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THE RISE OF MACEDON chapter VI
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15. The Carthaginian Attack
In Cyrene Demetrius the Handsome had sent his explorers east to Marmarica, hoping to detect the next Egyptian invasion long before their arrival. To his amazement, however, the spies continued reporting that the Libyan sands were deserted.
Just when the king started to feel a bit more secure on his precarious throne, the unexpected danger arrived from the opposite direction, in the guise of a Carthaginian mercenary general. Xanthippos the Spartan had been hired by the Punics to fight the Romans, but now his march led him east, from Tripolitania into Cyrenaica, and when he saw the weakness of the Macedonian garrison in Cyrene, he couldn't resist the opportunity and attacked.
Thus the Carthaginians went to war with Macedon and almost the same day the Bithynians were attacked by the Gauls. And since several partners didn't respect the treaties, many alliances were broken.
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The Carthaginian attack on fort Thirdis and the diplomatic consequences:
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16. Distractions and Delays
Facing the huge superiority of the attackers, Demetrius the Handsome started considering to abandon his kingdom as long as he was in time. Fortunately Xanthippos had attacked the old fort of Thirdis in the hills above Cyrene and not the city itself. Since he had no ship available, Demetrius ordered to build a bireme in Ptolemais, the port of Cyrene. With Xanthippos still at Thirdis, the handsome king believed to be still in time and spent his days in the arms of a new mistress, a beautiful young girl he had found among the ladies of the court.
Despite the distraction Demetrius kept everything ready to leave for his ship. But just when the news arrived from the shipwright in Ptolemais that a new bireme was afloat in the harbor, Xanthippos suddenly lifted the siege of Thirdis and closed him inside the walls of Cyrene.
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Demetrius with his new mistress trapped in Cyrene and his ship waiting in Ptolemais: