War against the Ptolemaioi part 2
(169 BC-160 BC)
As Myrton besieged Mazaka, the ptolemaioi mustered an army to lift the siege, and they met near the city.
Myrton managed to defeat the two armies separately, routing their cavalry first, and then surrounding their flanks.
As victory was won, and the armies of Epeiros entered the city, soon enough major uprisings happened against the occupiers. Myrton himself, unfortunately for the Epeirote kingdom, died in the street, as it seemed that all the population of the city rose against the tired soldiers.
In the northern borders of the kingdom, the Basileus met to face the traitor Hippokrates.
The veterans of the army that Hippokrates took with him
Battle was joined, the Basileus plan was to use his superior cavalry to rout the enemies' counterpart, and then proceed to roll the enemy line like a carpet from his right flank.
Clearly though, Hippokrates was well prepared with his own cavalry to face the advance.
In a stroke of destiny, Basileus Bouchetos fell during the cavalry combat.
Soon enough the news arrived to the troops, and many saw no point in fighting any further. Hippokrates had won, the Basileus being dead the battle was futile.
The troops that were engaged remained fighting however, and they were butchered. Hippokrates then rode with his gallic bodyguards into the field triumphantly.
Eucharon Horiatas, leading one of the three epeirote armies in Asia minor, marched forth to Edessa, while Tarsos remained under siege by one of the two remaining armies. (and the third army, now quite depleted, kept to Mazaka trying to cull the uprisings).
THere was word of a major ptolemaioi force arriving from Koile Syria. The new Basileus (whom pardoned Hippokrates and gave him command of one of the dacian provinces -hippokrates would die of old age, not fighting any more battles-) ordered reinforcements to Eucharon, but they would take a year or more to arrive. For now these depleted forces were on their own.
Before the walls of Edessa, the ptolemaioi attempted to keep the city from falling.
The city fell and Eucharion Horiatas would move to Samosata. In Mazaka, the Epeirote forces were defeated and forced to leave the city. In the outskirts though, they proceeded to besiege it.
Tarsos soon surrendered to the Epeirote forces, but a massive ptolemaioi army arrived near Edessa, while another was reported arriving near Antiocheia.
Eucharion lifted the siege, and proceeded to fight the enemy near Edessa, once again.
Both armies massed their infantry on the same side, right flank to Eucharion and left to the ptolemaioi.
The spartan contigent of the Epeirote forces break the enemy line
The Molosson Agema charge into the enemy
The phalanx, having routed the ptolemaioi center, move to assist the left flank, who was in dire need of assistance.
But the returning cavalry charged into the enemy's back, and the day was won.
The son of Eucharion moved then with the army to besiege Samosata, while he stayed in Edessa to keep the people from rebelling.
The other ptolemaioi force continued marching north from Antiocheia
And so Iounious, ruler of the province of Side, mustered what forces he could, took command of the depleted forces that occupied Tarsos, and attempted to pursue the enemy.
THe enemy was too far ahead though, and so Neikodamos, who took control of Myrton's forces after his death, retreated from the siege of Mazaka, in order to not be destroyed.
In Samosata, Hymenios Horiatas (son of Eucharion) was attacked by three different ptolemaioi forces.
He destroyed the one in his rear and kept the other two from fording the river
In the fighting, the ptolemaioi Basileus, who was until then inside the walls of Samosata, died.
The Ptolemaioi army that went north from Antiocheia marched forcedly to Samosata, in hope of saving their king. They were too late for that, but managed to attack the Epeirote army before they entered the city per say.
Finally, having left Ambrakia a year earlier, Menephylos disembarked with his forces near Tarsos, and proceeded to march south directly.
The World in turn 423 (date isnt appearing on the hud ever since i installed windows 10 and didnt bother reinstalling EB2 or m2tw)
Eucharion Horiatas, after pacifying Edessa, moved south to Damaskos
It seems that, ever since Pyrrichos, the great Epeirote general that ruled for twenty years, and was the leading general of the kingdom for over 50 years, whenever an epeirote commander starts showing his worth, he dies in a stroke of destiny. And so it was Eucharion's turn, he passed away days after entering Damaskos.
Akko fell to Menephylos, and peace was negotiated between the remaining Ptolemaioi and the kingdom of Epeiros. The negotiation was rather easy, as the Ptolemaioi had just lost Memphis to the Sabaean kingdom, and so their southern front was their priority.
In the meantime, the siege of Mazaka was finished and the city captured, with most of its population enslaved. But Unrest continued in the region. In akkos, Menephylos had troubles of his own, and decided to withdraw from the city for his own safety, then returned and besieged it in full.
The Basileus Bouchetios -not to be confused with the one that fell against Hippokrates, Bouchetos- died of old age.. Or so it is thought. Clearly a certain crisis in the Epeirote court is happening, as few can keep themselves alive for that many years once they become Basileus. One may think that it is because that none of them since the great Pyrrichos were of Aiakides blood: Thesprotos, molossos, and other tribes of the epeirote, but it has been decades since one of the Aiakides rules over Ambrakia and the great Pyrrhic Kingdom.
With peace between Epeiros and Ptolemaioi, they managed to recover Memphis.
Herakleias was proclaimed Basileus. Unlike his antecessor, he wanted to found his authority through the commanding of the main Epeirote forces: He travelled far and wide, took control of Menephylos army, and assaulted Akko.
Arche Aiakidae - Epeiros AAR
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