the elephant victory

THE ELEPHANT VICTORY
ANTIOCHUS I
CONFRONTS
LEONNARIUS'
GALATIAN HORDE,
277 B.C.
by Daniel A. Fournie
C3i-GBoHBattleModule
forSPQRDeluxeand
theBarbarianModule
•
ntroduction
What was the Elephant Victory?
In 277 BC, as a ravaging horde of Galatian
barbarians rampaged through Anatolia (modern Asia Minor), the hopes of the
civilized world rested upon a new king and
his small army. Although the Galatians had
already swept aside many armies of Greek
hoplites and Macedonian phalangites,
Antiochus I of the Seleucid realm brought to
this battle a secret weapon — the mighty war
elephant. As the vaunted Galatian lancers fled
in fear of these great beasts, Antiochus I won
the Elephant Victory and was bestowed the
honorific name soter or 'saviour.' The Great
Battles of Alexander Module Diadochoi
features Seleucus' great victory at Ipsus, 301.
Then, SPQR Deluxe features another of the
Seleucid Empire's greatest battles: Antiochus
the Great versus the Romans at Magnesia,
190. Unfortunately, in the century between
Ipsus and the reign of Antiochus III, very
few detailed records of Seleucid battles have
survived. However, one early battle can be
re-constructed. Just enough details about the
Elephant Victory exist to allow the development of this C3i-GBoH scenario. This article
will present this fascinating Seleucid
victory, as weir as briefly describing the
Seleucid military system.
Historical Background
The Seleucid Military System
The great wars that followed upon the
death of Alexander in 323 resulted by 315
in the creation of four main kingdoms —
Cassander in Macedon, Lysimachus in Thrace,
Ptolemy in Egypt and Antigonus in Anatolia,
Syria and the Eastern satrapies. Then in 312,
Seleucus slipped east and regained his satrapy
of Babylon. In a series of campaigns, Seleucus
seized the eastern satrapies from Antigonus,
defeated his counter-attacks and ruled from
Babylon to the Indian frontier. Yet Antigonus
still controlled the most powerful kingdom
with the largest army, at the heart of Alexander's empire. To forestall Antigonus from
re-conquering all the old empire, Lysimachus,
Cassander, Ptolemy and Seleucus formed a
grand alliance. After two years of maneuvering
in Anatolia between Antigonus and the generals of Lysimachus and Cassander, Seleucus
finally arrived to join his fellow kings after an
epic 2,000 mile march from the borders of
India. The allied army brought Antigonus to
battle at Ipsus in 301 BC, and here Seleucus'
480 war elephants were instrumental in the
allied victory.
Following the Battle of Ipsus, Seleucus had
conquered by far the largest of the successor
kingdoms. The Ptolemaic regime in Egypt,
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Lysimachus' kingdom in Thrace and Anatolia
and Cassander's Macedon were far smaller.
But Macedon and Thrace had a sustainable supply of heavy infantry, and Egypt was
compact, easily defended and wealthy. The
Seleucid empire was so large, and its ruling
Greco-Macedonian population so small, that
its future seemed uncertain. In fact, the
Seleucid kings expended much of their energy
in the following century in merely trying to
hold it together. During the early decades
of the Diadochian Wars, 323-281, GrecoMacedonian soldiers moved freely throughout
Alexander's former empire, seeking generous
paymasters and opportunities to collect booty.
After Ipsus, Seleucus therefore instituted
a system of military settlement in special
colonies.
Soldiers were enticed to settle in strategic
locations through grants of land. Estates
much larger than any soldier had ever possessed in Macedon were freely granted in Asia
to phalangites and cavalrymen. The estates
were not even taxed! The only requirement
was that the soldier, and his heirs, must serve
in the Seleucid army. This military colony
system served two key purposes: it provided a
renewable source of high quality soldiers for
the army, and it established Seleucid control
in key locations throughout the empire. These
colonies become the basis of the Seleucid
military system.
The soldiers of the Seleucid colonies
served in a two-tiered system of regular and
reserve forces. The regular army consisted of
the 10,000 argyraspides, or silver shields. This
was a Macedonian-style phalanx, although
they may have also have been equipped with
shorter spears or swords for certain situations.
Macedonian (and possibly Greek) settlers of
about eighteen years of age were inducted into
the argyraspides, and served full time for five
years. Therefore, each year about 2,000 new
recruits entered the unit as 2,000 veterans
were discharged into the reserve phalanx.
The strength of this reserve phalanx eventually reached 30-35,000 men, though all the
reserves were never present at any particular
battle. Likewise, the regular cavalry consisted
of two units of a thousand each. The companions were a unit of Greco-Macedonian heavy
cavalry, modeled after Alexander's famed
unit. The agema was a similar regiment of a
thousand heavy Median and eastern cavalry.
Cavalrymen, upon completion of their active
service, also entered the reserves. The cavalry
reserve numbered at least 6,000 horsemen.
This system provided the Seleucid kings with
a small, mobile full-time force, backed up
by a much larger reserve force that could be
mobilized for major campaigns.
SPQRDeluxe— The Elephant Victory, 277 BC — Antiochus I, King of the Seleucid Empire
Of course, in addition to these regular forces, the Seleucids made use of a wide variety of
mercenary and native troops. Greek mercenary
hoplites and peltasts were often employed, as
well as missile specialist troops like the Cretan
and Elymaean archers and Rhodian, Cyrtian
and Jewish slingers. Small contingents of
non-Greek missile troops and light infantry
were a regular feature of the Seleucid army.
Although native levies were seldom called
up en masse, sometimes allied or client kings
were summoned to bring their levy. Cavalry
from the east, including the famed Dahae
horse archers, were a valuable addition. Over
time, much of the eastern heavy cavalry force
evolved into cataphracts. Chariots were occasionally employed, though they never became
a regular feature. Finally, the war elephant was
always a mainstay. Seleucus gained his appreciation of the beasts while personally fighting
them at the Hydaspes. The 500 elephants he
obtained from Chandgrupta in India were the
key to his victory at Ipsus. The later kings did
not always have access to more elephants from
India, so the pachyderms were bred at the
royal stables of Apamea in Syria. This ensured
that a small herd was always available, but it
rapidly dwindled as elephants seldom live past
thirty in captivity, unless fresh stock could be
obtained from India.
The Succession of Antiochus I
and the Galatian Invasion
In 281 the 77 year old Seleucus defeated
the 75 year old Lysimachus at the Battle
of Corupedion, eliminating his last major
rival amongst the Diadochoi in the 40-year
struggle to reunite Alexander's empire. The
septuagenarian general had only to cross the
Hellespont to claim the throne at Pella. Yet,
within a year of his great victory, Seleucus
was treacherously assassinated by Ptolemy
Keraunos, the disinherited, renegade, eldest
son of Ptolemy I. The Hellenistic world
plunged into chaos once more. Upon the assassination of Seleucus, Antiochus I succeeded
his father as king. He was nearly forty years
of age, and already experienced in administration and warfare, having fought at Ipsus
as a cavalry commander some twenty years
earlier. Antiochus had also served as viceroy
in Babylon ruling the eastern satrapies for the
past two decades while his father ruled in the
west. With the death of Seleucus, much of the
empire began to break away. Syria and Anatolia were wracked by discord and civil war,
while the far eastern provinces rose in revolt.
The former empire of Lysimachus, including
Macedon, Thrace and western Anatolia, was
likewise thrown into confusion. The murderer
Ptolemy Keraunos swiftly usurped the vacant
throne of Macedon.
At this point, the struggles of the Hellenistic kings were rudely interrupted by
some unwelcome guests from the northwest,
the barbarian Celts, or Gauls. Despite the
sophistication of the military establishments
of the Greco-Roman world, the furious charge
of wild, undisciplined, barbaric Celts often
proved irresistible. There was something about
a Celtic invasion that chilled the nerve of even
the toughest of Greek hoplites, Macedonian
phalangites or Roman legionnaires. The Romans learned this fear in 390 when their city
was sacked by the Gauls, and in many battles
thereafter. Macedon first came to face these
invaders during this great Celtic invasion of
280. Ptolemy Keraunos soon found himself
on the front lines of resistance. In a bloody
battle, the assassin was slain and his phalanx
annihilated. The jubilant Celts plunged on
towards Greece, with Ptolemy's head on a pike
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before them.
The Greeks fought first at Thermopylae.
Just as this pass had fallen to the Persians, the
Celts ultimately flanked the defenders and
broke through. The Celtic invasion was only
halted at Delphi in 279, with the aid of the
gods (who sent an unusual snowstorm), and
some stalwart Aetolian javelineers. But the
invasion was not yet over. Another branch
of the horde had turned east and headed for
Asia, under the chieftains Leonnarius and
Luterius. After overrunning the Chersonese,
these Celts were prevented from crossing by
the Seleucid governor of Hellespontine Phrygia, Antipater. Leonnarius led half the group
north to the Bosphorus, where his warriors
were hired en masse as mercenaries by King
Nicomedes of Bithynia. Nicomedes brought
the Celts into Asia, where they were henceforth called Galatians. Meanwhile Luterius
opened negotiations with Antipater. As the
talks were not progressing to his advantage,
Luterius seized the ships of the Seleucid
diplomats, and used these to ferry his men
across. In the north, after Leonnarius aided
Nicomedes in seizing control of Bithynia from
his rival Zipotes, he was rejoined by Luterius.
This force was too powerful for Nicomedes to
control, and the Galatians soon set off on their
own to lay waste the fertile lands of Anatolia,
slaughtering all who resisted their approach.
Although Lucian recorded that Galatians
fielded 20,000 cavalry and 200 chariots with
innumerable infantry, Livy more reasonably
tell us the horde numbered 20,000 souls, of
which only about half were combatants. The
Galatians were organized into seventeen
war-bands. At an average strength of 500 foot
and 200 horse in each band, their army would
have numbered around 8,500 infantry and
3,500 cavalry and chariots. The strength of the
The Elephant Victory. 277BC —SPQRDeluxeBattleModule
Galatian horde was in the irresistible charge of
its infantry, and in its powerful mounted force.
Neither the hoplite militia of the Greek citystates nor the levies of any of the local tribes
proved capable of resistance.
Antiochus, wintering in Babylon, received
an urgent summons from his subject citystates, and raced to the rescue. Without time
to mobilize his reserve phalanx or auxiliaries,
he probably marched with only his standing
army - his 10,000 elite heavy infantry, the
argyraspides, or silver shields, and his companion and agema cavalry. To this small regular
army he could add only a few hundred Cretan
archers. More significantly, a small herd of
twenty Indian war elephants had just arrived,
having been requisitioned from the satrap of
Bactria. This herd was recorded by Lucian and
has been confirmed in Babylonian cuneiform
tablets. This small but important force was
incorporated into the royal army. Antiochus
marched so swiftly that four of elephants
went lame and had to be left behind. The two
armies met somewhere in central Anatolia
(later Galatia), on an open plain. In numbers the two rival armies were about equal
- roughly 12,000 men in each army - but in
their organization and arms the two armies
were vastly different.
The Battle
Antiochus had with him a Greek mercenary commander, Theodotas of Rhodes.
Theodotas advised him to keep the elephants
out of sight till battle was about to be joined.
Then, by employing four of the beasts before
each of his flanks, and eight against the
chariots in the center, he could break the more
numerous Galatian mounted forces and render the enemy vulnerable to devastating flank
attacks by his companions and agema. Archers
could deal with any Galatian chariots that
got past his elephants. The argyraspides would
have to hold against the irresistible barbarian
infantry charge in the center. Antiochus reportedly took his advice and deployed accordingly. Other than Theodotas, no subordinate
Seleucid commanders are named in Lucian's
account. However, we can identify at least
two other leaders who were probably present:
Seleucus, the eldest son of the king and Antipater, his governor of Hellespontine Phrygia.
Antiochus may have commanded the center
where his presence could steady the argyraspides in the face of the fierce barbarian infantry
charge. He probably assigned command of
his right wing cavalry to his son, Seleucus.
Antipater was available to lead the left wing
cavalry. Theodotas, his elephant expert, likely
commanded the archers and elephants to see
that his plan was carried out.
The battle unfolded just as Theodotas had
predicted. The Galatians opened the fight
ing with a tremendous charge of their 3,500
lancers and hundreds of chariots. Antiochus
counter-charged with his sixteen Indian war
elephants, eight in the center and four on each
flank. The barbarians were astonished and terrified by the great behemoths, and their horses
could stand neither the smell nor the trumpeting of the pachyderms. The Galatian cavalry
wavered, and some streamed away in panic. At
the same time, many of the chariot horses had
been shot down by Antiochus' Cretan archers.
Meanwhile, under the direct command of
Antiochus, the argyraspides stood up to the
wild charge of the fierce Galatian infantry, and
with hard fighting somehow managed to hold
their line. Seleucus led a charge of the companions in after the elephants and swept the
disorganized Galatian horse from the field on
the right, while Antipater and the agema executed a similar attack on the left. The Seleucid cavalry then re-grouped and slammed
into the flanks of the barbarian infantry, while
the elephants formed a screen to prevent the
return of any of the routed Galatian cavalry.
The barbarian infantry crumbled under the
flank attacks, and pursuit was turned over to
the cavalry. It was a stunning victory for the
new king!
According to the legend recorded by
Lucian, after the victory Antiochus' men
crowded around to congratulate him. But
the King simply stated: Shame my men, is all
that we have got this day. Our deliverance we
owe to these sixteen brutes. But for them, where
should we have been? Antiochus dubbed it the
Elephant Victory and erected a trophy that
consisted solely of a statue of a war elephant.
Nevertheless, the cities and tribes of Anatolia
were overjoyed and bestowed upon Antiochus
the sobriquet soter, or savior. After more
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2009
seasons of hard campaigning, Antiochus convinced the Galatians to settle down in central
Anatolia, henceforth known as Galatia, in 275.
Fierce mercenary Galatians would serve in
many Hellenistic armies for nearly a century,
but they never again threatened to erase civilization - thanks to Antiochus I Soter and his
sixteen stalwart war elephants.
Epilogue
The fate of the Galatian leaders Leonnarius
and Luterius is unknown, but they may very
well have continued to rule in Galatia. Theodotas of Rhodes and Antipater likewise disappear from history after this battle. Seleucus,
after serving as co-king in the east with his
father for nearly a decade, was implicated in
a plot against the throne in 267, and executed
on his father's order. Antiochus I Soter went
on to fight the indecisive First Syrian War
against Ptolemy II of Egypt, and another war
in Anatolia with the rising kingdom of Pergamum. He died in 261 and passed his kingdom
on to his second son, Antiochus II Theos.
The Sources
The description of this battle comes mainly
from a later popular account by Lucian (2nd
Century AD) in his Zeuxis and Antiochus, and
Livy's description of the Galatians (-)0(X.
VIII). Good secondary background can be
found in Bar-Kovka's The Seleucid Army and
Bevan's The House of Seleucus.
Elephant Victory Scenario Set-up Card
See the Elephant Victory Scenario
GBoH/SimpleGBoH Insert Card in this
issue of C3i Magazine.