Battle of Gabiene

Battle of Gabiene

Part of: Diadoch Wars

The formation of the armies in Gabiene.
(Blue: Eumenes, red: Antigonos)

date	Winter 316 BC Chr.
place	Gabiene / Iran
output	tactical draw Antigonus' victory by betraying Eumenes
consequences	End of the second diadoch war

Parties to the conflict
Representative of royalty	Opponents
Commander
Eumenes Peukestas Philippos	Antigonos Monophthalmos Demetrios Poliorketes Peithon
Troop strength
according to Diodor: 36,700 infantrymen 6,000 cavalrymen 114 elephants	according to Diodor: 22,000 infantrymen 9,000 cavalrymen 65 elephants
losses
according to Polyainos: 300 dead	according to Polyainos: 5,000 fallen

The Battle of Gabiene was a military clash in what is now Iran near Isfahan . It probably took place in the winter months of 316 BC. Chr. Instead.

As the final confrontation of the second Diadoch war, the battle is one of the historical events in the age of the Diadochs , which followed the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC. Was followed. It decided the power struggle in the Asian part of the Alexander Empire between the powerful generals Antigonus Monophthalmos and Eumenes . Although the opponents parted in a tie on the battlefield, Antigonus was still able to triumph over Eumenes after he was betrayed by his own men.

background

Since the death of Alexander in 323 BC Its generals, called "successors" (Diadochi), found themselves in a relentless struggle for supremacy in its world empire. Since 319 BC They waged the second diadoch war, in which the coalition between Cassander and Antigonus Monophthalmos stood against that of the regent Polyperchon and the defender of the kingdom of Eumenes . While Cassander and Polyperchon fought in Europe, Antigonus and Eumenes fought for power on Asian soil. Antigonos pursued his opponent through the countries of Asia Minor , Syria , Palestine and the Mesopotamia as far as central Persia , today's Iran. Eumenes emerged victorious from a first meeting on the Kopratas River . The first great battle on the Paraitakene Plain in the fall of 316 BC. BC ended in a draw, whereupon Antigonos initially withdrew to the lower media and Eumenes led his troops to the Gabiene countryside to recover them there.

Troop movements

When Eumenes then divided up his army in order to lead it to the nearby winter camps, Antigonus saw a chance in this, with a quick offensive in the first weeks of winter in 316 BC. To be able to confront his opponent again and unprepared. Eumenes camped only six days' march away from him, but Antigonus had to lead his army through an inhospitable desert surrounded by mountains in order to be able to reach him as quickly as possible. In addition, he issued the highest level of secrecy, but his march was noticed by the local people living in the mountains, who sent messengers on fast dromedaries to Eumenes to warn him. Eumenes had to gain time to call up his army from winter camps. He distributed men from his own retinue to the mountains surrounding the desert and had them light campfires there at night. With this he suggested to Antigonus that he had already completely drawn together his army and, like several times before, Antigonus was deceived by a trick of Eumenes. In order to rest his army for the supposedly imminent battle, Antigonus broke off his desert march and led it into an adjacent fertile landscape.

After the successful ruse, Eumenes built a palisade wall in which the troops of his army could actually gather. Only the slow war elephants needed a longer time to march. This was not hidden from Antigonus, who sent 2,000 mounted men to intercept them. This in turn was observed by Eumenes, who set 1,500 mounted and 3,000 light infantrymen in motion to rescue his elephants. The squadron of Antigonos first reached the elephants, which were brought into a square formation by their leaders, in the middle of which the entourage was secured. The protection troops accompanying the elephants, 400 on horseback, involved the men of Antigonus in hand-to-hand combat and held them up until Eumenes' relief troops arrived and routed the enemy. With this move, Eumenes had finally saved his elephants.

Battle formation

A few days later, the opponents faced each other on the field of Gabiene ( Greek  Γαβιηνή ) with their combined forces, not far from the place where they first met in Paraitakene. And in contrast to the first, the historian Diodorus did not provide detailed battle lists for the second meeting, but kept his description rather general.

Antigonos repeated his tactical concept of Paraitakene, following the classic Macedonian warfare, and positioned his offensive forces on his right wing next to his phalanx. Together with his son Demetrios , he intended to command this wing. On the left wing he also positioned defensive mounted troops, again under the command of the Peithon . He distributed his 65 elephants in front of the whole front of his troops. Eumenes, on the other hand, refrained from adapting this tactic this time, as the identical formation of the opposing armies had significantly led to the stalemate of Paraitakene. Now Eumenes set up his elite armed forces under his command on his left wing, opposite that of Antigonus, in front of which he positioned 60 of his elephants. He positioned the rest of his cavalry on the right wing, also defensive, under the command of Philip . In front of this and the phalanx he distributed the remaining elephants.

the battle formation according to Diodorus:

position				position
left wing (Eumenes and Peukestas)	Elite cavalry and before that 60 elephants		Elite cavalry and before that elephants	right wing (Antigonos and Demetrios)
phalanx	Shield bearers ( Hypaspisten ) Silver shields ( Argyraspiden ) under Antigenes Mercenaries indigenous warriors ( pantodapoi ) in front of the phalanx: elephants and light infantry		all the infantry and in front of them elephants	phalanx
right wing (Philippos)	light cavalry and elephants in front		light cavalry and elephants in front	left wing (Peithon)

The silver shields

Before the start of the battle, the leader of the infamous "silver shields" ( Argyraspiden ), Antigenes , had a Macedonian henchman walk past the phalanx of Antigonus and put his warriors in uncertainty by making them aware once again that they were about to attack theirs To fight fathers who had already served in the campaigns of Philip II and Alexander the Great . The silver shields were famous, admired and therefore respected and feared by their opponents for their decades of experience on the battlefield and the associated high level of training in combat. No cavalry, no elephants and certainly no opposing phalanx could undo their unity, which had been drilled into the toughest discipline. Already legendary during their lifetime, they represented the elite of the Macedonian warriors, who, in contrast to mercenaries, citizens who were obliged to fight or military farmers, personified the war like no other combat group before them. They had even adapted their way of life to him, taking their property and families with them on their campaigns. The average age of the silver shields was seventy, the youngest were not younger than sixty, and even with Paraitakene they had lost their opponents, who were young enough to be their sons and grandchildren, and put them to flight.

As popular as they were for any general because of their fighting strength, the appearance of the silver shields has been independent since the death of Alexander. When the Diadoch Wars broke out, they camped in Cilicia and did not take sides with either of the two kings who were incapable of government or with one of the regents. Only Eumenes managed to win them over and that only because he successfully appealed to their loyalty to Alexander, whom he even religiously exaggerated and declared to be god, to whom they sacrificed every day from now on. But they also retained a strong autonomous position in the Army of Eumenes, their leader Antigenes occasionally quarreling with Eumenes and Peukestas over the supreme command and, as the de facto Vice-Generalissimo, had a decisive influence on military planning. The withdrawal of Paraitakene was largely due to the silver shields, whose pressure Eumenes ultimately had to give way in order not to lose their allegiance.

But now they were back on the field and Antigenes had with his call made the ranks of the enemy in fear and nervousness and at the same time put the silver shields in wild determination to fight, as Diodorus reports. This was also the signal for Eumenes to begin the battle.

The battle

The battle began with an attack by the war elephants on both sides. The clumsy animals whirled up the dusty and salty ground as they ran, which Antigonus immediately tried to take advantage of. Taking advantage of the extensive terrain and under cover of the dust, he let a cavalry detachment on his right wing circumvent the enemy's ranks unnoticed and carry out an attack on the camp that was far away. The poorly defended camp was quickly taken.

Meanwhile, Antigonos led a cavalry attack against the wing of Eumenes with his wing. On his side, Peukestas panicked, who left the battlefield with more than 1,500 mounted men and stood aside to wait and see. Decisively weakened by this, the wing of Eumenes threatened to disintegrate, it was only with difficulty that he could prevent his remaining men from fleeing. After the scales on this side tipped in favor of Antigonos, Eumenes decided to give up his wing in order to reposition his powers on the right wing of Philip, with which he maintained his freedom of action. A different picture of the battle emerged in the center. As with Paraitakene, the phalanx of Eumenes was victorious against that of Antigonus, not least thanks to the silver shields, and their formation was broken. During this time Eumenes became aware of the loss of his camp and he asked the waiting Peukestas to use his exposed position to attack and take the camp of Antigonus. But Peukestas ignored this and sat with his cavalry even further away from the field on the bank of a nearby river, which made his betrayal of Eumenes obvious. Antigonus, meanwhile, tried with his victorious cavalry to turn the tide for his infantry by instructing Peithon to attack the silver shields, which were bared from any flank protection. These immediately formed a square and marched in closed formation, bouncing off every attack on their shields, to the river where the waiting Peukestas and his cavalry could give them support against Peithon. He then broke off his attacks in order to catch up with Antigonus again.

Victory of Antigonus by betraying Eumenes

Eumenes followed the right wing of his phalanx with the cavalry to the river, where he reorganized his army. As with Paraitakene, his troops had smashed the phalanx of Antigonus and inflicted much higher losses on him, which gave him the chance of victory by means of a second attack on the remaining cavalry of Antigonus. But like a few months before, his allies refused to follow him for the fatal blow against Antigonus. Especially the satraps of the "upper provinces" (Central Asia) under their spokesman Peukestas refused to take part in a second attack with their strength.

Most of all, word had got around among the warriors that their encampment had been lost to Antigonus. Teutamos , the subordinate of the Antigen of the Silver Shields, sent a delegation to Antigonus to negotiate the release of the family members who had been taken prisoner in the camp, including their property. He set the extradition of Eumenes as a condition for the release of the prisoners, whereupon the silver shields decided the capture of Eumenes, who until then had always led them victoriously into the field. So Antigonus, who had been badly beaten on the field, was still able to win over his long-time opponent, who was betrayed and handed over by his own men. Because especially the former Macedonian allies of Eumenes feared his revenge, they pressed for his execution. But because he had a friendship with Eumenes since the days of Philip II, Antigonus initially did not dare to have him killed, probably in the hope of being able to win his general talent for his own cause. He had long since considered the sole successor to Alexander as king in his world empire. Eumenes, however, turned down the offer to change sides because he felt obliged to legitimate kingship. According to the tradition of Diodorus, Antigonus gave in to the urging of the Macedonians and had Eumenes executed. But he granted him an honorable burial and had his ashes sent to his family. According to Plutarch and Cornelius Nepos, however, Antigonus did not want to do any violence to his old friend and therefore deprived him of food. When three days later the army began to march from the field of Gabiene, Eumenes was killed by his guard without the knowledge of Antigonus.

But even with the traitors of Eumenes, Antigonus was harshly judged. He had the leader of the silver shields Antigen burned alive and executed the general of the elephant troops, Eudemos . The silver shields, which he himself did not trust after their betrayal, were handed over to the satrap Sibyrtios with the task of sending them to the remote provinces of Central Asia in grueling battles in which they were to perish.

consequences

With the end of Eumenes, the second Diadoch War ended in the Asian theater of war. Shortly before, it had ended in Europe in favor of Kassander, who was able to take control of Macedonia and large parts of the Greek poleis. The Macedonian royal house was almost completely exterminated. King Philip III Arrhidaios was murdered by his stepmother Olympias , who in turn was killed by Kassander, who at the same time placed the child king Alexander IV Aigos and his mother Roxane in arrest. But Antigonus rose to the rulership of the entire Asian part of the Alexander empire, in that he could in fact appear as an independent ruler although Kassander claimed the imperial reign for himself. For example, Antigonus removed unobtrusive governors from their offices, such as Peukestas from Persis or Peithon from Media, who had become too powerful for him, although he had fought for him. Seleucus, governor of Babylon, who was also allied with Antigonus, preferred to flee to Ptolemy in Egypt before he could be eliminated.

The increasing power of Antigonus, who no longer concealed his striving for sole rule, only a few years after the end of the second Diadoch War led the last independent Diadochi against him and with it the outbreak of the third Diadoch War.

literature

• RM Errington: Diodorus Siculus and the Chronology of the Early Diadochoi, 320-311 BC , in: Hermes 105 (1977), pp. 478-504
• AM Devine: Diodorus' account of the Battle of Gabiene , in: Ancient World Vol. 12 (1985), pp. 87-96
• Josef Wiesenhöfer: The "dark centuries" of Persis , in: Zetemata 90 (1994) p. 54
• Richard A. Billows: Antigonos the One-Eyed and the Creation of the Hellenistic State (1997), pp. 99-104

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The battle of Gabiene took place only a few months after that of Paraitakene, which is why it took place in the winter of 316 BC. Can be dated, see Errington p. 483. Occasionally it is even dated to the first month 315 BC. Dated BC, see for example Wiesenhöfer p. 54. Diodor in any case located it in the tenure of the Archon Demokleides of Athens (316/315 BC).
2. ↑ Diodorus 19, 37, 1-6.
3. ↑ Diodor 19, 38, 1-6; Plutarch, Eumenes , 15, 4-6.
4. ↑ Diodor 19, 39, 1-6.
5. ↑ Diodorus 19:40 , 1.
6. ↑ Diodorus 19, 40, 2-4
7. ↑ Diodorus 19, 41, 1.
8. ↑ Plutarch, Eumenes , 16, 4.
9. ↑ Diodor 19, 41, 2-3.
10. ↑ Diodor 19, 42, 1-3.
11. ↑ Diodorus 19, 42, 4-7.
12. ↑ Diodorus 19, 43, 1.
13. ↑ Diodorus 19, 43, 2.
14. ↑ Diodor 19, 43, 4-5.
15. ↑ For the loss figures see Polyainos , Strategika 4, 6, 13.
16. ↑ Diodorus 19, 43, 6.
17. ↑ Diodor 19, 43, 7-9; Plutarch, Eumenes , 17, 1-2.
18. ↑ Diodorus 19, 44, 2-3.
19. ↑ Plutarch, Eumenes , 19, 1-2; Cornelius Nepos, Eumenes , 12, 4.
20. ↑ Plutarch, Eumenes , 19, 2.