Scenes From Elsewhere (Minor Powers)

The lesser powers of the Mediterranean were far from quiet during this period. In two-ninety-one, the status quo of the Eastern Mediterranean had already shifted dramatically with the signing of the twin treaties of Pella and Larissa, heralding the ascension of Epirus as Hegemon of Hellas. With the Aitolean League as allies and Macedon having been torn apart by war, Epirus found themselves perfectly poised to sweep down into Attica and the Peloponnese to secure control over the last two states in Hellas that could pose any trouble, Athens and Sparta.

Thankfully for Athens and Sparta, Pyrrhus seemed satisfied with the gains he had made thus far and turned instead to the development of his lands, new and old, draining marshes, building roads and other infrastructure, and generally tying his lands closer to him and his dynasty. It was a reprieve, but one that would not be wasted if Athens had anything to say about it. Athenian envoys went out to various Kings, attempting to build a web of alliances that would see Pyrrhus contained.

First, the envoys went to Lysimachus, recently re-installed in his capital at Seuthopolis in Thrace. Lysimachus was receptive, though he warned that with Antigonos Gonatas preparing to assault his Kingdom, an alliance would see Athens drawn into a war sooner rather than later. That was something that Athens refused to countenance, and the envoys left Seuthopolis without a deal. They spread out among the other Kingdoms, however, they received a colder reception there. To Sparta and Crete, refusing to ally with Lysimachus when it appeared Lysimachus was in need of allies only confirmed their suspicions, that Athens did not seek allies, but sought human shields, fodder to throw at Pyrrhus so they themselves would be safe. They turned Athens away, and Sparta began looking for an Epirote Alliance.

Meanwhile, Macedon was in no shape to fight, as they were still rebuilding. Even if their Young King, Alexander the Fifth, was receptive enough to turn against his kinsman and benefactor, Pyrrhus, which he wasn't. Meanwhile, the Aitolean League laughed the Athenian Envoy out of the Chamber, only the promise of safe conduct sworn to on the River Styx kept the Aitolean League from informing Pyrrhus of Athens' intentions. Both Seleucus and Ptolemy refused to even see the Athenians, stating that the affairs of Hellas were none of their business at present.

That left Athens alone and isolated. To keep up with what they perceived as a threat, Athens increased production at the Mines of Laurion, delving for the silver there and using it to fund the construction of ships as well as to equip more hoplites and peltasts, raised as a levy rather than volunteers. This levy came as a form of tax break for those families who provided a soldier to the city and was also open to the many metics living in Athens. While this gave the Athenians a larger recruitment pool, the Levy Hoplites and Peltasts were often poorer quality than the Citizen Hoplites and Peltasts, who would volunteer for military duty.

In the meantime, Sparta's King, Archidamus the Fourth, looked at Athens' continued control over the Achaen League with great suspicion. Having a puppet on the Peloponnese as they did, especially one as vital as Corinth, could not be borne. However, with Sparta in a weaker position than Athens currently, it would behoove them to gain an ally that would help in that regard. Athens' frantic request for an Anti-Epirote Alliance gave Archidamus just the excuse he was looking for to find an ally on the rise in Pyrrhus of Epirus.

Archidamus met with Pyrrhus several times and an agreement was hammered out by two-eighty-five at Megalopolis in Spartan Territory. Sparta would join the Epirote Alliance and the Alliance would go to war with Athens no later than two-seventy-five. In the meantime, Sparta would receive the same agricultural technology that the Aitolean League benefited from, as well as be able to purchase steel equipment from Epirote forges.

Meanwhile, Crete continued to isolate itself by preference. The Twin Leagues of Knossos and Polyrrhenia each controlled roughly half of the island, and tensions had been historically high between them. This had been put on a hiatus by the most recent Synedrions of both Leagues to deal with Athenian Envoys jointly so that neither League could gain the advantage over the other, but such things were rare and the Cretan Leagues preferred the Island stay isolated in case tensions boiled over into war.

What both Leagues did do, was trade with anyone and everyone. Both did a brisk business in saffron, olive oil, copper, lead, and iron. However, of late, sales of Saffron to Epirus had skyrocketed in both Leagues and not just the spice. Epirus also wanted the flowers of the plants. Both leagues had no idea as to why until they realized the rich yellow dyes being produced in Epirus came from saffron flowers.

Unfortunately, by that point, both had already sold Epirus whole plants to transplant in Epirote Farms in exchange for steel weaponry. Both realized they could have gained much more and both turned to blaming each other. It seemed that tensions between the Two Leagues of Crete were about to boil over yet again. This time, however, Sparta began to make diplomatic overtures to the League of Knossos, hoping to gain hegemony over Crete in exchange for their aid.

In the meantime, Macedon continued its rebuilding. Alexander the Fifth, heeding the advice of his cousin, Pyrrus, imported the new horse collars, heavy plows, and crop rotation techniques from Epirus to better feed his people. Much of the first year's lean times had been ameliorated in the next thanks to such aid. As the mines of Amphipolis were put back into use and more silver and gold were dug up, further agricultural tools could be imported and the ones purchased on credit paid off. By year three after the war, lean times were a thing of the past and yields kept increasing.

With the food situation stable, Alexander the Fifth turned toward rebuilding fortifications and cities damaged in the war. Previously, he had only spent enough to avoid total ruin. Now he could actually begin rebuilding in earnest. By two-ninety-six, much of the damage in terms of property and economics had been repaired, though the military had shrunk in size out of necessity, mustering only some eight-thousand phalangites, two-thousand peltasts, two-thousand Cavalry, and three-thousand thureophorai all equipped in Epirote Steel. It was a far cry from the force that had initially taken part in Demetrios Poliorketes' war, and the Fleet still had yet to be rebuilt, numbering only twenty-five triremes and five quadriremes at present, but it was a start.

It was during this later phase of rebuilding that the Athenian Envoys arrived and were swiftly thrown out. Alexander the Fifth was neither willing nor able to turn on his Cousin. He yet needed to rebuild, and it would take many more years before Macedon's manpower reserves returned to what they once were. Even were that not the case, he refused to betray kin as if he were no better than Demetrios Poliorketes, who had attacked his own brother-in-law, Cassander, in order to seize Macedon at the behest of Antigonos Monophthalmos. Macedon would remain loyal allies to Epirus, in fact, if not in law.

For Lysimachus himself, however, the Athenians spurning his alliance would be his death knell. Lysimachus gathered what strength he could and faced Antigonos Gonatas in two engagements. The first was the Battle of the Hebros River where Antigonos Gonatos' more veteran troops forced a river crossing at great cost in blood against Lysimachus' smaller, but more zealous force of Thracians. With the river crossing forced, Lysimachus ordered a withdrawal back to Seuthopolis to prepare the capital for battle, drawing to him levies of fresh, less experienced, Thracians.

For three weeks, Lysimachus turned Seuthopolis into a deadly trap, conscripting the city folk into building barricades, preparing weapons, setting up traps, and readying defenses. The fittest among the city were given spears, javelins, and sometimes even just slings and rocks, to serve as an auxiliary force. Meanwhile, food and water were brought into the city, livestock slaughtered, fields burnt, and wells poisoned in the surrounding villages.

Lysimachus was insistent that Seuthopolis would be the death of Antigonos Gonatas' Army and indeed it was. The siege of Seuthopolis lasted almost a full year, with Antigonos Gonatus taking casualties as the months ticked on to supply shortages and disease. Finally, he forced a breach in the walls of Seuthopolis in the fall of two-eighty-six and rushed his army into it. The battle that followed raged across three days and took the lives of Antigonos Gonatas, his army, much of Lysimachus' army, and the City of Seuthopolis itself. In the end, it would even take the life of Lysimachus himself.

In the aftermath of the Battle of Seuthopolis, Thrace broke down into bickering factions, those who had supported Lysimachus at the throats of those who had surrendered to Antigonos Gonatas, both arguing with those who sought to stay neutral. The question turned to who would be King, now that neither Lysimachus nor Antigonos Gonatas were alive. With the deaths of Lysimachus' sons Agathocles and Ptolemy in the battle, the legal heir of Lysimachus was the six-year-old Alexander. However, he was not the only claimant, as Roigos, claimed son of the late Seuthes the Third also had a claim, albeit a dubious one. 

For a brief moment, it looked as if Seleucus would invade to put an end to that question, but by mid-summer of two-eighty-six, Seleucus had died of a sudden fever in Seleucia while making preparations for war. His son, Antigonos I Asianos seemed unwilling to attempt an invasion of Thrace, leaving the squabbling factions at each other's throats once again. Riogos' supporters declared Alexander too Greek to Rule Thrace, and Alexander's supporters declared Roigos an impostor whose family connection to the late King Seuthes the Third was forged out of smoke and mirrors.

Whatever the truth of Roigos' parentage, however, it would not matter much. The concern of security trumped anything else, as while both sides bickered and the former capital was left to ruin, other parties began to raid territories. Monunius, King of the Rump State of Dardania saw them as easy targets, softer than the Epirote clients with their Hellenic discipline and steel equipment. They had already raided the Serdii. supporters of Alexander, and Treres, supporters of Roigos.

So it was that after two years of squabbling, a compromise was struck. Alexander would be crowned Alexander the Second of Thrace, but until he reached his majority, Roigos would rule for him as regent. With that settled, Roigos' first order of business was to try and scrape together some defense against Monunius' raiding parties. It would be a tall order, and in the meantime, the Scordiscii would suffer a raid, but by two-eighty-three Roigos would have a force to lead against the Dardanians.

Elsewhere, far to the north, Bolgios of the Treverii and his band of three-thousand Gallic Mercenaries had left the service of Pyrrhus of Epirus by two-eighty-four to make the long journey north to the Treverii lands in the Pannonian Basin. They brought with them steel, the stirrup, hard tree saddles, and enough silver to buy a kingdom. Bolgios had plans, first, he would oust his brother from Kingship, then he would take the warriors of the Treverii and arm them with the saddles, steel weapons, and stirrups he had purchased from the Epirotes, then they would ride into the Boii lands and he would slay Boatharios, that son of a motherless goat the Boii called King.

He would inflict on the Boii what the Boii had inflicted on the Treverii so many years ago, and when he was finished, he would strike out to conquer. First the Three Tribes of the Volcae Confederation, then the Cotinii and Osii. If he did not have the forces by then, he would move to conquer other tribes in the region such as the Azalii and Quadii, though those were an Illyrian and Germanic people respectively. They would bow to the Treverii or be made to do so. Then, once all that was finished, he might finally have enough warriors to strike out south into Thrace, Macedonia, and then across the straits into the Rich Lands of Asia Minor, which he would take for himself. Once there, his people would never go hungry again.

As that was ongoing, other Celtic tribes were moving as well. In Northern Gaul, the King of the Venetii, Dumnorix, grew rich off of trade with Carthage and sought to use that wealth to bribe the Namnetes and Osismii into declaring his preferred candidates for King, in the former case, after having the previous King assassinated. Once those kings were in place, they formed a confederation under Dumnorix's leadership to better bargain with the Carthaginians. To have absolute certainty, though, they had to conquer the one tribe in Armorica not a part of their Confederation.

By some quirk of fate, the Curiosolites had managed to resist Dumnorix's influence. The accident of their King, Divico, failed to even wound the man and quashed any election of a new king in the bud. That meant that to truly get the best deal, the Curiosolites would need to be conquered. A surprise attack in two-eighty-four by the forces of Dumnorix managed to overrun the Curisolites, utterly annihilating the small force that Divico could gather on short notice and killing King Divico himself. For the first time in history, Armorica was united under a single leader.

Dumnorix went to bargain with Carthage and received favorable terms on all manner of goods once it became clear that Dumnorix would be willing to hire men as Mercenaries for Carthage. This was a clever way for Dumnorix to get rid of those who would challenge his rule in his tribe or in the subordinate tribes of his Confederation. For Carthage, the offer was a godsend, for across the sea, they had stirred a hornet's nest in Britannia.

With the Dumnonii capital of Isca under siege and King Lugotorix forced to become a Client of Carthage, the nearby tribes of the Durotriges, Belgae, and Silures feared they might be next. Indeed, the Carthaginian Commander's orders were to conquer as many tribes of Southwestern Britannia as was practicable within the next five years, though these tribes had no way of knowing that. Under the leadership of Segomaros, King of the Durotriges, this Anti-Carthage Coalition was resolved to push the Carthaginians back into the sea and began making preparations for war against Carthage in Britannia.

Finally, we return to Magna Graecia, where, in two-eighty-five, Locri, Tarentum, and Metapontion officially joined Syracuse, Sparta, and the Aitolian League as Epirote Allies. This gathering of allies continued when, in two-eighty-three, Agathocles, Tyrant of Syracuse died, and his son and heir Archagathus took power. This prompted a revolt of various mercenaries serving in the vicinity of Zanclo on the straits opposite Rhegion. 

The Mercenaries, these Mamertines, under the leadership of their commander, Hortius Decius of Nerulum, a Lucanii Peltast, took the town of Zanclo and threatened to march across the straits into Rhegion and the rest of mainland Magna Graecia. Rhegion, terrified of this, allied with Pyrrhus, as did much of the remainder of Magna Graecia including important cities such as Croton, Heraclea, Thurii, and Terina. These cities begged Pyrrhus for aid and he came sailing over to grant it with an army.

This alarmed Rome, who sent Legions south to the borders of Roman Territory, which caused the remainder of Magna Graecia to throw in their lot with Pyrrhus. By the time he landed with his Army and made camp in sight of Zanclo's walls, Pyrrhus was receiving envoys from cities as far north as Elea and Pixous. Those cities were technically Greek Cities surrounded by Roman Territory in Southern Campania yet not Roman allies or subjects themselves as of yet.

Such embassies alarmed the Romans and they sent Pyrrhus envoys seeking to gain some sort of agreement whereby Pyrrhus removed himself from Sicily, or at the very least pledged to remain in Sicily and renounce all alliances and clients in Mainland Magna Graecia. The Roman Envoys found Pyrrhus preparing to parley with the Mamertines to arrange a surrender.

Thus was the stage set for the first of what the Romans would come to call the Pyrrhic Wars. . .

XXXX

AN: Whew, that was a lot of stuff to go through. Big changes are happening in Magna Graecia, Gaul, Britannia, Pannonia, and Thrace. Some are leading to war now, others will mean war in the future. 

For one thing, Armorica is going to be a lot more unified than IOTL. Assuming Rome still goes north to try their luck at fighting someone less organized than Epirus or Carthage, they'll eventually run into a powerful, organized, disciplined state in Northwest Gaul. One that has all the headaches of the IOTL Armorican Campaign plus whose forces can actually put up a decent fight in a field battle.

For another, we've seen the seeds of the Carthaginian downfall in Britannia already be sown thanks to their victory in Dumnonia. With the Dumnonii being forced to become Clients, other local kings have started giving Carthage the side-eye, wondering if they'll be next, and at least three have formed a confederation aimed at pushing Carthage back into the sea. Expect Carthage to be in for a rude awakening and lessons in what happens when you commit the sin of imperial overstretch.

More pressing to Pyrrhus and all of Hellas is the fact that the former Treverii Mercenaries that fought in the Macedonian War have taken their spoils, bought as many stirrups, saddles, and steel weapons as they could while in Epirote Service, and packed them all away for a journey north to Pannonia. Bolgios plans to wreak bloody vengeance against the Boii, then conquer the other Pannonian tribes before moving south into Thrace, Macedonia, and finally across the straits into Asia Minor.

And with how weak Thrace is, there's no way they'll pose even so much as a speedbump to Bolgios. Macedonia would fare better, but they're still having manpower problems and will be for years to come. Like a lot of things, you can likely expect the defense of Hellas to fall on Pyrrhus in the future.

And of course, Magna Graecia is allying with Pyrrhus increasingly more and that is making Rome Nervous. We'll see what happens there in the next chapter, as we return to Pyrrhus to kick off the First Pyrrhic War.

Stay tuned. . .