Second Syrian War
| date | 260-253 BC Chr. |
|---|---|
| place | Syria |
| output | Victory for the Seleucid Empire and its allies |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
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Antigonus II. Gonatas Antiochus II.
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The Second Syrian War , like the First Syrian War, was a conflict between Ptolemaic Egypt and the Seleucid Empire . It began in 260 BC. And ended in the year 253 BC. The Egyptian Ptolemy II was now facing Antiochus II , who was exceptionally supported by Rhodes , which was normally on the side of the Egyptians.
prehistory
The Second Syrian War was preceded by the Chremonideic War (267–261 BC) around Miletus and Ephesus , which had largely left the goals of the parties involved in limbo.
course
The battlefields of this war were the Aegean Sea , Ionia and Anatolia . In the west, the eldest son and co-regent of the Egyptian king, Ptolemy the son , revolted after his previous military operations, finding support from Miletus, where the Aetolian Timarchus had seized power, and Samos , where the latter eliminated the Ptolemaic general. However, the uprising seems to have collapsed quickly, because after the spring of 259 BC. "Ptolemy the son" no longer appears in the Egyptian chronology (that is, he was deposed as co-regent), a year later Antiochus II had brought Miletus and Samos under his control.
A little later, in any case before the middle of the decade, the Egyptian fleet under the nauarch Chremonides suffered a defeat in the sea battle of Ephesus against Rhodes, after which Ephesus was lost. This was temporary, however, as the Ptolemies regained possession of the city towards the end of the war.
In the spring of 255 BC Another naval battle took place, this time at Kos ( Sea Battle of Kos ), in which the Egyptian admiral Patroklos , who had already fought in the Chremonideic War, against the Macedonian Antigonus II Gonatas , who at that time probably supported the Seleucids, one suffered severe defeat: the Egyptian rule on the Greek islands was coming to an end.
In Anatolia too, the opponents of the Ptolemies retained the upper hand. In Cilicia and Pamphylia, Antiochus was able to make good the land lost in the War of the Syrian Succession .
Peace treaty
After all, Egyptian diplomacy was the conclusion of peace before the summer of 253 BC. Thanks to. The agreements were sealed by the marriage between Antiochus II and Ptolemy's daughter Berenike the Younger - which carried the germ of the next armed conflict and ultimately cost Antiochus his life: in order to fulfill this part of the contract, Antiochus had to leave his wife Laodike , But then returned in 246 BC. Back to her, which led to two developments:
- Laodike took her former husband back and immediately poisoned him, as did Berenike and their son
- Because of the treatment of their princess, the Egyptians felt compelled to start the so-called "Laodike War", which is also called the Third Syrian War .
literature
- Günther Hölbl : History of the Ptolemaic Empire. Politics, Ideology and Religious Culture from Alexander the Great to the Roman Conquest . Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1994, ISBN 3-534-10422-6 , pp. 41-43.