The naval battle near the island of Kos ( dr. Greek Ναυμαχία της Κω ) is the last battle of the Chremonid war . It happened about 261 BC. e. between the fleet of the Macedonians , under the command of Antigonus II of Gonath and the fleet of Patroclus the Macedonian , the forerunner of the king of Hellenistic Egypt, Ptolemy II , off the island of Kos in the Aegean Sea [1] .
| Battle of Kos | |||
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| Main Conflict: Chremonid War , Second Syrian War | |||
| date | in the period 262 BC e. - 255 BC e. | ||
| A place | Aegean Sea , off the island of Kos | ||
| Total | victory of Antigonus II | ||
| Opponents | |||
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| Commanders | |||
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| Forces of the parties | |||
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| Losses | |||
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Background
In Athens, as a result of a fierce political struggle, an anti-Macedonian group led by Chremonides and Glavcon came to power. At the suggestion of Chremonides, a decree was adopted proclaiming an alliance between the Athenians and the Peloponnesians, as well as establishing allied relations with the Egyptian king Ptolemy II, who sent an embassy to Sparta and Athens with an offer of an alliance against Macedonia. With the participation and active assistance of Egypt, the struggle between the Cretan cities resumed, some of which supported Antigone, and some opposed it.
Antigonus opposed Athens, besieging the city with a dense ring of siege from land and sea. The siege of Athens was facilitated by the fact that Piraeus remained in the hands of the Macedonians, which completely deprived the Athenians of the opportunity to receive food from the sea. The Egyptian naval commander Patroclus of Macedonia came to the aid of Athens. In the Peloponnese, Sparta and its allies intensified, but they could not come to the aid of the Athenians, since the Macedonian garrison in Corinth locked them within the peninsula.
The main hostilities of 266 BC e. deployed in Attica, where the Egyptian landing was operating, as well as under Corinth, where the Spartans unsuccessfully tried to break through the Macedonians' defense in Istma. In Megara, a detachment of their own Galatian mercenaries rebelled against Antigonus, but Antigonus opposed them with the whole army and defeated them in battle. The victory of Antigonus caused confusion in the ranks of his opponents: the Spartans abandoned their intention to land in Attica, and soon the Egyptians were evacuated from Attica.
In 265 BC e. the war resumed with the Spartans attack on Corinth. In a major battle near Corinth, where the Spartan king Ares I and the son of Antigonus Alkionei were killed, the Macedonians won and kept the city behind them. The Union of Peloponnesian cities immediately collapsed, leaving Sparta alone.
However, Athens stubbornly withstood the siege. Sparta, in which Akrotat became king to replace the dead Areus, was unable to do anything against Corinth and turned against the Peloponnesian allies of Antigonus. In the years 264/263 BC e. Akrotat attacked Megalopolis, but suffered a crushing defeat from the megalopolitan commander Aristodem and died in battle.
As a result of the very successful actions of Macedonia and its allies, almost all of its opponents, with the exception of Athens, withdrew from the struggle. However, for Antigonus, the situation in his own state was complicated by the fact that the Epirus king Alexander II took advantage of his prolonged absence and invaded Macedonia. This forced Antigonus to lift the siege of Athens and urgently return to his country. In the battle with the orphans, he was defeated and lost the army, which passed to the side of Alexander. However, he was saved by his young brother Demetrius the Beautiful, who, despite his age of 13, was able to defeat the Epirots at the Battle of Derdia, expel them from the country and take away Upper Macedonia and Thessaly from them.
These victories allowed Antigonus to suddenly return with the army to Athens and renewed the siege of the city. Despite the fact that Corinth and Chalcis on Euboea unexpectedly fell away from him, and a new squadron came to the aid of the Ptolemies from Attica from Alexandria, Antigonos took the lead - he did not give the enemies the opportunity to unite, and spoke with his fleet against the Egyptians.
Battle
Little is known about the circumstances and the course of the battle, except for one fact - Antigonus inflicted a crushing defeat on the Egyptian fleet and won a complete victory [2] .
Consequences
The victory of Antigonus undermined the influence of the Ptolemies in the Aegean Sea [3] and brought Antigone complete dominance in the Aegean Sea, power over the Cyclades archipelago, the coast of Caria and Euboea. In 262 BC e. Athens, having endured all the horrors of siege and famine, was forced to surrender to the mercy of the victor. After these events, the Macedonian garrisons established themselves in Athens, Megara, Epidaurus, and Tresen. The war ended in 261 BC. e. decisive victory of Macedonia. To commemorate the victory, Antigonus sacrificed the flagship of his fleet, which was called Isthma, that is, the Isthma Games ( Greek Ίσθμια ), to the Apollo sanctuary in Corinth [2] [4] .
Dating Disputes
According to reports, the battle occurred between 262-256 BC. e. [5] . Among historians there is disagreement about the specific date of the battle. Some historians believe that it happened in 257 BC. e. If this statement is true, then the battle took place in the midst of the Second Syrian War between Ptolemy II and Antiochus II and, probably, was one of the events that influenced its final outcome [6] . Nicholas Hammond believes that the battle took place a little later, until 255 BC. e. [7] .
Reflection in Culture
Some historians and art historians believe that one of the masterpieces of the ancient Greek sculpture of Nick or Nick of Samothrace was executed in commemoration of this victory [8] [9] .
Literature
- Ιστορία του Ελληνικού έθνους Τόμος Δ 'Μέγας Αλέξανδρος -Ελληνιστικοί Χρόνοι Εκδοτική Αθηνών 1979
- Στρατιωτική Ιστορία ΣΠΥΡΙΔΩΝ ΜΑΡΚΟΥ. Χρεμωνίδειος πόλεμος Εκδότης Σ. ΠΑΝΕΛΗΣ. Τεύχος 128. 2007
Notes
- ↑ Ιστορία του Ελληνικού έθνους Τόμος Δ Μέγας Αλέξανδρος -Ελληνιστικοί Χρόνοι ΟΙ ΕΜΟΙΛΕΜΟΙ ΤΩΝΝΕ26λ
- ↑ 1 2 Στρατιωτική Ιστορία ΣΠΥΡΙΔΩΝ ΜΑΡΚΟΥ. Χρεμωνίδειος πόλεμος.σελ.59
- ↑ Ιστορία του Ελληνικού έθνους Τόμος Δ Μέγας Αλέξανδρος -Ελληνιστικοί Χρόνοι ΟΙ ΕΜΟΙΛΕΜΟΙ ΤΩΝΝΕ.4λ
- ↑ John Boardman, Frank William Walbank. The Cambridge ancient history, Volume 7, Part 1. The Cambridge Ancient History, John Boardman, ISBN 0-521-85073-8 , ISBN 978-0-521-85073-5 Cambridge University Press, 1982. ISBN 0-521-23445 -X . p.243
- ↑ Janice J. Gabbert, Antigonus II Gonatas. A Political Biography. London and New York: Routledge, 1997. ISBN 0-415-01899-4 . p.52
- ↑ Ιστορία του Ελληνικού έθνους Τόμος Δ 'Μέγας Αλέξανδρος -Ελληνιστικοί Χρόνοι ΟΙ ΠΟΛΕΜΟΙ ΤΩΝ
- ↑ Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond, Frank William Walbank. A History of Macedonia: 336-167 BC Volume 3 of A History of Macedonia, Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond Oxford University Press, 1988. ISBN 0-19-814815-1 . Appendix IV
- ↑ Burn, 2005. Hellenistic Art: From Alexander the Great to Augustus.
- ↑ James Henry Oliver. Demokratia, the gods, and the free world: Morals and law in ancient Greece. Ayer Publishing, 1979. ISBN 0-405-11564-4 . p. 149.