The Battle of Aphrodisium was a battle fought circa 238 BC between the

Kingdom of Pergamon The Kingdom of Pergamon or Attalid kingdom was a Greek state during the Hellenistic period that ruled much of the Western part of Asia Minor from its capital city of Pergamon. It was ruled by the Attalid dynasty (; grc-x-koine, Δυναστ ...

Attalus I Attalus I ( grc, Ἄτταλος Α΄), surnamed ''Soter'' ( el, , "Savior"; 269–197 BC) ruled Pergamon, an Ionian Greek polis (what is now Bergama, Turkey), first as dynast, later as king, from 241 BC to 197 BC. He was the fi ...

against

Seleucid The Seleucid Empire (; grc, Βασιλεία τῶν Σελευκιδῶν, ''Basileía tōn Seleukidōn'') was a Greek state in West Asia that existed during the Hellenistic period from 312 BC to 63 BC. The Seleucid Empire was founded by the ...

forces led by

Antiochus Hierax Antiochus (; el, Ἀντίoχoς; killed c. 226 BC), called Hierax (, Ἱέραξ, "Hawk") for his grasping and ambitious character, was the younger son of Antiochus II and Laodice I and separatist leader in the Hellenistic Seleucid kingdom, who r ...

, allied with the Galatian Gauls. Attalus was victorious. In 241 BC Attalus had won a great victory against the Galatians, who were migrating into

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

from

Thrace Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to ...

. Several years after this defeat the Galatians wished to retaliate against Attalus and so allied themselves with Antiochus Hierax, who was Seleucid ruler of much of Asia Minor and also wished to expand his influence. The allies invaded

Pergamon Pergamon or Pergamum ( or ; grc-gre, Πέργαμον), also referred to by its modern Greek form Pergamos (), was a rich and powerful ancient Greek city in Mysia. It is located from the modern coastline of the Aegean Sea on a promontory on th ...

but were defeated at Aphrodisium by Attalus. Attalus would continue his war with Antiochus, winning many more victories. After a victory at the

Battle of the Harpasus The Battle of the Harpasus was fought in 229 BC between the Pergamese and Seleucid armies on the banks of the Harpasus River, a tributary of the Maeander River in Caria. The battle on the Harpasus was the last battle of the war between King At ...

, Attalus would take control of near all of Seleucid Asia Minor, which he would hold until 221 BC.

References

Battles involving the Gauls Battles involving the Seleucid Empire Battles involving Pergamon 238 BC 230s BC conflicts Mysia Civil wars of antiquity {{AncientRome-battle-stub