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Siege Of Siracena
The Siege of Siracena was a Bosporan siege led by Satyrus II and Meniscus on the fortified capital city of the Siraces, Siracena, that occurred in 309 BC during the First Bosporan Civil War. The Siraces were a hellenized Sarmatian tribe that had sided with Eumelos, a claimant to the Bosporan throne and a brother of Satyrus. Prelude Before the siege, the Bosporan army which had been composed of 34,000 troops (20,000 Scythian Infantry, 10,000 Scythian cavalry, 2,000 Thracians peltasts and 2,000 Greek mercenaries hoplites) had successfully defeated and routed Aripharnes and Eumelos, and the Siracen army of 42,000 (22,000 Infantry, 20,000 cavalry) during the Battle of the River Thatis. Satyros gave immediate chase to his younger brother, where he came up the Siracen capital city of Siracena which was heavily fortified and situated on that the river Thatis. Knowing that he could not take the city, he plundered the surrounding countryside and took on many prisoners. Siege Satyros II ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bosporan Civil War
The Bosporan Civil War was a war of succession that happened in the Bosporan Kingdom somewhere between 311 and 308 BCE and lasted for about a year. The casus belli was the death of archon Paerisades I, whose sons disputed the succession. These sons were Satyros II, who claimed the kingdom by virtue of being the eldest, Eumelos, who was another claimant to the throne, and Prytanis, who engaged in battle later on in support of Satyros. Sources and dating The most important source on the conflict is provided by the '' Bibliotheca historica'', book 20 chapters 22 to 24, written more than 150 years after the fact by the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus (c. 90–30 BCE). It is not known exactly when the events narrated by Diodorus happened. The war has been variously dated as having occurred during 309–308 BCE (one year long), within the year 309 BCE, during 311–310 BCE or during 310–309 BCE. In part, the difficulty in determining the period stems from the uncertainty ab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Lake Maeotis
The Battle of Lake Maeotis was a military engagement of the Spartocid civil war that took place in winter of 309 BC near the Maeotic Lake. It was fought between the forces of Prytanis I, who succeeded his late brother Satyros II, and the pretender Eumelos who had recently killed Satyros II at Siracena. Prelude and Battle Satyros II had been killed at Siracena Siracena ( grc-gre, Σιρακηνή) is the alleged capital settlement or village of the tribe of Siraces, a powerful, hellenized Sarmatian tribe on the steppe. It was ruled by the kings of the Siraces, most notably Aripharnes, who engaged in the B ... while besieging the town with Aripharnes and Eumelos inside. After his death, the mercenary commander Meniscus, took Satyros' body to Gargaza and gave it to Prytanis, the younger brother of Satyros and Eumelos. He buried his brother after taking the throne. Then Prytanis left a garrison in Gargaza and returned to Panticapaeum to secure his position while Eumelos and Aripha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wars Of The Bosporan Kingdom
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular or irregular military forces. Warfare refers to the common activities and characteristics of types of war, or of wars in general. Total war is warfare that is not restricted to purely legitimate military targets, and can result in massive civilian or other non-combatant suffering and casualties. While some war studies scholars consider war a universal and ancestral aspect of human nature, others argue it is a result of specific socio-cultural, economic or ecological circumstances. Etymology The English word ''war'' derives from the 11th-century Old English words ''wyrre'' and ''werre'', from Old French ''werre'' (also ''guerre'' as in modern French), in turn from the Frankish *''werra'', ultimately deriving from the Proto-Germanic *'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
309 BC
__NOTOC__ Year 309 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Dictatorship of Cursor (or, less frequently, year 445 '' Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 309 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Asia Minor * Ptolemy I Soter personally commands a fleet that captures the coastal regions of Lycia and Caria from Antigonus I Monophthalmus. Greece * Cassander, who has held Roxana, widow of Alexander the Great, in prison for a number of years, has her put to death along with her young son Alexander, the nominal King Alexander IV of Macedon. * Antigonus attempts to renew his alliance with the Macedonian general and former regent Polyperchon, who still controls part of the Peloponnesus. He sends Heracles, the illegitimate son of Alexander the Great, to Polyperchon to be treated as a pretender t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. The Black Sea is supplied by major rivers, principally the Danube, Dnieper, and Don. Consequently, while six countries have a coastline on the sea, its drainage basin includes parts of 24 countries in Europe. The Black Sea covers (not including the Sea of Azov), has a maximum depth of , and a volume of . Most of its coasts ascend rapidly. These rises are the Pontic Mountains to the south, bar the southwest-facing peninsulas, the Caucasus Mountains to the east, and the Crimean Mountains to the mid-north. In the west, the coast is generally small floodplains below foothills such as the Strandzha; Cape Emine, a dwindling of the east end of the Balkan Mountains; and the Dobruja Plateau considerably farth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hoplites
Hoplites ( ) ( grc, ὁπλίτης : hoplítēs) were citizen-soldiers of Ancient Greek city-states who were primarily armed with spears and shields. Hoplite soldiers used the phalanx formation to be effective in war with fewer soldiers. The formation discouraged the soldiers from acting alone, for this would compromise the formation and minimize its strengths. The hoplites were primarily represented by free citizens – propertied farmers and artisans – who were able to afford a linen armour or a bronze armour suit and weapons (estimated at a third to a half of its able-bodied adult male population). Most hoplites were not professional soldiers and often lacked sufficient military training. Some states maintained a small elite professional unit, known as the '' epilektoi'' ("chosen") since they were picked from the regular citizen infantry. These existed at times in Athens, Argos, Thebes, and Syracuse, among other places. Hoplite soldiers made up the bulk of anci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peltasts
A ''peltast'' ( grc-gre, πελταστής ) was a type of light infantryman, originating in Thrace and Paeonia, and named after the kind of shield he carried. Thucydides mentions the Thracian peltasts, while Xenophon in the Anabasis distinguishes the Thracian and Greek peltast troops. The peltast often served as a skirmisher in Hellenic and Hellenistic armies. In the Medieval period, the same term was used for a type of Byzantine infantryman. Description ''Pelte'' shield ''Peltasts'' carried a crescent-shaped wicker shield called a "''pelte''" (Ancient Greek grc, πέλτη, peltē, label=none; Latin: ) as their main protection, hence their name. According to Aristotle, the ''pelte'' was rimless and covered in goat- or sheepskin. Some literary sources imply that the shield could be round, but in art it is usually shown as crescent-shaped. It also appears in Scythian art and may have been a common type in Central Europe. The shield could be carried with a central stra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siracena
Siracena ( grc-gre, Σιρακηνή) is the alleged capital settlement or village of the tribe of Siraces, a powerful, hellenized Sarmatian tribe on the steppe. It was ruled by the kings of the Siraces, most notably Aripharnes, who engaged in the Bosporan Civil War of 309 BC. The exact location of this settlement is unknown, but it is described as being on the Thatis River (a tributary to the Kuban). Fourth Century BC The city was besieged by Bosporan and Scythian forces during the Bosporan succession war because Aripharnes had sided with Eumelos, the pretender to the Bosporan throne. It was besieged particularly by Satyrus II, ''then'' the ruler of the Bosporan Kingdom, and his mercenary captain Meniscus who fought with great valor during the Siege of Siracena. The settlement withstood the siege all of its duration. Layout The city was situated on the Thatis river and was encircled by it. It was surrounded by cliffs and thick forest and was only accessible through two artificia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of The River Thatis
The Battle of the River Thatis was part of a succession dispute in the Bosporan Kingdom that was fought out during 310/309 BC. After the death of Paerisades I, his eldest son Satyros II became king. His brother Eumelus disputed Satyros II's right to the throne and gathered an army with his allies, the Siraces tribe. With his Scythian allies Satyrus met Eumelus in battle at the River Thatis, where Eumelus and the Siraces were defeated. Satyrus led his cavalry in a charge towards the centre of the line where Aripharnes, the king of the Siraces, was with his own cavalry and put them to flight. When he heard his mercenaries had fled from the fight with the right wing which was led by Eumelus, he attacked the enemy's right wing and broke their army. The defeat was not decisive: Eumelus and his allies escaped to the capital city of the Siraces, which was situated along the River Thatis. During the siege of that city Satyrus incurred many casualties and was mortally wounded himself. A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Satyros II
Satyrus II ( grc, Σάτυρος, Satyros) was a son of Paerisades I and Spartocid king of the Bosporan Kingdom for 9 months in 310 BC. He was the elder brother of Eumelus and Prytanis. He was challenged and ultimately overthrown by Eumelus in the Bosporan Civil War. Reign and civil war When his father Paerisades died in 310 BC, Satyrus inherited the throne and government as he was the eldest son. Shortly after, his brother Eumelus fled to the lands of the Siraces, where he entered into an alliance with Aripharnes, king of the Siraces, and made a rival claim to the throne. As soon as Satyrus learned of this, he set out against his brother Eumelus with his army thus starting the Spartocid civil war. Satyrus' army had a total of 34,000 troops, a mixture of Greeks, Thracians, and Scythians. After cornering his younger brother, they fought the Battle of the River Thatis, which resulted in a strategic victory for Satyrus and demonstrated his suitability for the throne of his father. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aripharnes
Aripharnes ( fl. 310–309 BC) or Arypharnasha the Thataean was ruler of the Sarmatian tribe of Siraces and took part in the First Bosporan Civil War of 310-309 between king Satyros II and his brother Eumelos, a pretender to the throne. At first, all three claimants to the throne, Satyros, Prytanis, and Eumelos sought Aripharnes to back them to the throne. Aripharnes then ordered each of the lads to hurl a javelin into their father's corpse. Satyros and Prytanis did so, but Eumelos refused. There, Aripharnes proclaimed Eumelos "King of the Cimmerians". He and Eumelos fought Satyrus at the Battle of River Thatis, but they were defeated by the numerically inferior Satyric army. Afterward, he retreated with Eumelos to his settlement Siracena. The settlement was besieged by Satyros and after a lengthy siege, he was mortally wounded. Meniscus, the mercenary captain in charge of Satyros's mercenaries, broke off the siege and took the body of Satyros to Panticapaeum Panticapaeum ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
