Epirus Ascendant, Part 1

[HistoryDude]

We're back. Sorry about the hiatus - I was on vacation.


Archimedes I decided against cracking down on the rumors, believing that doing so would only ensure that people thought of them as true. After a while, they died down, but Archimedes I soon made another decision that would echo across the ages for centuries to come.

Just before the Great Getian War, Allobrogia, the allies of Epirus in Gaul, called upon Archimedes to aid them in their quest to unite part of the region under their dominion. Alone, this wouldn’t have been strange - the Allobrogian-Epirote Alliance was ancient, and the local governors of the region had a close relationship with the Kings of Allobrogia, especially after the position of Governor of Gaul became hereditary.

What set this request apart was Archimedes’s response. The local governors asked the king for permission to intervene in favor of their allies… but the Basileus refused, proclaiming that the governors answered to him. He then sent a letter that formally refused to aid Allobrogia’s war. The King of Allobrogia responded by severing his kingdom’s alliance with Epirus.

Shortly thereafter, Archimedes initiated the Great Getian War, and he ordered the legions and smaller armies in Gaul to fight. He convinced the pirates that his mother had hired to transport them, and they eventually reached the front. They fought well during the war, but their commanders were among those who spotted the army that convinced Archimedes to end the war. Their commander and the governor of Gaul, Pyrrhus Megaklid, became convinced that the king had done this to deprive him and his fellow legates of glory.

He convinced the former pirates to return him to Gaul, and, once he arrived there, he told his tale. He convinced his armies that they had been denied glory in war by a jealous king, and then he reminded them of his ancestor’s achievements during the reign of Sotas. He noted how little aid they had received from the other parts of the kingdom. Finally, he brought up how Archimedes had ignored his advice to aid their Gallic allies and forced them to fight in distant lands for his own glory.

Soon, all of the Gallic legions were angry at the central government in Epirus, and the Megaklid delivered his coup de grace. He convinced the legions to crown him King of the Alps and declared independence from the central Epirote government. A few minor armies attempted to resist, but they were quickly defeated.

When news of this declaration reached the Epirote capital, Archimedes I responded by demanding to meet with Pyrrhus Megaklid. The governor reluctantly agreed, and the two men met at Tarentum, which was seen as neutral ground.

That meeting changed the world. Archimedes I agreed to recognize Pyrrhus’s new “Alpine Kingdom”, but he also demanded that the new monarch pay him tribute, lest Epirus’s legions seize his throne. Pyrrhus reluctantly agreed, correctly realizing that this move was merely to save face about losing Epirote territory.

The new Alpine Kingdom immediately resumed the alliance with Allobrogia, and the two countries would become close. They would work together to unite Gaul and lay the foundations for Gallic nationalism.

It quickly became clear that the King of Epirus had ulterior motives, though. He immediately sent the former Queen Aphrodisia as an ambassador to the Alpine Kingdom, arguing that she was a Megaklid and should negotiate with her own family. Despite the official diplomatic line, the position of ambassador to the Alpine Kingdom would quickly become an excuse to exile Megaklids that looked as if they could threaten the regime.

Regardless, with his mother no longer a potential threat to his rule, King Archimedes I turned his attention to another matter… Thrace.

 

[Midnite Duke]

Mother, a potential threat? Alpine Kingdom! Thanks

 

[El Pip]

Exiling all of the regimes enemies in one place is rarely a good long term plan, particularly when that place is a breakaway state with it's own armies and is based in very tough and defensible ground.

I am expecting this to come back to bite Epirus, possibly via a Megaklid invasion in a few years time.

 

[HistoryDude]

King Archimedes I knew that Thrace had defeated Epirote armies before, and he knew that they were among the mightiest of Alexander’s successors. A victory against them would be difficult, especially if they had to fight alone. Therefore, Archimedes believed that victory would only occur if Thrace was… distracted.

Initially, he planned to initiate a civil war and then swoop down upon Thrace like a vulture. He sent spies to the Thracian court to check who might be interested in launching a revolt, but he found a loyal court. No one wanted to challenge the current Thracian regime.

Faced with a failure there, he decided to turn to a different potential internal threat - Thrace’s vassals. As Alexander’s successor in Anatolia and eastern Greece, the Lysimachids had inherited command over the Greek cities there as well as local tribes. They had subsequently expanded their domain, forcing more tribes to swear allegiance.

King Archimedes I hoped that some Greek cities and some local tribes would be angered by this subordination and be willing to revolt. At first, no one was - no uprisings began, and no vassals attempted to declare independence. The reasoning for this is less clear - many argue that the vassal states realized that a revolt would merely be trading a Thracian overlord for an Epirote one, but this argument only really applied to the vassals in Europe - and Thrace had plenty of vassals across the Hellespont.

Unlike with the Thracian court, the King of Epirus never stopped trying to convince Thracian vassals to revolt, which ensured that his efforts would eventually bear fruit. Still, he did order many of his spies to begin a different task… he ordered them to find a foreign ally against the Thracian Empire.

Many options were considered. King Archimedes I initially liked the option of allying with the Seleucids who ruled over Persia and Syria the most, but they were uninterested in attacking the Lysimachids and risking a resumption of the Diadochi Wars. Some of his advisors suggested allying with Egypt, but Archimedes refused since he envisioned a unified Greece, and Egypt held Greek territory. A few of his advisors suggested that this didn’t matter since the alliance could always be broken later. His response was to execute them for suggesting such a dishonorable tactic. This refusal was partially pragmatic, of course - no one would ally with a nation that knowingly made an alliance with intent to break it later.

Eventually, King Archimedes I did find a successful ally - Armenia. This was good from a strategic standpoint - Armenia sat on Thrace’s eastern border, so an alliance would force them to divide their forces. It was also good because Armenia and Epirus shared no competing claims or ambitions. In May 23 AS (659 AUC), a treaty of alliance was signed with Armenia.

There was just one problem. Armenia’s rulers weren’t interested in an attack upon Thrace. They would defend Epirus against outside attack, but they would not initiate the two-front war that King Archimedes so desired.

Initially, King Archimedes raged against this news. He had done so much work, and it had all been for nothing? He even briefly considered killing the messenger, but he quickly decided that doing that would surely anger most other kingdoms - the inviolability of a messenger’s person was well-established. Even so, he still wanted to do something about this and, for a while, it appeared as if this would be breaking the still new and fragile alliance.

It is at this point that an unnamed advisor approached him. He theorized that the Armenians could be… convinced… to give up their pacifism. All it would require was a bit of gold and some flattery… and he could easily deliver these messages for his great king. This worked - the advisor’s appeal to his ego made Archimedes consider and accept his advice. The advisor was appointed the new Ambassador to Armenia and given gold for his mission. The gold (and the compliments) slowly wore down the King of Armenia’s resolve.

Even so, it was a revolt that established the alliance’s permanence. In March 24 AS (660 AUC), Armenia saw a pretender claim its throne and seize a bit of land. Archimedes declared war upon this pretender and sent more gold over to the legitimate government of Armenia, encouraging them to use it to pay for mercenaries or to create new legions. They did, and the revolt had been crushed by the early months of 25 AS (661 AUC).

Soon, captured prisoners revealed that the revolt had been funded by the Lysimachids. The rulers of Thrace were worried about the new Epirote-Armenian Alliance and thought that installing a new ruler would harm it. This was finally enough to convince Armenia to declare war, and Epirus soon followed suit. By November, the Thracian War had officially begun.

 

[HistoryDude]

I almost had to end the game and make up how this ended. This also would've made conversion a lot more of a hassle. I did lose the save (and the saves for all of my AARs, for that matter). The good news is that I recovered them, so we're back in business! The downside is that this update doesn't get to the Thracian War quite yet. (If you're wondering why I lost the save, it's a complicated mess involving OneDrive)

Anyway, on to the responses!

Mother, a potential threat? Alpine Kingdom! Thanks

That's almost certainly a stupid fear, but he is reckless... In truth, though, it probably has more to do with a desire to have an excuse to exile the Megaklids somewhere than anything else.

Exiling all of the regimes enemies in one place is rarely a good long term plan, particularly when that place is a breakaway state with it's own armies and is based in very tough and defensible ground.

I am expecting this to come back to bite Epirus, possibly via a Megaklid invasion in a few years time.

A few years time is a bit optimistic/pessimistic (depending on if you're cheering against Epirus or not). Still, it wasn't a wise move. It was more of an attempt to kick issues (power of the Megaklids) down the road... we'll see how that plan ends. On the bright side, it did ensure that Epirus doesn't need to worry about Gaul, which was only connected to the rest of the realm by sea anyway.

 

[Midnite Duke]

Thrace outsmarted themselves. Archimedes finally gets his war. Thanks

 

[Idhrendur]

OneDrive has caused more than it's share of complicated messes for me, so I sympathize. And looking forward to this war. It's been a long time coming.

 

[HistoryDude]

The Thracian War was perhaps the most important event in all of antiquity. It irrevocably changed the balance of power, and it irreversibly weakened most of the Epigoni states. It remains the most well-known event in all of Epirote history… and there is a reason for that.
By all accounts, the war began well. Epirus went on the offensive immediately, moving into the Thracian border regions. A few skirmishes occurred, but no large engagement happened until April 26 AS (662 AUC). That was when the Battle of Polondava occurred, and the Epirote stratoi won a small victory.

Far more important was the Battle of Axiopolis that began two months later. Axiopolis was a surprise attack by a Thracian army upon the Epirote stratoi. Initially, it worked - the stratoi took many casualties. It was at this point that Lysimachus Apollonid first appears in the history books, rallying his army. Encouraged by this, the stratoi held firm and defeated the Thracian attack.

Then, they advanced, meeting no resistance until they reached a city called Sirra. There, a battle was fought and won with Thrace, destroying the last army defending the Rhodope Mountains. By June 27 AS (663 AUC), most of the area was occupied.

Thrace had occupied small amounts of Epirote territory, but they could see that the war was lost. They offered peace - they were to give up a few border territories. It was a moment upon which history turned. Unfortunately, Archimedes I was reckless most of all, and he only saw a great victory within his grasp. He thought that he could conquer if the war continued for a while longer… and so he refused the offer, instead demanding all of Thrace’s European territory. The Lysimachid King refused, and the war continued.

Whereas previously Thrace had been occupied with Armenia, they now saw that Epirus was a far greater threat. They moved armies from the Armenian border to the Epirote one, and they hired many mercenaries. Large armies moved across Europe, and the children of Night were unleashed upon both Epirus and Thrace.

The first sign was a defeat at Dinogetia, a settlement in the Rhodope Mountains. The stratoi fought well and did their best to eek out a victory, but they were outnumbered and outgeneralled. They had to retreat. Some took solace in that they had at least made Thrace pay for that victory in blood.

Elsewhere, Thracian armies crossed other Epirote borders, and their navy launched attacks upon the newly independent Gallic state. The Megaklid realm appealed for aid, but Archimedes refused, stating that he had bigger issues. Thus, the new Alpine Kingdom appealed to Rome for aid, which was granted. They unilaterally cut off tribute a few months later. Epirus was far too distracted by the fronts within Greece to care.

In September, the Thracian army made one of its greatest mistakes. They sacked a holy temple in Spinopara, and Archimedes I immediately took advantage. He used the incident to paint the Thracians as impious men who didn’t care about the gods. That image was amazing for recruitment, and an army was gathered specifically to avenge the sack. It did so in April 28 AS (664 AUC).

Meanwhile, Epirus and Thrace fought the famous Battle of Serdike in January of that year. Epirus won due to their numerical advantage, but a strange incident occurred. Another large Thracian army that outnumbered both armies combined was nearby, but they refused to intervene, before or after the end of the battle. If they had, perhaps the Lysimachid Realm could’ve been saved…

Historians have a thousand theories for why the Serdike Incident occurred, but Archimedes I thought that it indicated discord within the Thracian ranks. This only further solidified his plan to keep fighting until Thrace surrendered completely, making a quick peace even less likely.

It was under these circumstances that a pair of battles were fought - a pair of battles that would be celebrated throughout the ages - and that would cement the reputation of a legend. Those two battles were fought in July at Durostorum and Piephigia.

The army at Piephigia was outnumbered, but Lysimachus led a different army nearby that would even the numbers and likely secure a victory. Of course, the Thracians knew this too, so they split off a smaller army to delay Lysimachus long enough to win at Piephigia. Lysimachus met that army at Durostorum and managed to defeat it quickly. In fact, he defeated it just quickly enough to reinforce the army at Piephigia. The sight of reinforcements reinvigorated the Epirote army and demoralized the Thracian one. At the last possible moment, Lysimachus managed to snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat. Thereafter, Lysimachus became known by a new name… the Conqueror.

Strangely, Archimedes I and Lysimachus the Conqueror actually got along. Archimedes I even wrote him an epic poem - the Deeds of Lysimachus - to raise morale and allowed him to raise his own soldiers. This might simply be a case of the Basileus being pragmatic, but it does seem out of character.

After that, there was a long lull in the fighting. Epirus and Thrace would exchange control over the border regions. Peace offers were exchanged, but neither side accepted any. Men began to hope that the war would end soon. Some historians call this period the “False Peace”.

The False Peace ended in the most spectacular way. Two large armies met at Kallatis, and a stalemate ensued. Even so, March 30 AS (665 AUC) marks the beginning of the end for Thrace because they made a massive mistake - they attacked the Alpine Kingdom in Gaul. Rome demanded recompense, and Thrace refused. In response, Rome declared war.

This was welcome news in Epirus, where not much land had been gained in Thrace and border regions were still under occupation. Archimedes I hoped that Rome would distract Thracian armies… and they did.

Archimedes I wrote more poetry as Rome and Thrace fought, hoping to encourage Epirote soldiers to liberate their occupied lands and advance against Thrace. It’s unclear whether or not this succeeded.

The final victory was won in October 32 AS (667 AUC). Lysimachus the Conqueror finally cornered a Thracian force at Abritus and annihilated it. The issue for Thrace was that the army gathered there consisted of most of their soldiers… and it was utterly annihilated. Lysimachus thus followed his victory by conquering European Thrace and crossing the Hellespont to invade Anatolia. Smaller Epirote armies liberated occupied Epirus and defeated the shattered remnants of Thrace’s army.

As Lysimachus advanced through Anatolia, the Seleucid Persians saw their chance. They proved themselves vultures, declaring war on Thrace and moving armies into their land. Thrace gathered two mighty armies and managed to defeat this incursion and (just barely) hold back Armenia. It was too late, though. Their capital, Lysimachea, had already fallen to Thrace.

The King of Thrace met with Archimedes I and the Roman Consuls to discuss peace. It was agreed that Rome would seize some land in Greece, but the vast majority of Thrace would fall under Epirote dominion. In exchange, only a few objects would be seized from the old capital, and the rest would be spared. Archimedes and the Romans agreed. The Thracian War was, at long last, over. Even so, the better part of a generation had been destroyed by it. Archimedes I was first to appoint new councilors and new governors for his provinces, as the old ones died in the war.

After the war, Archimedes I wrote two more poems. The first was A Justification for the Thracian War, which began the practice of justifying wars. The second was far more tragic - and its title was simple: A Generation Sacrificed Upon My Altar.

(Map of the known world after the Thracian War. Epirus is in dark yellow. Note the loss of Gaul)

Author's Note: There was some messing with the game for the sake of the story/history (it's not possible to annex that much land in one war). This is what makes the most sense in-universe, though.

 

[HistoryDude]

Thrace outsmarted themselves. Archimedes finally gets his war. Thanks

Indeed. Mind, that story is convenient enough to be suspicious, but it is what Armenia thinks.

OneDrive has caused more than it's share of complicated messes for me, so I sympathize. And looking forward to this war. It's been a long time coming.

Thanks! The war was... certainly not anticlimactic.

 

[Idhrendur]

That was certainly a war! And it looks like that may be it for major areas of expansion, barring a neighbor having a bad civil war or something. Time to infill with some of those vassals and other independents and grow strong through internal development.

 

[El Pip]

A particularly poignant poem to end on. Archimedes perhaps reflecting "be careful what you wish for, you just might get it". After all the scheming and plotting to get his war the biggest winner appears to be Rome - a newly acquired vassal, a foothold in Greece and their main European rivals all exhausted.

 

[Midnite Duke]

Is this a Pyrrhic victory with the gains in the Balkans offset by the loss of Gaul and Rome's rise? Thanks

 

[HistoryDude]

Archimedes I is… controversial, to say the least. Many approve of his actions because he achieved an unprecedented expansion of Epirote power with the Thracian War, but others dispute the wisdom of that war, and his other actions don’t exactly paint him in a positive light.

Perhaps the most famous incident of his early reign was the Humiliation of the Philosophers. In March 18 AS (654 AUC), a philosopher from Corinth offered to tutor the king, hoping to mold him into a great philosopher-king. If so, that plan backfired horribly. Archimedes I took the man’s words to mean that the philosopher thought that he was a bad king and was insulting his authority. Angered, he recklessly exiled the philosopher - who moved to Rome and became known as Zeno the Inspired - and began a purge of all philosophers throughout the kingdom.

It’s probably necessary to explain the state of philosophy in Epirus at this point. While the ages of Socrates or Plato were gone, Epirus’s trade with the other Diadochi states, Carthage, and Rome created an information highway that led to a thriving philosophical culture. This was helped by the fact that Epirus ruled over a vast empire, so there were many places to chat about life’s deepest questions. Indeed, philosophers had even had both official and unofficial support from the monarchy. Nobody persecuted them for their ideas before Archimedes, and Sotas had encouraged the field in order to clarify his own views. Alexarchos’s building projects had only aided them, as they now had places to meet.

As a result of this, Epirus was a center of philosophy before the Humiliation, but that event changed that. The purge itself was not indiscriminate, but it did change the nature of Greek philosophy forever. Archimedes I based the entire effort on his own jealous and reckless pride. If a philosopher would kowtow to him, then they would be allowed to go free… but, if they refused (for any reason - out of conviction, out of their own pride, out of sheer spite, or even out of a refusal to acknowledge temporal authority), then their fate was exile… or death, and the line between those two outcomes was largely determined by the king’s mood.

The end result was horrifying, and it was one of the most enduring outcomes of Archimedes I’s reign. Philosophers fled the area in droves, and Roman and Punic philosophy received them gladly. Those that survived kept their heads down… or decided that they needed something to protect against a second purge.

A few hoped that the noble families would be influential enough to save them and allow them to think freely, and a few families, notably the Megaklids, were receptive to this idea. Unfortunately, the Basileus caught wind of this scheme and saw only a threat to his power. He found the “scheming philosophers”, wrote a series of poems denouncing them as traits and agents of Thrace, and then publicly executed them. A few Megaklids were subsequently exiled to the Alpine Kingdom.

It was a very potent example, and the philosophers took heed of the message. They realized that they needed an ally powerful enough to defend them - an ally that even this reckless king wouldn’t dare to cross. Therefore, in their desperation, they turned to the Helleno-Kemetist Church. They struck a deal - they would not contradict Helleno-Kemetist dogma in their writings. In exchange, they would receive protection. Many Enlightened men would later call this a deal with the devil, and some even insisted that it marked the beginning of the Age of Unreason.

Archimedes I, for his part, raged at reaching the limits of his power, but even he didn’t feel powerful enough to threaten the Church… yet.




A/N: This is literally me just roleplaying and setting the stage for CK3. Archimedes I did actually refuse to become a philosopher-king, though - that was part of the game. Also, this was going to be a bit on domestic affairs in Archimedes's reign in general, but I got carried away with this idea.

 

[El Pip]

You have to admire the irony here. Archimedes did all this because he thought he was being accused of being a bad king, yet his response only confirmed that in this respect he was indeed a bad king.

Given the thin line between philosopher and scientist in this age this could indeed have very serious repercussions for Epirus. Any future monarch is going to have to work very hard to convince those who have fled to come back or those who have stayed to say what they actually think.

 

[HistoryDude]

That was certainly a war! And it looks like that may be it for major areas of expansion, barring a neighbor having a bad civil war or something. Time to infill with some of those vassals and other independents and grow strong through internal development.

Future expansion might take a while, yes. On the bright side, Thrace was finally conquered!

A particularly poignant poem to end on. Archimedes perhaps reflecting "be careful what you wish for, you just might get it". After all the scheming and plotting to get his war the biggest winner appears to be Rome - a newly acquired vassal, a foothold in Greece and their main European rivals all exhausted.

Yep. Rome is doing rather well in the west. I do imagine that they want Epirote Sicily and Italy, but tough luck. We're keeping that.

Is this a Pyrrhic victory with the gains in the Balkans offset by the loss of Gaul and Rome's rise? Thanks

*Tempsene victory. In all seriousness, though, the annexation of Thrace probably offsets the losses. Rome could expand in Gaul beforehand anyway, and Epirote Gaul was actually rather small. Territorially, Epirus won this battle. Whether or not they won in all ways remains to be seen.

You have to admire the irony here. Archimedes did all this because he thought he was being accused of being a bad king, yet his response only confirmed that in this respect he was indeed a bad king.

Given the thin line between philosopher and scientist in this age this could indeed have very serious repercussions for Epirus. Any future monarch is going to have to work very hard to convince those who have fled to come back or those who have stayed to say what they actually think.

Archimedes I is a reckless ruler - he almost certainly didn't think this through.

Yep. That might be why the Age of Unreason is a concept (not that all philosophers are gone, and advancement can't happen - it's just rather more difficult now).

 

[Midnite Duke]

The correct philosophy is that Archimedes is right and when that argument seems to be false then the facts need to be rechecked. Thanks

 

[HistoryDude]

In the aftermath of the Thracian War, Archimedes I realized that his empire was vastly overextended. It stretched from the edge of Anatolia in the east to the cities of Magna Graecia in the west and even touched Scythian land in the north. It retained some influence in its old Gallic territories, despite all of Rome’s attempts to change that. Archimedes was well aware of the larger empires that had once existed, but he was also aware of Epirus’s enemies.

He saw one great problem - Epirus was trapped between worlds. It attempted to exert influence over the more uncivilized west while also attempting to be the true successor of Alexander’s great empire - and trying to bring civilization to the tribes in Illyria and Pannonia. He feared that, one day soon, the sheer ambition of Epirus’s rulers would destroy their realm. They couldn’t live trapped between three worlds forever. One day, like Icarus, they would try to do too much and burn. Their loyal subjects would be caught up in the aftermath.

As such, Archimedes decided to withdraw from the west entirely. He searched for a spouse, and, after persistent refusals, was forced to turn to the Megaklids. In 42 AS (677 AUC), he married a Megaklid, increasing their influence. In exchange, the Megaklids of Epirus cut off all contact with the Megaklids of the Alpine Kingdom. Those who wished to stay in Gaul lost all of their power within Epirus. Immediately after, all of the Alpine citizens that secretly reported to Epirus in order to ensure their loyalty were recalled. For all intents and purposes, the only overlord the Alpine Kingdom answered to was Rome.

Before that, though, Archimedes I held a meeting with the governors of the Greek colonies in Magna Graecia and Sicily. These men agreed to pay a small sum of gold to Epirus in exchange for complete control over domestic affairs - and the ability to appoint their own King of Magna Graecia. Archimedes I agreed to protect their territory from foreign incursion, but he made it clear that the defense of Epirus proper would take priority. In private, critics of the regime pointed out that this new arrangement did much to justify abandoning Magna Graecia to a foreign foe… such as Carthage or Rome.

Those two moves effectively removed Epirus’s influence over the Western Mediterranean, and Archimedes’s next moves did nothing to dispel the suspicion that he had a new goal. First, he met with the ruler of Armenia, his ally, and discussed how Thrace would be divided. In the end, it was agreed that Epirus would get most of the old kingdom, but some lands that had originally been annexed by Epirus would be gifted to Armenia in exchange for a small sum of gold. The King of Armenia agreed.

Then, the Basileus launched his coup de grace. He declared himself “Protector of Greece and Heir of Alexander”. He granted greater self-rule to the Greek cities under his rule and even allowed them to create a council that would meet in Athens and suggest domestic policy for the cities of Hellas.

Far more importantly, though, the new title was a declaration of intent. The Wars of the Diadochi were long over, but their successors - the Epigoni - were still rivals. Epirus was already allowed to Egypt. The new title of Heir of Alexander and that alliance made it quite clear that Archimedes intended to attack Persia under the Seleucids eventually - although it’s doubtful that he thought that war would occur in his lifetime.

The title of Protector of Greece, by contrast, was of far more immediate relevance. It was essentially a direct challenge to Rome, which had seized control of a small sliver of Greek territory. Of course, Egypt owned territory in Greece as well, but King Archimedes I assured his ally that he had no designs upon their land.

Many of the other powers of the ancient world began to plan for a war between Epirus and Rome. Almost everyone thought that such a war was imminent, which is why the entirety of the ancient world was taken by surprise when Archimedes I turned around and declared war on the irrelevant Macedonian remnants in 44 AS (670 AUC).

Ever since their defeat by Epirus ages beforehand, Macedon had faded from the considerations of the relevant kings. Most had honestly forgotten that they existed. Who could blame them, really? The remnants of Macedon didn’t control anything other than a small collection of islands. They were powerless in the grand scheme of things.

Even so, they retained a small number of allies that controlled most of the western coast of Anatolia, their petty league hadn’t aligned with any major power, and, most importantly, they had symbols of legitimacy. Back when Epirus had seized Pella, the Macedonian monarchs had fled to the islands with many artifacts from Alexander’s time - including his throne. It was for these instruments of legitimacy that Archimedes declared war on Macedon. Perhaps he thought that it would only take a small raid to seize the objects that he wanted. If so, things were about to spiral out of his control very quickly.

(Europe before the Second Macedonian War - Epirus is in yellow. The bordergore is fixed.)

 

[El Pip]

Sometimes Great Reorganisations are just shuffling the deckchairs on the Titanic, moving a few generals or ministers about but nothing more. This however is a change worthy of the title so I tip my hat to Archimedes for that if nothing else, this is an incredibly bold and decisive change, though I would note that 'bold and decisive' is not the same as 'a good idea'.

If this works then no-one will miss the poor Western territories he has given up or abandoned, but if it fails Epirus will be far weaker than it was before so it is a hell of a gamble. I'm also not convinced that pre-announcing your plans to the world is a particularly wise move, I suspect that may well be part of why his 'small' Macedonian War spiralled out of control - enemies deciding to act first while Epirus was distracted.

 

[HistoryDude]

The war began with a quick victory, as the Macedonians were defeated at the Battle of Imbros. This victory allowed them to attack Macedonian cities with impunity, and it initially seemed like the war would be over before the year ended. The next battle in the conflict reinforced that view, as the Macedonian kings gathered their remaining soldiers and attacked Lysimacheia, hoping that the sheer brazenness of attacking Epirote cities would catch Archimedes I by surprise.

While the attack on Lysimacheia did surprise the Basileus, the city had mighty fortifications and held out long enough for Lysimachos the Conqueror to unite the scattered Epirote forces that had been besieging Macedonian cities. This new army promptly marched on Lysimacheia and relieved the city in September. Trapped between the city walls and the Epirote army, many Macedonian soldiers attempted a failed assault that caused them to take many casualties. Before the month had concluded, the Macedonian army was fleeing in all directions.

At that point, Archimedes I offered a harsh peace treaty to the Macedonian king. This treaty would allow him to retain his theoretical independence, but he would drop all claims on Macedon and be acknowledged as the “King of the Aegean”. As part of that, he would give all of the artifacts that he had taken from Pella during the First Macedonian War to Archimedes… including the Throne of Alexander. The point was obviously to increase Epirus’s claim to being one of Alexander’s successors, but it was also a direct insult to the rulers of Macedon, as it would essentially strip them of their status as Epigoni (successor monarchs to Alexander’s Diadochi).

As such, the King of Macedon refused. He then ordered all of his armies to raid Epirus’s main cities and settlements and occasionally stop at the islands that acknowledged Macedonian suzerainty to resupply and reinforce. In addition, he called upon old alliances from Macedon’s time as a hegemon of Greece to aid him, dragging both Assos and Aeolis into the war. Both states immediately launched attacks on the new Epirote territories on the Anatolian coast.

Lysimachos immediately judged that the Anatolian states were a bigger threat, so he took his army to defend against their assaults and subjugate their land. He would fight many battles there, slaughtering their armies and bringing their cities to heel.

The problem was that this strategy left much of Epirote Greece virtually undefended against the Macedonian raids. Archimedes quickly fixed this issue, forming new armies to combat these raids. In every engagement that an army of Epirus met a force of Macedonian raiders, the Epirotes emerged victorious. The problem was that there were only so many armies, and the Macedonians could attack anywhere and seemed endless in number. To make matters worse, the Macedonians avoided the forces of their foes, aware that they would lose any confrontation.

In effect, the war had thus turned into a game of hiding and finding armies - the armies of Epirus had to hunt down their foes.

To exacerbate that issue, the Macedonians had the Aegean islands as bases that they could disappear to. This exposed a glaring weakness in Epirote warfare - Epirus had no official navy. During previous wars, the Basileus had relied on his governors to make ships as transport or outright hired pirates. Unfortunately for Archimedes I, the war with Thrace had destroyed practically all of the ships east of the Adriatic, and the new Kings of Magna Graecia were preoccupied with a silent war with Rome and couldn’t spare the ships.

Archimedes I was outraged with this state of affairs and immediately moved to do something about it. He contracted the pirates that had been granted land and the preeminent shipmakers of the realm to create a navy in Smyrna. This navy was finally completed in August 47 AS (682 AUC), and it immediately proved its usefulness by destroying a massive collection of transport ships in the Aegean.

As 48 AS (683 AUC) dawned, the Navy of Smyrna was used as transportation for an attack on Macedon’s heart. Finally, in February, Euboea, the center of the shattered remnants fell to Epirote forces. They spent around a month emptying the island of everything of value in retaliation for the Macedonian raids. Then, the “king” of Macedon was captured, and he was forced to sign a humiliating peace treaty by Archimedes I himself.

Archimedes demanded all of Macedon’s territory and their artifacts. He moved most of the artifacts (including the Throne of Alexander) to Passaron. Legend has it that, upon spotting the throne, he briefly considered moving his capital to Pella and declaring himself the sole heir to Alexander right then before rejecting the thought.

Meanwhile, Lysimachos’s campaign was going well. In order to speed it up, he decided to use an innovative tactic - he created a longer supply line that held more food and gold. While this seems like a bad idea, it succeeded at creating disarray in the enemy armies, as their troops were drawn out of their phalanx formation in hopes of gaining plunder. The resulting chaos handed him the victory on a silver platter, and he then managed to force the enemy’s cities to surrender.

After that surrender, he decided to designate certain members of his army as paymasters, responsible for distributing spoils amongst the entire army… and sending the remainder back to Passaron.

These new “Lysimachene” tactics would become staples of future Epirote campaigns, but, for the moment, they didn’t change much. Both of the states surrendered and were annexed to Epirus.

Barely two months passed before Archimedes I breathed his last, and his son ascended the throne.

(map of the known world at the death of Archimedes I, Epirus is in yellow)

 

[HistoryDude]

Sometimes Great Reorganisations are just shuffling the deckchairs on the Titanic, moving a few generals or ministers about but nothing more. This however is a change worthy of the title so I tip my hat to Archimedes for that if nothing else, this is an incredibly bold and decisive change, though I would note that 'bold and decisive' is not the same as 'a good idea'.

If this works then no-one will miss the poor Western territories he has given up or abandoned, but if it fails Epirus will be far weaker than it was before so it is a hell of a gamble. I'm also not convinced that pre-announcing your plans to the world is a particularly wise move, I suspect that may well be part of why his 'small' Macedonian War spiralled out of control - enemies deciding to act first while Epirus was distracted.

Well, the good news is that Archimedes I won't have to deal with a war with Rome or Carthage.

We'll see whether or not giving up Italy was worth it. If Rome takes Lokri... that wouldn't be great. If Epirus can keep it, though...