Battle of Cretopolis

Battle of Cretopolis

Part of: Diadoch Wars

date	Summer 319 BC Chr.
place	in Pisidia / Asia Minor
output	Victory of Antigonus

Parties to the conflict
Perdiccans	Representative of royalty
Commander
Alketas	Antigonos Monophthalmos
Troop strength
according to Diodor:16,000 infantrymen 9,000 cavalrymen	according to Diodor:more than 40,000 infantrymen more than 7,000 cavalrymen elephants of unknown numbers
losses
unknown	unknown

The Battle of Cretopolis was a military clash in 319 BC. In southwest Asia Minor , today's Turkey . It took place in the historical landscape of Pisidia , near the city of Cretopolis , which was probably once founded by the Cretan Nearchus and is identical to today's place Büğduz (near Yüreğil ).

Although not part of any of the Diadoch Wars counted, the battle is one of the events of the early Diadoch Age that followed the death of Alexander the Great . It took place between the first and second Diadoch Wars.

background

In 323 BC Alexander the great died in Babylon . Because he only has a mentally handicapped half-brother Philip III. Arrhidaios and an underage son Alexander IV. Aigos on the throne of the world empire he had conquered , the companions and generals who had participated in the Asian campaign and are called "Diadochi" (successors) began to fight for the reign. General Perdiccas , who also received Alexander's signet ring , had finally established himself as regent in the imperial order of Babylon .

Because of their own higher ambitions, but also because of the particular interests of some who strived for a division of the empire, 321 BC. A faction was formed against Perdiccas, which led the first Diadoch war against him . Despite a victory of the "Perdiccans" in the Battle of the Hellespont (spring 320 BC) Perdiccas was murdered by his own men at the same time on the Nile . The victors of the war rearranged imperial affairs at the Triparadeisos conference , with Antipater being appointed the new regent and the surviving followers of Perdiccas being ostracized. These were above all Eumenes , the victor of the Hellespont, and Alketas , the brother of Perdiccas. Antigonos Monophthalmos , appointed strategos of Asia, was charged with fighting them .

Upon the death of Perdiccas, his brother-in-law Attalus , who was in command of the imperial fleet, initially fled to Tire . He then landed on the coast of Caria , where his brother-in-law Alketas joined him. Together they beat an army of the local satrap Asandros , whereupon they were able to establish themselves in Caria for the time being. At the same time, Eumenes had made camp in Kelainai and contacted them with the intention of uniting their forces. Alketas, however, turned down this request because he did not want to submit to the authority of a non-Macedonian, which Eumenes claimed as the victor of the Hellespont. The faction of the "Perdiccans" was thus divided among themselves and Eumenes was forced to withdraw to Cappadocia in front of the approaching Antipater .

In the spring of 319 BC BC Antigonus began his fight against the "Perdiccans" and he succeeded in the battle of Orkynia a first victory against Eumenes, which he then included in the mountain fortress Nora. Around the same time, Alketas and his followers began their march from Caria to the neighboring region of Pisidia. Antigonus was militarily strong enough to besiege Nora and at the same time to fight against Alketas when he was informed of his march. With the greater part of his subordinate half of the imperial army he moved to Pisidia.

The battle

After a forced march in seven days and nights, Antigonus encountered the encamped army of Alketas at Cretopolis, 2,500 stadiums (approx. 450 km) away from Nora . As he approached this unnoticed, Antigonus planned a surprise attack on the enemy, but the trumpet- like sounds of his elephants , which could be heard from afar, gave him away , whereupon Alketas had his army deployed for battle. The terrain was extremely unfavorable for a battle, as it was in the middle of the foothills of the Taurus . Antigonus and his troops immediately occupied the strategically important ones that surrounded the camp of the Perdiccans.

Alketas tried to prevent the impending enclosure of his troops. Because the erection of his phalanx took some time, he only intended to attack the men of Antigonus positioned on the heights with his cavalry and thus drive them from there. A fierce battle broke out on the hills with heavy losses on both sides. However, Antigonus recognized the serious tactical error of the Alketas, who had left his inadequately prepared phalanx without any flank protection. With 6,000 cavalrymen on his right wing, which had been retained until then, he therefore avoided the fight on the hill and with them broke into the flank of the opposing phalanx. With this he achieved what Alketas intended to prevent, which he now cut off his possibility of retreat to the phalanx and at the same time brought it into severe distress. Alketas then turned his cavalry on the hill to fight their way through to his infantry, in order to save what could be saved from them.

The defeat of the Perdiccans was ultimately sealed. When their forces were back in disorder in the basin, Antigonus let his cavalry and elephants run down from the hills to attack the enemy, the force of which dealt the enemy the fatal blow. After the army of the Perdiccans had dissolved in the general turmoil, most of them surrendered to the victor, including the generals Attalus, Dokimos , Philotas and Polemon . Alketas managed to escape from the field; he made his way to the Pisidian city of Termessos , from whose citizens he was accepted.

consequences

After Orkynia, Antigonus won the second victory at Cretopolis over the Perdiccans faction, which was virtually annihilated almost a year after the Triparadeisus conference. This victory also aided him in establishing his rule over Asia Minor, which became the foundation of his future position of power under the Diadochi.

Antigonus had followed the fleeing Alketas to Termessos, whose younger townspeople were ready to fight with Alketas against him. The older townspeople, however, feared the ruin of their town due to the vastly superior forces of Antigonus and therefore intended to hand over Alketas. To avoid this, Alketas finally committed suicide, his body was handed over to Antigonus, who refused a burial and left him on the side of the road when he left for Nora. When he reached Cretopolis on his march again, he was joined by an envoy from Macedonia who reported the death of Antipater.

literature

• William Mitchell Ramsay : Military Operations on the north front of Mount Taurus. IV. The Campaigns of 319 and 320 BC In: The Journal of Hellenic Studies (JHS), Vol. 43 (1923), pp. 1-10
• Rudolf Engel: The Tradition of the Battle of Cretopolis . In: Historia. Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte , 21 (1972), pp. 501–507
• Stephen Mitchell: Three Cities in Pisidia . In: Anatolian Studies , 44 (1994), pp. 129-148
• Nicholas Victor Seconda: Nearchus the Cretan and the Foundation of Cretopolis . In: Anatolian Studies , 47 (1997), pp. 217-223

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Diodor located the battle at the beginning of the tenure of Archon Apollodorus of Athens (319/320 BC), which is why it took place in the summer of 319 BC. Can be dated BC.
2. ↑ For the identification of Cretopolis with Büğduz see S. Mitchell.
3. ↑ Polyainos , Strategika 4, 6, 7. Diodorus did not mention the unmasking of the surprise attack of Antigonus by the elephant sounds, but let it end successfully.
4. ↑ Diodorus 18, 44, 2.
5. ↑ Diodorus 18, 44, 3.
6. ↑ Diodorus 18, 44, 4.
7. ↑ Diodorus 18, 44, 5.
8. ↑ Diodor 18, 45, 2.
9. ↑ Diodorus 18, 45, 3.
10. ↑ He was later buried by the Termessians, possibly in a preserved grave with a relief representation of a mounted warrior.
11. ↑ Diodorus 18, 47, 4.