[I am published!]

Okay I have some great news.

Ever since I graduated, and seriously since the new year, I have begun to branch out and look for some places that I can write for and get published on that site, possibly paid for it.

Well I have achieved that goal today. Most of my time in January was taken up in the writing of an article about the Battle of Tannenburg in 1410. I submitted it to the website of the historical magazine Armchair General. Early this month I got a reply back from AG saying that they liked my article and offered me money for my submission. Today that article is now up on the main page of Armchair General's homepage, I hope to soon be able to achieve my life long dream of being published in print through that magazine.

This is a great day for me and I wished to share with you all, my friends on Wildfire Games. It was because of this team that I started writing in the first place, and I know that without the experience of being here I would not have come this far.

Here is the link: Tannenburg

Joshua

[Biographies: Perdikkas]

Perdikkas was a Macedonian nobleman and general of Megas Alexandros, Alexander the Great. One of the first of the Diadochi, the Successors, he was also the first to fall.

Nobody knows when Perdikkas was born. Unfortunately the ancient sources never recorded the date of Perdikkas' birth. Modern estimates place the date at 360, about the same period that Alexander was born. His father was a nobleman named Orestes and his mother is unknown. Not much is known of the future vizier's childhood other then he was one of the noble youths that was educated alongside Alexander by Aristotle. In fact not much is known of Perdikkas until 336. In that year he first gained merit as being one of the men who avenged Philip II by slaying his murderer.

With a new king on the throne Perdikkas began the major stage of his career. When the dust cleared from the events surrounding the succession of Alexander to the throne of Makedon it found Perdikkas as the commander of the Pezhetairoi battalion of Orestis, his home province. Most likely he was put in that position by a grateful Alexander, as thanks for avenging his father. When the new king went on campaign against the Illyrians Perdikkas commanded his battalion in a night attack on the enemy camp alongside Koenos. When Thebes rose in rebellion, mistakenly believing Alexander was dead, Perdikkas was there and played a major role. There are two views: one is that Perdikkas was the spearhead of an army assault against the Electra Gate. The other is that Perdikkas attacked the gate on his own and Alexander was forced to commit the rest of his forces to support him. Today it is believed that the second view was propaganda by Ptolemy, whose history of Alexander is the basis of all primary sources on the conqueror. Ptolemy would have had much to gain by making Perdikkas look bad. However you look at it Perdikkas' actions allowed for Alexander to take Thebes much sooner then normal. This set him up to gain good favor with the king, especially since he was wounded during that action.

When Alexander departed from Makedon for the last time in 334, setting off on his grand invasion of Persia, Perdikkas and the Orestis battalion went with him. The battalion saw combat at the battle of the Granicus, but Perdikkas is not noted as doing anything notable in that battle. However he does play a role during the siege of Halicarnassus. This siege was part of Alexander's Ionian campaign against Memnon of Rhodes. Halicarnassus was Memnon's main base, and taking it would end his threat much sooner. It seems from the ancient accounts that Perdikkas ordered a night assault on the defenders, beginning a full-scale battle. In the end the Macedonians were defeated, but it was a close run thing. Here, as at Thebes, Ptolemy attempts to discredit Perdikkas by saying the battle began because the Orestis battalion had gotten drunk. Ultimately Alexander did take the city, however Memnon was already dead by that time and his successor escaped. We get our next mention of Perdikkas at the battle of Issus, were he commanded his battalion with distinction. Following that great victory Alexander descended into Phoenicia and laid siege to Tyre after that city resisted him. It is a telling mark of how highly Perdikkas had risen in the king's favor when he appointed him to joint command of the siege forces with Krateros. Because of this Perdikkas did not take part of any further actions with Alexander until the start of the events that would result in the great battle of Gaugamela. At this battle Perdikkas earned great valor for his actions, suffering near mortal wounds alongside Koenos. When Alexander attacked the Persian Gates he used the Orestis battalion to make the vital maneuver that captured the pass. Perdikkas suddenly disappears from the records at this point and is not heard of again until 329. Here he is mentioned during one of the sieges in Baktria and Sogdia. In 328 Alexander made Perdikkas one of the somatophylax, the seven personal bodyguards and deputies of the king. In this capacity Perdikkas, alongside his future enemy Ptolemy, attempted to stop Alexander from killing Cleitus the Black, an attempt which failed. Following this Alexander made Perdikkas a commander in the cavalry, a major change in his career. However Perdikkas would prove himself to be just as able in the cavalry as he was in the Pezhetairoi. In 326 the Macedonians began the invasion of India, Perdikkas was given joint command of the main wing of the army with Hephaestion (the commander of the Hetairoi and chiliarch or vizier). This force proceeded down the Cophen to the Indus, were they built the boats and bridges needed to cross the river. In the following campaign Perdikkas played a major role, especially at the Hydaspes and Sangala. When Alexander was forced to turn back by the army Perdikkas commanded one of the two columns that marched towards the Indian Ocean. During this campaign Perdikkas' personal forces were increased when Alexander gave him control of Koenos' (who had changed branches with him) cavalry squadron. Ultimately Alexander decided to take a different route to Babylon. Here we do not know what position Perdikkas held, or which of three columns he was in. Eventually the Macedonian army reunited at Susa, where Alexander forced his officers to marry Persian women as part of his vision of a "Brotherhood of Man". Perdikkas was married to the daughter of the Satrap of Media, whose name has been lost. Shortly after that the army moved off to Ectbatana where one of the most significant events in Perdikkas' life took place: Hephaestion suddenly died of typhoid. Perdikkas was at the time the highest ranked man in Alexander's court, and the king bestowed all of Hephaestion's former titles and duties upon him. Suddenly Perdikkas found himself in a position no one had expected. When Alexander himself died not long afterwards, on June 11th 323, it was revealed that Perdikkas had made another leap in power: the dying king had passed along his will and his signet ring to the vizier. Perdikkas was now virtually master of Alexander's realm.

With the passing of Alexander a new phase in the life of Perdikkas began. One day after the death of the king Perdikkas called for a conference of all the most powerful generals in the empire in Babylon. As vizier, holder of the signet ring, and holder of the will Perdikkas assumed a leadership position in the conference. A problem soon arose however. Alexander's will was unclear in regards to whom inherited the realm. The word he used "kratistoi" could be interpreted any number of ways, with the most commonly accepted version being "to the strongest". Perdikkas decided to therefore change things in his favor. He ignored the will and made a proposition to hold a decision until Roxana, Alexander's pregnant wife, gave birth. If the child was a boy then they would swear loyalty to the infant. The Royal Vizier would rule in place of the child until he came of age. Even though Perdikkas was a partisan of Roxana and her rights to power, the proposition was a power grab of his own. This brought on a flurry of objections from the other generals, but Perdikkas cared little for them. The cavalry arm of Alexander's army had already promised to support him, allowing him to back his decision with force. But when Meleager rose in objection that changed things. Meleager was commander of the Pezhetairoi, with their backing he could start a civil war. The infantry general's proposition was to place the mentally deficient half brother of Alexander, Philip Arridaeus, on the throne. Perdikkas was caught between a rock and hard place. The situation dragged on for some time, over the course of which Roxana gave birth to a son, Alexander. Finally after much agonizing Perdikkas and Meleager reached a compromise. Phillip Arridaeus would become King Philip III, and the baby would become King Alexander IV. Arridaeus would rule until Alexander IV came of age, after which he would rule alone. Because of the mental condition of Philip, and Alexander's infancy, Perdikkas would rule in both their places as Imperial Regent. It was a great victory for Perdikkas, as the Imperial Regent he was effectively the new king. As one of his first acts Perdikkas allowed for the various generals to become Satraps of the new empire, a move that ultimately would lead to his undoing. Perdikkas then ordered the assassinations of two possible rivals to himself and Roxana, the new Queen Mother. These two were Stateira, the daughter of Darius III and Alexander's second wife, and Meleager. With the deaths of these two rivals the power of Perdikkas was assured. But soon a problem arose, the new Satraps were all well aware of Alexander's plans to invade Saba (in modern Yemen) in Arabia. Saba and its neighbor Maka were the world trade centers for spice and incense, a worthy conquest. But Perdikkas did not want to leave Babylon, so he had Alexander's secretary, Eumenes, craft a phony text. The plans detailed in it were so outrageous that any thoughts of the Arabian expedition were dropped.

With everything taken care of, the Regency could begin. Having made sure he would not be forced to leave his center of power Perdikkas embarked upon ruling the empire. About this time problems in Asia Minor drew the Imperial Regent's attention. Cappadokia, located in what is now central Turkey, had never been conquered by Alexander and was left alone. Ariarathes, the Satrap of Cappadokia, was hostile to the Macedonians and harassed the roads going to and from Makedon itself, which passed through the region. Antigonos the One-Eyed, the Satrap of Greater Phrygia, normally dealt with him regularly. Perdikkas decided to enlist his help in crushing Ariarathes for that reason. But when Perdikkas lead his army (the greatest in the entire empire) into Cappadokia the old general was nowhere to be seen. After the campaign ended Perdikkas called for Antigonos to appear before Philip III to answer for his disobedience. But the general knew that to obey was a death sentence, so he fled to Makedon to take refuge there. About this time the Regent of Makedon made a proposal to Perdikkas. Antipater offered the hand of his daughter Nikaea to him in marriage. Perdikkas knew that such a marriage was advantageous and agreed. But before the wedding could be arranged another opportunity presented itself. Cleopatra of Epiros, the full sister of Alexander the Great, offered her own hand in marriage to Perdikkas. This was a marriage that presented even greater prospects then the last. If Perdikkas was to wed the sister of Alexander, then that made him the great conqueror's brother-in-law. As such he would be considered to make a much better king then both Philip III and Alexander IV. All of this prompted Perdikkas to accept Cleopatra's proposal in late 322 and thus he sealed his fate. The news that the Imperial Regent was to marry the Queen of Epiros sent shock waves throughout the empire, and the Satraps turned against him. Three in particular joined in open alliance: Lysimachos of Thrace, Antipater of Makedon, and Ptolemy of Egypt. Then news reached Perdikkas' ears that Ptolemy had stole the funeral corsage of Alexander the Great and was displaying the body in Memphis. Amazingly this happened right under the nose of Perdikkas, and now that he knew of it he was enraged. In the closing days of the year he declared the allies against him traitors to the empire, thus beginning the first civil war. In 321, following the spring thaw, the war actually began. Perdikkas considered the greatest threat to come from Ptolemy, even though Alexander's greatest general, Krateros, was marching with Antipater and Lysimachos. Thus he left Eumenes, who was Satrap of Antigonos' former lands as well as Cappadokia, to face the bulk of the allies while he himself made for Egypt. The Imperial Regent, to add legitimacy to his war, took along King Philip III as he marched. After a year Perdikkas reached the borders of Egypt. He made quick progress and reached Pelusium, from which he would cross the Nile. But Ptolemy had prepared for this and repulsed repeated attempts to cross. By now the Egyptian weather was beginning to take a toll and this combined with Perdikkas' heavy-handed manner made his troops resent him. Realizing that he needed to take another route Perdikkas tried crossing the Nile at Heliopolis. But here the river itself worked against him, carrying away his soldiers each time they attempted a crossing. By now the resentment that Perdikkas' men held for him reached the breaking point. Somewhere between May 21st and June 19th, 320 Perdikkas called for his staff officers, Peithon, Antigenes, and Seleukos, to give their advice. Instead they killed him and seized control of the army. Thus died Perdikkas, the first Diadochi, at the age of 40.

In conclusion Perdikkas was a ambitious man who wanted too much too fast. Perdikkas was a skilled and talented commander under Alexander, rising from mere battalion commander to a trusted general and ultimately vizier. Having great ambition Perdikkas moved far too fast to gain the power he craved, and paid the price for his impatience.

[Biographies: Antipater]

Antipater (Greek: Antipatros) was a Macedonian general of the 4th Century BC. Regent of Makedon for both of that nation's greatest monarchs, Philip II and Alexander, Antipater was an important stabilizing influence in the Macedonian world.

Antipater's early life is shrouded in mystery. Antipater was probably born somewhere between 399 and 397 and his place of birth was probably Pella. His father was a nobleman named Iollas, and his mother is unknown. Nothing is known of Antipater's early life though we do know he was a cavalry man in the Macedonian army. He also served as a diplomat. It was in these roles that Antipater witnessed the rise of Philip II and took part in that great monarch's wars and reforms. Which resulted in his own meteoritic rise in power and prestige.

By the time we get our mention of Antipater he was already middle age. In 342 BC we get our first solid mention of Antipater when Philip II appoints him as Regent of Makedon for the duration of the time he must spend away from Pella. That year was the also the start of what was to be a long relationship between Antipater and the Greeks. Athens, again trying to regain her old glory, was moving in on the island of Euboea. The most important cities on the island appealed to the Macedonians to help, and Antipater complied with several expeditions against the Athenians. The outcome of these expeditions are unknown, but we do know that Antipater made clear Makedon's power could not be ignored when he showed up for a meeting of the Amphictyonic League at Delphi in the latter part of 342. As Philip was away often Antipater ended up fostering a close relationship with Philip's heir, Alexander, and the boy's tutor Aristotle. He became something of a surrogate father to the boy, though this often brought him into conflict with Alexander's mother Olympias. Even though officially Alexander replaced Antipater as Regent when the boy reached 16 the older man retained all of the powers of the Regency. Antipater faded into the background following this until the aftermath of the great battle of Chaeronea. Along with Alexander, Antipater served as a diplomat to the Athenians, to hand them the terms for peace and return their dead as was Hellenic custom. Antipater was no stranger to Athenian politics, he had negotiated with them before when he was a diplomat. It is unknown if Antipater had any hand in the formation of the League of Corinth, though he probably did play a role. In the events that would eventually lead to the assassination of Philip II Antipater played a minor part, attempting to stem the influence of Attalos, a royal advisor whose niece Philip married. Following the assassination of Philip II at Aegae a bloody succession struggle broke out. Antipater, together with Parmenion, considered Alexander to be the only one fit to succeed as king. To that end the two men worked together to make sure that their boy won the struggle. Antipater's greatest contribution was marshalling the army to Alexander's side. Alexander won and became king, and Antipater would receive a great reward for his support. When the young king prepared to march on Persia in 334 after the razing of Thebes he made Antipater Viceroy of Makedon and Hellas as well as Strategos (Greek: General) of the Home Army. Essentially making him Regent once more and with good reason. Antipater was good at what he did, with Antipater in charge Alexander had nothing to worry about. So it was that when the young king left Makedon for the last time he left the old Regent behind to hold down the home front, a task greater and far more difficult then anyone imagined.

With Alexander gone on his crusade against the Persians Antipater was left alone to deal with the home front. One of Antipater's most important duties was to supply reinforcements for Alexander's army, a hard task as the war with Persia had already drained much of Makedon's male population. While the king rested at Gordium following the victory at the Granicus the first reinforcements arrived, showing that indeed Antipater was doing his job. But other matters soon drew his attention. Memnon of Rhodes, the one man that Alexander actually considered a threat, was forming a naval force to threaten Hellas and Makedon. Antipater had no real navy to speak of, so Memnon would practically rule the waves. Another problem arose as Memnon also began using Persian gold as a means of inciting rebellion against Macedonian rule. While the man himself died before his naval threat could fully mature, and his successor would not be able to carry on Memnon's plans, the effects of his political maneuvering would bare fruit. In 332 after Alexander's conquests rendered the Persian navy impotent the first uprising against Antipater's rule broke out. The governor of Thrace, incidentally also named Memnon, was unhappy with his current lot in life and with the support of the Thracian tribes he mobilized against Antipater. The Regent responded quickly and attacked the Thracians, but bigger happenings to the south changed everything. Agis III, the warrior king of Sparta, was an ambitious man with dreams of glory. Agis dreamt of the restoration of Sparta. Financed by Memnon he had built a formidable military machine, which he tested out on Crete. For the most part Agis had been keeping quiet, though both Antipater and Alexander were well aware of Agis' new found military. The timing of the rebellion was brilliant, Antipater had to send off another round of reinforcements to Alexander and simultaneously deal with Memnon of Thrace's uprising. But a snag appeared when Megalopolis, capital of Arcadia, refused to join the rest of Arcadia in allying with the Spartans. With his newly assembled army of 20,000 men Agis laid siege to Megalopolis, formally marking the beginning of the revolt. When news reached Antipater in Thrace he knew he had a major problem on his hands, he quickly arranged a peace with Memnon of Thrace, offering him a pardon. Memnon accepted and Antipater moved south with the entire Home Army, he knew that if Agis was allowed to gain a major victory then the rest of Hellas, which was on the fence on the subject of rebellion, would go with the Spartans. Calling on the ever faithful Thessalians and the levies of the states of the League of Corinth, Antipater was able to build a army 40,000 strong. Winter forced a truce between the two sides, which allowed for a massive treasury (3,000 talents) to arrive from Alexander. When the spring thaw came in 330 BC Antipater resumed his march and reached Megalopolis. The resulting battle of Megalopolis was a victory for the Regent, the Spartans and their allies were defeated and Agis was slain. The defeat was so great that Sparta sued for peace not long after the battle, a testament to the skills of Antipater. The Spartans attempted to negotiate with the Regent, but he refused and told them to negotiate with the League of Corinth. But the League did not want to negotiate either, so they sent the Spartans all the way to Alexander. The king imposed the terms of Sparta and her allies having to pay a war indemnity of 120 talents and Spartan membership in the League of Corinth. It had been Antipater's quick thinking and battle skills that had prevented what might have been a disaster for Makedon.

Antipater's fame rose so much that even Alexander himself was jealous. For all the remaining years between this point and the great conqueror's passing Antipater engaged in no more wars, focusing on the domestic affairs of Makedon and the continual outfitting of reinforcements. However Antipater would soon be forced into a very difficult situation. Olympias had never liked Antipater to begin with, though he showed all of the respect and courtesy her position entailed. To this day the reasons for the hatred that Olympias held for the Regent are unknown. She did every thing to undermine him, even resorting to slandering Antipater's son-in-law to the point were Alexander had the man executed. But Antipater still remained in Alexander's good graces and the further Alexander went the less he paid attention to his mother's daily tirades. After a series of particularly heated spats Olympias finally left Makedon, moving to Epiros to live with her daughter, who was queen. But Olympias was so overbearing that Cleopatra of Epiros actually fled straight to Antipater to seek asylum. This put the old Regent in a uncomfortable position politically and within the Argead dynasty for several years. In 324 a major shake up in Antipater's life occurred when he learned that Alexander meant to replace him. Previously Alexander had been content with Antipater, he got the job done and did well. But Antipater managed Makedon and Hellas along the 'old way'. Rule through oligarchs and garrisons was all well and good for Philip, but not for Alexander and his new vision. Antipater was ordered to collect an army and march to Babylon to join the main army. Krateros was at the same time marching with an army of veterans to replace Antipater as Viceroy and Strategos. On the heels of this came a royal decree that would prove to be a disaster. The Exile's Decree, announced at the Olympic Games that year, allowed all people who had been exiled from their native cities to return home. This decree caused chaos all across the land, exile was a favored weapon of many city-states and Alexander's decree threatened the stability of all Hellas. Antipater realized that rebellion was in the air and knew he could not comply with Alexander's orders to come to Babylon, he instead sent his son Kassander to the king to try explain the current situation. But the king refused to listen and became infuriated, but before he could act Alexander suddenly fell ill and died on June 11th, 323. Because of the circumstances of the time speculation arose that Kassander, seeking to protect his father, poisoned the great conqueror. In any case with Alexander dead the trouble that had arose in Hellas would blow open.

With rebellion brewing and the death of his king Antipater faced his greatest trial. While Kassander attended the great conference of generals his father faced a rapidly souring situation in Hellas. Of all the city states Athens hated Makedon the most and had the most to lose from the Exile's Decree. Steadily building up her position both diplomatically and militarily Athens became the leader of a Anti-Makedon league comprising of most of Hellas. It was not until this rebel army had grown to full size that Antipater became aware of its' existence. Before the Regent could even move, the rebels had crushed his only ally in Hellas, the Boeotians, and moved to block the pass of Thermopylae. With the pass blocked Antipater knew he had to get outside help to win this war. Constant reinforcements east had drained his manpower, but he could not just let the rebels remain in control of the pass. So Antipater moved south, calling on the Thessalians as he always had. But to the shock of everyone the Thessalians sided with the Anti-Makedon forces. Antipater was swiftly defeated at Thermopylae and forced to retreat to the nearest city that remained loyal to Makedon, the city of Lamia. Using all the experiences of age and a few innovations the old Regent holds fast at Lamia, repulsing every assault. In the spring of 322 Leonnatos, Satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia, arrived in Makedon. He had heard Antipater's pleas and came to help with his army 20,000 strong. This allowed Antipater to escape from Lamia. In battle the rescue force is technically defeated when Leonnatos died on the field, but the army he brought was still intact, linking up with Antipater further north. This combined army made for safe haven as quickly as possible, using their superior infantry as a deterrent. When the Macedonians arrived in northern Thessaly good news awaited them: One of Alexander's naval officers had mobilized a fleet and came to the Regent's aid. This fleet had met and defeated the rebel navy so completely that Athens would never again rule the waves. Krateros with his veterans arrived soon after, the tide had turned. With his new army and control of the seas Antipater struck back with a vengeance, pushing the rebel army further and further back to the point where they could no longer deny him battle. At Crannon Antipater so thoroughly crushed the rebel army that never again would the city-states of Hellas be able to rise up against Makedon unaided. Following this the rebel cities asked for a truce, but Antipater knew better then to agree. Drawing on his long experience with the Greeks he played them against each other and refused to negotiate, claiming that as the League of Corinth was still in existence they should negotiate separately. This maneuvering caused the war to resume and Antipater was fully prepared for it. He besieged Thessaly, the weakest member of the Anti-Makedon league. This pressure was too much to bear and one by one the individual members made peace. Only Athens and Aetolia remained. Antipater installed Macedonian governments in the defeated cities and then moved towards Athens. The Athenians quickly sent a peace delegation, hoping to get a light deal. But the old Regent's patience had run out, he simply stated his terms and told the Athenians to deal with it. Athens finally relented and a Macedonian government was installed, ending the democratic tradition. If the Lamian War, as it was known, was Antipater's greatest trial then he passed it with flying colors.

Now we enter the last stage of Antipater's life. With the end of the Lamian War Antipater had overcome all adversity and his position was unassailable. The political situation of Alexander's empire was mostly unknown to the Regent of Makedon and he decided to learn more. Once he had done so he married his daughters to the men he believed would make the best allies: Phila was married to Krateros, Eurydike was wed to Ptolemy of Egypt, and Nikaea was wed Perdikkas, Regent of the empire. The Aetolians then drew his attention back to Hellas but not for long. While he was subduing those troublesome people bigger events on the world stage would draw Antipater into his first and only war outside Makedon. Perdikkas, to whom Nikaea was set to be wed, suddenly broke off the engagement. The reason? Cleopatra of Makedon, the queen of Epiros whom Antipater sheltered, had offered her hand to him. The news quickly spread all over the empire, by marrying the sister of Alexander Perdikkas would be in a position to become the new king. To Antipater this was unacceptable on two counts: the first being he took his daughter's rejection very personally. The second being his loyalty to the Argead dynasty. For these reasons Antipater and Krateros made peace with the Aetolians and marched east to face Perdikkas, forming an alliance with Ptolemy and Lysimachos along the way. Perdikkas responded by declaring the allies traitors to the empire, thus starting the first civil war. When the war actually began following the spring thaw of 321 Antipater and Krateros, along with Lysimachos, attack Perdikkas' rear while the man himself was making for Egypt. When Eumenes engaged them in battle Krateros was slain and Antipater lost his favorite son-in-law. A little while later Perdikkas was murdered while trying to cross into Egypt. The war grinded to a halt and Ptolemy made peace with the officers of Perdikkas, ending the war. But to the old Regent this was not acceptable, it just would not do for the empire to go with out a Regent, and who better then the Regent of Makedon to take the position? So Antipater threw his new found political weight around and made the allies gather at Triparadisos in Syria. The Council of Triparadisos, as it came to be called, settled matters to Antipater's liking. The current Successors were all confirmed to their posts, even those who did not partake in the war. But most importantly the position of Imperial Regent was bestowed upon Antipater. This was a worrying development to most of the men present, unlike Perdikkas, Antipater had the power and strength to actually keep the empire united till Alexander IV came of age, which no one wanted. As his first act as Imperial Regent, Antipater commissioned Antigonos the One-Eyed to crush Eumenes, Perdikkas' only ally. After settling a few more details Antipater, along with Philip III and Alexander IV (and with their respective families) returned to Pella. Only a few months later in early 319 BC Antipater fell ill and died at the age of 80 years old.

In conclusion Antipater was great officer and loyal soldier. For nearly his entire life Antipater performed the key job of Regent for the greatest kings of Makedon. He did his job extraordinarily well, quashing two Greek revolts and still managing to make the land prosper. Through it all he remained loyal of the kings of Makedon, and it is darkly ironic that this loyal man's son was the one to end the dynasty.

[Biographies: Ptolemy I Soter]

Ptolemy I Soter was the first Macedonian king of Egypt and the founder of a dynasty that lasted until the end of the Roman Republic. A close friend of Alexander, Ptolemy was perhaps closest to the conqueror of all the Successors.

Ptolemy was born in Makedon. The future King of Egypt was born in 367, probably in the district of Eordaea. Ptolemy's father was a minor nobleman named Lagos and his mother was Arsinoe, a relative of the Argead dynasty that ruled Makedon. Due to his mother's connections Ptolemy was raised in the Royal Court and knew Alexander from childhood, becoming his best friend. Due to the difference in ages as they became older Ptolemy took on the role of an advisor to the young prince. This led to a rather famous incident in 337 BC. At the time Philip II was flush from his victory over Greece at Chaeronea and the formation of the League of Corinth. To celebrate and also put Philip in a better position for his crusade against Persia, a marriage was arranged between the younger prince, Arridaeus, and the daughter of Pixodarus, Satrap of Caria. Alexander as the eldest son was naturally incensed that his younger brother was to be married first, but took no action until Ptolemy advised him to. The resulting letter that Alexander wrote, saying that he would marry the princess instead, was a very embarrassing incident for Philip and he banished all of Alexander's advisors including Ptolemy because of it. Ptolemy returned to Makedon in the fall of 336 after Philip's assassination and the ascension of his old friend Alexander. He was made a member of the Royal Squadron (Alexander's personal unit), and would become the unofficial historian of the war that was to come.

With the crowning of Alexander and the start of the great war with the Achaemenids one of the most important parts of Ptolemy's life began. For a man as close to the king as Ptolemy it is considered unusual that we have no mention of him playing a role in the battles of Alexander until the battle of Issus, in which he played a minor role. There is a mention of a Ptolemy during Alexander's campaigns north of Makedon but the name was popular in Makedon and there is no way knowing if it was him. In 331 BC Ptolemy got his first look at the land he would later rule, Egypt. As with the other Macedonians he was probably impressed with the great wealth and beauty of the underbelly of the Achaemenid Empire. Due to his friendship with Alexander Ptolemy became one of the few that would accompany the king when he made his trip to the Oracle of Siwa. Ptolemy would continue to play a role after this. When Alexander captured the Persian capital of Persepolis it was Ptolemy and the hetaera ( a sophisticated female companion) Thais who encouraged him to burn the city to the ground. After the execution of Parmenion and his son Philotas in late 330 Ptolemy was elevated to the position of somatophylax, one of the seven personal bodyguards of Alexander who also acted as his deputies. As such Ptolemy was granted command of his own personal force, with which he took part in the pursuit of Bessus. In 329 the Sogdian nobleman Spitamenes took Bessus and gave him shelter only to turn right around and give him to Ptolemy, who was following close behind. This bestowed incredible prestige upon the general, and more was still to come. When Spitamenes became the new leader of the resistance to Macedonian rule Ptolemy was one of the commanders who forced the Sogdians to settle into cities. When Cleitos the Black criticized Alexander for being too Persian Ptolemy was there trying to stop Alexander from murdering Cleitos, but he failed to do so and regretted it, as Alexander did. Together with Leonnatos he would go on to bust open the conspiracy of the pages, an act which Alexander would be grateful for the rest of his life. Ptolemy had also been high in the favor of the king but by the time of the Indian campaign he was clearly very high on the 'food chain' as it was. Following the events that ultimately forced Alexander to turn around after the battle of Hydaspes Ptolemy was promoted to the position of trierarchos and given a naval command. In this position together with the field commanders Krateros and Koenos he would go on to play a vital role during the Swat campaign, the capture of Aornus, and the expedition against the Mallians. For these actions Ptolemy was decorated by Alexander. When the returning army reached Pasargadae an Brahmin from India, named Calanus by the Macedonians, fell ill. Ptolemy had befriended the man and provided a funeral pyre for him so that he could die in the Hindu tradition. Shortly there after the army reached Susa where Alexander put into action the first phase of his dream of a "Brotherhood of Man". What he did was compel his officers to marry Persian noblewomen. Ptolemy was married to Artakama (forcing him to divorce Thais, whom he had long since married), the daughter of a loyal Persian courtier named Artabazus. He was also given an diadem and the Persian court title of edeatros, or royal food taster. One year later on June 11th, 323 BC Alexander the Great died from fever in Babylon, and Ptolemy would go on to play a great role in the struggles that followed.

With the death of Alexander a new stage began in the life of Ptolemy. One day after the great conqueror's passing all of Alexander's greatest officers were called together to deliberate on the fate of the empire. Perdikkas, who had received Alexander's signet ring on his deathbed, quickly took a leadership position over the course of the council. He called for the generals to wait until Roxana had given birth before they did anything. If the child was a boy, he purposed, then they would promise their allegiance to the infant. Nearchos, admiral of the fleet, objected on the basis that Alexander already had an heir in the form of the young boy Heracles. At this point Ptolemy intervened, he objected to both proposals on the basis that Heracles and any future child of Roxana's would be only half-Macedonian, and not fit to rule. Ptolemy suggested that the empire be divided into satrapies, and the most powerful satraps would meet together at Babylon and rule as a council. But another general objected to this and the arguments dragged on for days until finally a compromise was reached: Alexander's mentally troubled brother Arridaeus would rule as Philip III. This new king would rule until Roxana's child, if it a boy, came of age. Perdikkas would rule as regent for both. At the same time the empire was to be divided into satrapies governed by the most powerful of Alexander's generals. Since the satrapies would be handed out via request Ptolemy was quick to ask for Egypt, which he received. It was a brilliant move, Egypt was the most wealthy and prestigious of any satrapy in Alexander's empire. Not only that but Egypt was also the breadbasket of the old Achaemenid Empire. Ptolemy had done well in his first major political move. As his first move he divorced Artakama and married an Egyptian woman. He also made an interesting move in reforming the old Cult of Serapis, making the group attractive to both native Egyptians and Hellenes. Ptolemy also embarked on a grand renovation of Egypt's temples and tombs, beginning a policy of cooperation with the native Egyptians that would make him famous. At this point the buzz all over the empire was that Alexander's body was going to be buried at Aegae, the spiritual center of the Macedonian people, rather then Siwa as he requested. Ptolemy knew this was his chance, in the Macedonian tradition a king was succeeded by the man who buried him. By being the man to bury the conqueror Ptolemy was making a statement, that he wanted to be the new king. By fooling the convoy leader into giving Alexander's funeral casket to him Ptolemy seized the body and brought it to Memphis, spiritual center of Egypt. There he constructed a new religion based around Alexander, which endured even well after Christ. Meanwhile the very act of seizing Alexander's body had sent shockwaves throughout the Hellenic world, but no one acted. Perdikkas, whose flaunting of power had become unbearable, was the subject of a league by the satraps arrayed against him. Ptolemy planned on joining in but first launched an invasion of neighboring Cyrenaica to secure his rear. Once he had done so Ptolemy joined the league against Perdikkas. In the early parts of 321 the leaders cemented their alliance with marriage. Ptolemy was wed to Eurydike, a daughter of Antipater, who had been regent of Makedon under Alexander. Perdikkas had had enough and declared the members of the league to be rebels against the empire, thus sparking the first civil war. At first Perdikkas simply steamrolled his enemies reaching Egypt within a year. Ptolemy set up his defense along the far bank of the Nile and repulsed all attempts to cross. Perdikkas was murdered soon after he attempted to cross at Heliopolis and the war came to an end. At first the former officers of Perdikkas attempted to trick Ptolemy into taking the regency, but he knew that the position was a death trap and refused. Antipater, de facto leader of the rebels and now the most powerful man in the empire, now called for another council to be convened. This second council of generals, meeting at Triparadisos in Syria, reconfirmed Ptolemy as satrap of Egypt and formally recognized his control of Cyrenaica. Another result of the meeting was succession of Antipater to the regency, which would set off another round of fighting in the years to come. For Ptolemy these first years had been fruitful indeed and laid the groundwork for future success.

Ptolemy was now secure in power. In his years of experience Ptolemy had come to believe that playing it cautiously in the field of politics was the best policy. A policy that bore much fruit as history shows. While war waged around him Ptolemy kept to himself preferring to focus on Egypt and making his power secure. With the natural defenses of Egypt and strong military Ptolemy could afford to 'turtle' as the saying goes. It was not until 319, after the breakout of a massive war following the death of Antipater that Ptolemy came out of his 'shell'. Kassander, son of Antipater, felt unhappy about being passed over as an heir to the regency, and so recruited the aid of the two most militarily powerful Successors: Ptolemy and Antigonos the One-Eyed. Ptolemy preferred to adopt a cautious battle strategy, only attacking north west from Egypt along the coast line. When Antigonos destroyed Eumenes his ally Seleukos (known later as Nikator) came fleeing to Ptolemy who took him in as a admiral. Using these new found assets Ptolemy captured Cyprus. By the time this second civil war ended Ptolemy had gained a sizable amount of land in the form of the coast line stretching from Egypt up to Anatolia, not to mention the island of Cyprus. This war also proved the worth of non-Hellenes serving in the Successor armies, as Ptolemy used native Egyptians extensively. To celebrate the victory Kassander wed his granddaughter Berenike to Ptolemy in 317. But not all was peaceful, Antigonos was now the most powerful man in the empire and Ptolemy knew he had to be brought down. So he organized a league together with Lysimachos of Thrace and the new Regent Kassander to oppose Antigonos. War broke out in 315, beginning the third civil war. Antigonos struck taking Syria and Phoenicia from Ptolemy, but he rebounded equally quick. Ptolemy controlled the waves and used this to his advantage, recapturing Cyprus (which had fallen to Antigonos) and attacking Cilicia in Anatolia. In 312 on land Ptolemy defeated Demetrios, son of Antigonos, at the battle of Gaza. This was followed by the reconquest of Syria but Antigonos arrived soon after and Ptolemy evacuated. Seleukos returned to his own lands soon after, giving much needed relief to Ptolemy. By the end of 311 the war had stalemated and Ptolemy agreed to an armistice with Antigonos. Even though Ptolemy refused to accept the fact that he lost Syria a peace treaty was ratified and peace declared. Soon afterwards a massive change occurred in the Hellenic world. Kassander murdered the Queen Regent Roxana and the boy king Alexander IV (Philip III had already been murdered by Kassander). This sent shockwaves throughout the former empire, with Alexander's heir dead the empire was gone and while Ptolemy outwardly condemned Kassander he was secretly giddy. He was never happy to begin with about owing his allegiance to a half-Macedonian, and Alexander IV's death would finally allow him to gain the independence he so craved. However the empire still existed in theory even without a king and Ptolemy was not going to take the unprecedented step of assuming the royal dignity, even though his Egyptian subjects already considered him a king. The peace that resulted from the murders allowed Ptolemy to quietly expand his power, attempting to regain Cyprus and aid the Syracusans in their war with Carthage. But in the course of gaining Cyprus Ptolemy had visited the Aegean Islands and reformed the old Nesiotic League. This sudden shift in political power caused a number of towns in Pamphylia, Lycia, and Caria to defect to Ptolemy. A visit by Ptolemy to the city of Corinth the last straw, angering both Kassander and Antigonos. War broke out in 307 with Ptolemy and Kassander allying against Antigonos, a war which went badly at first. Kassander was knocked out early, and the talented Demetrios then turned to Cyprus. At the battle of Cypriot Salamis Ptolemy was defeated so completely that Cyprus was lost immediately. With that victory Antigonos actually did the unthinkable: he elevated himself to the rank of Basileos, King. It had finally happened, with the elevation of Antigonos to the royal dignity the old empire was swept away under a tide of successor kingdoms who fought to re-unite it. Ptolemy was the third satrap to follow Antigonos' act, taking the royal dignity in the summer of 306. But Ptolemy took it a step further, he was a Basileos but not a Pharaoh. This made all the difference, by becoming a Pharaoh Ptolemy would become beloved by the native Egyptians and their support made all the difference. Once Antigonos was forced to abandon his plans to conquer Egypt the ceremonies were started. In 304 in full Egyptian ceremony Ptolemy was crowned Pharaoh of Egypt, taking the same throne name as Alexander had, Meriamum Setepenra, Beloved of Amun, Chosen by Ra. With this event Ptolemy formally started a dynastic house that would last for over two hundred years after his death.

With his ascension as Pharaoh, Ptolemy had embarked on a new phase of life. By his actions Ptolemy was now a king for both Hellenes and Egyptians, and their support strengthened his rule greatly. However a war was still on and Ptolemy could not yet afford to bask. Neither could he get directly involved, the entire navy had been wiped out at Cypriot Salamis and Ptolemy did not want to risk his army. But he could send other kinds of aid. When Demetrios besieged the island of Rhodes, an old ally, Ptolemy was among the first to send aid. Rhodes held out against the assault, in no small part due to Ptolemy's support. Because of that after Demetrios had left (with the new nickname Poilorketes) the people of Rhodes hailed Ptolemy as Soter, savior. This became Ptolemy's sobriquet, and the name by which he is best known. A sort of undeclared truce resulted from this and Ptolemy took the time to rebuild his shattered navy and focus inward once more. But that became impossible again in 302 when the possibility that Antigonos would be able to add Makedon and Hellas to his empire became real. A new alliance was formed between Lysimachos, Ptolemy, Seleukos and Kassander to defeat Antigonos once and for all. Ptolemy launched an grand invasion of Syria and nearly conquered it when bad intelligence led him to believe that Antigonos had triumphed against Lysimachos, forcing Ptolemy to fall back. Not long afterwards he learned the opposite was true. At Ipsos Lysimachos and Seleukos banded together and put an end to Antigonos' ambitions for good, defeating his army and killing the man himself. Ptolemy rushed back into Syria to occupy it before the victorious allies could. Ipsos and the conference between the allied leaders that followed would have an effect on the relations between the Successor Kingdoms for years to come. At the conference Lysimachos and Kassander, feeling that Ptolemy had abandoned them in the early stages of the war, awarded the land he gained to Seleukos. However Seleukos was not willing to go to war with the man who took him in and sheltered him, as a result Ptolemy and Seleukos instead had their own conference. They divided the lands in question between them: Seleukos would take Syria proper and parts of Phoenicia, Ptolemy took Coele-Syria, the rest of Phoenicia, and Israel. Even though the two men parted on good terms and stayed friends for the rest of their lives the land settlement of 300 would prove to be the basis for future wars between the Ptolemaic and the Seleukid Empires for years to come. Ptolemy then turned once more inward, preferring to focus on the governance of his new empire. Marriage alliances were still concluded, he well understood the importance of alliances. But Ptolemy still preferred to not get involved in larger politics. In 298 peace was finally restored to Cyrenaica, which suffered from major upheaval in the recent years. In 294, while Demetrios Poilorketes was fighting in Hellas and Makedon, Ptolemy invaded his lands in Anatolia and Phoenicia. Ptolemy also used the opportunity to finally regain Cyprus. In 288 Ptolemy waged his last war, taking part in a league arrayed against Demetrios. The Ptolemaic Navy played a key role in the war and allowed Ptolemy to regain his influence over the Nesiotic League. After this Ptolemy retreated from the world stage, never again to return. He had been at war almost continuously for thirty-six years since he came to power in Egypt and he was tired of it. For the rest of life Ptolemy I Soter concentrated on domestic affairs. He would go on found the Mouseion or Museum, with the intention of creating a common place for native Egyptians and Hellenes to work together for the good of higher education. He also laid the building blocks for many of his son's famous building projects, including the Library of Alexandria. In 285 Ptolemy declared that following the ancient traditions of the pharaohs he would make the son he wished to succeed him joint king. The son he chose was not his eldest son, Ptolemy Keraunos, but rather a younger boy, Ptolemy Philadelphos. This was a major and unexpected move, the eldest son usually inherited. Why Ptolemy choose a younger son is unknown. Keraunos fled Egypt soon after and for intents and purposes Ptolemy I retired. He devoted himself from then forth to patronage of the arts and the writing of a history of Alexander, his dearest friend. Ptolemy I Soter, Pharaoh of Egypt, founder of the Ptolemaic Empire, died in 283 in his sleep at the age of 84.

In conclusion Ptolemy I Soter was a good king and a major player in the power struggles of the Successors. Rising from relative obscurity to ending as Pharaoh and King beloved by all of his subjects Ptolemy I Soter was one of the most successful of the Diadochi, the heirs of Alexander's legacy. Ptolemy's empire would go on to outlive him by two hundred years, outlasting every one of his rivals' kingdoms. A true testament to his skills as a builder of a nation.

[Biographies: Herod the Great]

Herod the Great was an Idumean Jew of the 1st Century BC. A man of contradictions Herod was on one hand a great builder and superb governor, on the other he was a brutal paranoid tyrant.

He was born to a lowly courtier. Herod the Great was born in 73 BC to Antipater II, a man of Idumea, and Cypros, a daughter of a Nabatean noble. Antipater was a servant in the court of the cohen hagadol (High Priest of Israel), Yohanan Hyrcanus II. It is unknown what position his mother had occupied in the Nabatean court prior to her marriage. As a young boy Herod would have witnessed the outbreak of the Maccabee Civil War in 69 BC, when Yohanan Hyrcanus' succession to the throne of Israel was contested by his brother Judah Aristobulus II. Antipater soon became the true power behind the throne when Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great) intervened in the civil war to the favor of Hyrcanus II, resulting in the rising of the House of Antipater in royal favor. This continued even after Pompeius stripped Hyrcanus of his royal title and made him Ethnarch. In 47 BC Antipater was appointed as Regent of Israel and granted citizenship from the Romans, who then favored his young son Herod with his first official post at 25.

Herod's first foray into politics would be messy. Due to the political strength of his father Herod was appointed by the Romans to the governorship of the Galil, what we know as Galilee. At the time the area was plagued by bandits led by a man named Hezekiah. Herod despised bandits and committed himself to their annihilation, a move which made him unpopular with the people. Banditry was a favored way of the Jews to express their displeasure with the current situation, and was especially favored in the Galil. Herod's quelling of the bandits made him unpopular in Jerusalem where the mothers of the bandits and powerful men who felt threatened by Herod, claimed he had violated the Torah, and petitioned Hyrcanus II to make Herod appear before the Sanhedrin. Herod got word of this in advance and went to Syria to speak with the Roman governor Sextus Caesar. According to Roman law Herod had done no wrong and thus when Herod did appear before the Sanhedrin Sextus ordered an acquittal. This move greatly angered the Sanhedrin, who did not appreciate a foreigner intervening in their affairs. In any case Herod knew that if he stayed in Israel he was pretty much dead so he fled to Syria where Sextus Caesar gave him refuge. The Romans became greatly impressed by the young Herod, and he was given the governorship of Coele-Syria. Even though the Romans had arranged for his acquittal Herod was still angry about been brought to trial for his actions. He raised an army and received Roman permission to march on Jerusalem to punish the Sanhedrin, but Antipater and Herod's elder brother Phasael where able to sooth his wrath. Meanwhile on the wider world stage Antipater had been maneuvering to support Julius Caesar in the looming political climate of Rome. When Sextus Caesar was assassinated and replaced by a pro-Pompeius man, Caecillius Bassus, Herod lost his position. But he returned soon after with Phasael and an army and warred with him for years. Then 44 BC Caesar was himself assassinated and the political climate changed again. The assassins, Cassius and Brutus, had seized control of the Roman East and Antipater stood to lose his position. So he decided to flip to their side and was struck with heavy taxes as a result. Herod, Phasael, and Malichus ( a man who was indebted to Antipater), were put in charge of collecting the tax. Soon Herod stood out as being an extraordinary tax collector, impressing Cassius to the point were he regained his old position as governor of Coele-Syria, as well as a promise to be made King of the Jews. However the heavy tax load was unpopular with the Jews, who gave Antipater an unending flood of trouble. In the midst of this trouble Malichus betrayed them all and killed Antipater, sparking a full fledged Jewish revolt. To make matters worse the son of Judah Aristobulus II, Antigonos, had been given refuge by a neighboring ruler and was casting eyes on Israel. Things where heating up.

With the death of his father and the deteriorating political situation a new chapter in the life of Herod had begun. Garnering Roman aid Herod went after Malichus for the purpose of avenging the death of his father. Eventually he was able to corner and kill Malichus personally. Afterwards Herod turned towards Jerusalem. The city had risen in revolt following Antipater's assassination, and the revolt was lead by none other when the puppet ruler Yohanan Hyrcanus II. Herod put down the revolt, but rather then depose Hyrcanus he kept him around, it was not time yet to do away with the Maccabees. Another revolt broke out soon after but other events drew Herod's attention. Antigonos, the son of Judah Aristobulus II and nephew of Hyrcanus II, was preparing to invade from the territory of the Itureans. Herod fought back and defeated Antigonos in 42 BC, driving him to the lands of the Parthians, who would play a big role soon enough. He also quelled the second attempted uprising against his family restoring a tentative peace to Israel. At the time Herod was married to a woman named Doris, and already had a son named Herod Antipater by her. But recent events had opened a opportunity that Herod was not willing to pass up. Mariamne, granddaughter of both Hyrcanus and Aristobulus II, had just come of marrying age. If Herod married her it would legitimate his rule and insure that the line of the Maccabees continued. So Herod divorced Doris and set up a marriage to Mariamne. By all accounts Herod truly loved his new bride with a passion, but she despised him with equal passion. On the greater world stage Brutus and Cassius had been defeated by Marc Antony and Octavian at the battle of Philippi. When Antony moved into Asia Minor to assume control of the East he called for all of the major leaders to come and give account of their actions, Herod and Phasael among them. At the hearings the young governor defended himself against charges brought against him by the Jewish religious leadership with such eloquence that Antony had the brothers cleared of all charges of disloyalty and bad governance. When a year later Antony was forced to call another hearing due to complaints by the religious leadership for a second time the words of Hyrcanus II, who was personally present, convinced him that Herod and Phasael should be rewarded. He made Herod, Tetrarch of Galilee, and Phasael, Tetrarch of Judea. Shortly thereafter Parthia invaded Roman territory, Antigonos was with them. Enlisting Parthian aid Antigonos had promised to support the Parthians if they made him King of the Jews, to which they agreed. Antigonos made camp at Mt. Carmel and Jews from all over flocked to his banner, Herod was near universally despised by now and the opportunity to see the Maccabees restored to glory was one that could not be passed up. Supported by Prince Pacorus, Antigonos invaded and the whole of Israel was thrown into turmoil. Herod was forced to abandon the Galil and flee to Judea to take refuge with Phasael, but his situation did not fare much better. As the feast of Pentecost neared the fighting stopped somewhat to allow for the feast to be celebrated. A Parthian cup bearer then arrived in Jerusalem, Prince Pacorus was willing to negotiate a settlement with Hyrcanus II and the brothers. Herod was suspicious, but Hyrcanus II and Phasael decided to take a chance and meet the Parthians. It was a trap, Hyrcanus was mutilated to make him unfit to resume his duties as cohen hagadol and Phasael was made a prisoner. When news reached Herod of this he immediately took up his entire family and any troops he had and fled for Masada and from there on towards Nabetea, hoping to take refuge with his mother's people. But the king of Nabetea refused and Herod fled to Egypt and from there sailed to Rome. Infuriated, the Parthians put Phasael to death, but it would be a hollow victory. In Rome Herod made his case before Marc Antony and Octavian, who had already responded to the threat by dispatching Ventidus. However, again, they were impressed by Herod's eloquence, and promised him the throne of Israel when the Parthians were thrown out. After Ventidus had defeated the Parthians and was beating them back Herod was allowed to leave Rome for Israel, in support two legions, Legio VI Ferrata and Legio III Gallica, accompanied him. He landed at Ptolemais and proclaimed he was the rightful King of the Jews, Antigonos countered with the fact that Herod was only half Jewish, and thus not in line for the throne. Regardless Herod went on to take back Idumea, Samaria, and the Galil from the Parthians. Along the way the siege of Masada, where Herod had left his family, was broken. In 37 Herod controlled all but Jerusalem, but the city was well defended and even with full out Roman aid it was a tough nut to crack. The city finally fell in the summer of that year. The defenders where all put to the sword and, after a little bribe from Herod, Antigonos was executed. With the execution of Antigonos the age of the Maccabees had ended, the age of the House of Herod had begun.

After just ten years in the political arena Herod was a king. In mid 37 BC Herod had at last triumphed over the forces of Antigonos and was confirmed by Rome as King of the Jews, the title he had long coveted. His subjects did not share the same feeling, they hated Herod for ending the popular monarchy of the Maccabees and the fact that Herod was technically only half-Jewish. Antipater may have been a pious Jew, but in the Hebrew system Jewishness was determined through the mother, and Herod's was a Nabatean. Knowing that without the love of the people he was doomed Herod sent envoys to Parthia and asked for the return of Hyrcanus II from Ctesiphon. The Parthians were all to happy to oblige, even mutilated Hyrcanus was popular and the Great King feared his popularity with Parthia's Jewish population. The return of the old king, even though he could not resume that post or that of cohen hagadol ever again, was hailed with much fanfare and his support for Herod did help ease his troubles. Herod then turned his attention to a great building spree. If anything, Herod can be called a great builder, his enthusiasm was so great for these bursts of construction. The first he did was rebuild the walls of Jerusalem to even greater heights then before and construct the Antonia Fortress to protect the Temple. Herod also tried to gain the favor of the religious Jews by favoring the various groups. But the two most powerful, the Sadducees and Pharisees, were already Herod's enemy before his reign. The Sadducees hated Herod for his mistreatment of the Maccabees, and the Pharisees because he was half-Jewish and a friend of Rome. There was little Herod could do about it though, both groups were seen as being holy men, to kill them would be political suicide. Nevertheless Herod did from time to time arrange for the deaths of more then a few prominent men from both groups. Not that this stopped Herod's next actions. Due to the ineligibility of Hyrcanus Herod needed a new puppet cohen hagadol. For this purpose he appointed a Zadokitenamed Hananiel to the post. Unfortunately this choice offended Alexandra, Herod's mother-in-law, who insisted that Mariamne's brother Aristobulus should be cohen hagadol. Even though the boy was too young Herod arranged for his taking the post. This was a scandal of the highest order, the position was for life, for Herod to depose and elevate in such a manner undermined the office and from that point the cohen hagadol was little more then a glorified puppet. However this was not the end of Herod's troubles, Aristobulus was popular with the people, very popular. Herod began to fear for his position as king, and with Alexandra still in a hostile mood he had good reason to fear. While at Jericho following the feast of Tabernacles Herod arranged for Aristobulus to be killed by drowning. As a result Herod was forced to appear before Marc Antony to answer for murder. Through bribery he got off the hook and returned home. Hyrcanus, still popular with the people, was the next target of Herod's paranoia and was assassinated. He then turned on his uncle Joseph whom he feared was having an affair with Mariamne. Later that year (34) Cleopatra, through Marc Antony, took much of Herod's lands right out from under him. This only increased the mutual hatred the two shared. When a new Roman civil war broke out in 31 BC between Octavian and Antony, Herod pledged his support to Antony. He would go on to spend a great deal of his time warring with the Nabateans, even after a great earthquake that to many suggested the displeasure of God. When Herod finally triumphed over them he found the political situation changed greatly. Antony had been defeated and committed suicide along with Cleopatra, as one of Antony's staunchest supporters Herod knew he was in deep trouble. He arranged to meet Octavian at the island of Rhodes to bring his case forward. Amazingly Herod was able to pull off another wonder of speech making, impressing Octavian to the point where he allowed Herod to keep his throne, he later gave Herod all of the land Cleopatra had held in the Levant, an amazing gain for Herod that he would profit from greatly. Mariamne meanwhile had gotten word that when Herod left on trips he left instructions that if died she was to be put to death to prevent a remarriage. Mariamne despised Herod even more after this and due to the intrigues of Herod's mother and sister she was thrown into prison. Still, Herod could not bring himself to execute her until further intrigues on the part of Salome (his sister) finally drove him to do so in 29 BC. It was a move Herod regretted for the rest of his life. He had her body preserved in honey and mourned over it till his death.

With the death of his beloved wife Herod moved on. In 24 BC King Herod began a great building project across his kingdom. In Jerusalem alone he built a new market, amphitheater, theater, a new Sanhedrin building, and a race course. His intention was to honor the memory of Julius Caesar in the Roman style. An event his Jewish subjects found offensive, since such things violated Torah law. Outside of Jerusalem he built or rebuilt numerous palaces and fortresses, the most famous being the city of Caesarea, which he named in honor of Augustus. Other famous examples would be Herodion, Machaereus, and Jericho. Outside of the Jewish territories Herod built numerous temples dedicated to the Roman religion, which angered those same subjects. Realizing that he needed to get in the good graces of his Jewish population Herod announced in 20 BC what was to be his greatest building project of all. The Temple of God in Jerusalem was becoming worn and in a bad state of repair. It needed a bit of touching up, but Herod had other plans. He intended to totally rebuild the Temple, making it even greater and more glorious then ever before. The so called 'Temple of Herod' was the greatest of all three versions of the Temple of God, being both larger and more resplendent then any previous version, even Solomon's. A story from the Talmud (a rabbincal text) goes that Herod was going to plate the whole building in gold after construction, but the religious leaders asked him not to. The building's current beauty was already overwhelming. However even though Herod did go a long ways in making up to the religious community with the rebuilding of the Temple he was still despised, especially after the planting of the Roman eagles in the Temple courts. A great deal of the funding for Herod's construction projects came from the trade of spices, dates, balsam wood, and other products. This, in addition to the hated high tax rate, gave Herod the wealth he needed to maintain not only his building sprees but also his court. The court of Herod was famous for its learning and culture, all in the Greek style. When the Sanhedrin voiced its displeasure with the pagan nature of Herod's court and rule he crushed them. The once powerful ruling council of the Jewish nation was turned into little more then a toothless talk shop. Herod then went on to pass laws that made life miserable for those Jews living in Judea, but elevated those from the Galil and of the Diaspora. When Augustus came to Syria Herod went to meet him there. At the meeting Augustus increased the size of Herod's kingdom again, and expanded his influence even into the Roman provinces in the area. By now Herod was the richest and most powerful Roman client king in the entire realm. Perhaps due to this he would go on in 14 BC to actually lower the high tax rate, twice. Herod would off set this kind act by forbidding his Jewish subjects from forming assemblies however.

We now enter the final stage in the life of Herod the Great. In 13 BC Herod recalled from exile his son by his first wife, Herod Antipater, and sent him to Rome. At the time troubles within the family had resulted in the falling out of favor of Herod's sons by Mariamne (by now known as Mariamne I, Herod had since remarried to another woman by that name), Herod Alexander and Herod Aristobulus. The elder Herod had hoped that by recalling Antipater things would calm down. Instead Antipater's recall only inflamed a bad situation, and Augustus had be called upon to settle the family dispute. The Emperor did in 12 BC, but it was a short lived peace. Antipater hated his half-brothers by Mariamne I and joined by Salome he intrigued against them. The troubles they caused resulted in Herod's paranoia causing him to launch a campaign of terror against the friends of his son Alexander, convinced that the boy was out to kill him. He even threw Alexander personally into prison. But the intervention of Archelaus, King of Cappadokkia and father-in-law of Herod Alexander, prevented the situation from worsening. Through deft political maneuvering Archelaus was able to get Alexander out of trouble and restore peace to Herod's troubled mind. The following year was a big one for Herod, the port of Caesarea, the crowning achievement of his building program, was officially dedicated in 9 BC. However problems of a military nature interrupted this when Nabetea gave refuge to some rebels. This sparked an invasion by Herod, which made him unpopular in Rome since he did so without Augustus' approval. Nevertheless Herod got off the hook, he had powerful friends in Rome, including Marcus Agrippa, the close friend of Augustus. Once again problems within his family drew the attention of Herod. Alexander and Aristobulus once again got themselves in trouble and this time their father's patience was shot. They were imprisoned and put on trial by the Romans. When they were found guilty of the act of treason against Rome Herod had them and three hundred of their supporters executed, ironically at the very spot he married Mariamne I. At the same time Herod, for no reason at all, turned on his old allies the Essenes, destroying their spiritual center at Qumran. However family problems did not end for Herod, his scheming eldest son Antipater now wanted his throne. When Herod learned of this he was furious and Antipater fled to the safety of Rome. When Pheroras, another of Herod's brothers, died in 6 or 5 BC the full extent of the plotting of Antipater was revealed. He was recalled to Jerusalem and accused of high crimes. Following a Roman trial Herod had his eldest son imprisoned, but decided to defer to Augustus on what do with him. It was at this time that the disease that would kill Herod, a kind of cancer, first struck him. While Herod was recovering from a especially bad bout of illness he received word of the arrival of some magi from Parthia. The magi where members of the priestly caste of Zurvanism, an offshoot of Zoroastrianism, and renown for their learning. Their appearance was a big event and Herod treated it as such. What he learned shocked him, the magi were following a star they believed would lead them to the new King of the Jews. As the magi explained further Herod realized that this child was not only prophesized, but he was of the line of David. The Jewish population of the kingdom would over throw Herod in a second for a descendant of the Shepherd King. So Herod decided to use the magi to find the child so he could kill him. But they never returned after leaving Jerusalem, leaving Herod in the dark. Eventually he did find out that the child had been born in Bethlehem, and so sent his army to kill every boy under two in an event called the Slaughter of the Infants. But it was all for naught for the child, Yeshua ben Yosef, better known as Jesus Christ, was safely out of his reach in Egypt. After these events Herod's illness got steadily worse and not even bathing in the Jordan eased his pain. Two religious leaders tried to take advantage of this by taking down the Roman eagles in the court of the Temple. This grew into a anti-Roman movement which Herod swiftly crushed by ordering mass executions. Herod by now knew he would die so he issued a call for the leadership of Israel to meet him at his palace at Jericho. When they arrived he trapped them in and told his sister Salome to execute them the moment he died, so that the nation would be in mourning (Salome would not follow these orders). Shortly thereafter Augustus gave Herod permission to execute Antipater, which he did. Five days later Herod died of his illness, he was 69 years old.

In conclusion Herod the Great was an cruel but successful leader. Herod started as the younger son of the puppet master of the last king of the Maccabee dynasty and by the time he died was the most successful client king in the Roman Empire. However Herod's cruelty, especially in his later years, overshadows the good that he did do and left behind a legacy that his successors fulfilled quite well.

[Battles: Battle of the Hydaspes]

The battle of the Hydaspes River was the fourth and last great battle of Megas Alexandros, Alexander the Great, in his campaigns of conquest. In this battle Alexander won his last victory before being forced to return home.

Much had happened since Gaugamela. The five years between the great battles at Gaugamela and Hydaspes River are beyond the scope of this article and would be too much to cover. So we will jump to 327 BC, when Alexander reached India. By that time Alexander had achieved his aims which had been set out at Pella so long ago. The Achaemenid Empire had been conquered and the new aim of avenging the murder of Darius III achieved. But Alexander did not turn back, the fabled lands of India, furthest provinces of the Achaemenids, lay before him. Tales of the wealth of India were inciting to the conqueror, as was the land's status as rebel provinces. This was an opportunity that Alexander could not let pass him by. He declared that as the new Shahanshah, an effect of Alexander's adopting Persian customs, it was his duty to restore the provinces of India to their rightful authority. But before he could do that Alexander knew he had to know the political scene. Politics in the region were mainly divided between two camps, on one hand was the kingdom of Taxila, ruled by Raja Ambhi, called Taxiles by the Macedonians. On the other was the kingdom of Hydaspes, ruled by Raja Purushotthama, called Poros by the Macedonians. These two men had been fighting for many years and neither man was able to come out on top and conquer the other. This was advantageous, but the Macedonians would need a native ally to help them through territory they did not know. As it was both Rajas were aware of Alexander's exploits and of his presence beyond the mountains. It was Taxiles who took advantage of this, he offered submission to Alexander, but in return he asked for aid in smashing Poros. Alexander readily agreed and began to plan his advance through the Hindu Kush to India. The army would be divided into two, one under the command of Alexander's favored lieutenants Hephaestion and Perdikkas and the other under his personal command. The following campaign through the mountains down to the Indus was a long drawn out affair that dragged out the rest of 327. In the early part of the following year, 326, The Macedonian army was at last reunited at the Indus River when Alexander's column crossed the river to the other side. They reached Taxila to find the army of that kingdom arrayed before them, Alexander began to assemble his own army for battle when Taxiles rode out alone. As it turned out the army was arrayed as a means of giving a welcoming parade to Alexander and his army. Shortly there after the Macedonians entered the city to great fanfare and a camp was set up. While this was happening disturbing news reached Taxila. Alexander did not want to fight Poros if he did not have to, and sent ambassadors to meet him. But Poros had no intention of letting Alexander have his way and was amassing an army at the Hydaspes. Alexander knew from Taxiles that the rainy season was soon coming, and the monsoon would make a river crossing to face Poros impossible until fall. Alexander was not willing to wait that long, he had the army gathered and struck camp after just five days of rest. On making sure that Taxiles would move to support him Alexander marched off to face Poros. The route the Macedonians took was the long road south from Taxila through Nandana Pass. A massive downpour started soon after clearing the pass and when the scouts finally located Poros' forces Alexander knew he had a problem. The rain was detrimental to morale and there was no way to cross the river in good form. Alexander needed to find a way to cross the river safely, but how? So for two weeks Alexander played cat and mouse with Poros, feinting many crossings. When Poros stopped responding to Alexander's feints he made his move. Leaving behind a strong force of men with the commander Krateros, Alexander crossed the river 18 miles upstream at night with the core of his army. Poros quickly became aware of the crossing, but unsure of what it was he dispatched a force under one of his sons. The scout force was destroyed, including the prince, and Poros moved off with most of his army to face Alexander, as on signal Krateros began his advance when Poros moved and the battle of Hydaspes had begun.

The force with Alexander at the Hydaspes was a veteran force. Unfortunately the ancient sources are spotty as to Alexander's troop depositions and battle line at this battle. Numbers are also not given as well, presenting a problem. What we do know is that Alexander took his best troops with him on the crossing, which means he probably had the Pezhetairoi, the cavalry elite (Hetairoi and others) and Hypaspistai with him. The ancient sources mention that the Greek mercenaries were present, as were the light troops (Thracians, Illyrians, and archers). There is also mention of Dahae horsemen also present with the crossing force. Lastly was a force of Indian cavalry sent by Taxiles. It is unknown how many troops stayed behind with Krateros, probably a good number of 'second line' infantry and cavalry. A good guess for the battle line would be Pezhetairoi in the center, the traditional right wing supported by the Dahae, and probably the Greek mercenaries on the left. Light troops covered the front of the whole formation. Alexander commanded the troops with him personally, Krateros commanded the rest at camp.

Raja Purushotthama had mustered all that he could for the defense of his home. Contrary to popular belief Poros did not rule a large or rich kingdom, his territory was small and modest. The ace up Poros' sleeve was that he kept the largest elephant corps west of the Ganges kingdoms. The information on Poros' line is better then for Alexander's, though again troops numbers are largely unknown. In the center of the line was the mass of infantry, assorted spearmen, swordsman, and longbowmen (a feared weapon in India for its long-range and hitting power). On both flanks was the cavalry and remaining chariots (the majority had been destroyed earlier). In front of the whole line was the prized elephant corps, comprised of 200 beasts in all. Poros lead the whole army himself from atop his personal elephant, bigger then the others.

The battle of Hydaspes was a classical example of Alexander's skill to adapt. As stated above Poros moved off with a majority of his army from the riverbank to face Alexander, who had since formed up into his line. Alexander knew the battle depended on how he handled the problem of Poros' elephants. There had been elephants present at the battle of Gaugamela, but had played no part in the battle. This was the first time the Macedonians faced elephants in combat, and both men and horses were scared of the beasts with their imposing size, scary appearance, and smell. So Alexander came up with a plan to confuse the elephants, and thus force them off the field. The battle formally began when Alexander sent the Dahae forward to attack the Indian left wing, hoping to draw them out. This worked like a charm and the Indian left wing began to chase after the horse archers. Alexander then lead one of his famous charges with the right wing, lead by the Hetairoi, smashing the Indian left. Poros then shifted his right wing to go to the support of his left wing, hoping to crush Alexander with numbers while he was still isolated. However something was happening that he was not aware of. Before the battle began Alexander had hid a force of cavalry (the Greek mercenary cavalry probably) behind his line. When the Indian right wing became engaged this group, lead by Koenos, sprung their trap, hitting the Indian cavalry from behind and causing a rout. The fleeing cavalry went straight back to their own lines causing confusion. Poros had not expected this to happen and thus his lines became a confused mess as cavalrymen jammed into the infantry lines and elephants. This all worked out as Alexander planned and he ordered the phalanx forward into battle. At the same time Poros lead his elephants and infantry to charge the phalanx head on. Everything now depended on whether the Pezhetairoi would hold or not in face of a full-fledged elephant charge. In the resulting melee, said to have been little more than a mess of gore and mud, the phalanx remained steadfast, but the causalities mounted horrifically as men died of everything from being gored by tusks to being stomped on. The Pezhetairoi fought back by using axes to cut the trunks of the elephants and their sarissas to attack the eyes. As the dead mounted, the elephants finally broke after a long fight, but broken elephants do not retreat, they rampage on friend and foe alike. Krateros, who had already crossed the river and beaten the force opposing him, arrived at the field at this point with his own force. Alexander, now knowing his cavalry could now operate with impunity, joined in with flank assaults. The Indians would fight on but soon broke under pressure and fled, with Krateros following close behind. The battle did not formally end until Poros, still fighting even after many wounds, finally laid down his arms. The carnage had lasted eight hours, the battle of the Hydaspes river was at last over.

In the aftermath of the battle much happened. Following the final surrenders from around the field along the Hydaspes Alexander paid a visit to Poros, who was being held prisoner at the Macedonian camp. Poros through both his skill in battle and courage had earned Alexander's respect. He asked the defeated Raja how he wished to be treated "Like a king" was his reply. So Alexander allowed Poros to continue to rule his kingdom as a vassal. He also granted Poros some of the land belonging to Taxiles, much to the ire of the latter. After this Alexander rested his men and prepared to march on, wishing to take on the kingdom of Magadha, then ruled by the corrupt Nanda dynasty. But, to the surprise of all, the army rose in revolt. They had marched across the known world, conquered the Achaemenid Empire, and even put up with Alexander's taking a Persian wife and adopting Persian mannerisms, dress, and court customs but no further. They demanded to return home. Alexander finally bowed to their demands after a period of tense waiting. He would die three years later from a drink induced fever in Babylon.

[Battles: Battle of Gaugamela]

The battle of Gaugamela was the third great battle of Megas Alexandros, Alexander the Great, in Persia. In this battle Alexander won a victory that has, for many, earned him the epithet 'the Great'.

Alexander's conquests had reached a new height. Following the victory of the Macedonian army at the battle of Issus Alexander had marched on the great coastal cities of Phoenicia. Upon the entrance of the conqueror into the area most of the Phoenician cities surrendered to the Macedonians, but Tyre staid neutral. This made Alexander suspicious and he laid siege to the city when they refused to surrender to him. The siege of Tyre was the longest and bloodiest siege of the entire conquest of Persia. During this time Darius III had returned to Babylon and sent out a summons for a second great army to converge. While he did this the Great King attempted to once again fight Alexander on the scale of grand strategy, opening up fronts in Asia Minor, the Aegean, and Hellas itself. But by 331 this grand strategy had been defeated by a combination of lack of coordination between the Persians, the skill of Alexander's lieutenants, and the loss of not only Tyre but also of Gaza also to a Macedonian siege. In late 332 Alexander began his advance towards Egypt. Once they reached Egypt Alexander and his army were met with a surprise, the crowds of Egyptians welcomed them as liberators and the Persian forces, who had heard by now of the defeat at Issus and the fall of Tyre and Gaza, surrendered with out a fight. Alexander stayed in Egypt for some time, like so many conquerors before and after him. His time in Egypt had two great highlights, the pilgrimage to Siwa, which resulted in his being declared the son of Zeus-Ammon, and the foundation of the great city of Alexandria. When the Macedonians at last left Egypt in April 331 they were in high spirits, as was their king, ready to puncture into the heart of Persia. At this point a message arrived from Darius III. The Great King missed his family terribly and the news of the death of wife had dealt him a blow. He was willing to pay a fortune for their return, as well as the entire Achaemenid Empire west of the Euphrates. To top it all off Darius offered the hand of one of his daughters in marriage to Alexander. Many in the Macedonian camp urged the king to accept the Persian proposal. But Alexander refused outright, he demanded to be treated like an equal and declared he would hunt Darius to the ends of the earth. For the Great King this was another blow and he went into a deep despair. Nevertheless Darius roused himself for the defense of the heartland, and his large army moved out from Babylon. The Persians expected Alexander to follow the Euphrates to Babylon where Darius was waiting for him. But Alexander did something totally unexpected, he crossed the river at Jerablus and marched into Assyria. Darius was caught completely off guard and he knew he had to counter Alexander and quick. So he marshaled his forces and marched from Babylon to the town of Arbela. There he sat and waited for Alexander to move, the campaign becoming a game of chess between the two leaders. Macedonian scouts had since located the Persian force, and Alexander moved north, crossing the Tigris River near modern day Mosul. Darius met this with a policy of scorched earth so extensive that ancient sources tell us that day was as black as night due to the heavy smoke. The Persian forces then moved off from Arbela to the plains near the village of Gaugamela to the west. Once they reached there the Persians set about landscaping the area, transforming the plains of Gaugamela into one gigantic flat. This way the Persian cavalry could operate in perfect conditions. Darius also had caltrops littered all over the ground, so that the Macedonian horses would be crippled. Alexander meanwhile was now aware of the Persian presence and marched quickly to meet them. When the Macedonians reached the hills near Gaugamela Alexander ordered a stop and camp was pitched. For four days the Macedonian army rested while Alexander held a special session to determine what to do. By now he was well aware of the Persian preparations, and had to plan on how to meet it. The result was one of the most brilliant battle plans in history. After exhorting his commanders that absolute obedience and perfect precision were key Alexander prepared for battle. The Macedonian army moved once more towards the plain and pitched camp. One more day was taken in drill and going over the plan. At dawn the following day the Macedonian army assumed formation and marched out in silence. Persian scouts reported this to Darius, who ordered a countermarch. The great decisive battle of Gaugamela had begun.

The battle plan that Alexander laid out at Gaugamela was different then before. Alexander knew from his reconnaissance missions that the Persian line would try to outflank him. He also knew that the Persians would attempt to use their cavalry against him heavily. To counter this Alexander formulated his famous strategy: He would try to draw as much of the enemy cavalry as he could on to his flanks. This would create a hole in which Alexander would strike the killing blow with a special wedge formation. For this reason the Macedonian army was arrayed like a hollow box with the 'sides' jutting out at a 45 degree angle. In the center was the Pezhetairoi backed up from the rear by a phalanx of Greek mercenaries and the light troops. Additionally there was the Cretan archers, a squadron of Thessalian cavalry, Greek cavalry, and the Achaean mercenaries. On the right wing stood the Hypaspistai, Hetairoi, Prodromoi, Paeonians, the Agrianoi, and Macedonian archers. There was also a force of mercenary Greeks and Illyrians covering in front. On the left wing was the main body of Thessalian cavalry, more Greek mercenary cavalry, Thracian Odrysian cavalry, and finally the Pharsalian cavalry. As before the command was divided between Alexander on the right and Parmenion on the left.

The Persians had brought to bare their largest force yet. The army of the Great King that had assembled and marched with Darius to Gaugamela was a truly huge host from all corners of the empire. Even elephants from India and scythed chariots were present at this great battle. Darius' battle plan was to bring as much force to bare as he could on the right wing of Alexander's army, which Issus taught him was the most deadly. He also hoped to use his scythed chariots to create holes in the Macedonian line for his cavalry to exploit. The Persian line was arrayed thus: In the center was Darius himself in his golden chariot surrounded by the Royal kinsmen. With them was the Greek mercenary phalanx, the Anusiya (10,000 Immortals), a force of Carian cavalry, a force of Indian cavalry, and the Mardian archers. Behind the center was a mass of levies, like at Issus. In front of the center was 15 Indian elephants (which are never heard of again) and 50 scythed chariots. On the right wing was the Albanian, Sakesinian, Syrian, Areian, Parthian, Hyrcanian, Tapurian, and Sakae cavalry. In front of the right wing was another 50 scythed chariots, the Armenian and Cappodocian cavalry. On the left wing was more Indian cavalry, the Bactrians, the Sogdians, the Dahae, the Arachrosians, Indian hill men, Persian cavalry and infantry, a mixed force of Medes, the Susians, and lastly the Cadusian cavalry. In front of the left wing was more Sakae and Bactrians, plus another 100 scythed chariots.

The battle of Gaugamela was one of the most decisive in history. When the Macedonians advanced from their camp unto the prepared plain at dawn they were well rested. The Persians on the other hand were tried from not being allowed to sleep the previous night, out of fear on the part of Darius of a night attack. As the Macedonians advanced on the plain Darius ordered a countermarch setting his great army in motion. Soon it became apparent that Alexander was trying to get his army off of the prepared ground. Darius, not wanting all of his preparations to go to waste, ordered Bessus, the Satrap of Bactria and commander of the left wing, to begin the attack. The entire front left of the Persian line surged forward kicking up such a large cloud of dust that the ancient accounts of the battle differ from this point forward. We shall take an mixture of these differing accounts. The initial force of so many cavalry colliding into the Macedonian line at once was so strong that it almost broke. But it held on and Alexander ordered the reserve troops behind the Pezhetairoi to engage. This caused Bessus to commit more and more of his troops to the battle. This was exactly what Alexander wanted, and eventually the entire Persian left flank had been tied down trying to smash the Macedonian right. When a momentary break occurred in the Macedonian lines Darius ordered the chariots forward to attack the phalanx in the center. But Alexander had prepared for that eventuality, by opening gaps in the front ranks that would lead the chariot horses to impale themselves on the rear ranks sarissas' (the long Macedonian pike). Darius then committed his right wing to battle, beginning a great struggle on the Macedonian left. This was all going exactly as Alexander had planned, both flanks of the Persian army were now totally engaged on the 'sides' of his formation. This had created a hole in the Persian line between Bessus' left wing and the center of the Persian line under Darius. Alexander began to collect his strike force for the charge, which included the best of his cavalry, led by the Hetairoi, the Hypaspistai, a few battalions of Pezhetairoi, and any free light infantry and formed them into a wedge like formation. When the time was right Alexander ordered the wedge to charge at full speed. The small force of Persian cavalry which at the time had suddenly arrived to fill the gap in the line was swept aside by Alexander's charge, which was aimed exactly at Darius. Bessus, observing the action, feared that the charging Macedonians would come around and attack his rear, and so sounded for the Bactrians and Sogdians under his command to break off from combat. This caused the Persian left wing to begin to break and flee. Meanwhile the point of the wedge had collided into the Persian center, a fierce fight soon broke out between the elite of both armies. However a crises soon appeared in the Macedonian lines. Alexander's charge had caused a gap to appear between his charging formation and the main body of Pezhetairoi, a gap that the Indian cavalry, as well as some Persian, used to their advantage. They break through the phalanx, but instead of exploiting this opportunity they ride off towards the Macedonian main camp to pillage. At this point in the center of the line the chariot ridden by the Great King suddenly went down. The troops fighting around him mistakenly believed Darius was dead and began to flee prematurely. When Darius did recover from his fall he was, despite his protests , dragged off the field by a kinsmen. Alexander then took off after Darius, ultimately chasing him for a total of 30 miles before giving up. On the other side of the battle field Parmenion rallied his troops and led by the Thessalian and Pharsalian squadrons the Macedonian left counter attacks. Mazaeus (commander of the Persian right), having since learned of the situation in the center and also of Bessus' retreat, called for one of his own. The great battle of Gaugamela, oft called the most decisive in history, was over.

In the aftermath of the battle much happened. With the defeat of Darius at Gaugamela the heartland of the Achaemenid Empire now laid open to Alexander. He would go on to pursue Darius all the way back to Arbela before learning that the remaining soldiers of the Persian army had made for the mountains of Persia, regrouping at the ancient capital of Ectbatana. Alexander knew it would be foolish to pursue Darius into the mountains and decided to call off the pursuit, plus he needed to lay claim to his new lands in Mesopotamia. Soon afterwards the Macedonian army turned south towards the great city of Babylon, the richest city in the Achaemenid Empire. The city surrendered without a fight and welcomed Alexander as a liberator, making his entrance into the city a grand parade (with the conqueror riding in Darius' chariot no less). With the massive victory over Darius at Gaugamela, and the surrender of Babylon, the glory of Alexander reached a new height.

[Battles: Battle of Issus]

The Battle of Issus was the second great battle of the campaign of Megas Alexandros, Alexander the Great, in Persia. In this battle Alexander and Darius first met on the field in a great clash that was a 'near run thing'.

Alexander's campaign in Persia was about to take a turn. In 333 BC the young king of Makedon, Alexander III, was fresh from achieving a great victory over the Satraps of Asia Minor in battle at the Granicus River. He had then gone to consolidate his conquest of the area. With no effective force in the field the Persians could hardly resist as Alexander besieged and captured each major city in Asia Minor. But Alexander would not have a easy time, the rival commander, Memnon of Rhodes, was a master strategist. Memnon took advantage of the fact that Macedonians had zero sea ability to rule the waves with the Persian Navy. Memnon also used political intrigues against Alexander in Hellas. Darius III, the Shahanshah (Great King), had begun to move from his summer residence at Susa, to Babylon, the traditional gathering place of the Royal Army. Darius would gather his great host and together with Memnon coordinate Alexander's destruction. But it all fell apart when Memnon fell ill and died in the summer. His successor, Pharnabazus was not his equal. Alexander thought very little of what was going on in the Persian command structure, though he was relieved by the news of Memnon's death. It was not until after Alexander's detour at Gordium that happenings in Persia finally got his attention. At this point news reached him that Darius had moved to Babylon and was gathering an army. The scouts had reported that the remaining Persian forces in Asia Minor were being depleted. Alexander knew that Darius was planning something, but what and how he did not know. In any case the young king knew he had to act fast. Alexander reunited his army again and made south for the easily defendable lands of Cilicia, forcing a hard march on his men to get through the mountains quickly. On the Persian side the Satrap of Cilicia, Arsames, decided to strip his land of resources and move to join Darius' rapidly growing army at Babylon. Due to this decision Alexander was able to capture Cilicia, a major loss for Persia and a coup for the Macedonians. Meanwhile Darius' army had already moved on from Babylon without Alexander even knowing what was happening. By the time of the fall of Cilicia the Persian army had arrived at the Assyrian Plains in what is now Syria. Alexander then fell ill with the flu and nearly died. When Alexander began to recover he received word that Darius was camped in Syria. For the first time Alexander was caught off guard and worse was still to come. For the intelligence was faulty, Darius was not in Syria, he was behind Alexander's positions. For while the king was ill he had snuck through a pass in the mountains into Cilicia. Acting on the false information Alexander began to move his troops south to the Syrian Gates, believing that Darius would try to get through there since there was no guard. Leaving behind his sick and wounded, as well as supplies, at the town of Issus Alexander moved on to camp at the Gates. Meanwhile Darius saw his time had come. He quickly moved out of his hiding spot and fell on the town of Issus were he killed many of the sick and wounded, the survivors had their hands chopped off and sent to bring word to Alexander of what had happened. When the news finally reached the Macedonian camp Alexander realized the extent to which he had been outdone. Darius had out smarted and out maneuvered him in such a way that Alexander now admired his Persian foe. But he would not give up, Alexander believed that his destiny was to rule the world, a destiny he never lost faith in. Alexander ordered his army to do a complete 180 degrees and march north back to Issus. Meanwhile Darius had moved off from the city itself and took position along the banks of the Payas River, deploying in such a way that his line had no flank to turn. Meanwhile Alexander was pushing his men forward, exhorting them to remember Xenophon and the 10,000 Greeks, as well as their cause of vengeance. This increased the pace and Darius experienced his own surprise when word came that Alexander had made it through the Pillars of Jonah and camped on the plains. Darius made a sudden change in his formation, but to make sure Alexander was left unaware the Persian light troops were deployed across the river. In the Macedonian camp Alexander ordered his troops to come as close to the Persian line as they could without drawing arrow fire. Once they reached that position Alexander gave the signal for his army to begin drawing into line. He, in war council at the time, cautioned his commanders to make sure that the left wing remained anchored on the sea. The Persian light troops were still around at this point and Alexander knew they could be a nuisance if left alone. So he dispatched a detachment of his elite Hetairoi and Agrianoi supported by skirmishers forward to engage them. The decisive battle of Issus had begun.

Alexander's forces were all crack troops. At Issus Alexander laid out his battle line in the same classic fashion that worked so well before. His troops were arrayed thus: In the center of the line were the six phalanxes of the Pezhetairoi. On the right were the three phalanxes of the Hypaspistai, the Hetairoi under Alexander, the Prodromoi and Paeonian cavalry, Macedonian archers, the Agrianoi, Thracian slingers, Greek mercenary peltasts, Illyrian tribesmen, and Greek mercenary cavalry. On the left wing was the Thessalian cavalry, Greek cavalry, Thracian Odrysian cavalry, Illyrian tribesmen, the Cretan archers, and the Pharsalian squadron under Parmenion. As before the command was divided between Alexander on the right and Parmenion on the left.

The Persian troops were numerous, all come to answer to the Great King's call to arms. Darius III had arrived and arrayed his troops at Issus in a very intelligent fashion. The line was deployed deep and in such a way that if Alexander acted as he did at the Granicus then he would he leave his line open for attack. The Persian army was thus arrayed: In the right wing was the heavy Barcanian, Armenian, and Persian heavy cavalry which numbered around 6,000. Behind them was the young Persians, the Kardakas, which numbered 10,000. They were supported by a force of Mardian archers. In the center of the Persian line was the Greek mercenaries, behind them was Darius III himself and his royal kinsmen cavalry. On the left wing was another force of 10,000 Kardakas supported by Mardian archers. In front of them was the Median and Hyrcanian light cavalry. Behind this entire force was 20,000 levies from all corners of the empire. In the front of the line was an mass of unnumbered light troops.

The battle of Issus was would decide which King was greater, Alexander or Darius. As stated above the battle of Issus was opened when Alexander sent a force of cavalry and skirmishers to deal with the Persian light troops swarming in the hills on the right flank of the Macedonian line. A short action occurred in the hills resulting in the mass of Persian light foot breaking and fleeing the field. Alexander then suddenly realized what Darius was planning for the battle. The Persian attack would fall on the left flank. Alexander knew Parmenion must hold his position and he sent a quick dispatch to that affect. Alexander then sounded a army wide advance to the river bank itself. The cavalry of the right flank reaches the river first and comes under the fire of the Mardian archers. Unwilling to wait for the Pezhetairoi to come up for a full advance Alexander decided to make a charge with the Hetairoi and Hypaspistai, letting the rest of the right wing and the phalanx follow up later. So they charged forward shrieking like banshees in order to scare the Persians before they even made contact. It was a rousing success, despite a spirited fight the Kardakas are no match for the Hypaspistai and they collapse. Alexander and the Hetairoi make quick work of the Persian cavalry in the area and the Mardian archers and in moments the entire left wing of the Persian army is routing. Meanwhile the Pezhetairoi has begun its own advance, having arrived at the river bank they decided to make a charge to follow Alexander. However a problem soon appeared. When Alexander had charged he broke the line of his army, creating a hole in the Macedonian line. Furthermore the shower of arrows coming from the Persians and the difficulty of climbing the river bank was causing the cohesion of the phalanx to dissolve. The Greek mercenaries in the Persian line saw their chance to gain victory and charged straight into the hole, colliding with the Macedonians full force. A struggle between the two heavy infantry forces ensues and before long the Pezhetairoi, unable to take the heavy casualties, begun to fall back. On the Persian right wing Nabarzanes, the Persian cavalry commander, had sounded his own advance and was charging head on with the Thessalians and Pharsalian cavalry. Parmenion's troops may have been excellent but they were not suited for melee with the kind of heavy cavalry the Persians used. Using hit and run tatics Parmenion is eventually able to stabilize the left flank. But the right flanks' situation was becoming critical, Alexander needed to do something, and fast. But a golden opportunity presented itself first. The mass of Persian levies that formally protected Darius' III rear had been caught up in the rout of the left wing. There was no one to oppose a charge into the Persian center. Alexander orders a charge straight for the golden chariot of the Great King. The Royal kinsmen notice this and lead by Darius' brother they make for battle. A fierce melee follows as the best cavalry on both sides engaged in hand-to-hand combat. But not even the best Persian cavalry is a match for Alexander's best and the Hetairoi breaks through. Alexander himself came within javelin range of Darius when he was wounded in the thigh, but he carries on despite it. The horses of Darius' chariot meanwhile became spooked in the battle and get out of control. A group of kinsman are able to calm the horses down before they lead the Great King to Alexander and they hurry Darius onto a spare horse, leading him off the field despite his protests (contrary to the popular image of Darius fleeing from Alexander in panic). Knowing that he had his adversary on the run Alexander leads a pursuit only to realize the bad situation of the rest of his army. Alexander is forced to abandon the chase and he, together with the Hypaspistai, wheel around to hit the Greek mercenaries engaging the Pezhetairoi. Encouraged by the sight of their king the phalanx holds and the Greeks are forced to break. The news of Darius' escape soon spreads all over the battle field and the Persians lose heart. Now revitalized the Macedonian right wing begins to roll up the remains of the Persian line. On the far side of the battle field Nabarzanes realizes what has happened and orders his troops to break off and retreat. Parmenion orders a pursuit and soon after the remaining Persians rout off the field. The decisive battle of Issus was at an end, Alexander had triumphed.

After the battle much happened. As the Persians fled the field in disarray the Macedonian army followed after them, slaughtering the stragglers for miles. After a while the Macedonians came upon the Persian main camp, which was looted. In the camp Alexander found something he would have never expected: the family of Darius III. The Great King had not been able to return to camp and as a result his mother, wife, and daughters fell into Alexander's hands. For his part the victorious conqueror treated his captives well, treating them as his own family. When Alexander moved on from the area he marched towards Phoenicia, the bastion of Persian naval power, which tried Alexander's skills at siege.

[Battles: Battle of the Granicus]

The battle of the Granicus was the first battle in the campaign of Megas Alexandros, Alexander the Great, in Persia. In this battle Alexander displayed the skills that would lead him to victory many times in the future and pave the way for one of the most famous conquests in history.

The invasion of Persia was long in the making. In 336 BC Phillip II of Makedon was assassinated by a disgruntled noble. The results of Philip's death were enormous and his dream of leading a pan-Hellenic crusade against Persia in revenge for the invasion of Xerxes was put on hold. His successor was his 20 year old son Alexander. The new king had fought in battle before, but had no experience ruling. To the surprise of all Alexander was able to rise to the challenge and within two years he had defeated and subdued the Thracians to his north and west as well as brought low the rebellious cities of Hellas. By 334 Alexander was leader of the Hellenic world and stood ready to fulfill the dream his father had left behind. So in the spring of that year Alexander declared to his kingdom his intention to gain revenge for the invasion of Xerxes 150 years before. This galvanized his Greek subjects, allowing him to be to wage war without fear of unrest at home. The Macedonian army, built around the elite veterans of Philip's wars, marched off from Pella to the Hellespont, from which they would cross the straights into Asia Minor. Meanwhile in Persia Alexander's declaration caught the Shahanshah, Darius III, off guard. But Darius was a cunning and crafty leader. He put into motion a plan to open a six front war against Alexander, which would wear him out and allow Darius' personal forces to deliver a crushing blow in decisive battle. Unfortunately the Satraps (governors) of Asia Minor had different ideas. In panic they mass converge on the town of Zelea to discuss how to best deal with Alexander and the threat he posed. Present at this meeting was the leader of the Greek mercenaries in Persian service, the Rhodian Memnon. At the meeting Memnon proposes to the Satraps a scorched earth policy. He advises them to burn their land, denying to Alexander much needed provisions, while retreating steadily eastward until the Macedonians are weak and ripe for the picking. But the Satraps reject the plan, not wishing to burn or leave their lands behind. They make their own plan to stay and defend, hoping to force Alexander to fight on their terms in a defensive battle. The Satraps moved their forces from Zelea to the Granicus River, where they established a very strong position on the eastern bank of the river. Interestingly the Satraps made their position without the majority of their forces, not believing that Alexander would move quickly. Meanwhile the Macedonian army was just completing it's crossing of the Hellespont, but Alexander was not there, instead he had gone ahead of his main force to the ruins of Troy. Alexander, among other things, believed himself a descendent of Achilles, and felt the need to make sacrifices at Troy in the honor of all of the Greek heroes of the Trojan War. He also did so because the Spartan king Agesilaus had done so in his invasion of Persia, and Alexander was noted for his admiration of Agesilaus. It was lastly a great propaganda coup for Alexander and a means of raising morale. After this short stop at Troy Alexander returned to his army and discovered a problem. By now the scouts (a first in Hellenic history) had discovered the position held by the Satraps at the Granicus. This was a major kink in Alexander's plans. He had originally meant to make south after the crossing to liberate the cities of Ionia. But to do so now would leave his flank wide open to attack by the Persians. Alexander was going to have to move fast, and he did. He decided to take his best troops and march towards the Persians double quick. Alexander sent out scouts as before to tell him what was happening. After three days marching the scouts reported back that only the Persian cavalry and some infantry was there. The bulk of the Satraps' army was still marching from Zelea. In war council most of the Macedonian commanders advised the king to wait and see what the Persians were up to. But Alexander disagreed with his commanders and wanted to attack as soon as he could, knowing that to wait and let the entire Persian force come up would be fatal. According to the later historian Arrian while the Macedonian battle line was drawing up the veteran commander Parmenion was watching the Persians. When Alexander came up to see what he was doing Parmenion told Alexander he felt the current battle plan was fool hardy. In his opinion to cross the river now would fall right into the Persians' plans, invite disaster, and possibly put Alexander's life at risk. He advised to complete the deployment but wait until nightfall to cross the river. Parmenion believed that since the Persians would soon note the disparity in numbers between their infantry and the Macedonian they would withdraw at night, making a easy crossing. Alexander disagreed and decided to push ahead anyway, not wanting to delay anymore. When the deployment finished at about mid-day Alexander gave the signal to advance, beginning the great battle of the Granicus.

The Macedonian forces at the Granicus that day were the best of the best, the greatest of Alexander's army. The battle line that Alexander the Great made at the Granicus was a classic example of the warfare pioneered by his father Philip. In the center of the line was the six phalanxes of the Pezhetairoi (Foot Companions). These were the bread and butter of Alexander's army and each contained 1,500 men. To the left was: 150 Thracian Odrysian cavalry, 600 Greek cavalry, 1,800 Thessalian cavalry, and the Pharsalian squadron under Parmenion. On the right of the Macedonian line was the three phalanxes of the Hypaspistai, each containing 1,000 men. These soldiers were the elite of Alexander's infantry, handpicked from the best of the Pezhetairoi. Following them was: 600 Prodromoi cavalry, 150 Paeonian cavalry, a 200 man squadron of Hetairoi (Companions, the best cavalry of the day), the main unit of Hetairoi with Alexander at the head, 500 Agrianoi javelin men, and lastly 500 Cretan archers. The command structure of the Macedonian line was divided between Alexander and Parmenion, with Alexander commanding the right and Parmenion the left.

The Persian force at the Granicus that day was inferior in quality to Alexander's forces, but they were still a formidable threat indeed. The Satraps had been surprised by Alexander's quick response to their presence, they had counted on a sluggish reaction from the Macedonians. The Persian battle line as it stood was arrayed thus: In the center of the Persian line was a mass of cavalry of unknown origin and number, a body of Greek mercenaries stood behind them on high ground. On the left end of the Persian line was Memnon of Rhodes and some unknown (possibly Greek) cavalry, another unit of unknown cavalry, an unknown number of Paphlagonian cavalry, and an unknown number of Hyrcanian cavalry. On the right of the Persian line was 1,000 Median cavalry, 2,000 cavalry of unknown origin, and 2,000 Bactrian cavalry. The command structure of the Persian line was a confused mess, each Satrap commanded his own unit separate of the others, unified only their pursuit of the common goal of defeating the invaders.

The battle could make or break Alexander's ambitions. As said above the deployment of the Macedonian line completed at mid-day and Alexander sounded the advance soon after. The first units to be sent across the river were the Prodromoi, Paeonians, and the smaller squadron of Hetairoi. A phalanx of Hypaspistai accompanied them. Alexander meant for this attack to be a feinting action, to draw away some of the Persian troops from the center to allow Alexander to attack. It worked like a charm, the Persians, alarmed by the sudden quick movement against their left began to pour onto the threatened flank. A massive amount of missile fire was directed against the crossing Macedonians, who suffered terrible losses as they first crossed the river then tried to climb the river bank to get on level ground with the Persians. All of this however fell right into Alexander's plans, a majority of the Persian cavalry and the Satraps, not to mention Memnon, was now on the left. When he noticed all this Alexander knew the time was now. He ordered the signal trumpets blown and lead the main body of his Hetairoi across the river straight towards the Persian center. The remainder of the Macedonian right wing then decided to follow their leader and sounded their own advance. To say that the sudden move caught the Satraps by surprise is an understatement, they had not expected Alexander to make such a move and tried vainly to meet it. When the Satraps noticed Alexander's distinct helmet, and thus that he was on the field they saw a chance for glory. Even in the 4th Century BC the concept of a heroic duel between two commanders had not completely died out. It was this that the Persians saw as their chance to gain a victory. If one of them could slay Alexander he would be covered in glory and the threat posed by Makedon would be broken. One by one each of the Satraps broke off with their units from what ever they were currently doing and charged Alexander and his Hetairoi. Each attempted to challenge the young king, and each failed. In the midst of the third duel one of the most pivotal events of Alexander's campaign occurred. In this duel Alexander's helmet had already been cleaved off during the second, and the third Satrap, named Spithridates, attempted to capitalize on that. Getting behind Alexander he raised his weapon and nearly spilt Alexander's skull in two. But just in the nick of time Cleitus the Black, the commander of the Royal Squadron, cut Spithridates' arm from his shoulder, saving Alexander's life. Slowly but steadily the Macedonians were gaining ground, and as more Satraps died in foolish duels, the more demoralized the Persians became. The remainder of the Macedonian right wing engaged the Persians at this point, following up on the progress of the Hetairoi. Meanwhile Parmenion was watching the action from the other bank and judging the time right sounded his own advance, spearheaded by the Thessalian cavalry. This event causes much of the Persian light cavalry to break and run from the field. All of the focus now fell on the heavy cavalry, which was primarily engaged against the Hypaspistai. When Alexander attempted to make a bold flanking maneuver around the heavy cavalry the center broke. With the center of the line broken the remaining men on the flanks of the Persian formation break and run in a wild mass rout. Even Memnon flees the field in panic. Alexander ordered his men not pursue the fleeing Persians however. The Greek mercenaries who had stood behind the center immobile had begun to move, taking a position on a small hill. The mercenaries send a envoy to Alexander asking him to accept their surrender. The terms which they sent to the king are unknown, but in any case he refused to accept. Alexander considered any Greeks not serving with him traitors, and he wanted to use the opportunity to make an example. A contingent of Pezhetairoi and Hypaspistai were sent to engage the mercenary phalanx in front, while a mixed group of cavalry attacked the rear and the light troops. The mercenaries are slaughtered and all perish except for 2,000 which Alexander decides to send back to Makedon to do hard labor. With the defeat of the mercenaries the battle on the Granicus ends in Macedonian victory, the first in a long line for Alexander.

After the battle much happened. In the immediate aftermath of the battle the death of so many Persian leaders had a massive impact on the Persian ability to resist Alexander's invasion. As a result when Alexander moved on from that battle the majority of Asia Minor was unable to resist the Macedonian advance. In the Persian camp the defeat had ruined Darius' III plan to overstretch Alexander, and now a new plan had to be formed. Memnon, who was the only Persian leader to leave the field alive, presented such a new plan. This plan was to re-enforce the naval bases and use the powerful Persian navy to cut off the Macedonian supply line at sea, eventually even raiding Hellas and Makedon. Darius gives the go-ahead despite widespread distrust of Memnon. However the plan falls apart and Alexander is able to conquer the naval bases easily, Memnon dies soon after and the first phase of Alexander's conquest of the Achaemenid Empire comes to a close.

[Other: The 0 AD Chronology, 1st Century BC]

In 0 AD Part I we will be covering the five centuries before the birth of Christ. In this article we shall chronicle the most important happenings of each of the games' five remaining civilizations in the 1st Century BC.

The Romans: For the Roman State the 1st Century would be their greatest yet, and mark the beginning of Roman hegemony over the western world. At the dawn of the Century the Republic stood tall in the world, having brought low the Successors of Alexander, finished off their Punic foe, and brought peace to Iberia. And of course expanded their territory. In the early years of the 1st Century Rome was rocked by the Social War, which erupted as a result of a dispute over the political status of the Italics. Rome eventually wins the war, but the Italics gain citizenship in the end. Almost immediately after this Rome is embroiled in another conflict. Mithradates VI of Pontos, an ambitious Eastern king in the Hellenic style, launched an invasion of the Roman East in 88 BC. Sulla, the protégé of Marius and hero of the Social War, is originally appointed to fight Mithradates. But a political turn-around causes Sulla to take the unprecedented step of seizing Rome itself by military force. After a year Sulla finally departs for the East, fighting first in Greece, where a rebellion had broken out. Over the course of the next three years Sulla is engaged in hard fighting against the Pontic armies and Greek rebels. First winning a victory by taking Athens then by defeating a army in the field at Chaeronea. By now a political upset in Rome reached Sulla's ears. Back at the capital Marius had returned from a Sulla enforced exile with a vengeance. Backed by the conservatives in the Senate Marius seized control and a seventh consulship in a bloodbath that was horrendous even by Roman standards. But Marius died of old age not long after, and power fell to his ally Cinna. Cinna dispatched an army to bring Sulla back from the field. But due to a combination of Mithradates' actions, greed, and a mutiny the whole plan falls apart. In 84 BC Sulla ends the war in the East and prepares to return to Rome. A year later the general arrives and defeats all forces sent against him. Sulla enters Rome in triumph and has himself declared dictator for as long as he feels like it. He then begins a series of massacres of all his enemies. Rebellions against Sulla's rule soon erupt, causing the dictator to divert much attention to military affairs. Despite this Sulla still finds the time to rewrite the Roman Constitution, effectively sealing the Republic's fate. In 79 BC Sulla willingly resigned the dictatorship, he lived out the rest of his days partying. After the passing of Sulla we enter into the period known to Roman historians as the Age of Caesar. The early years following Sulla's death were marked by the continued rising star of Pompey, Sulla's protégé. Mithradates invades Roman territory again in 74, and Spartacus arises in rebellion the following year. On three fronts Rome watches the rising of three famous generals: Lucullus in the East, Pompey in Hispania, and Crassus against Spartacus. In 70 BC Pompey and Crassus, popular due to their respective victories, team up to dominate Roman politics. Breaking the constitution the two men are elected Consul, but their power stretches far beyond that. Wielding their new power the two men are able to get whatever they please. Whereas Crassus was just interested in getting even more insanely wealthy then he already was, Pompey wanted glory. The pinnacle of Pompey's career came when he was put in command of the war against Mithradates VI. During his time in the East Pompey also put an end to the struggling remnants of the Seleukids in Syria, as well as making the Maccabee State in Judea a protectorate. 63 BC marked the entrance into higher politics by Julius Caesar, the nephew of Marius. In his typical flare Caesar had made that entrance by getting himself elected pontifex maximus, High Priest of Rome. Caesar was already wildly popular by that time, though many considered him little more then a money wasting dandy. The famous Cataline Conspiracy was bust open by Cicero soon after, making his reputation. In 60 BC one of the most famous political alliances in history was formed. By that time Caesar had cemented his reputation as a rising military leader through his service in Hispania, Pompey was facing political difficulties, and Crassus wanted glory. So the First Triumvirate was formed for the political protection and domination of the three greatest men in Rome. The following decade, the 50s BC, mark the beginning of Caesar's rise to dominance over all in the Republic. Using their combined power the three men are able to do as they please and keep the Senate conservatives from messing with their plans. Caesar spends the decade fighting his famous Gallic Wars, while Pompey rests on his laurels and Crassus prepares for a Eastern command. However everything soon broke down as Caesar and Pompey experienced a falling out following the death of the former's daughter . After the death of Crassus it was effectively sealed. In 49 BC the political climate of Rome insured that if Caesar gave up office he would be torn to shreds by the Senate. So instead he plunged Rome into a second civil war by crossing the Rubicon, the sacred boundary that armies could not cross. In the following civil war Caesar fought first Pompey then the Senate for control of Rome. In 48 BC Caesar defeats Pompey at the battle of Pharsalus. However rather then continue the war Caesar becomes embroiled in the most unnecessary conflict in Roman history: the Alexandrine War. After that affair Caesar moves on, fighting Pharnakes II of Pontos, then the Senate armies and Numidians in Africa. Caesar wins the civil war in 45 BC with the final defeat of Pompey's supporters in Hispania. In 44 Caesar is master of the Roman world, but here at the height of his power he is assassinated. Political tumult results over the murder, and for a time Mark Antony, Caesar's favorite subordinate, takes control. In 43 BC Antony forms the Second Triumvirate with Octavian, Caesar's popular heir, and Lepidus, the chief assistant to Caesar. A new civil war breaks out and in the end the triumvirs emerge victorious over Brutus and Cassius following the battle of Philippi. In 40 BC Antony and Octavian divide the Republic between themselves, with little regard for Lepidus. Over the course of the decade to follow Antony becomes embroiled in one disaster after another in the East, while Octavian fights pirates for the first half of the 30s. In 36 BC Lepidus becomes a non-factor, and it is down to two. Relations continue to sour between the two men until 32 BC when Antony divorces his wife, Octavian's sister, for Cleopatra. Octavian soon after publishes Antony's will. The will reveals Antony's intentions to forge a Hellenic empire with Cleopatra. The Senate declares war and at the battle of Actium in 31 BC Octavian crushes his last remaining foe. Soon afterwards Antony and Cleopatra commit suicide, leaving Octavian sole master of the Roman State. In 28 BC Octavian is made princeps senatus, first among equals. Effectively making him a emperor. But in 27 Octavian gave all of his power back to the Senate. In return the Senate bestows upon Octavian even greater power and the title Augustus. In 23 BC after crushing one last uprising in Hispania the Senate hands all power of State to Augustus, ending the Roman Republic and beginning the Roman Empire. For the remainder of the 1st Century BC Augustus embarks on the beginning of a great new golden age for Rome both militarily and peacefully. The most prominent Roman of the 1st Century is none other then Augustus Caesar, the founder of the Empire and possibly the greatest politician of all time.

The Hellenes: For the Hellenes the 1st Century was their last, the end of their last kingdoms. By the time of the 1st Century BC the Hellenic empires, once masters of the world, had been either destroyed, displaced, or hanging on by a thread. At the beginning of the century dynastic problems in Egypt continued to cause strife in that kingdom, riots were common and it seemed that the mood of the people of Alexandria reigned supreme in Egypt, not the House of Ptolemy. Things became so bad that by 80 BC the kingdom was effectively a protectorate of Rome, even the pharaoh himself at the time, Ptolemy XI was placed there by Sulla. The Seleukids by the dawn of the 1st Century were in a even more pitiful state. They hade been reduced by Rome, civil war, and the Parthians to just the province of Syria. Even then the civil wars did not end, the provincial nobility kept the kingdom in a constant state of strife. In 83 BC Tigran the Great of Armenia, a ally of Mithradates VI and just as ambitious, was invited into Syria by one of the warring factions. The result was that the Seleukids were reduced to just the city of Antioch and a few towns around it. This rump state held on until 63, when Pompey was still romping in the East. Pompey judged the Seleukids' constant internal strife detrimental to Roman interests and ended the kingdom, annexing it and creating a new province. For all intents and purposes the annexation made Ptolemaic Egypt the last Hellenic kingdom. However there was till several Hellenistic kingdoms around, especially in Anatolia. These kingdoms were not ruled by Hellenes, but ruled along their model. The most famous Hellenistic kingdoms were Pontos and Armenia, who caused Rome much grief for the early part of the century. The final act of the Hellenes started in 51 BC when Ptolemy XIII and his sister-wife Cleopatra VII came to power. In 48 Pompey fled to Egypt to seek protection from Caesar, instead the young Ptolemy had him murdered. Caesar himself arrived soon after and became embroiled in the politics of the court. His siding with Cleopatra started the Alexandrine War. This conflict lasted until 47. Cleopatra continued to rule in Egypt as a popular, if not controversial monarch in relative peace and quiet until Mark Antony's arrival in 41. Cleopatra and the last Hellenic kingdom, met their end shortly after the joint Antonian-Ptolemaic fleet was destroyed at Actium. In 30 BC Octavian Caesar formally annexed Egypt into the Roman Republic as the province of Aegyptus. The most prominent Hellene of the 1st Century BC was Cleopatra VII, the last Queen of Egypt.

The Celts: For the Celts the 1st Century would be the time in which they suffered the greatest loss. As a great deal about the Celts is still unknown we have to depend upon the accounts of their contemporaries. Due to this we shall focus on the Gallic Celts and Galatians. At the beginning of the 1st Century Gaul was roughly divided into two, the northern half still clinging to the old ways, the southern adopting an increasingly Roman style culture. Roman territorial holdings in Gaul allowed them to meddle in the affairs of the various tribes and confederations, which soon became unwelcome. Also unwelcome was the increasing movement of the Germanic tribes from across the Rhine into Gaul. The most famous event of the period, the Gallic Wars of Julius Caesar, began in 58 BC when the Helvetii attempted to migrate to a new home. However when the Helvetii crossed into and destroyed Roman territory Caesar became involved. Over the course of the following decade Caesar marched to victory after victory, conquering city after city. Even the fearsome Belgae in the north are defeated by the Romans. In 55 and again in 54 the Brythonic Celts were invaded by Caesar's legions, and in the end the Celts triumph this time around over the invaders. Part of this success is due to the rebellion of Ambiorix and the Eburones in Gaul. Unfortunately this rebellion is crushed and the Eburones are wiped out. In 51 BC the last great attempt to cast the Romans out of Gaul is launched by Vercingetorix, the leader of the Arverni Confederation. Vercingetorix is able to enjoy victory over the Romans at first, he even defeats Caesar himself at Gergovia. However Rome triumphs in the end when Caesar defeats the Gallic Celts at Alesia. With this free Gaul is at a end and the Romans have conquered their ancient foe. The only other Celts that we have records on are the Galatians. During the wars of Mithradates VI the Galatians side with Rome, giving them military aid. In 64 BC Pompey, during his time in the East, makes Galatia into a Roman client state and abolishes the old constitution there. Three tetrarchs are appointed to lead the Galatians. One tetrarch, Deiotarus, emerges above the rest. Deiotarus is made king of Galatia due to his friendship with many powerful Romans and his ability to switch alliances smoothly. The line of Deiotarus endures until 25 BC when Augustus incorporates Galatia into the Roman Republic as a province. The most prominent Celt of the 1st Century was Vercingetorix, who lead the last rebellion of Gaul.

The Persians: For Parthia the 1st Century would be one that was marked by wars with Armenia and also the first conflicts with Rome. As the 1st Century dawned Parthia was on the rise, their former Seleukid oppressors had been beaten and driven back to a pitiful state of affairs and the rich lands of Persia had been conquered. Parthia at the beginning of the century was ruled by one of her greatest monarchs, Mithradates the Great. In the beginning years Mithradates used his hostage, Prince Tigran of Armenia, as a means to get involved in Armenian affairs. After seeing the prince installed as Tigran II on the Armenian throne the king had the Armenians invade Anatolia on his behalf. But the Romansdrove back the invasion and in 96 BC Parthia and Rome first met in diplomatic terms. Sulla was chosen to represent Rome in this meeting, the Parthian envoy is sadly unknown. Regardless of the ill feelings that both sides had for each other an agreement between the two superpowers was reached. The river Euphrates was chosen to be the boundary line between Parthia and Rome, a boundary that was broke many times. When Mithradates the Great died Parthia in 88 was thrown into a turmoil that lasted for many years, the worst being when Tigran II, now the Great, invaded Parthia. When Rome became involved in a war with Armenia the Parthians supplied back up for them. Parthia was able to regain much of what it had lost together with Pompey when he succeeded Lucullus in the east. However Pompey double crossed the Parthians and when Armenia became a client state for Rome things heated up. This was best demonstrated when the governor of Syria, Gabinus, attempted an invasion during the civil war that followed the death of Phraates III in 64. However it was not until the days of the First Triumvirate that war really started between Parthia and Rome. In 53 BC Marcus Crassus attempted an invasion of Parthia. His defeat at Carrhae and the loss of three eagles was one of Rome's most embarrassing defeats, and one of Parthia's greatest victories. In 51 BC the Parthians attempted to capitalize on their success, the Romans managed to throw them back. Parthia invaded again in 40 and this time to resounding success. The Roman response was to send the general Ventidus. Parthia suffered severe setbacks at the hands of Ventidus, and all that was conquered in 40 was lost. However Mark Antony was not able to capitalize on that previous success, even with the great political instability of the time. The invasion of 36 is defeated and Parthia celebrates another victory. A civil war erupts in Parthia shortly there after, and Augustus decides to open diplomatic negotiations. In 20 BC, and after a sudden change of rulers in Armenia, Augustus is able to open a diplomatic conference with Phraates IV, the Parthian king. The two rulers come to an agreement in which the Euphrates is once more the boundary line and the eagles taken by Parthia are returned to Rome. As the 1st Century closed Parthia, though shaken by dynastic problems (with worse yet to come), stands tall in the East. The most prominent Parthian of the 1st Century BC is Rostam Suren, better known as Suren Surena, the victor of Carrhae.

The Iberians: For the Celt-Iberians the 1st Century would be their swansong, their last attempt to be free. The Third Celt-Iberian War had broken the last rebellions against Roman rule in Iberia, but as long as some Celt-Iberian city-states remained free there would not be peace. For the most part things were quiet in the early years of the 1st Century, but things changed quickly once the proponents of Marius and Sulla began to tear the Roman Republic apart. In 83 BC Quintus Sertorius, a supporter of Marius and his party, went to Hispania. The Celt-Iberians were apprehensive about Sertorius, after all he was not even appointed. But Sertorius' quick victory over the pro-Sulla forces sent against him, not to mention the cruelty of Sulla's governors in Hispania caused the Celt-Iberians, both under Roman control and without, to side with Sertorius. The battle skills of Sertorius, together with his kindness, garnered him respect from the Celt-Iberians and Lusitani. They flocked to him in droves, calling the general a new Hannibal for his ability to win against every force Sulla sent against him. However Sertorius at the same time was romanizing his eager followers, putting together a senate and building a Latin school system for their children. The Celt-Iberians continued their support for Sertorius through all of the battles, and were instrumental in the victory over Pompey when he invaded in 77. However in 72 the popular Sertorius was assassinated by jealous officers, and the whole joint cause between the pro-Marius Romans and Celt-Iberians broke down. Strife in Rome would delay any sort of reaction from the Romans to the Celt-Iberian support for Sertorius. Eventually it did come, in 39 BC. In that year Octavian, master of the western half of the Republic, arrived in Iberia to conquer the last remaining free city-states in Iberia and Lusitania. Octavian himself did not stay long, news of troubles in Rome reached his ears soon enough, causing him to have to delegate the war. In a tribute to the fighting spirit of the Celt-Iberian people even at this stage they were able to hold off Rome's legions until 19 BC when Hispania was at last pacified and incorporated into the new Roman Empire. There is no prominent Iberian from this century.

[Other: The 0 AD Chronology, 2nd Century BC]

In 0 AD Part I we will be covering the five centuries before the birth of Christ. In this article we shall chronicle the most important happenings of each of the games' six civilizations in the 2nd Century BC.

The Romans: For the Roman State the 2nd Century was a time of great expansion and victory. As the century opens Rome is embroiled in a war with Makedon over control of Greece. The Second Macedonian War came to an end in 197, with the power of Makedon broken, Greece passes into effective Roman control. Rome would fight another war with the Successors in 192, this time with Antiochos III of the Seleukids. But as with before the Romans smash their foe. After these great victories Rome turned her attention westward. Iberia had been conquered in the previous century during the Second Punic War, but the exact of status of Iberia was essentially in limbo. So Iberia was divided into two provinces, Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior, which was greeted by the Celt-Iberians with a revolt. However no real large scale uprising occurred until 181 and the breakout of the First Celt-Iberian War which lasted till 179. In 171 Rome fought a third war with Makedon. When it ended in 168 the Kingdom of Makedon was dissolved and divided into four republics by Rome. The next spot of Roman focus fell again in Iberia as Rome fought throughout the 150s with the Lusitani (inhabitants of what is now Portugal) and the Celt-Iberians. However North Africa soon called for attention. Even though Carthage had been soundly defeated during the Second Punic War, and stripped of its' empire, the city had begun to recover its' economic prosperity. Which was reason enough for the more paranoid Romans to worry. When Carthage declared war on the Roman ally of Numidia in 149 Rome pounced. The Roman victory in this war was a forgone conclusion, even so the Carthaginians held on for three years. When Carthage fell in 146 the city was completely destroyed. The Roman province of Africa was created from former Carthaginian lands and other cities. At the same time Makedon was turned into a province as well. A short war in Greeceresulted in Corinth suffering the same fate as Carthage and province of Achaia was created. Just three years later the Third Celt-Iberian War erupted, not ending until 133 with the sack of Numantia. The domestic revolution of the Gracchi brothers begins during this time, and would change the face of Roman society and politics. Rome received a massive boost when the Kingdom of Pergamum is deeded to Rome by Attalos' III will. The province of Asia is organized from this land. In 112 the Jugurthine War, fought against the Numidian king Jugurtha begins. This war lasts until 106. The Republic has barely time to breath before Germanic tribes migrate south and threaten Rome. In this war the Roman army undergoes a dramatic reformation, spearheaded by Rome's greatest soldier, Marius. As the 2nd Century drawls to a close Marius and his new army defeats the Germans, saving Rome. Two of the most prominent Romans of the 2nd Century was Scipio Aemilianus, the destroyer of Carthage and Numantia, and Gaius Marius, the great reformer of the army.

The Hellenes: For the Hellenes the 2nd Century BC would mark their final eclipse. At the start of the century the Kingdom of Makedon was itching for revenge against the Roman Republic for their defeat during the First Macedonian War. The second war with Rome began when Phillip V began to attack the Greeks, intent on conquering them. Rome intervened and Philip saw his opportunity for revenge. Instead however he was himself defeated, in more then one way. Not only did Phillip lose much of his land but the famous Macedonian phalanx, which had never been defeated in open battle before was destroyed at the battle of Cynoscephalae. This defeat sent shockwaves through the Hellenic world. Antiochos III the Great, king of the Seleukids, was soon drawn into war with Rome when he attempted to succeed where Philip V had failed. But to the great surprise of the Hellenes he too was defeated and forced into a humiliating peace. Antiochos III was the last hope of reviving the glory of Alexander, his defeat marked that the days of glory were over. Despite the losses they suffered at the hands of the Romans the Successor States continued to feud amongst themselves. In 179 BC Phillip V of Makedon died, and the throne passed to his son Perseos. Though Perseos pretended to be a friend of Rome, he was really scheming to bring Makedon back to glory. Soon the Third Macedonian War erupted, at first it seemed that Perseos would win the war, but the Romans rallied and handed him a defeat at Pydna in 168 that was even more humiliating then before. In a move that would be remembered for years to come the Kingdom of Makedon was abolished, and in it's place was created four separate republics. Never before had a Successor been defeated like that and forced to submit to such terms. Problems soon arose from other quarters of the Hellenic world. The Maccabee revolt in Seleukid territory set off a whole wave of disintegration in those lands. Plus there was the threat of the Parthians, horse nomads who considered themselves Persian and thus fighting for their homeland. Rome soon interjected itself in Hellenic affairs once more when it annexed the former Kingdom of Makedon in 147, then turned south to attack the Greeks who had revolted against them. In an event that etched itself on the Hellenic psyche the Romans completely destroyed the city of Corinth and annexed Greece. In the ensuing decades problems plagued the Successor States: The Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt suffered some of the worst political instability of its' history, The Seleukids lost nearly all of their territory to the Parthians and civil war. In Pergamum Attalos III passed his kingdom to the Romans upon his death, giving them a foot hold in Asia Minor. As the 2nd Century draws to a close twilight has fallen on the Hellenic world, the once mighty Successor States have been reduced from masters of the world to being the last vestiges of an old glory. One of the most prominent Hellenes of the 2nd Century was Antiochos III the Great, who nearly restored the old glory of Alexander, but was in the end defeated by Rome.

The Celts: For the Celts the 2nd Century was a time of war and also of flourish. Again for all information on the Celts we have to turn to the sources of other peoples. Perhaps the best known Celts in 2nd Century are the Galatians, and we know the most about them as a result. By the 2nd Century the Galatians had suffered a great defeat at Kaikos Spring at the hands of Pergamum which confined them to Galatia, never to expand again. But the influence of the Galatians on Asia Minor in this period was still strong. Through the various wars the Galatians had earned the respect of their foes who respected them in turn. As a result Galatian mercenaries became a common sight in the east, even serving in the armies of their old foes Pergamum and the Seleukids. Then came the Romans. When Antiochos III marched west to fight Rome he made a stop in Galatia to forge an alliance with them. The Galatians agreed and during the war between the Seleukids and Rome the Galatian troops became some of the most feared in Antiochos' army. Following the defeat of Antiochos' army at Magnesia the Romans under Manlius Vulso attacked. Vulso managed to defeat the Galatians, making them allies of Rome. However rather then resent their defeat the Galatians became the Roman Republic's (and later Empire's) most enthusiastic supporters, staying loyal for hundreds of years. On the other end of the Celtic world was Gaul. In the lands of the Gallic Celts an interesting thing was occurring. Even though the Celts looked down upon the Romans, they were exerting a powerful cultural influence. Most of southern Gaul was dominated by cities and rich with trade, many tribes were organized on republican lines, having magistrates and elections instead of actual kings. Northern Gaul, which was rarely reached by traders stayed mostly the same as they had in previous centuries. In 125 Rome became involved in a war in Gaul when the Romans annexed the Greek trading city of Massilia. Not willing to be happy with just that city the Romans expanded outwards, creating in 121 the province of Transalpine Gaul, better known as The Province. This dragged Rome into a war with the Arverni Confederacy and Allobroges, who was not happy to see Roman encroachment on their lands. There is no prominent Celt for the 2nd Century.

The Persians: For the Persian Parthians the 2nd Century was a time of great glory. The Parthians were originally a nomadic tribe called the Parni that emigrated into Persian lands and became Persian in culture and religion. In the 3rd Century the Parni launched a revolt against the Hellenic Seleukids, whom they considered invaders. In their revolt the Parni captured the satrapy of Parthia and so they became known. For the most part the Parthians decided to bide their time, waiting for the Seleukids to weaken enough for conquest. Throughout the early half of the 2nd Century the Parthians witnessed the decline of the Seleukids, though this was not passive by any means, as the Parthians had to endure two major assualts from the Seleukids. In 171 Mithradates I, later called the Great King, launched a massive full scale assault on the Seleukids. It was a unmitigated success, nearly all of the Seleukids' territory outside of Syria were lost before the Parthian onslaught, even the great city of Seleukeia, second in size and spender only to Antioch, fell to the Parthians in 141. The Seleukids would make many attempts to recapture their lost land, only to fail miserably each time. Very quickly the Parthians would come into conflict with the Kingdom of Armenia, which would in time become the object of a national obsession for Parthia. The establishment of the Silk Road, and later trade agreements with the Han Empire in China in 110 would make the Parthians rich indeed even before the century was out. As the 2nd Century drew to a close Mithradates II the Great was fighting against the Armenians and the Seleukid remnants in Syria. The most prominent Parthian of this period was Mithradates I, who forged the Parthians into a great empire.

The Iberians: For the Celt-Iberians the 2nd Century would be their most momentous. The Celt-Iberians were a people with a free spirit so strong that they could never stand to stay in submission to anyone for long. In 197 the Romans divided Iberia into two provinces. Some of the Celt-Iberian city-states in the southeast and northeast rose in revolt. Rome's reaction was swift, but their armies suffered continuous defeat at the hands of the Celt-Iberians. In 195 the tide turned against them when Rome sent Marcus Cato the Elder to subdue them. The rebelling cities were forced to surrender and the Romans left again. However the provincial government left in place by the victorious Cato was cruel and repressive, and before long the Celt-Iberians were planning to be rid of the Romans for good. In 181 BC the Celt-Iberians rose up in an event known as the First Celt-Iberian War. This war ended in 179 with the victory of Sempronius Gracchus, the father of the famous reformer brothers. Unlike Cato, Gracchus was a kind man. The government he left in control was tolerated, due to the respect that the Celt-Iberians held for Gracchus. However before long the government was filled with corruption and vice once more. The Lusitani, cousins of the Celt-Iberians who had engaged the Romans in a guerrilla war, were able to convince them to join in the struggle against Rome. In 154 the Second Celt-Iberian War began, and it would be the greatest of all. The war went great for the Celt-Iberians at first, and they scored spectacular victories over the Romans. Claudius Marcellus would be the one to finally turn the tide against the Celt-Iberians, mostly due to his light terms. Technically Marcellus brought the Second Celt-Iberian War to an end, but his successor in Iberia, Licinius Lucullus, refused to accept that. Lucullus, together with his buddy Galba, would subject the Celt-Iberians to the worst treatment they received yet at the hands of the Romans. This cruelty would infuse in the Celt-Iberians a more defiant spirit then ever before. In 143 the Third Celt-Iberian War erupted. Led by Viriato, a Lusitani, the war went very well for the Celt-Iberians, and continued to do so even after his death. In 134 Scipio Aemilianus took command and after that point the Celt-Iberians were doomed. Just one year later Aemilianus brought the war to an end when he obliterated the key city of Numantia. The most prominent Iberian of the 2nd Century was Viriato, the great rebel leader who was a great thorn in the Roman side.

The Carthaginians: For Carthage the 2nd Century would be their last. At the end of the monumental Second Punic War the formerly great city of Carthage had been stripped of her great empire, forced to pay a huge war indemnity, forced to cut down her navy, and no longer allowed to have an army or even declare war without the ok of Rome. Carthage suffered under this heavy treaty, but things began to make a turn around when Hannibal, the great general, was made Shoffet, Judge of Carthage. Under Hannibal the Carthaginians reformed their political system. However the former general had many enemies, and he was chased out of Carthage and forced into exile, becoming an admiral under Antiochos III. The new party that came to power following Hannibal's exile were intent on getting on the good side of their former foes, hoping to become friends of Rome. The new policies of the ruling party soon increased the wealth of Carthage, before long the city's trading power had recovered. Carthage used its' newfound wealth to attempt to please the Romans, but instead of pleasing them the realization that Carthage was actually recovering set the Romans on edge. In 162 the Numidian king Masinissa, a continual thorn in Carthage's side, invaded. Carthage pleaded with Rome to help them, but the Romans ignored the plea, supporting Masinissa. Carthage continued to send pleas for aid, finally prompting the Romans into action in 153. What the delegation saw caused panic in Rome, not only was Carthage recovering, but it's wealth nearly equaled what it once was. Cato the Elder, whose hatred of Carthage is legendary, then began to egg the Senate into destroying Carthage. The inaction of the Romans caused Carthage to have a sudden change in government. In 151 the elections ousted the old party and put a far more radical, anti-Rome, party in power. In defiance of the peace treaty a new army was raised to protect Carthage from the Numidians. Of course word got out and the Senate promptly dispatched an army. When news of this reached Carthage they tried their best to appease the Romans, but it fell on deaf ears. In 149 the Carthaginians declared war, the Third Punic War had begun. That Carthage would lose the war would be a forgone conclusion, even the Carthaginians themselves knew it. In 146 the city finally fell before the forces of Scipio Aemilianus, who wiped the city off the face of the earth, destroying Carthage completely. With the destruction of Carthage the once mighty Carthaginian Republic came to an end. There was no truly prominent Carthaginian from this period.

[Other: The 0 AD Chronology, 3rd Century BC]

In 0 AD Part I we will be covering the five centuries before the birth of Christ. In this article we shall chronicle the most important happenings of each of the games' five remaining civilizations in the 3rd Century BC.

The Romans: The 3rd Century, for the Roman State, would mark the beginning of Rome's rise from local power, to world superpower. At the beginning of the century the Romans had to deal with one last gasp from their Samnite foes in 298. The war would drag on for years until they finally surrendered in 290. Political problems in Magna Graecia would draw Rome into war with that region. In 280 the King of Epiros, Pyrrhos, came across the sea to assist the Hellenic colonies. The Pyrrhic War went badly for Rome at first, but the tide turns when Carthage joins Rome in a alliance against him. In 275 the war ends and soon after Rome, for all intents and purposes, annexes Magna Graecia. In 264 troubles began again with the start of the First Punic War over Sicily. The war lasts for many years finally ending in 241, which also sees the Roman annexation of the island. After this great victory Rome continues to expand at a phenomenal rate, gaining land in Illyria, Gaul, Spain and more. In 219 the greatest conflict of the age, the Second Punic War begins. This war, the greatest of all of the Punic Wars, is perhaps the Roman Republic's most remembered conflict. At first Rome suffers a continuous line of defeat at the hands of Hannibal and his allies. Around 210 the tide finally turns for Rome and in 202 Carthage is finally defeated. With this victory Rome becomes a true superpower, dominating the Western Mediterranean area. As the 3rd Century closes Rome is in the opening stages of the Second Macedonian War (the first being waged as a theater of the Second Punic War). One of the most prominent Romans of the 3rd Century was Scipio Africanus, the man who won Spain for Rome and defeated Hannibal.

The Hellenes: For the Hellenes the 3rd Century was the beginning of their twilight, the fading of Hellenic power over the Western world. At the beginning of the century the Hellenic world was just coming out of a series of four wars fought by the successors of Alexander and more was still to come. As the century opened Kassander, the villain of the Successors, died and war over control of Makedon soon erupted. Demetrios, the son of Antigonos the One-Eyed, soon seized control with the help of a young rising star, Pyrrhos. In the end however Demetrios was run off by an alliance of his protégé and Lysimachos, they soon had a falling out and Lysimachos came to control Makedon and Greece after chasing Pyrrhos back to Epiros. Seleukos Nikator, who was master of much of Alexander's empire already, soon became embroiled in a war with Lysimachos due to family problems. In the resulting war Lysimachos was slain and his territory annexed to Seleukos' empire. However Seleukos would not live to enjoy his victory as he was murdered by Ptolemy Ceraunos, the disinherited eldest son of Ptolemy I Soter. Ceraunos then seized the land of Lysimachos, but did not rule for long as the garrisons who kept out the Celts from entering Makedon had been killed. A massive Celt invasion wracked its way through Makedon into Greece proper, managing to get as far as the Oracle of Delphi. After years of chaos caused by the invasion, Antigonos Gonatas, son of Demetrios, regained his father's kingdom. Antiochos Soter, son of Seleukos Nikator, also established himself in his own domain and defeated the Celts. After this peace reigned in the Hellenic world, with Alexander's empire divided into three. This peace did not last and war erupts again, but there was no serious threats to Hellenic superiority, or so they thought. Pyrrhos' defeat at the hands of the Romans during his adventure in Magna Graecia was a portent of things to come. When Makedon and Rome fight to a stalemate in the First Macedonian War it is the herald of the beginning of the end. One of the most prominent Hellenes of the 3rd Century was Pyrrhos of Epiros, regarded as the greatest captain of the age.

The Celts: Like the previous centuries we do not have any Celtic records, however do have the records of other who lived near them. The two greatest Celtic events of the 3rd Century was the mass migration into Thrace, Makedon, Greece, and Asia Minor and the beginning of Roman expansion into Gaul. Previously kept out of Hellenic lands by garrisons, the Celts took advantage of their being pulled back to invade. Led by a man called Brennus the Younger the Celts streamed southward. The Hellenes proved unable to stop the Celtic advance and the migrating tribes reached as far as Delphi, where Brennus was wounded, causing the Celts to pull back to Makedon. A spat within the tribes caused three to break off under their own leaders and head into Asia Minor. These three tribes would come to settle down in Asia Minor in a region that now bares their name, Galatia. The Galatians would go on to become a major power that lasted until Rome entered Asia Minor. In Italy the Celtic tribes left there by Brennus the Older are one by one annihilated by the expanding Romans. In 225 a coalition of Gallic tribes lead by the Insubres attack Roman territory, with the intent of stopping Roman expansion. However despite a hard fought war the coalition losses the war and Rome annexes their homeland, transforming it into the province of Cisalpine Gaul, the first step into the Roman conquest of Gaul. One of the most prominent Celts of the 3rd Century was Brennus the Younger, who led a invasion of the Hellenic world that would be remembered for years come.

The Iberians: For the Celt-Iberians the 3rd Century was a momentous one. This century marked the final stages of the transition from being a clan-based society to town based. As evidenced by archeology the importance of the clan in Celt-Iberian culture was replaced by the Celtic oppida. These oppida each functioned as a separate city-state with the once dominate castros functioning as secondary settlements. This event is believed to mark the maturity of the Celt-Iberian culture. When Carthage lost much of her empire as a result of the First Punic War and the ensuing chaos they turned to Spain, where they already had trade enclaves. The resulting wars fought between Carthage and the Celt-Iberians was a long and bloody affair, but in the end the Celt-Iberians remained independent and Carthage gained a great deal of respect for them. When Hannibal sparked the Second Punic War he enlisted some of the Celt-Iberian city-states to assist him in the war. According to some accounts Hannibal forced the Celt-Iberians to assist against their will, but there is no evidence either way. When the Romans invaded Iberia the Celt-Iberians became divided between those who supported the Romans or Carthaginians. After the Romans made their homelands a province in 206 the Celt-Iberians rose up to push the Romans out. Led by Indibil and Mandonius the Celt-Iberians waged the first of several bloody uprisings against Rome. They are defeated and for a time the Celt-Iberian city-states submitted, but as history showed they were just biding their time for another uprising. One of the most prominent Iberians of the 3rd Century was Indibil, the King of Ilergeti and the first one to revolt against Rome.

The Carthaginians: The 3rd Century BC would for Carthage be their most momentous. In 280 Pyrrhos, the King of Epiros, launched an attack on the Roman Republic on the request of the Greek colonies in Southern Italy. To Carthage, any change in the status quo was a bad event. They viewed Pyrrhos as a threat, and when he meddled in the affairs of Sicily it was too much. The Carthaginians negotiated a new treaty with Rome, including an alliance to kick Pyrrhos out. The war with Pyrrhos went badly for Carthage, nearly resulting in their being expelled from Sicily altogether. Pyrrhos then tried to negotiate with Carthage, but his demands was too much for the Carthaginians. In the end Pyrrhos is beaten back and things return to the status quo, but not for long. When the Romans annex Magna Graecia tensions run high. The First Punic War erupts in 264 over problems in Sicily and lasts for 23 years. When the war comes to an end in 241 Carthage has lost nearly all of her overseas possessions, and the last remaining colonies are taken by Rome during a mercenary riot. However despite this Carthage rebuilds, over the course of two decades the Carthaginians conquer much of Iberia, creating a new overseas empire. This revival leads to popular callings for revenge against Rome. In 219 Hannibal starts the Second Punic War when he attacks the city of Saguntum. For the first 9 years the war goes well for Carthage, Hannibal again and again thoroughly trashes the Romans. However the great general is unable to achieve a killing blow and in 210 the tide turns against Carthage. The Romans attack Carthage on other fronts all over the Western Mediterranean and the loss of Iberia in 206 is the greatest blow of all. Despite Hannibal's best attempts Carthage has lost the war. In 202 this defeat is sealed by the Roman victory at the Battle of Zama. In the ensuing peace agreements once mighty Carthage is reduced to just the city itself and made a Roman client state. One of the most prominent Carthaginians of the 3rd Century was Hannibal, the greatest general Carthage ever produced.

[Other: The 0 AD Chronology, 4th Century BC]

In 0 AD Part I we will be covering the five centuries before the birth of Christ. In this article we shall chronicle the most important happenings of each of the games' six civilizations in the 4th Century BC.

The Romans: The 4th Century for the Roman State marked an important period of expansion in Italy, as well as Rome's greatest shame. In this century Rome finally overcomes the Etruscans and their allies. The first of two wars with the Samnites, Rome's greatest foe in Italy, occur. The famous walls of Rome are also built during this period. But perhaps the most well remembered event of the century is the Sack of Rome by the Gauls under the chieftain Brennus in 390. This event, the first of only two times in ancient history that Rome was sacked, would burn itself forever on the Roman collective memory. When later in time the republic expanded into Gaul the Romans would take their revenge for the Sack. The 4th Century also marked a time of social upheaval for Rome as the plebeians continued their fight against the upper classes. The most prominent Roman of the 4th Century was Camillus, a dictator and great military leader in the early stages of the century.

The Hellenes: For the Hellenes the 4th Century BC was their finest hour, the height of Hellenic prestige and power. This was the Age of Alexander. The early part of the 4th Century was marked by the Spartan hegemony of Greece and its ultimate fall at the hands of the Thebans. The Theban hegemony was short lived due to the formation of a alliance against them. Around mid-century Philip II of Macedon came down from his country to Greece proper and subjugated it over the course of several decades. Philip's ultimate ambition was to lead a Hellenic crusade against Persia, in revenge for the Persian Wars of the preceding century. But Philip was assassinated before he could do that and his dream passed to his young son Alexander. The new king would prove to be one the greatest military leaders the world has ever known, starting in 334 Alexander would lead an invasion of Achaemenid Persia. This invasion spelled the end of the Achaemenids and the foundation of an empire greater then any other at the time. But the empire would not survive its founder. In 323 Alexander died and his empire was split between his Successors, who feuded amongst themselves for the remainder of the century and beyond. However war did not entirely dominate this century, the 4th Century was the time of Plato, whose impact on philosophy is still felt to this day. Without a doubt the most prominent Hellene of the 4th Century was Alexander the Great, who conquered the known world.

The Celts: Due to the absence of records we do not know much of what the Celts were doing during the 4th Century BC. We do know that the 4th Century is roughly in the middle period of Celtic history known as La Tene, so named for a archeological find at La Tene, Switzerland. Perhaps the best known Celtic events of the period are the Sack of Rome by Brennus and his Gallic Celts and the beginning of the migration to Ireland. It is interesting to note that the Celts did not truly migrate on mass to Ireland, but only in small groups. This would explain the rather special nature of the Celtic presence in Ireland as opposed to the rest of the British Isles, where a mass migratory invasion had taken place. For the most part the 4th Century was a period of consolidation as the various Celtic tribes began to settle down and develop into different groups. The most prominent Celt of this period was Brennus, the man who lead the Gauls to sack Rome and establish a presence in Italy.

The Persians: At the dawn of the 4th Century the Achaemenid Empire was in a troubling position. When Xerxes was murdered earlier in the 5th Century it had begun a decline in Persia. A series of increasingly weak Great Kings had lead to the loss of Egypt towards the close of the century, and the worst was yet to come. As the 4th begins Artaxerxes II found his empire attacked by Sparta. Artaxerxes is eventually able to defeat the invasion through clever politics, sparking the Corinthian War in Greece among other things. The Achaemenids are eventually able to retake Egypt and thus restore their empire's territory in 343 BC but even this does not hide the fact that decay had begun to take its hold. Court intrigue and assassination had weakened Persia internally. When Philip II of Macedon made his plans for invasion clear the current Great King, Artaxerxes IV began to make plans to counter him. But following his assassination the task fell to Darius III. When Persia was invaded in 334 by Alexander, Darius and the Achaemenids made a spirited defense. But in the end politics and Darius' own mistakes doomed the Achaemenid Empire and it fell in 330 BC. There would not be an independent Persia again until 150 BC.

The Iberians: As with their Celtic cousins there is not much known about the Celt-Iberians during this period of history. According to what information we have it seems that the 4th Century was a time primarily of peaceful expansion. During this time the castros expanded outward from the Celt-Iberian 'homeland' in the region known as the Meseta Central to the north and interior parts of Iberia. However we also know that this time also marked the increasing changes in Celt-Iberian society as the Celtic oppida began to appear more commonly over the Iberian castros . Farming also started to emerge as being a viable alternative to the traditional cattle herds. More weaponry has been found dating from this period, perhaps showing increased warfare between clans. There is no prominent Iberian from this period.

The Carthaginians: At the beginning of the 4th century Carthage was in the middle of a ceasefire during the Second Sicilian War. In 398 BC the Tyrant of Syracuse, Dionysius, broke the peace and attacked. The Carthaginian counterattack successfully beat back the Syracusans and nearly captured the great city of Syracuse itself, only to be stopped by a plague in 396. During the following period there is a time of peace in Carthage, though skirmishes continued to be fought with the Hellenic colonies of Magna Grecia. In 348 BC the Carthaginians sign another treaty with Rome. Most of this new treaty is just a reaffirmation of the treaty of 509. However there was new material, particularly in the area of commercial concessions on Carthage's part towards Roman traders and also a clause granting Carthage free reign in Italy. Meanwhile Carthage had nearly lost all of her Sicilian possessions. In 315 the Third Sicilian War broke out, which would have resulted in the conquest of Syracuse if not for a attempted siege of Carthage by Syracusan forces. The most prominent Carthaginian of this period is Hamilcar son of Gisco, the hero of the Third Sicilian War.

[Other: The 0 AD Chronology, 5th Century BC]

In 0 AD, Part I we will be covering the five centuries before the birth of Christ. In this article we shall chronicle the most important happenings of each of the game's six civilizations in the 5th Century BC.

The Romans: At the dawn of the 5th Century the Roman State had just under gone a major revolution. Nine years previous they had overthrown Tarquin the Superb and founded a new style government: the Republic. The new republic had spent the closing years of the 6th Century solidifying itself, though the following century would prove to be a formative period as well. The 5th would be marked by wars as the Romans expanded gradually out of the environs of Rome itself. Of course the period was not spent entirely on war. For example in 449 the Twelve Tables, the foundation of Roman Law, was formulated. One of the most prominent Romans of the period was Cincinnatus, the farmer who was made dictator, only to return to his farm again after his term was up.

The Hellenes: Without a doubt it can be said that the 5th Century was a Greek century. They dominated the records as this period marks the final phases of the recovery of the Greek world from the long dark age that had begun following the fall of Helladic civilization. In this century Hellenic culture as we know it today came into being. The process had already begun in the preceding century but the 5th saw it's blooming. This century is the time of the great philosopher Socrates, of the playwrights Aeschylus and Euripides, and of the poets Pindar and Sappho. Greek culture flourished in this time but not all was peaceful, war happened regularly. This time saw the two most famous conflicts in Classical Greece occur, the Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War. Political upheaval was also commonplace in this time, no form of government prevailed. One of the most prominent Hellenes of the period was Pericles, who turned Athens from a leader of Greece into a empire that dominated the Hellenic world.

The Celts: Of all of the civilizations the Celts are the least known, given that they did not leave behind a written language or records. At the dawn of the 5th Century BC the Celts began to migrate outwards from their apparent homeland in Central Europe. The rate at which the Celts migrated and settled down was astounding, by 400 BC and the start of the 4th Century Celtic peoples were the most populous in Europe. The most famous areas of Celtic settlement was Britain, where the Celts became the Brythonic peoples, in France where they became the Gallic peoples, and Spain where the Celts became the Celt-Iberians. Wars happened quite often amongst the Celts as the various tribes fought one another, fighting against non-Celts did not occur often. Though there is evidence of attempted attacks on the Italian Peninsula and Thrace. There was no prominent Celtsfor this period of time that we know of.

The Persians: At the start of the 5th Century, Persia, the greatest empire in the world was experiencing the beginning turmoil that would lead to the great conflict of the time, the Persian Wars. Cyrus the Great had founded the Achaemenid Empire some fifty years before, and under him and his successors the empire expands quickly. By 500 the Achaemenid realm stretched as far west as Ionia in Asia Minor to the Indus River in India. However in the closing years of the reign of Darius the Great problems with Greece arose. The revolt of the Ionian cities against Persian rule, and the subsequent reaction of the mainland Hellenic cities sparked the long Persian Wars, which dominated Persia's attention for the early decades of the century. The rest of the century would see Persia maintain a status quo as the greatest power in the region, though the decline of the empire had already begun with the death of Xerxes. A continuing interest in the politics of the Greeks would see the Achaemenids focus a great deal of their foreign policy on meddling with the Hellenes' internal problems. One of the most prominent Persians of this time was Darius the Great, though most of his reign happened outside of the game's timeframe, the influence of his policies would resonate for centuries to come.

The Iberians: For the native people of Iberia the 5th century would be one of great change. At the start of the century the Iberians had already begun to intermix with the arriving Celts from the north. Foreigners were nothing new to the Iberians, but the Celts were different. The new arrivals began to settle down and make permanent settlements in Iberia. Then the Celts began to take Iberian wives and the off spring that resulted was the unique Celt-Iberian peoples. Of all the derivatives of the Celts the results of the fusion with the Iberians made in many ways a totally separate people from the rest of the Celts. Historians date the 5th century as the earliest date for a real Celt-Iberian presence. This is because it was in this time that the castros, the traditional hill forts of the Iberians began to appear with stone walls and become more common. Other marks is the increasing use of iron and the importance of extended family, both Celtic traits. However in this early period many of the Iberian traits still held strong in the forming Celt-Iberian culture. Evidence of this exists in the form of the clan being the main organizational unit, as well as the continued high stature of cows. At this point in time there was no prominent Iberians that we know of.

The Carthaginians: At the beginning of the 5th Century BC the city of Carthage, once a Phoenician colony, had become the undisputed master of trade in the Western Mediterranean area. Carthage would over the course of the century grow to control an empire that ruled North Africa and some trade enclaves in Spain, the various Western Mediterranean islands and half of Sicily. There is even evidence of Carthaginian power reaching as far north as Britain. The 5th Century was the golden age of Carthaginian power. This period also saw a major political change in Carthage when the nobility was overthrown in favor of a republic, one even more radical then the Romans'. Early into the period the Carthaginians had their first contact with Rome when they agreed to divide their respective spheres of influence. However the true focus of Carthaginian attention was on Sicily. To Carthage trade and control of trade was everything and Sicily lay on major trade routes. The Hellenic settlements did not take to kindly to Carthaginian control, causing a series of wars between Carthage and Syracuse, the premier Hellenic state. Two Sicilian Wars were fought in this time, with the second dragging into the 4th Century. One of the most prominent Carthaginians of the period was Hanno the Navigator, who explored the Atlantic coast of Africa for Carthage.

[Joshua's Obscure Conflicts of History class]

Wow thanks alot a Paul. I already submitted it to Samurai Archives and Military History Archives but have yet to receive a reply. You dream to visit Sekigahara too? Oh man that is my dream too, to visit the battlefield where Tokugawa won Japan.... Ah man that would awesome.

[Joshua's Obscure Conflicts of History class]

Hello and welcome to Joshua's obscure conflicts of history class. Today I will put up for you see an article I hope to submit to Military History Archive and Samuari Archives. Remember you saw it here first! Now pay attention and no throwing spit wads in class!

The Onin War (Onin no Ran)

By Joshua Gilbert

The Onin War was the catalyst that sparked the century long period of Japanese history known as the Sengoku Jidai, the "Age of the Country at War". What was originally a dispute between a father and his son-in-law became an eleven year war that trashed the once great city of Kyoto and sparked an era of bloodshed that is famous to this day.

The Onin War began because of the weakness of a Shogun. In 1464 Ashikaga Yoshimasa, the 8th member of the Ashikaga clan to hold the title Seii-Taishogun, a man renowned for his focus on tea party and poetry wanted to retire, but had no son. He decided to instead make his younger brother, Yoshimi, his heir. However Yoshimi was a Buddhist monk, so the Shogun had to first drag his brother of the monastery to make him his heir. One year later in 1465 the wife of Yoshimasa, Tomiko, bore him a son at last. Overjoyed the Shogun made his infant son, Yoshihisa, his heir instead. This was the leading cause of the war to come. At the time two powerful men in Kyoto, the capital at the time, were in the midst of a feud. On one side there was Yamana Sozen, a Buddhist monk who was famous for turning red when he got angry, which was often (hence his nickname Red Monk). On the other was his son-in-law Hosokawa Katsumoto, one of the Three Butlers of the Ashikaga clan (the other two were the Shiba and Hatakeyama clans). These two men had been engaged in a feud since the 1450s when they had meddled in the succession disputes of the Hatakeyama and Shiba families. Now they had another dispute in which to outmaneuver each other, this time involving the highest office in Japan. Sozen acted first by declaring his backing for the infant Yoshihisa. Katsumoto then threw his backing behind the Shogun's brother Yoshimi. Both men called for support from family relations and vassals, and before long the entire capital district of Yamashiro was nearly clogged with Yamana and Hosokawa supporters. The armies numbered 80,000 and 85,000 respectively, the largest yet seen in Japanese history. Yet both men were also reluctant to dive into a war. In 1467 Yamana Sozen called in the powerful warlord Ouchi Masahiro with another 20,000 troops. Then in February a Hosokawa mansion "mysteriously" went up in flames. The war was on.

The Onin War, so called because it occurred in the regnal year Onin 1, had begun. The Hosokawa retaliated for the destruction of their mansion in April when some samurai loyal to them attacked a Yamana rice shipment. In May rumors abounded that Yamana Sozen was going to attack the Imperial Palace. Hosokawa Katsumoto decided to act regardless of the truthfulness of the rumors and had Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado, Retired Emperor Go-Hanazono, and the entire Imperial family moved out of the Palace and to the headquarters of the Shogunate in Muromachi District. As it turned out Hosokawa had done right, for Yamana did launch an attack on the Imperial Palace. At the end of the month Hosokawa supporters burned the mansion of Yamana general Isshiki, not to mention the entire block, to the ground. The Yamana counterattack was fierce, and the war, so far just a series of raid and counterraid, intensified into a full-fledged war in the streets. By July the fighting was so devastating that all of northern Kyoto was in ruins and the remainder of the city resembled the battlefields of the First World War. The battle for Shokokuji in October, in which Yamana Sozen himself led an attack on the Hosokawa positions inside a Buddhist monastery, exemplified the carnage (eight carts of enemy heads were filled). By September everyone who could abandon the city did so, even while more reinforcements for the warring factions flowed in. By early 1468 a calm came over Kyoto as both sides rested and glared at each other from across the trenches. Hosokawa resumed hostilities when he brought in trebuchets and used them to fling rocks and exploding bombs into Yamana territory. Sometime later Hosokawa Katsumoto was able to score a major political coup when he convinced both Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa and the Emperor to denounce the Yamana as rebels. With the official backing of both Shogun and Emperor the Hosokawa now held the moral high ground in the conflict, any who supported Yamana Sozen did so at the danger of being declared a traitor to the Emperor. At first Yamana Sozen treated his branding with indifference, he had the support of such men as Ouchi Masahiro and several great clans. Plus he could always get the ruling changed later. Carnage and destruction continued for several years without any sign of letting up, even the deaths of Hosokawa Katsumoto and Yamana Sozen had little effect on the war. What had started as a personal spat had spiraled beyond all control. In 1475 Ashikaga Yoshimasa, previously caught up in his little world of poetry and tea, asserted some authority and began to order the various daimyo (feudal lords), on both sides, out of Kyoto. Many daimyo obeyed the Shogun and began to disengage. However the fighting would continue until 1477, as some stubbornly refused to give up. Ouchi Masahiro, the great champion of Ashikaga Yoshihisa's cause, finally brought the war to a close when he too finally agreed to the Shogun's will and left for home in Yamaguchi. As one last act of defiance he burned his section of Kyoto, the last one reasonably intact, to the ground as he left, blaming it on his common soldiers later. With the pull out of the Ouchi and their vassals from the conflict the eleven year long Onin War ended, not because one side achieved victory, but because both sides simply did not have the strength to continue anymore.

In the aftermath of the war much happened. After the last soldiers left Kyoto mobs descended on the city, it would be several years before peace was restored. Ashikaga Yoshimasa did little to help as he slid once more back into his private world. The chaos in Kyoto had a much larger effect then anyone could have expected as the fires of war spread into the countryside. Villages banded together under the Ji-Samurai (lesser samurai with common roots), forming armed bands called Ikki which soon mutated from mobs of peasants into disciplined armies. The rise of the Ikki and the continued chaos in Yamashiro (the Hatakeyama clan tore the province apart in a family feud) would soon prove to be just the beginning of one Japan's bloodiest periods. The century long Sengoku Jidai had begun.

[Pluto no longer a planet!]

Personally I think the whole thing is a bogus descison if you ask me. Pluto is still a planet no matter what the IAU chooses the call it. If you ask me I think they are over complicating Space.

[A Special Day for Joshua]

Today is a special day for me... a day of change... The day that I start a new chapter in my earthly life...

TODAY I GRADUATE!!!

HEHE!!!

Yes today I offically graduate from High School! I have had my small graduation ceremony and pizza party (complete with plentiful coke-cola!), and I have just been presented with my custom diploma and tassel! HHHOO!

Technically I have been graduated since August 19th, 11:35 AM but it was not until today that I have had a real ceremony and party.

YEAHHHH!

:banana:

[Hellenes: The Life of a Spartiate]

The full Spartan citizen, the Spartiate, was amongst the most feared men in Ancient Greece. The lifestyle that the Spartiate class lived made a large part of this feared reputation that Sparta would enjoy until Leuctra.

In order to understand why the Spartiate class lived like it did one must understand their history. Sparta, before the 7th century BC, was just like every other Greek state. Then everything changed in the early 7th century. A lawgiver named Lycurgus reformed the entire Spartan state; he made Sparta into a permanent war camp. Everything that most people think of when they think of Spartans came from the Lycurgan Reformation. The final piece of what made the Spartiate class what it was come when the newly militarized state invaded the nearby city state of Messenia. In a way the Messenian Wars were a proving ground for the Lycurgan reforms, success or failure would make or break the new system. The Spartans conquered Messenia and the Lycurgan lifestyle, which perhaps can be summed as giving one’s whole life in service to the state for the good of the state, passed the test. The Messenians would become helots, serfs tied to the lands of Sparta owned entirely by the state. With this last piece in place Spartan society as we know it solidified and remained unchanged well into the days of Rome.

Even as an infant a Spartiate owed his life to the state. A Spartiate is one who is a full fledged citizen of Sparta and which can be defined as a person whose parents were Spartiates and could trace their lineage back to the Dorians, the people who moved into Greece at the end of the Bronze Age. This was one of the many things that would keep the Spartiates a separate people entirely from the other two strata of Spartan society, the pereoikoi (Greek: house dwellers, people who live in Sparta yet did not have full citizenship) and the helots. At birth a Spartiate child, both male and female (Sparta stressed gender equality), where given a bath in wine. If the baby took the wine bath with out convoluting then the baby was deemed strong and preceded to the next step. Babies who were deemed weak were left to die. The next step in the process was for the parents to bring the baby to the elders of their particular area. At this step the father of the child and the elders together made a decision of whether or not the baby could, in their estimation, be strong enough to serve the state. If the baby was not deemed strong then it was left to die on the slops of Mt. Taygetos, if the baby was deemed strong enough then it was given back to its mother to raise for the first years of life. These seven years were very important to the Spartans, during this time the mother was in charge of teaching her children to not fear anything and instill Spartan values with in them. At age seven the state would take over the raising of all boy children, who were taken to a special camp called the agoge. The agoge system was meant as a way to train young boys how to be warriors. An agoge was nominally overseen by a paidonomos, a soldier who served as a director of education. Because the entire Spartan way of life centered around warfare reading and writing never advanced beyond the basics. Upon completing this first stage the paidonomos divided the students into packs called ageles of their fellows and overseen by a older student, usually thirteen years old. In order to make the prospective soldiers tougher all children were issued one cloak and one tunic to last them the whole year, minimal rations, required to go bare foot, bathe in ice-cold water, and make a bed of reeds that had to be broken by hand. To the Spartans issuing only one set of clothes per year made the child’s flesh tougher and more durable and thus more able to endure harsh weather, the lack of rations made a child think about inventive ways to gain more food (though if caught the child was whipped) going about bare feet to train the child on to walk on uneven terrain, bathing in a cold river made them resistant, and sleeping on reeds taught them to endure hard sleeping. Early on in their education the prospective soldiers were taught to have unwavering obedience to their superiors, this was usually accomplished through many beatings for even the smallest offensives. They were also taught to speak quickly and to the point, wasting no words (hence the term laconic, which gets it’s name from the region which Sparta was located, Laconia). Athletic training was also important and emphasis on athletic training increased, as the children grew older. Interestingly athletics training was carried on entirely in the nude and the Spartans were the first Greeks to do so. From time to time the paidonomos would arrange ball games between rival ageles and it was not unheard of for these games to get violent. Students were also taught how to sing, dance, and recite poetry, although it was all of the militaristic, religious, or patriotic variety. Once a boy reaches thirteen major changes occur in his life. At that age a Spartan youth is judged ready to take part in the secret rituals of the krypteia. The krypteia were squads of teenage men overseen by an older man, usually a full-fledged soldier, who went out into the wilderness every autumn with just the clothes on their backs and a knife. The purpose of the krypteia has been a subject of much debate amongst historians, however a general consensus does believe that the primary purpose of the krypteia was to keep the helots in line, and to form mentor-student relationships with older soldiers. Adolescents in the agoge also have their first contact with women during this time, and it was not unheard of for young men and women to exercise together. Finally an adolescent is eligible to be a squad leader for the younger students. For a Spartiate the biggest year of his life is his twentieth year, for in Sparta twenty is the age that a boy passes into adulthood. Training reaches its most grueling at this point and weapon training begins as well (actually history is little fuzzy here, due to the lack of Spartan writings, so this is at best an informed guess). During the last month before the final test all that the student could eat was honey. The final test of the agoge took place during the festival of Orthia Artemis, patroness of the hunt. The test was that on the altar of the temple was some cheese, and the student’s job was to take the cheese. However all along the way to the altar was a gauntlet of guards with whips, who had been encouraged beforehand to use the whips as hard as possible. A student who made it through the gauntlet alive with the cheese in hand graduated from the agoge and officially became a man.

Having lived through the agoge the Spartiate officially becomes a man and for the next forty years his life belonged to the military. After graduating from the agoge an event comes up that can be described as an event that will make or break a Spartiate. According to the laws of Lycurgus no Spartiate was allowed to not be a part of one of the syssitia, state run dining clubs for soldiers. Each syssition (singular form of syssitia) had a group of fifteen members who judged all applicants for the club. After a Spartiate choose which syssition he wished to join the members would put it to the vote. Voting was done with a basin called a caddichus and some pieces of bread. A round piece meant yes, a flat piece meant no. The vote for the hopeful club member had to be unanimous, even one no vote meant rejection. Rejection meant being banished from the Spartiate class and becoming a pereoikoi. Acceptance meant that the candidate became a member of the syssition. This was very important, for this meant that the man was now a part of a group that would become like brothers to him. Also at this point a Spartiate received an estate, called a kleros and helots were assigned to run it as the Lycurgan constitution forbade members of the Spartiate class from work. All crops from the kleros were sent to the Spartiate, who proceeded to give it to the syssition as his monthly contribution. This was all part of the Lycurgan system, which denied all personal wealth for the good of the state (of course it helped that Sparta had only large iron bars for currency). It is interesting to note that the communal meals eaten together by all members of the syssition were universally viewed as disgusting by just about everyone outside of Sparta. Both being a part of a dining club and owning land were viewed as a kind of rite of passage, which is why that twenty was chosen as the optimal marrying age in Sparta. Marriage in Sparta was an interesting affair. When a Spartiate man wanted to marry he was allowed to choose a bride from amongst the top graduates from the women’s version of the agoge. After a wedding was arranged the ceremony took place. The Spartiate wedding ceremony was that the husband to be had to sneak out of his syssition and find his wife’s house, take her from the house, and consummate the marriage in a barn and do it all without getting caught and by dawn. Afterwards the new wife would move into her husband’s house and maintain it. To the Spartans maintenance of the home was an important task. For in the Spartan mentality a well managed home is a valuable asset to the state. Until they reach thirty a Spartiate man is forbidden from going to his home in daylight, he has sneak in at night, expect in the case of childbirth. Because more children are in constant demand wives are often loaned, though only with the consent of the involved couple, around a syssition. A Spartiate is however never allowed to relax or be bored, even in peacetime. Without a war going on Spartiates usually involved themselves in taking part of the agoge system, training with weapons, or learning form those older then them. At thirty the next big change in the life of a Spartiate occurred.

By the time he was thirty a Spartiate was a man, probably a father, and had seen his fair share of wars and had the scars to prove it, but there was still something big coming in his life. Even though a Spartiate is a full citizen from birth he is barred from voting, attending the assembly (apella), holding any kind of office, and living at home. This is because amongst the Spartans young people where viewed as simply too hot headed to take part in politics, they needed to become older and wiser first. Being barred from home had to do with the belief that one had to earn the right to live at home. Once a Spartiate reaches thirty he is deemed experienced enough to take part in politics, and worn enough to live at home. In Spartan politics all citizens able to vote are part of a general assembly called the apella, which alone held the power to make a bill into law, though they were not able to propose bills themselves, and were responsible for the election of all other public officials. The next governing body of Sparta was the gerousia a council of 28 to 30 men personally led by the kings. The gerousia was made up of men sixty years old or over who held the power to propose bills, interpret the law, and fine, banish, or execute. Members of the gerousia were elected to their position for life. The final branch of Spartan government were the ephors; also known as the Five Overseers. Unlike with the gerousia any man eligible to vote could be an ephor. These men were primarily charged with helping the kings run the state and keep the peace between them, being able to veto the kings and even arrest them. Because of their position an ephor was only in office for one year and could not run again. However for many Spartiates being able to live at home was a far bigger change then being able to take part in politics. It was quite a change to live at home with your wife and family then living with your fellow soldiers in the dining club. Still a Spartiate was not allowed to be a lazy, and continual training and learning was expected. This came with the added responsibility of child rearing. True a Spartan child only stayed with their parents until seven, but it was expected that a Spartan father instill a proper ethic in his children. The last big change for a Spartiate came at sixty.

Turing sixty is perhaps the biggest change in the life of a Spartiate, second perhaps to turning twenty. By the time a Spartiate man turns sixty years of age he is probably a veteran of many battles and carries scars all over to prove his devotion to the state. For this reason the Lycurgan constitution stated that when a Spartiate reaches the age of sixty he should be rewarded for his long service. That reward was a formal discharge from military life. This was a major life change; a Spartiate had been since age seven required to be on a constant state of preparedness and since twenty had been required to be ready to go to war on a moment’s notice. But after sixty that was no more and a Spartiate could choose to lounge at home in a state of utter boredom for the rest of his life if he wanted. The only thing still required of a retired Spartiate was to impart his wisdom to the younger Spartiates, but this was not truly compulsory. A retired Spartiate was also capable of being elected to the gerousia if he so wanted to. Because of the prohibition on working and traveling outside of the state there was not much a retired Spartiate could do outside politics and teaching. When a Spartiate died all of his meager belongings went back to the state, his kleros was on the other hand equally divided between all of his children, male and female.

In conclusion the life that the typical full citizen of Sparta, the Spartiates, led was a rough life of total devotion to the Spartan State. Despite a lack of personal freedom that the rest of the Greek world found appalling and a confidence in the superiority of all things Spartan, the lifestyle of the Spartiate was admired around the Greek world, even in Athens. In time this veneration of the legendary discipline and training that made the Spartans the best soldiers in the Greek world till they were finally bested at Leuctra, has blinded many to the cruelty of the Spartan system until fairly recently in time. All in all the life of a Spartiate was a rough one, but it made them into some the finest warriors in history.

[Battles: Battle of Mycale]

The battle of Mycale was a battle of the 5th century BC. In this battle, the twin of Plataea, the Greek naval forces are able to defeat the remaining Persian naval forces, making this a major factor in the Persian decision to pull out of Greece.

Mycale has often been shadowed by Plataea. In the aftermath of the brilliant Greek victory at the battle of Salamis and the resulting pullout by a majority of the Persian forces, including Xerxes, the Greek navy was shrunk down to a much smaller size and stationed at the island of Delos indefinitely. While Athens and Sparta bickered over what to do with the looming threat of Mardonius in the winter of 480-479 delegations arrived from the Ionian Greek cities in Asia Minor. As it turns out the Ionians had been following closely the progress of Xerxes’ invasion and were actively looking for an opportunity to gain their independence from Persia. But the Ionians knew full well that they could not do it alone, and so sent for their mainland Greek cousins for assistance. But the Ionian request is drowned out by the Mardonius problem. Finally in the summer of 479 the Spartans agree to help Athens and other members of the alliance and the ephors mobilize an army to assist the rest of Greece. The Ionians choose now to send another delegation to the allied cities asking for help. This time they are heard and it is decided that the Spartans shall be responsible for organizing and leading the Ionian expedition. The ephors decide to send Leotychidas, the second king, as the commander of the expeditionary force. The other cities also contribute as much as they can, though many of the cities had already drained their military forces for the great land battle against Mardonius. Among the most noticeable of the allied contributions is the Athenian contingent, lead by Xanthippus the father of Pericles. Before long the Greek navy sets out from Delos towards the island of Samos, where the Persian navy had been stationed since Salamis. The Persian naval commander, Artayntes, soon receives word of the Greek approach. Artayntes knows he cannot win against the Greeks in his current situation and after dismissing the Phoenician contingent of his forces, for reasons that remain unknown, Artayntes leads the Persian fleet to the Mycale peninsula where he meets up with the land forces of Tigranes, who Xerxes had charged with the defense of Ionia just in case of a Greek attack. Together both Tigranes and Artayntes drag the Persian fleet ashore and make a fort of the ships, along with some additional lumber and stones. Meanwhile the Greek fleet had reached Samos, only to find it deserted. After a brief conference Leotychidas leads his force in pursuit of the Persians, thinking that they had fled from him in fear. When the Greeks arrive at Mycale they are surprised by what they find. After another brief conference on how to deal with this new development Leotychidas has his ship sail to shouting range. Once this is done Leotychidas shouts to the Ionians in the Persian camp to remember freedom and the watchword. The Persians realize that something fishy is going on and have the Samian half of the Ionian contingent disarmed and the Milesian half sent to guard the roads. Meanwhile the Greeks begin to disembark from their ships and prepare for battle.

The allied Greek force was smaller then the Persian, but more motivated. Exact numbers for the allied Greek forces present at Mycale are hard to come by. Herodotus does record numbers, but he is generally unreliable. Modern estimates place the total number of Greek troops at about 40,000 all together. However a majority of this number were the ships’ crews, hastily armed for the coming battle. A smaller number of troops were marines, hoplites trained to fight on ships. Modern estimates place the total number of marines at 1,100 and the total number of light troops at 38,900. The Greeks arrayed as thus: The Athenians, Corinthians, Sicyonians, and Troezenians all formed up on the right side of the Persian fort, on a beach. The Spartans formed up on the left side of the fort on rocky ground.

The Persian forces where larger in this battle and a mixture of naval and land forces. Because of conflicting accounts we do not know the number of Persian troops at Mycale. Conservative estimates place it at around 60,000 or near that number. Unlike the Greeks, whose forces were made up of ships’ crews and marines the Persian forces were primarily a land army. Unlike with the Greeks we do not have enough information to make a guess as to which troops were the naval forces and which were Tigranes’ land army. It is interesting to note that Tigranes had no cavalry in his army. The Persian forces arrayed in front of their fort in two lines, the first made up of infantry with shields interlocked, the second line, archers.

And so starts the battle of Mycale. Because of the small size of the area the Greeks could not disembark together, resulting in the majority of the Greek forces ending up on the beach, while the Spartans were left to disembark on rocky ground. This presented problems making a concerted attack on the Persians. So Leotychidas advised the main force to wait until everyone could get together for a attack. But then someone found a messenger’s wand in the sand. To the Greeks, who had left Delos anxious of what the outcome of the battle on the plains of Plataea would be, the wand was a sign of victory in battle. This raised the spirits of the downcast Greeks and before long Xanthippus, the defacto commanding general in the area, was being besieged with requests to move forward against the Persians, who were raining arrows in the Greek lines. Deciding to throw caution into the wind the excited allied Greek forces ran headlong into the Persian line. The Persian forces holds strong however and the assault on the shield wall is bloodily repulsed. Again and again the Greeks throw themselves at the Persians, who continue to throw them back. Then suddenly a section of the wall breaks, and the Athenians charge into the breach. But the Persians are able to rally a counter attack and the line continues to hold strong, despite the hole that the Greeks continue to pour more and more men into. It appears that the stalemate will continue for hours on end until something happens that the Persians do not expect. To the surprise of all the Samians some how rearm and charge the Persians in the back. Being hit in both the front and back the Persian line finally falters and breaks under combined pressure. In the resulting mess Tigranes and his chief lieutenant Mardontes are struck down, which only creates more confusion. Eventually Artayntes is able to gain enough control to order a retreat to the fort, but without cavalry to keep the Greeks at bay they are pursued all the way to the gates. Xanthippus does not decide to stop even now with the Persians forced to retreat behind their walls. The Greeks attack the walls of the fort and break through, slaughtering the remaining Persians, though a few escape. Those who are not killed by the Milesians, who had also turned on their former masters, flee all the way to Sardis. Meanwhile in the fort the Persian treasury is discovered and taken by the Athenians. Then the fort is set on fire, thus destroying the last remnants of the once mighty Persian navy. When the Spartans and Leotychidas finally arrive on the beach they are astonished to discover that the battle had already been fought and won without them. So ended the battle of Mycale, the total causality count is unknown.

In the aftermath of Mycale much happened. Following the battle’s end the Greeks left Mycale and went to Samos to discuss the future of the Ionian cities. The Spartans wished to simply evacuate all of Ionia and relocate the populace to mainland Greece, thinking that Ionia is not worth the trouble to keep saving. Athens, typically, disagrees and argues that Ionia is worth the effort. Furthermore the Athenians purposed forming a league of defense with the Ionians. The debate rages for a long time, but ultimately the Spartans decide that they don’t care and leave Samos for home, letting the Athenians have their way. In the greater aftermath of Mycale the destruction of the Persian fleet is a big factor in the decision of the Persian commanders on the mainland to evacuate, another and more ominous aftereffect of the victory at Mycale is that the defense league that Athens formed with Ionia would set the foundation of the Delian League.

[Battles: Battle of Plataea]

The battle of Platea was a battle of the 5th Century B.C. In this battle the allied Greek city-states are able to hand Persia it’s first real land defeat of the war. In the end it is the dual blows of Platea and the naval battle of Mycale that spell an end to Xerxes’ invasion of Greece.

Platea was a battle of the Persian Wars. The invasion of Greece launched by Xerxes was not the first of it’s kind. The first invasion had been launched by Xerxes’ father Darius the Great and had failed at the battle of Marathon against the Athenians. Xerxes was eager to get revenge for his father’s defeat, but he was careful about the preparations. Thus when Xerxes’ great army, estimated to be about 250,000 men in size by modern historians (Herodotus gives 2,000,000 as the number, but even for the Achaemenids this was impossible) invaded in 480 B.C. the whole of Greece was caught off guard. Many Greek cities such as Argos capitulated to Xerxes without a fight, but a majority of the city-states chose to stand and fight. In order to buy themselves more time the Greeks at a conference at Delphi decided that one of the city-states should send a force to hold off the Persian attack. Ultimately the Spartans, under Leonidas I, were chosen. Thebes and Thespis volunteered to assist. In the resulting battle of Thermopylae the Spartans held off the Persians for three days before being overwhelmed. Recovering quickly from the losses he had endured Xerxes pressed forward from Thermopylae and poured his massive army on Greece proper. Swarming like angry bees the Persians were unstoppable, Thebes was forced to surrender, the countryside was ravaged, and Athens, leader of the resistance, was torched. However even at this low point Greece still held out, the majority of the Athenian population and military had been able to get away in time and converged at Salamis. The other remaining leaders joined the Athenians there. At the meetings on Salamis a bold plan was decided under the leadership of Themistocles, the father of the Athenian Navy. In the resulting battle of Salamis the much smaller, but better built, allied Greek navy, was able to draw the numerically superior Persian navy into a trap and destroy it. This victory at Salamis was, in hindsight, the decisive turning of the tide of the invasion. However at the time there was still great uncertainty among the Greeks as to whether they could win, and we know from the records that Xerxes did not view Salamis as a great defeat as much as a small setback. Despite this the destruction of a majority of the Persian fleet caused major supply problems for the Persians. These supply problems caused Xerxes, and most of his army, to turn back to Sardis in Asia Minor. In his stead Xerxes left his brother-in-law Mardonius, whom he had made satrap of Greece, as commander of all remaining Persian land forces. Mardonius was an old veteran of many battles and had served with Darius. However due to a loss he suffered at the naval battle at Athos prior to Darius’ invasion Mardonius had been living in disgrace. Xerxes had decided to restore his brother-in-law to a position of authority shortly before the invasion (in fact Mardonius was a chief proponent of the invasion in the first place). Mardonius’ first action was to a send a peace offering to Athens via Alexander I of Macedon (a distant ancestor of Alexander the Great). It goes without saying that the Athenians, who had moved back into Athens, rejected the offer, and knowing that Mardonius was likely to attack in response they sent to Sparta for help. But the Spartans, as always during times of crises, chose to argue with the Athenians instead. To the Spartans, whose city lied safely behind the formidable Isthmus Wall near Corinth, Mardonius posed no danger. They argued that as long as the Persians were deprived of supplies there was no danger and cautioned a defensive policy. Of course Athens disagreed and argued that the Persians’ supply problems made the time prefect for an attack, and thus favored an offensive policy. Mardonius used the opportunity to attack, forcing the Athenians out of their homes a second time. After a second peace offer from Mardonius the Athenians, together with the Megarans and Plataeans, sent to Sparta for aid. Sparta again declined, citing a religious festival and fear of a helot revolt for their reasons. For the entire winter season of 480-479 Athens and Sparta argued back and forth over what to do, until finally Chileos of Tegea was able to get the Spartans to cooperate by threatening them with the knowledge that unless Sparta work with the rest of the alliance Athens would make a separate peace with Persia. This finally got the Spartans to cooperate and the ephors (a council of older men who could even veto the kings) decided to send a large force to make up their part of the allied army in the summer of 479. Commanding this force was Pausanias, the regent for the young king Pleistarchos, the son of Leonidas I. When Mardonius, still in the ruins of Athens, heard of the Spartan mobilization, he burned what remained of the city and buried it under a layer of soil. Mardonius then moved his Persian forces into Boeotia. Meanwhile the armies of the city-states were beginning to come together. However the Athenians viewed Mardonius’ retreat into Boeotia with increasing concern so they, and the Spartans, decide to go ahead and scout. The unified Spartan-Athenian force made camp at Mt. Cithaeron. Mardonius knew that too give battle in a enclosed space would be a repeat of the first two days at Thermopylae, which Mardonius wanted to avoid. He sent his cavalry forward to try to bait the Greek force unto the open plain near Plataea, where he could use his numerical advantage to it’s fullest. However Pausanias, the agreed upon supreme commander, recognized this and held his line against the Persian cavalry, inflicting heavy causalities and killing the cavalry commander. Following the Persian retreat Pausanias decided to move down from the mountain and instead make his line in the hills opposite the Persian camp on the plains, this way the Greek line could form itself fully and yet be safe from Persian cavalry. By now the rest of the allied army had received word and was marching to the hills near Platea.

The allied Greek army was an impressive sight. The total number of Greek soldiers present at Platea numbered 110,000 according to modern estimates. Of these about 38,700 were hoplites while 71,300 where light troops (peltasts, skirmishers, and assorted others). Of the hoplites the following list shows the number of hoplites from each city in the alliance against Persia: Sparta: 10,000 (of which 5,000 were full spartiates, the largest number seen outside Sparta), Athens: 8,000, Plataea: 600, Megara: 3,000, Corinth: 5,000, Tegea: 1,500, Potidea: 300, Arcadian Orchomenus: 600, Sicyon: 3,000, Epidaurus: 800, Troezen: 1,000, Leprea: 200, Mycene and Tiryns: 400, Floia: 1,000, Hermion: 300, Eretria and Styra: 600, Chalkis: 400, Ambrakia: 500, Lefkas and Anactorium: 800, Cephalonia: 200, and lastly Aegina: 500. Of the light troops about 35,000 were armed helots from Sparta, which was part of a series of political reforms on the part of Pausanias. Another 1,800 were from Thespis and the other 35,000 came from the other cities, one for each hoplite. The formation taken, is thus: The Spartans took position on the right wing, the position of honor, following them was the bulk of the allied cities, and finally on the left wing was the Athenians.

The Persian army was small and tired, but remained confident. The total numbers of the Persian army at Plataea that day is widely debated to this day. Herodotus gives us the number of 300,000. This number has come under heavy debate, since Herodotus is noted for drastic inflation of enemy numbers to make the Greeks look better. In this article I shall use a conservative estimate of about 75,000. Because the Persian sources do not detail the numbers of their army we have to make a guess based upon available information. According to the records the Persian and Median contingent was a full baivarabam, a tactical unit of about 10,000 men. In addition to these troops are the Ten Thousand Immortals, the Persian imperial guard, left behind by Xerxes to still make his presence felt even in his absence. The Greek contingent from Thebes and Thessaly numbered about 30,000. There were also an unknown number of Bactrian, Indian, and Saka auxiliaries present as well. 10,000 cavalry, which played a vital role in the battle, were also present in the Persian line up (the Saka probably made up a sizeable contingent of the cavalry). Mardonius set his army as such: The Persians and the Medians laid next to each other on the left, followed by the Bactrians, Indians, Sakes, and the Greeks on the right wing.

The battle of Platea was the last great battle of the war. Both Pausanias and Mardonius knew the other’s position was strong, and neither man wanted to put his army at risk. For the next 10 days neither army moves a muscle, but then problems set in. Due to Persian cavalry raids the Greek source of water, a fountain known as the Gargaphia, was polluted and due to the same cavalry raids the Greeks could not access the only other source, the Asopos River. Before long the cavalry raids also cut off the food supplies, especially after 500 oxen where captured. The Persians had similar problems and before long Artabazus, one of the six higher commanders, advises Mardonius to retreat to Thebes to re-supply the army. Mardonius refuses, confident that his supplies will last as long as necessary. Meanwhile in the Greek camp the allied commanders are close to rioting, the loss of water and the low state of the food supply are taking their toll on the men. The allied commanders soon break out into argument over what to do, some wish to retreat, others to just attack the Persians, and so on. Pausanias however has his own plan and in typical Spartan fashion lays it out to the commanders without a single argument, leaving them little choice but to listen. Pausanias’ plan was to move the Greek army back up Mt. Cithaeron, where water and food are in abundance, and the Persian cavalry can’t attack them with impunity. The plan is agreed upon, and Pausanias reveals he plans to do it all at night. So as night fell the allied center began to pull back first but instead of going up to Mt. Cithaeron they get lost in the darkness and as a result end up at the walls of Plataea itself. After being satisfied that enough time had passed Pausanias then had he Athenians on the left move out as well and like the center get lost, in an entirely different direction. Finally the time comes for the Spartans to move, but just at this critical juncture one of the Spartan regimental commanders (Greek: Lochagos) refuses to move. The unhappy commander, known as Amompharetus, is upset that Pausanias did not consult him before making up this plan, and so refuses to move his men. The result is Pausanias personally arguing with the man for several hours, until nearly dawn. As dawn breaks Pausanias, who’s Spartans are the only ones to even go in the right direction, realizes that his army has broken up and gotten lost. Mardonius also realizes this after noticing that the Greek army is gone. In a flurry in activity Pausanias begins to send messages to try to find where his army has gone and try to salvage the situation, at the same time Mardonius, believing that the Greeks are breaking up due to arguments, launches his attack. Mardonius sends his cavalry and archers and later the infantry lead by the Ten Thousand Immortals against the Spartans personally, dispatching the rest of his army on the center troops and the Athenians. Pausanias, realizing what is coming, had already positioned his army on a mountain ridge, in addition the allied center also recognizes the urgency to form up quickly and try to meet up with the Athenians, whom they can see from the city walls. Mardonius reacts to this in good time and dispatches the Greek contingent of his army to keep the Athenians and the allied center from linking up. Meanwhile the Spartans manage to beat off the cavalry attack, though the ever-increasing numbers of Persian archers begin to cause a problem as their arrow fall causes the Spartans to duck under their shields. However the Spartans hold their position, by this time the Tegeans, who had broken off from the rest of the center arrive to support the Spartans. Despite calls from his own men and the Tegeans to advance and break up the archers Pausanias refuses, stating that the omens are not right. However the Tegeans do not have the Spartan’s patience and unable to take being shot at any longer charge down the mountain and straight into a wall of wooden shields. The momentum of the Tegeans propels them through the wall and into the mist of the Persian line. The battle soon becomes a slaughter of the Persians as the longer spears and heavier shields and armor of the Greeks give them an advantage over the Persians. Pausanias, saying that he saw a good omen, orders the Spartans to join the fray. With the added presence of the Spartans the Persian infantry begins to rout and soon the Tegeans fall behind the Spartans in the advance. Only the Ten Thousand Immortals, forming a deep square around their leader, still stand. The Spartans, itching to take revenge for Leonidas, charge straight at them. In the ensuing blood bath the Immortals fight hard but are no match for the Spartans, their commander Hydranes falls and soon after him Mardonius falls as well. Without the commander to lead them the Persian army falls apart, even the Thebans, fighting the Athenians at that time, are forced to pull back to camp. Artabazus then decides to retreat, believing that further conflict with the Greeks will only increase the slaughter. As the Persians pull away to lick their wounds the Spartans, blood up, attack the Persian encampment despite the lack of equipment to take it. The other Greeks join in, and the camp falls to them, the remaining camp followers are killed and the battle formally comes to an end. Because of conflicts between sources a definite causality count cannot be given.

Plataea was one of the great battles in Greek history. In the immediate aftermath of Plataea the remaining Persian commanders on land, lead by Artabazus, decide that Greece is no longer worth it anymore and make the long trek home, abandoning the collaborationist governments in Boeotia. Soon after the remnants of the Persian navy are annihilated at Mycale, ending the Persian presence in Greece on both land and sea. Pausanias would lead the siege of Thebes himself in the wake of the Persian retreat and would oversee the massacre of the Theban political leadership. After the fall of Thebes the Persian treasury in Greece would be discovered, it is unknown what happened to it. In the greater aftermath of Plataea the impact the victory had was that never again would Persia invade Greece, or even harbor a dream of conquering the peninsula ever again. True, the Persians would politically continue to be involved, but never again militarily. Another long lasting impact was that after Plataea the Persians would respect the Greek way of fighting, heralding in the large-scale use of Greek mercenaries in Persia. In conclusion the Battle of Plataea was a great victory of Greek arms and the Greek method of fighting, a great battle of history.

[Rome Total War: Alexander]

Did anyone see this?

More than 2,000 years ago, the Macedonian king Alexander the Great dominated the world he knew and conquered the Persian Empire before dying at the age of 33.

Next month, gamers will get to see how they stack up against one of the greatest military leaders the world has known as Sega and The Creative Assembly release Rome: Total War - Alexander, the newest expansion pack to its PC real-time strategy game.

Alexander will allow users to re-create the leader's conquests with a new campaign map and six new historical battles that attempt to re-create the conditions and tactics used in his battles with Greek, Persian, and Indian forces. The campaign adds more than 60 new units and four new factions to the game, two of which will be the Macedonians and Persians.

Over the course of the historical battles, a series of movies featuring the voice work of Brian Blessed (Prince Vultan from Flash Gordon, and the wrestling trainer from Alexander) will tell the story of Alexander and set the stage for each battle.

Sega will release Rome: Total War - Alexander next month exclusively as a digital download from the official Sega, Sega Europe, and Total War Web sites.

Personally while I was excited that a new expansion pack is coming out, with all new content, I was more then a little afaird about the accuracy. I have the seen the screenshots, and they cofirm my fears. WWWWWHHHYYYY does Sega and CA have to maul the poor Persians? This time around they are.... wait for it.... BRIGHT GREEN! And the Macedonians are... BRIGHT PURPLE! And lastly there is... this is so disgusting ... naked female archers for the Indian Faction! They got some big name actor to voice work on it, so that is impressive... to other people. Not me, I couldn't care less who does the voices. And we all know (at least those of us who play RTW) that it will horribly unbalanced too.

Praise the Lord that the modders out there will put the new content to good use and make an accurate game!

[Battles: Battle of Leuctra]

The battle of Leuctra was a battle of the 4th century B.C. In this battle the famous Spartan myth of invincibility was broken, and the Spartan hegemony over the Greek world was broken.

The Spartans' tyranny paved the way to Leuctra. Ever since the Spartans triumphed over Athens in the Peloponnesian War, and even more so after the Corinthian War, Sparta had become more and more tyrannical. The most hated action of the Spartans was when they placed a government of their own in city, ruled by a harmost, an administrator, who was backed up by a garrison of 1,500. When the King’s Peace, the peace treaty that ended the Corinthian War, came into effect it broke all the leagues and made every city in Greece independent of each other. Sparta was to make sure it stayed this way. Instead Sparta abused her power and used her new found position of world policeman as an excuse to go in and establish a harmost when ever they felt like it, in the guise of maintaining the peace. Many cities hated the harmosts and their garrisons like Athens, who was the first to experience the Spartans' regime changing practices. For the most part even though the city-states hated Sparta no one tried to rise up and oppose them, each time a attempt was made to break Spartan hegemony it failed miserably upon the spears of the Spartan battle line. In 383 B.C. the Spartans took control of Thebes, even the citadel of the city, the heart of every Greek city-state, fell. In the name of maintaining the peace the Spartans put in their harmost and a garrison and called it a new democratic government. But the Thebans, who hated the Spartans more then anything else, would not put up with this. In the winter of 380-79 the Thebans who would not accept the Spartan government rose up, and with the aid of Athens, ran it out. The brief reign of the Spartans in Thebes had only cemented the hatred of that state for Sparta, and strengthened their resolve to destroy it. Then Athens did something completely unexpected. In violation of the King’s Peace they created the Naval Confederacy, essentially the Delian League reborn, in 378. The stated goal of the Confederacy was the toppling of Sparta and restoration of democracy amongst the states where the Spartans had established a harmost. However in reality Athens was just trying to revive her old empire, the Athenians had never really given up their old ambitions. The shock of Athens’ actions allowed for several other Greek city-states to establish, or reestablish, their own leagues. Thebes however did something extraordinary. The Thebans proposed a federation government to the Boeotian cities that formerly made part of the old Boeotian League. To everyone’s surprise the cities agreed thus founding a unique political state in the history of Greece: the Boeotian Federation, which this article shall continue to refer to as Thebes for ease of use. For the Spartans this was intolerable. Starting in 378 and continuing for several years the Spartans began to throw troops into Boeotia to destroy Thebes. But the Thebans are able to hold in the face of Spartan attacks. These attacks would become the proving ground for Thebes’ new army. Unlike the rest of the ancient world which depended on mercenaries, the Theban army was made up entirely of citizen-soldiers. In addition the Thebans made some rather new innovations in army structure and formation, which shall be expanded upon later. In 373 the Thebans went on the offensive and attacked the Spartan dominated Boeotian cities, actually managing to drive out the harmosts and their garrisons in several. However Sparta was not Thebes' only enemy at this time. To the north in Thessaly the ambitious Jason of Pherae was building up his forces. Jason had used the confusion caused by the breaking of the King’s Peace to build his own empire in Thessaly. The military power of Jason’s empire was a reason to fear amongst the Thebans. If the ruler of Pherae made a deal with Sparta then the Thebans knew they would not survive. The whole of Thebes probably made a collective sigh of relief when Jason actually asked for an alliance. Meanwhile the Spartans were getting anxious. Thebes was getting powerful, too powerful in the eyes of the Spartans, and they needed to cut down Thebes and quick. For that reason King Kleombrotos I marched out of Sparta in 371 B.C., his destination was the city of Phocis, more or less the capital of Spartan Boeotia. There Kleombrotos waited for some unknown reason before word suddenly came down from Sparta to attack Thebes. Kleombrotos first however delivered an ultimatum to Thebes: withdraw from Boeotia and disband your army. Lest to say Thebes ignored the Spartan ultimatum and prepared for the coming battle. Kleombrotos then lead his army into Thebes, but not by the normal route, but through the hills of Thisbae. The Spartans are even able to get the jump on the Theban naval base at Creusis before the Thebans are even aware of their presence. But the surprise of the Spartan attack does not immobilize Thebes, instead Epaminondas, one of the Boeotarchs (Boeotarch was the title given to the seven executive officers of the Boeotian Federation), lead a small force to confront the Spartans. In a remarkable moment of foresight Epaminondas predicted that the Spartans would try to get to Thebes by going through the town of Leuctra. He was right and sure enough the Spartan army appeared on the outskirts of Leuctra to a surprising sight, the Theban army of Epaminondas.

The Spartans under Kleombrotos thought they had nothing to fear, they were the best in Greece. The Spartan army that marched under King Kleombrotos in 371 numbered about 12,100 men. Out of that about 10,000 were hoplites, a majority of whom came from the allied states of Sparta, with an elite core of actual Spartan hoplites (also known as Spartiates). There was also about 1,100 peltasts and about 1,000 cavalry. Kleombrotos had his army array in the conventional Spartan battle formation. The main body of troops, the hoplites, where placed in a crescent formation that was 12 men deep in each phalanx. On the sides of the crescent were the peltasts, whose job was to provide cover for the hoplites. The cavalry probably stood near the peltasts, their job was two fold: protect the peltasts and scout the enemy.

The Theban army under Epaminondas was smaller then the Spartan, but had a few tricks up its sleeve. Epaminondas’ army at Leuctra was made up entirely of citizen levies, and they were mostly not battle-hardened yet. Because of the relatively small size of the entire Boeotian Federation the army they could field could not mach up to the Spartans on equal terms. The total size was about 9,000 men. About 6,500 of these were hoplites, and of these there was a special unit of about 300. This unit was devised by Epaminondas as shock infantry and was called the Sacred Band. The band had a special distinction in that it was made of about 150 homosexual couples. 1,000 soldiers were peltasts another 1,500 were cavalry. It was in the formations that the Thebans would take that Epaminondas would show his tactical brilliance. A major problem in hoplite warfare is that it never changed, true there were equipment changes but there were never any fundamental changes in the way in which war was waged. Because of this Sparta had become master of Greece, the Spartans had mastered the way which hoplite warfare was waged. Epaminondas set out to change that. This change would be based on two things: One is that in hoplite battles you could attack either with your spear or press with your shield but that never changes the fact that a hoplite battle is a pushing match he who presses hardest wins. The second is that even though a phalanx is supposed to march in a straight line, it always ends up going to the right, because training is drilled into the soldiers to favor going right. This way they gained more protection from their fellows. Based in these two points Epaminondas made his phalanxes 50 men deep and arrayed them a sloping formation. The result was the slope created a very strong left wing which would, upon breaking the enemy right, allow the army to attack the enemy’s remaining troops from all sides. But there was a draw back to the formation. Because the phalanxes were 50 men deep and concentrated on the left wing the Theban right was nearly non existent. To fix this Epaminondas concentrated his peltasts an cavalry on the right to bolster it. The shock troops of the Sacred Band were placed at the extreme end of the left wing with a special mission.

With both armies having arrayed for battle the future of Greece, and the Greek way of war, hung in the balance. The Spartans, confident that their training, reputation, and strength would be enough to carry them to victory opened the battle by sending up the peltasts to shower the Theban camps, driving the camp followers away from the battle. Kleombrotos then sent forth the Spartan cavalry, which Epaminondas countered with his horsemen. The Theban cavalry are able to push back the Spartan horse back straight into their own advancing right wing, which Kleombrotos had sent forward to flank the Theban line. Observing the confusion Pelopidas, the commander of the Sacred Band, ordered his men forward to exploit the confusion, creating chaos. The Spartans do not expect such a strong attack directly on their strongest point and fall back. Epaminondas realizes his chances and orders the left wing to make full contact with the Spartan right. For the Spartans this is a disaster, in a traditional battle their right would have encountered a weak left wing, while the enemy right hit their own weak left. Epaminondas had turned the tables on the Spartans, and he was fully willing to exploit it. At this time Pelopidas realizes something. By pure chance the Spartan king Kleombrotos is present at the front lines and personally directing his troops in a attempt to break the Thebans. Pelopidas now knows that the special mission given to him by Epaminondas comes into play. The mission was for the Sacred Band to slay the Spartan king, in order to really get across the point that times have changed. At the same time Kleombrotos figures out Epaminondas’ strategy and quickly comes up with a counter. The Spartan king decided to reinforce his right wing in an attempt to make a much more powerful push. However Pelopidas foils that plan when he organizes a mass charge led by his Sacred Band directly towards Kleombrotos. The charge so surprises the Spartans, who did not expect it, that the Thebans actually get close enough to touch shields with the Spartan line, partially reinforced with Kleombrotos’ royal guard. However the legendary Spartan steadfastness fails this time and the Sacred Band savagely attacks, killing Kleombrotos in the process. The death of their king on the field of battle, against fellow Greeks, had never happened before to the Spartans, who in confusion attempt to fall back. But they are unable to keep cohesion anymore and as a result the Spartan right wing finally breaks. Meanwhile further down the line the Theban right wing finally comes close enough to make contact with the Spartan left, but the Spartans are so shaken by the death of their king that the Spartan left flees before the Theban right can even engage. With the Spartans in retreat Epaminondas had won for all intents and purposes, but he does not let up and sends the Theban cavalry after the retreating Spartans. Then news reaches the field that Jason of Pherae was marching up with an army to support Epaminondas, at the same time a Spartan force under Archidamos is reported coming up as well. When Archidamos receives word of what had occurred at Leuctra he has the remaining Spartan forces regroup to his camp. Archidamos then does something that no Spartan had never done before, he sends a delegation to Epaminondas asking for permission to return to the field to bury the dead. The only reason Epaminondas had ordered his cavalry after the retreating Spartan forces was because he wanted the Spartans to, of their own free will, admit defeat. Now that he had it he consented, thus ending the decisive battle of Leuctra. The total number of Theban casualties numbered only 300, the total number of Spartan dead: 1,000 of whom 400 where Spartiates.

In conclusion the battle of Leuctra would have enormous impact. In the immediate aftermath of Leuctra the whole of Greece was in shock, no one had ever beaten the Spartans before in battle. The defeat would be a blow from which Sparta would never recover, though the Spartans would still continue to fight Thebes for some time yet. The victory would also pave the way for the ten year reign of Thebes as Hegemon of Greece. Ultimately it would be a young man who was present with Epaminondas that day who would topple Thebes from her place. Prince Philip of Macedon, the future king Philip II, had been present at the battle as a political prisoner and had watched Epaminondas work. Philip would improve upon the plans and tactics of Epaminondas and later Alexander would improve upon them too. In the long run the formations and tactics pioneered at Leuctra would continue to influence fighting. It is from this battle that the modern principles of local superiority of force and denying one’s flank came from. Leuctra also saw the first known use of the echelon or oblique formation. All in all Leuctra was one of those battles that truly deserve to be called a battle that changed the world.

[Battles: Battle of Coronea]

The battle of Coronea was a battle of the 4th Century B.C. This battle, waged at the height of Spartan supremacy in Greece, was a bloody victory of Spartan arms over the allies who frequently set out to oppose her.

The road that would lead to Coronea began in Persia. In 396 B.C. the Spartan warrior king Agesilaus II prepared to imitate his hero Agamemnon by invading the East. At the time Sparta was engaged in an off-on war with Persia. At that particular time an armistice had been reached and both sides took the time to prepare. Agesilaus decided to, in order to gather a large army to himself, claim to be a successor to Agamemnon and like him invade Asia. In order to squeeze as much as he could from the event Agesilaus made a sacrifice at Aulis, just like his hero had done. But Aulis was nominally under Theban control and Agesilaus and not asked for their permission. Agesilaus then assembled his force at Ephesus and demanded independence for the Ionian Greek cities. When the Persians refused Agesilaus launched his invasion, winning a few victories before the Persian provincial cavalry drove him off. Agesilaus fell back to Ephesus and began to call for any Greek men who could fight to come to his aid. Agesilaus also began to hire any mercenaries with the combat experience that satisfied him. Amongst the mercenaries recruited were the veterans of the famous 10,000 of Xenophon, and native cavalry. All of these men were trained by Spartiate officers that Agesilaus brought with him originally. By the time the spring of 395 rolled around Agesilaus had a crack force under his command. In a series of victories called the Pactolus campaign (so called because of the river where the greatest victory was won) the army of Agesilaus utterly trashed the Persian forces in the area around Sardis. Agesilaus’ force also waged an equally successful campaign in Phrygia later that same year. However while Agesilaus was being covered in glory in Asia trouble brewed back home. In Greece many of the city-states were none too pleased with the Spartan hegemony over the land. The Persians, ever hopeful to find some way to keep the Greeks off of their lands and embroiled in civil war exploited this hatred by making requests for an attack on Sparta. As turns it out the Persians did not even have to ask. At the time a dispute over the borders between the cities of Locris and Phocis had erupted. Locris asked for aid from Thebes, her most powerful neighbor, and in response Phocis called for aid from Sparta. The Spartans answered with agreement and so began the Corinthian War. The war would start off badly for Sparta when in the first engagement of the war the Spartans suffered a heavy defeat and the famous admiral Lysander slain. In shame the Spartan king in command at the battle would self exile himself from Sparta; his son would be chosen to succeed him. Meanwhile many of the other surrounding city-states took heart in the victory and the cities of Athens, Corinth, Argos, Euboea, and Acarnania all pledged their support to Thebes. In the opening of 394 the allies met in Corinth and formally signed a pact to destroy Sparta, from this pact the allies received the name the Corinthian Alliance (this is why the war is known as the Corinthian War). The formation of an alliance against them caused the Ephors (the old men who ruled Sparta with the kings) to recall Agesilaus from Asia. For his part Agesilaus was not happy about being forced to leave, but he did. To make sure that his forces were in full strength Agesilaus launched a recruitment drive much liked he had in the winter of 396-95. And like before he also hired high caliber mercenaries and native cavalry. At Euxenus Agesilaus leaves behind a garrison force of 4,000 and pledges to return, then he departed for Greece using the exact same route Xerxes used in his invasion. Meanwhile the Spartans’ score a victory at Corinth against the allies but this does not change any thing. When the allies heard that Agesilaus was on his way they sent some Thessalian cavalry to delay him. But Agesilaus, probably on the advice of a 10,000 veteran, put his force in a hollow square and was able to emerge unscathed through Thessaly. In August, 394 B.C. as the Spartan column was arriving in Boeotia word arrived to Agesilaus that the Spartan navy under his brother-in-law Pisander had been defeated at Cnidus, and that Pisander was himself dead. But Agesilaus decided to keep the defeat a secret, lest his men lose heart. Agesilaus instead lied and told his men that Pisander had won a great victory at Cnidus, lifting their sprits. As the forces of Agesilaus entered Boeotia a full Mora (a Spartan regiment numbering 576 men) joined them, a little while later half a Mora joined up with the column. Not long afterwards a force of hoplites from Orchomenos and Phocis arrived. Not long afterwards Spartan scouts saw the force of the allies assembling on the plains of Coronea at the base of Mt. Helicon. Agesilaus quickly had his men march to face them.

The Spartan force of Agesilaus was battle hardened. The majority of the Spartan forces present at Coronea were veterans of the Asian campaigns waged against Persia. Our primary source for this battle, Xenophon, does not give definite numbers of men for either side. However our best conservative estimate places the total number of hoplites at 15,000. Xenophon does make mention that 30 Spartiate staff officers, all veteran commanders, were present in the battle line. The battle line for the Spartans were arrayed thus: Agesilaus with the Spartiate hoplites were put on the right flank, the veterans of the 10,000 stood next to them, the Ionian Greeks stood next to the 10,000 and made up the bulk of the line, next to the Ionians were the Phocians and lastly on the left flank were the Orchomenians. The location of the cavalry and peltasts are unknown as are their numbers. However we do know that Agesilaus possessed a greater number of peltasts, and that both sides had equal numbers of cavalry, though Agesilaus’ were of better quality due to training.

The allied force in comparison was hastily put together and ill trained. As with the Spartan force we do not have any definite numbers for the Corinthian Alliance troops. However a conservative estimate places the total number of allied hoplites at 20,000. The battle line for the allies was arrayed thus: The Thebans put themselves in position on the right flank, opposite the Spartan left, the Athenians stood next to them, followed by the Locrians, Corinthians, Euboeans, Acarnanians, and lastly the Argives on the allied left opposite the Spartan right. The number of cavalry and peltasts are unknown as are their location on the battlefield. In any case we know the cavalry was roughly equal and that the allies possessed a lesser number of peltasts then the Spartans.

The battle of Coronea was to be one of the bloodiest hoplite battles. Once both sides are finished arraying for a battle a calm sort of swept the field. The atmosphere was radically different for both sides. On the Spartan side of the battlefield the warriors were in high spirits, despite a partial eclipse a few days earlier, and were ready for anything. On the opposing end was an atmosphere of dejectedness, the allies had suffered a defeat only a few days earlier at Nemea, and the Athenians were beginning to get cynical about allied chances. Only the Thebans were in high spirits, nothing short of a disaster could shake them, which was exactly what happened. The two battle line began marching in absolute silence on the orders of the high command. Then at 200 yards the Thebans, unable to contain themselves any longer, let out a shout and charged straight towards the Orchomenians. At 100 yards the veterans of the 10,000 and the Ionians also charged. According to the records the shock of the force which the opposing lines hit each other caused the shields and spears of the front lines to actually break. The fighting was carried out with the seldom used Greek dagger-sword. The allied troops which faced the veterans and the Ionians broke and ran after only a few minutes. The Thebans on the other hand actually broke the Orchomenians and were pursuing them to the baggage train. Meanwhile the Argives, frightened by the carnage around them broke and ran to Mt. Helicon before Agesilaus’ Spartiates could even close in on them. Turning around Agesilaus ordered an attack on the other fleeing allied troops, before they too fled to Mt. Helicon. At the time no one was aware of the Thebans position so the veterans came to Agesilaus after the bulk of the allied troops were fleeing to Mt. Helicon with a garland of victory. But then news reached Agesilaus about the Thebans. They had broken into the baggage train and the camps and were looting all of the booty from Asia. Enraged at the audacity of the act Agesilaus ordered his Spartiate troops to wheel about and crush the Thebans. It was meanwhile unknown to the Thebans that the entire allied line had crumbled and they were alone. It was not until Theban scouts reported to the main body that the Spartans were approaching that the Thebans realized the truth and began to panic. Finally a decision was reached to break through the Spartan lines and get to Mt. Helicon as soon as possible. The Thebans made a mad dash to Mt. Helicon and Agesilaus was faced with a choice to either let them go or pursue. Agesilaus chose pursuit and eventually caught up with the Thebans, crashing into them with the same force his main line had done earlier. In the mist of the fighting Agesilaus dove into the battle and slew many Thebans personally. Eventually he drove so relentlessly that he ended up behind enemy lines and was nearly killed, saved from death at the last minute by his 50-man bodyguard. Because of his wounds Agesilaus was carried to the rear and thus did not see the breakthrough of the Thebans to safety. As the day ended Spartan horsemen reported that 80 enemy soldiers had taken refuge in a temple. Agesilaus ordered they not be harmed and allowed to leave. The next morning a delegation arrived from the allies asking for permission to return to the field to bury their dead, this was the traditional Greek way to acknowledge defeat, and Agesilaus allowed it before ordering his men to pack up and move out, which they did later that day. The total number of allied causalities numbered 600, the total number of Spartan, 350.

In the aftermath of Coronea much happened. Immediately after Coronea the king would invade the city of Locris, an invasion that was eventually abandoned. In the total view of the Corinthian War (which ended when Persia changed sides and supported Sparta in 387) Coronea was a technical victory for Sparta, and assured the dominance of Sparta on land for the majority of the war. But the large number of dead had left a mark on Sparta, they had victory but it came at a terrible price. In the end the Corinthian War ended in Spartan victory, backed by the Persians the Spartans became, ironically, the upholders of liberty and justice. A position they would hold until the Thebans finally toppled Sparta at Leuctra.

[Biographies: Theodosius the Great]

Flavius Theodosius I the Great was a Roman emperor of the 4th century AD. Theodosius is perhaps most well known for his decision to make Christianity the state religion of Rome. He also is well known for convening the second Great Council of Christendom.

The emperor to be was born in the provinces. Theodosius I was born on January 11th, 346 AD in the city of Cauca in Gallaecia province (modern Coca, Spain). His father was the future great general Comes (Latin: Count) Flavius Theodosius the Elder (so called to differentiate him from his imperial son). His mother’s name was Thermantia, not much more is known about her. The elder Theodosius and his wife were both Christians and raised their son in the faith as well. Because Gallaecia was really a frontier province in the best sense of the word young Theodosius did not really receive much of an education, however he had open mind towards learning and loved to learn more, especially history, which he had acquired a special love for. Because Theodosius the Elder was a general the younger Theodosius would have to follow into the military service, he would ultimately land a position on his father’s staff.

Theodosius would have a bumpy military service. Theodosius would accompany his father around on his various military activities; however the most famous of his father’s campaigns that he participated in came in 368 AD. The previous year the garrison of Hadrian’s Wall in Britain rebelled and in a prearranged maneuver four barbarian tribes (the Picts, Scotti, Attacotti and Saxons) invaded at the same time. This event is called the Great Conspiracy. The current Emperor at the time, Valentinian I, was busy and dispatched numerous generals to try to push back the invaders. But they all failed, so Valentinian decided to send his best general, Comes Theodosius, to solve the problem. It is probable that the emperor to be learned a lot from watching his father in this expedition, which the elder Theodosius handled brilliantly. Later that year Comes Theodosius was made Magister Equitum Praesentalis (Latin: Master of the Imperial Cavalry). Theodosius would serve under his father for a further five years before the emperor made him Dux Moesiae Primae (Latin: First Commander of Moesia) in 374. Later that year a senior military officer named Aequitius was on the run through the province of Pannonia Valeria (modern northern Hungary) from Sarmatian cavalry. Theodosius, with a Moesian legion set out to rescue him, at the same time a Pannonian legion also set out. However for reasons unknown Theodosius and the Pannonian commander could not get along and as a result the Sarmatians nearly wiped out both legions. Valentinian I, who was famous for his short temper, exploded. Valentinian’s reactions to what made him angry were nearly always out of proportion to what ever it was that made him angry. In this case Valentinian’s wrath was directed at the Moesians, whose unit was first to flee. He labeled Theodosius a coward and had him stripped of office and sent home in disgrace. When the elder Theodosius tried to plead with the emperor in early 375 Valentinian had him executed for what he perceived as insubordination. Theodosius would not regain office until after Valentinian I died on November 17th of that year. Gratian, the son and successor of Valentinian, absolved Theodosius and his father of all charges and, perhaps ironically, appointed Theodosius as Dux Valeriae (Latin: Commander of Valeria). In 376 Theodosius got revenge on the Sarmatians by soundly thrashing them in battle. For this he was promoted by Gratian to Magister Militum per Illyricum (Latin: Master of Soldiers for Illyricum). On a more personal front Theodosius married Aelia Flacilla, a fellow Roman Spaniard, who would give birth to two future emperors. The details of Theodosius’ career at this point are rather sketchy. What we do know is that Theodosius had become increasingly popular with his men and the people. On August 9th, 378 the Emperor Valens, Augustus of the East, was slain in the battle of Adrianople against the Goths. Gratian now had a crisis on his hands, he already had trouble enough with the western half of the empire, and he didn’t much like the idea of ruling the eastern half as well. Gratian needed a new colleague to help him rule the empire, and fast. According to some records as Gratian was fretting news reached him that Theodosius had scored a victory over the Sarmatians. This solved Gratian’s problem, though while it is true that Theodosius was not the best general of his day, he was the most Roman officer in the army. Plus Gratian was running out of options. So the emperor issued summons for Theodosius to come to Rome. When he arrived on January 19, 379 AD Theodosius was in for a surprise: Gratian was going to make him his full colleague and Augustus of the East.

With his newfound powers Theodosius would make great changes for the empire. After being made co-Augustus by Gratian, Theodosius was sent to the East to take up his rule there. Theodosius chose the city of Thessalonika (modern Thessaloniki, Greece) for his temporary capital. Almost immediately as he was settled Gratian transferred control of the dioceses of Thrace, Macedonia, and Dacia to Theodosius. Traditionally the mentioned dioceses were part of the Western Empire, but because the three were where the Goths invaded and were now living Gratian decided to make them Theodosius’ problem. However the East was woefully unprepared for the task, so Theodosius was going to have a major problem on his hands. The first thing he did was send his general Modares against the Goths in Thrace, and after Modares scored a, albeit minor, victory Theodosius moved on to the next phase of his plan, and most probably the riskiest one. Formerly the Germanic Teutons had been barred from serving in the Roman army. Knowing that the small numbers of men that he had could not stand up against the Goths he decided to allow the Teutons into the service. Theodosius then decided to send a contingent of his new recruits to Egypt so that he could bring up the experienced Egyptian garrison forces to serve with him. Theodosius made his first real military campaign against the Goths in 380 AD. Because of sketchy records we do not know how this campaign went though we do know Theodosius did suffer a major defeat when some of the Teutons defected to the Goths. On November 24, 280 AD Theodosius entered Constantinople for the first time, making it his capital, and would stay there for the next seven years. In the winter of 380/381 Theodosius sent a letter to Gratian asking him to come to his aid against the Goths. Gratian was lazy to give his aid and even when he did commit it was not a large force. Gratian would eventually take to the field himself and in late 380 AD would score a major victory by kicking the Goths back to Thrace. Theodosius meanwhile was rebuilding when something very unusual happened. On January 11th , 381 AD the king of the Visigoths (Gothic: Noble Goths), Athanaric, arrived in Constantinople and surrendered. This was a major public relations coup for Theodosius, even though Athanaric died barely two weeks later. Theodosius however decided to try to keep the negotiations going and on October 3rd, 382 AD the treaty was formalized. The exact terms are unknown. However it seems that in exchange for the Goths’ promise to serve as foederati (Latin: federated or allied) soldiers the emperors would allow them to live in near total autonomy within Roman borders. At the same time as the Gothic War was a crisis of a different scale. The Christian faith was at that time wracked by controversy and dissention, especially over the nature of Christ and the Trinity. The worst of these controversies, the Arian heresy, had been thought conquered by the First Church Council at Nicea (modern Bursa, Turkey) in 325 AD. But the Council’s decision had not changed anything and the debate over whether Jesus was of different or same substance as the Father, the basis of the entire mess, still raged. By the time of Theodosius the Arians (not the specific Arian sect, but in general those who believed Jesus different in substance from the Father) had gained considerable power while the Nicene (Those who accepted the Council’s decision that the Jesus and the Father are of same substance) Christians where losing ground. Theodosius, a Nicene Christian, wished to end the strife and impose Nicene Christianity on the Empire as a whole. His newfound position as Augustus of the East put him in a place where he could do just that. But the Eastern Empire, even more so Constantinople, was dominated by Arians. Upon his entrance into Constantinople on November 24th, 380 Theodosius became baptized after an illness and then expelled all Arian church leaders, among them the bishop of Constantinople, from the city. Theodosius then took custody of the churches, only to hand them to the Nicene community to run. This move had tremendous consequences; no secular authority had ever done something like this before. Rioting followed the mass banishment and there was even an assassination attempt on Theodosius’ life. In February, 381 AD Theodosius managed to convince Gratian that they needed to intervene in Church affairs, so the Augusti (Latin: plural of Augustus) issued a joint decree on February 28th. The decree did two things: first it called for all citizens of the Roman Empire to profess Nicene Christianity, secondly it stated that only those who followed the Nicene position on the nature of Christ and the Trinity had the right to call themselves catholic (Latin: Universal) Christians. This move was even more shocking then banishing the Arians from Constantinople, in part because Theodosius did not even ask the Church authorities for permission to make his proclamation. In May, 381 Theodosius called for all 150 Nicene bishops to meet in Constantinople for a synod to discuss matters of the faith. In a somewhat embarrassing incident some of the bishops arrived early wishing to fill the vacancy in the position of bishop of Constantinople, which was an important position in the leadership of the Church, elected one without waiting for the others to arrive. The one they elected was forced to step down once the rest of the 150 arrived. Called the First Council of Constantinople this meeting, which Theodosius personally oversaw, basically reaffirmed the Nicene position and elected a new bishop for Constantinople. After the Council dismissed Theodosius would systemically go though his provinces and kick out every Arian leader in the Eastern Empire, a move that had the double effect of causing more rioting and more popularity. Theodosius also went on a building spree in Constantinople and the Fourm Tauri, the largest public square in the ancient world, was built during this time.

Theodosius had by now left his mark on the empire, and things were about to shake up. Around 383 AD Magnus Maximus, a Roman Spaniard, stationed in Britain rose up against Gratian. When Gratian died as he fled in the face of Maximus’ forces everyone felt that Maximus was responsible, making it an assassination. For a moment it seemed no one was sure what happened when suddenly Maximus declared he was taking the title of Augustus of the West. In theory Maximus had no right to take the title, it rightfully belonged to a young man named Valentinian II. The young Valentinian was the son of Valentinian I, but Gratian had seized power on the basis of claiming his half brother too young to rule. In reality Maximus could do what ever he wished, but that doesn’t mean Valentinian II or Theodosius had to be happy about it. If Theodosius meant to make any move against Maximus we may never know, for just as all this was happening an uprising amongst the Arab tribes along the border drew Theodosius’ attention. Theodosius reacted quickly and sent his Magister Peditum Praesentalis (Latin: Master of Imperial Infantry), Richomer. Richomer amazingly crushed the uprising in the space of a single year, causing a change in ruling house amongst the Arabs. A tense waiting came over the Roman world at this point. It seems everyone knew that a civil war was on the wings, but who would strike first was unknown. On a more personal front Theodosius suffered a personal tragedy when in 386 AD his wife of ten years, Aelia Flacilla, died along with their daughter Pulcheria. Theodosius was not allowed time to mourn when tensions with Sasanian Persia ran up. In an attempt to try to make peace with the Persians Theodosius sent his Magister Militum per Orientum (Latin: Master of Soldiers for the Orient), Stilicho to negotiate a partition of Armenia. A settlement was successfully reached with the pro-Roman king in the west, the pro-Sasanian king in the east (interestingly enough Theodosius gave Stilicho the hand of his adopted niece Serena in marriage for this). Meanwhile the fragile peace between the two emperors in the West finally broke when Maximus invaded Italy, the domain of Valentinian II since 375, in 387. The young Valentinian II was woefully unprepared for this so he fled to Thessalonika in the Eastern Empire to ask for aid from Theodosius. The Eastern Emperor was all too glad to help Valentinian and began to move his forces in preparation for an attack on the West. One key part of this was Africa, which was ruled by Valentinian’s Comes Africae (Latin: Count of Africa), Gildo. Because Gildo’s allegiance was a mystery to both Maximus and Theodosius they wanted Gildo’s forces, which included a sizable naval force, to their respective side. Theodosius won the struggle by promising to marry his nephew Nebridius to Gildo’s daughter Salvina. Perhaps inspired by this Valentinian II purposed a marriage between his sister, Galla, and Theodosius. The proposal was accepted and the two wed by year’s end. Galla would give birth to one emperor and a famous daughter. In 388 AD Theodosius launched a massive all-out assault on Maximus. Gildo would attack by sea with his navy with the intent of taking Sicily. Theodosius would launch the main attack. As it happened Maximus launched an invasion of Pannonia, in response Theodosius decided to make the main attack of the assault against Maximus directly. The war went well for Theodosius from the start. Gildo’s naval forces scored an easy victory over the navy of Maximus’ Magister Praesentalis (Latin: Master of Imperial Armies), Andragathius. This resulted in the easy fall of Sicily. Meanwhile Theodosius lead his armies against Maximus and the two met for the first time in battle at Siscia, which resulted in triumph for Theodosius. Maximus retreated but Theodosius caught him in battle again at Poetovio, where Maximus was again defeated. It becomes sketchy at this point but the records indicate that Theodosius was using his victories in the field as a means to try to take the war out of his soil and onto Maximus’. This strategy proved successful when Maximus was forced over the Alps back and back into Italy by Theodosius. But the triumphant Eastern Emperor did not stop there; he continued to push Maximus and eventually managed to corner him before the walls of the city of Aquileia. Theodosius defeated his foe for the last time in front of that city and on August 28th, 388 AD the usurper was executed on the field. With Maximus’ death the civil war ended and Theodosius surprisingly granted a general amnesty to all former soldiers of Maximus. At this point Theodosius could have ruled over a united empire, but he chose not too and instead returned the West to Valentinian II to rule. However Theodosius decided to chose a new Magister Peditum Praesentalis for Valentinian. He chose Arbogast, the nephew of Richomer, who occupied the same position in the East. Theodosius still chose not to return to Constantinople just yet, instead opting to stay as a guest of Valentinian II in Mediolanium (modern Milan, Italy). However before leaving for Mediolanium Theodosius chose to, along with his son Honorius (who was just four) to go through a triumph in the streets of Rome itself in 389. Upon his arrival in Mediolanium later that year Theodosius would have his first meeting with Bishop Ambrose of Milan, who was widely regarded as one of the Church’s greatest leaders at the time. The bishop and Theodosius struck a quick friendship, though at times Ambrose did grate in Theodosius’ nerves. Even though he was not present in the East Theodosius still made important decisions from Mediolanium. One of these was an important ecclesiastical matter. Previously even though many of the Roman emperors since Constantine had been nominally Christian, none of them had made any move against the last vestiges of paganism. Perhaps he felt convicted about it, perhaps it was Ambrose, or perhaps it was because he needed greater power before attempted it but whatever the cause Theodosius desired to change things starting in 389. That year Theodosius made the first of his famous Theodosian Decrees. His first decree was to declare that all pagan festivals not made into a Christian one were to be no longer cerebrated and treated as an ordinary day. This caused mass rioting in protest, but Theodosius was determined, although he would wait until later to resume his efforts, probably on Ambrose’s advice. During this time Theodosius became aware of an old Egyptian obelisk sitting in Alexandria harbor. The obelisk had been originally from the old pagan temple at Karnak, and had been taken down from that place by order of the bishop of Alexandria. Thus it had sat there in the harbor for a very long time. Theodosius decided he could make use of it and had the obelisk shipped to Constantinople. Once he was notified of its arrival Theodosius had the obelisk decorated with images of law, order, decorum, and rank. Then he ordered it to be erected in the middle of the Hippodrome, the race track that was the center of public life in Constantinople. Meanwhile in the city of Thessalonika a general of Theodosius named Butherichus was brutally murdered by what appeared to be the townspeople in around 390. Enraged Theodosius ordered the population of Thessalonika to be slaughtered. News reached Theodosius that it was not a townsman who was responsible for the general’s death. But Theodosius could not stop the terrible massacre of the people of Thessalonika. Ambrose condemned the actions of Theodosius and told him that like King David of old he must do penance for his crime. Theodosius did so, and Ambrose welcomed Theodosius back to church services personally at Christmas that year. In February, 391 Theodosius issued another one of his Theodosian Decrees when he outlawed all blood sacrifices and in a monumental move ordered that all pagan temples be shut down and closed. Theodosius was almost immediately besieged by happy bishops from all corners of the East coming to Mediolanium to thank him and ask for permission to destroy the pagan temples in their respective dioceses. There was also great rioting from the pagans over this move and many times Christian and pagan mobs would break out into fighting in the streets. Theodosius appeared to want to continue his reforms but the constant quarreling between his eldest son Arcadius and Gallacalled him back to Constantinople in November.

Theodosius thought he would gain a little peace by returning home, he was wrong. Upon his return to Constantinople Theodosius intervened in the dispute between Arcadius and Galla and hoped that he would get a little peace and quiet for a few years after settling the problem (what it was we do not know). About this time the bishop of Alexandria came to Theodosius with a request. At the time the largest pagan temple in the ancient world was the Serapeum in Alexandria. Previously the bishops of Alexandria had been trying to tear it down, but in the past the emperors had defended the Serapeum as being a nice public decoration. But now the bishop saw an opportunity and appealed to Theodosius. The emperor agreed and the building came down at the hands of the local Christian populace sometime in the summer (exact date unknown). Things stayed pretty much quiet in the Roman world until May 15th, 392. At that date Valentinian II, Western Emperor, died without an heir and under tense circumstances. Ever since Theodosius had appointed Arbogast to aid Valentinian troubles began and the two men had never gotten along very well. Things came to a head when in early 392 Valentinian had attempted to dismiss Arbogast from his position, when Arbogast refused to step down things came to stand still. When Valentinian II was found dead on May 15th the official reason for his death was that he committed suicide. It appeared that for a moment everything hinged upon Theodosius’ reaction to the news. Theodosius did not know what exactly to do until Galla came and told him she knew her brother, he would never commit suicide. She told Theodosius the best course of action would be to invade and punish Arbogast. When Arbogast became aware of this through the silence of Constantinople to his letters he made a bold move. On August 22nd, 392 AD Arbogast made Eugenius, a teacher of rhetoric with strong ties to the remaining Roman pagan nobility, emperor. Unlike with Maximus whom Theodosius was willing let leave be he would not tolerate Eugenius. Theodosius made this clear when he refused to accept the candidates Eugenius put forward for the Consulship. But the biggest message that Theodosius would make to Eugenius came on January 23rd, 393 AD. On that date Theodosius crowned his youngest son from his first marriage, Honorius, as Augustus of the West. If Eugenius had not gotten the message before he got it now, by making Honorius an emperor Theodosius was making it clear he did not, and would never, accept Eugenius as his colleague. Theodosius then issued another one of his Theodosian Decrees, this time he declared the Olympic Games, being at the heart a pagan event, was to be discontinued. The Olympics would not be revived until the 19th century. Theodosius knew that war was now inevitable and began to gather his forces. Eugenius began to do the same by the end of 393 he seized control of Italia for himself. Then something curious began to happen, all of the pagan generals and officials gravitated around Eugenius. All of the Christian generals and officials gravitated around Theodosius. The effect this had gave the war between the two rivals the feel of final battle not between men but religions. Theodosius finally began his march in May, 394, along the way he would hold the Visigoths to their promise back in 381 to supply him with troops when he requested it. The Visigoths honored the vow and sent a sizeable contingent under Alaric, the future sacker of Rome. In September the army of Theodosius arrived at the banks of the Frigidius River on the foot hills of the Alps. On September 5th Theodosius sent forth his advance guard of Visigoths, but they suffered heavy losses and were forced to pull back by day’s end. On the next day, September 6th, another attack was launched this time Theodosius emerged victorious. The result of the battle was that paganism had lost the last vestiges of its power and control in the Roman Empire, Christianity had triumphed. After the deaths of Eugenius (who had been executed) and Arbogast (who had committed suicide) Theodosius declared an amnesty for all former soldiers of the usurper, as he had done after defeating Maximus. Theodosius then marched onward to Mediolanium and called Honorius to come west. There in Mediolanium Theodosius had Honorius formally crowned as Augustus of the West. There was no doubt that because Honorius was still a kid that Theodosius was the real ruler, as it happened Theodosius was the last emperor to rule a united empire. Theodosius then left Mediolanium for Rome where he would make his last three Theodosian Decrees. The first was to ban all the remaining subsides flowing to the Roman state religion, the second was to put out the so called ‘eternal flame’ of Vesta and to disband the Vestal Virgins, the last and most monumental was to make Christianity the new state religion of the Roman Empire. This last Decree would have lasting effects on Christianity, both good and at the same time bad. Theodosius then returned to Mediolanium and appointed Stilicho to be Honorius’ Magister Peditum Praesentalis so that he could help the boy with the task of ruling. Theodosius then fell sick, most likely of exhaustion from all that he had recently done. No one really expected it when it came but in January, 395 Theodosius died in his sleep. So died Flavius Theodosius the Great, the reformer emperor and champion of Christianity at the age of 49.

Theodosius’ impact would last for a very long time. In the immediate aftermath of Theodosius’ death he would be given a state funeral at Mediolanium. Ambrose himself delivered the eulogy for his friend. After the funeral the body was taken in state to Constantinople where he was buried in the Imperial Mausoleum erected by Constantius II. The greater impact of Theodosius would be felt by way of the dynasty he created which would rule both halves of the Roman Empire till 450 AD. However the greatest legacy would be the impact upon Christianity. Theodosius had through his efforts destroyed the predominance of the Arian heresy and others like it and secured the position of Nicene Christianity as the main branch of the faith. Theodosius had also for better or worse had begun the entrenching of Christianity as a state religion and so started it along the path to the Middle Ages. However the civil wars waged and advisors that he chose for his children would ultimately cause a weakening of the empire and contribute to the fall of the West in 476.