 168 BC. It was seen as one of the principal Hellenistic fighting forces until its ultimate defeat at Roman hands at the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC. However, there was a brief resurgence in 150-148 during the revolt of Andriscus, a supposed heir to Perseus.

The Battle of the Aous was fought in 274 BC between the invading Epirote army of Pyrrhus of Epirus and the army of Antigonus II Gonatas of Macedon near the Aous river.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Macedonia (ancient kingdom)</span> Aspect of history surrounding ancient Macedonia

The kingdom of Macedonia was an ancient state in what is now the Macedonian region of northern Greece, founded in the mid-7th century BC during the period of Archaic Greece and lasting until the mid-2nd century BC. Led first by the Argead dynasty of kings, Macedonia became a vassal state of the Achaemenid Empire of ancient Persia during the reigns of Amyntas I of Macedon and his son Alexander I of Macedon. The period of Achaemenid Macedonia came to an end in roughly 479 BC with the ultimate Greek victory against the second Persian invasion of Greece led by Xerxes I and the withdrawal of Persian forces from the European mainland.

References

  1. Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, 17, 141.