Battles and Tactics

by Bob Bennett

  35. Diodorus Siculus, Universal History IX, 19.43.3.

  36. Ibid, 19.43.5.

  37. J Hornblower, Hieronymus of Cardia, points out how Peucestas’ behaviour during these campaigns is at odds with his faultless and brave demeanour under Alexander. It is more than possible that Hieronymus decided to blacken his character in order to glorify Eumenes.

  Chapter 5: Battle of Gaza

  1. See Chapter 4: Gabene and Paraetacene, note 34, – if it is the same Philip!

  2. Diodorus Siculus, Universal History X 19.85.2.

  3. Ibid, 19.80.2.

  4. Ibid, 19.80.5.

  5. Of course, it could be that Diodorus (or more correctly his source, Hieronymus, who was in the pay of the Antigonids) is building up Ptolemy and his reputation for rhetorical effect.

  6. Diodorus Siculus, Universal History X, 19.81.2–3.

  7. See Chapter 1: Soldiers and Armies.

  8. Diodorus Siculus, Universal History X, 19.82.3.

  9. Ibid, 19.83.5.

  10. Ibid, 19.84.2–3.

  11. Ibid, 19.85.3.

  12. Plutarch (Demetrius 5), who has the briefest of descriptions of the battle, states that 5,000 men were killed and 8,000 more taken prisoner.

  13. According to Diodorus, Universal History X, 19.86.2, even though Andronicus insulted Ptolemy, when he was captured by the Lagid he was treated kindly and ‘advanced in honour’ as ‘one of his friends’.

  Chapter 6: Battle of Ipsus

  1. Diodorus Siculus, Universal History X, 20.109.1.

  2. Ibid, 20.112.1.

  3. Ibid, 20.112.3.

  4. Polynaeus, Stratagems, 4.12.7, suggests that Lysimachus massacred 5,000 Autariatae immediately after the loss of the baggage train, which raises the problem of how the 2,000 who deserted survived. For discussion of the historicity of this incident see R A Billows, Antigonos the One-Eyed, p 180, and H S Lund, Lysimachus (London & New York, 1992), p 76ff.

  5. Plutarch, Demetrius, 28.

  6. Ibid, 29.

  7. In 1987 a British army officer, Tony Clunn, whilst metal detecting, found 162 silver Roman coins, none younger than the reign of Augustus. He also found three sling shots of lead; these finds enabled him, with archaeologists, to pinpoint the exact site of battle.

  8. See Chapter 1: Soldiers and Armies.

  9. Diodorus Siculus, Universal History XI, translated by F R Walton (London and Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1954), 21.1.2.

  10. W W Tarn, Hellenistic Military and Naval Developments (Cambridge, 1930) p 69ff.

  11. B Bar-Kochva, The Seleucid Army (Cambridge, 1976) pp 105–110.

  Chapter 7: Siege Warfare

  1. Plutarch, Demetrius, 21.

  2. Polynaeus, Stratagems, 4.14.1, translated for the authors by B Polack.

  3. Diodorus Siculus, Universal History IX, 18.71.2–3.

  4. Ibid, 18.71.3–4.

  5. See Chapter 8: Naval Warfare.

  6. Diodorus Siculus, Universal History X, 20.83.1.

  7. Ibid, 20.85.4.

  8. Ibid, 20.48.2–4.

  9. Xenophon, Cyropaedia, translated by H G Dakyns (London, 1911), VI. 1. 52–53.

  10. Diodorus Siculus, Universal History X, 20.91.5.

  11. For details of this machine and its conjectural mechanism see DB Campbell, Greek and Roman Artillery 399BC–AD363 (Oxford, 2003), pp 45. See also his other excellent books Greek and Roman Siege Machinery 399BC–AD363 (Oxford, 2003) and Besieged: Siege Warfare in the Ancient World ( Oxford, 2006) for other details on siege machinery and warfare which we are indebted to.

  12. Vitruvius, De Architectura, translated by M H Morgan (Harvard University Press, 1914), 10.16.4.

  13. Vitruvius, De Architectura, 10.14.1.

  14. Diodorus Siculus, Universal History X, 20.95.1.

  15. R A Billows, Antigonos the One-Eyed, pp 388–9, explicitly mentions Hegetor as designing tortoises for the siege of Rhodes, but the evidence for this is not clear.

  16. See for instance, Diodorus Siculus, Universal History X, translated by R M Geer (London and Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1954), note 1, p 395.

  17. Vitruvius, De Architectura, 10.16.7.

  18. Diodorus Siculus, Universal History X, 20 92 2.

  19. An idea first mooted in F E Adcock, The Greek and Macedonian Art of War (Berkeley, 1967).

  20. Plutarch, Demetrius, 34.

  Chapter 8: Naval Warfare

  1. Plato, Phaedo, 109b.

  2. He is usually called Cleitus the White to differentiate him from Cleitus the Black (who Alexander killed in a drunken brawl). He commanded an infantry battalion in India but later became a cavalry hipparch, serving as such at Sangala and Malli. He was sent home with Craterus and Polyperchon but was probably instructed to help in the construction of the fleet in Cilicia. There is no evidence that he was ever an admiral of Perdiccas (and subsequent defector) as is often suggested.

  3. Ironically, perhaps the most famous of Alexander’s admirals, Nearchus, never seems to have ventured on the seas after his master’s death. Nearchus had been in charge of the fleet which went down the Indus in 324 BC and was then deputed by Alexander to remain in command of the fleet for the voyage to the Persian Gulf. Nearchus recorded the details of this harrowing journey (extant in Arrian’s Indica) eventually reuniting with Alexander in Susa shortly before the king’s death. But, after Babylon, Nearchus never returned to the sea, remaining as an officer of Antigonus and Demetrius (he allegedly tried to intercede to save Eumenes’ life). Yet perhaps this is no real mystery as in the Indica there are clear signs of tension between Nearchus and an Onescritus, who may well have had real naval responsibility for the voyage. Nearchus’ responsibilities may have been more financial than naval.

  4. This number of ships was set out to be built in an Athenian decree in an attempt to regain their thalassocracy. In the original Diodorus manuscript it actually states 200 fours and 40 triremes, but one of his translators (P Wesseling in 1746) regarded this as unlikely given that Athens only had 50 fours in 325/324 BC and accordingly transposed the text! The emendation has been followed by all subsequent translators. For discussion of this see J S Morrison, ‘Athenian Seapower in 323/2 BC: Dream and Reality’ in JHS, 107 (1987), pp 89–90; and N G Ashton, ‘The Naumachia near Amorgos in 322 B.C.’, in ABSA, 72 (1977), p 5.

  5. The course of the naval battles so vital to the ultimate Macedonian success is unfortunately little understood. Diodorus’ account is brief and confused and it is unsure whether there were two, three or even four battles which took place. See, Diodorus Siculus, Universal History IX, 18.15.8–9 and note, N G Ashton, ibid, pp 1–11 and also his ‘How Many Penteris?’, in GRBS, 20 (1979), pp 327–42. And, for widely different interpretations, see J S Morrison, ibid, pp 88–97, N G L Hammond and F W Wallbank, History of Macedonia, vol. 3 (Oxford, 1988) pp 113–22 and W Heckel, The Marshals of Alexander’s Empire (Routledge, 1992), pp 373–77.

  6. According to Polynaeus, Stratagems, 4.6.8.

  7. Diodorus Siculus, Universal History IX, 18.72.2.

  8. Polynaeus, Stratagems, 4.6.8.

  9. Diodorus Siculus, Universal History IX, 18.72.8.

  10. Diodorus Siculus, Universal History X, 19.75 8.

  11. Diodorus Siculus, Universal History IX, 18 72 7.

  12. Diodorus Siculus, Universal History X, 20.47.1.

  13. Mentioned in Diodorus Siculus, Universal History X, 20.50.5.

  14. Plutarch, Demetrius, 16; Polynaeus, Stratagems, 4.7.7; and Diodorus Siculus, Universal History X, 20.50.2, respectively. It is also the case that Diodorus, himself, says earlier that Demetrius had arrived on the island with more than 110 triremes (see above) but now says that he has only 108 and then goes on to enumerate various sevens and fours within this 108! Clearly these are not reconcilable but the discrepancy can be explained by assuming that the transports and freighters mentioned in Diodorus, 20.47.1, were not transports as such, but in fact warships. If this is accepted, the amended Diodorus figure of 180 can be accepted. For a full discussion of
the fleet strengths at Salamis see M Cary, A History of the Greek World From 323 to 146 BC (London, 1951), Appendix 4, pp 385–6; and H Hauben, ‘Fleet Strength at the Battle of Salamis (306 B.C.)’ in Chiron, 6 (1976), pp 1–5.

  15. This is from Diodorus Siculus, Universal History X, 20.49.2. Once more Plutarch, Demetrius, 16, gives a different figure of 150.

  16. According to Diodorus Siculus, Universal History X, 20.49.2, Ptolemy had over 200 transports carrying over 10,000 infantry.

  17. Diodorus Siculus, Universal History X, 20.51.5.

  18. For different views see H Hauben, ‘Fleet Strength at the Battle of Salamis (306 B.C.)’, p 5 and especially K Williams, Alexandria and the Sea: Maritime Origins and Underwater Exploration (Sharp Books, 2004) pp 34–40.

  19. The mistress, an Athenian called Lamia, was renowned as a flute player and had apparently already been not only the mistress of Ptolemy, but of Demetrius of Phalerum before him. The other Demetrius, despite being many years her junior, apparently also became besotted with her and she subsequently bore him a daughter, Phila. Plutarch recounts this affair in great detail in Demetrius, 27.

  20. There is a charming, if somewhat unlikely, story in Plutarch, Demetrius, 20.4, about Lysimachus and Demetrius. Whilst trying to raise Demetrius’ siege of Soli in Cilicia, Lysimachus apparently sent a note to Demetrius to ask whether he could see his siege train and fleet. After Demetrius agreed, Lysimachus saw them (no doubt with much envy), allegedly expressed his admiration, and went away again!

  21. However, there was one ship that we know Lysimachus did have. That was his flag ship the Leontophorus attested to in a fragment of Memnon. Apparently built at Heraclea, it was an eight and famous for its sheer size and splendour. Leontophorus means lion slayer and thus is in keeping with Lysimachus’ constant use of the lion motif. It required, or so we are told, no less than 1,200 oarsmen to row it and could hold up to 1,200 marines. Such a monster almost puts the gigantism of Demetrius to shame. The ship is still attested as in service when Ptolemy Ceraunus took over Lysimachus’ fleet.

  22. Pyrrhus had a huge flagship which saw service and which apparently saved his life in 280 BC during his invasion of Italy, with a tempest sinking all his other ships. The flagship ended up in the hands of the Carthaginian Hannibal and she was used against the Romans at Mylae in 260 BC. It has been plausibly argued by R S Rice, ‘The Peregrinations of the Queen: Technology Transfer in the Hellenistic World (http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rrice/queen.html’ 1996) in a fascinating article that this ship must have been one of Demetrius’ original fleet.

  Chapter 9: Border Wars

  1. For details of the campaigns involving Seleucus and, in particular, Lysimachus see B Bennett and M Roberts The Wars of Alexander’s Successors 323–281 BC Volume 1: Commanders and Campaigns and the chapters on Seleucus and Lysimachus.

  2. See P Harding, From the end of the Peloponnesian War to the battle of Ipsus, Translated Documents of Greece and Rome, No 2 (Cambridge, 1985), pp 159–61 (No.125).

  3. Diodorus Siculus, Universal History X, 19.67.7.

  4. This period in Epirus is very confusing. Lyciscus was sent by Cassander as ‘regent and general’ of the Epirote alliance. He seems to have been regent for Neoptolemus II. This king’s identity is much disputed but he was probably the son of Alexander of Epirus and Cleopatra (sister of Alexander the Great). Olympias had formerly been his guardian while she ruled jointly with Aeacides. Neoptolemus survived the vicissitudes of Epirote politics (possibly ruling as joint king with Alcetas) until he was murdered by Pyrrhus circa 297 BC. See P Garoufalias, Pyrrhus King of Epirus (London, 1979), pp 187–92; and N G L Hammond and F W Walbank, History of Macedonia, Vol. 3, pp 154–6.

  5. Polynaeus, Stratagems, 4.11.4, describes Cassander capturing Epidamnus by an unlikely ruse. He allegedly set on fire villages nearby and hid the rest of his forces. The people of Epidamnus, thinking he had left, came out and resumed their farming, enabling Cassander to seize the town.

  6. See W L Adams ‘The Dynamics of Internal Macedonian Politics in the time of Cassander’, in Ancient Macedonia, 3, (1983), pp 2–30.

  7. Briefly mentioned by both Pliny and Seneca, the context and date of the incident are both unclear.

  8. There is no actual evidence that Antigonus intended to invade Egypt but it is difficult to see the campaign against the Nabataeans in any other context.

  9. So presumably 10,000 was too low an estimate of their total population (both figures are from Diodorus Siculus) or otherwise they had allies posted nearby.

  Conclusion

  1. J Keegan, The Mask of Command (London, 1987), p 13.

  2. According to Plutarch, Demetrius, 25, Demetrius was scornful of all the Diadochi (apart from his father, of course). However, he reserved particular bile for Lysimachus whom he termed a treasurer. Apart from the obvious accusation of meanness, it had the added implication and insult that Lysimachus was a eunuch, as eunuchs traditionally filled the post of treasurer.

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