The Battles of Antiochus the Great: The Failure of Combined Arms at Magnesia that Handed the World to Rome

186 Pages·2022·8.811 MB·English

by  Graham Wrightson

The Battles of
Antiochus the Great
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The Battles of
Antiochus the Great
The failure of combined arms
at Magnesia that handed
the world to Rome
Graham Wrightson
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First published in Great Britain in 2022 by
Pen & Sword Military
An imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
Yorkshire – Philadelphia
Copyright © Graham Wrightson 2022
ISBN 978 1 52679 346 1
The right of Graham Wrightson to be identified as Author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
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available from the British Library.
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Dedication
For dearest papa.
Sorry you didn’t get to see this.
In pace requiescas.
5 December 1951 to 6 December 2020
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Contents
List of Illustrations viii
Acknowledgements x
Introduction xi
Chapter 1 The Seleucid Army of Antiochus the Great 1
Chapter 2 The Battle of Raphia 12
Chapter 3 The Battles of Arius and Panion 32
Chapter 4 The Coming of Rome and the Battle of
Thermopylae 51
Chapter 5 The Legion versus the Phalanx: Roman and
Macedonian Styles of Warfare 74
Chapter 6 The Naval War with Rome 101
Chapter 7 The Battle of Magnesia ad Sipylum 115
Chapter 8 Antiochus’ Failure of Combined Arms 132
Conclusion 136
Notes 139
Bibliography 146
Index 149
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List of Illustrations
Figure 1 Standard Macedonian-style army deployment xxiv
Figure 2 Map of Antiochus’ major battles 10
Figure 3 Battle of Raphia: Deployments 24
Figure 4 B attle of Raphia: Phase One 26
Figure 5 B attle of Raphia: Phase Two 26
Figure 6 B attle of Raphia: Phase Three 27
Figure 7 B attle of Raphia: Phase Four 28
Figure 8 B attle of Panion: Deployment 39
Figure 9 B attle of Panion: Phase One 40
Figure 10 B attle of Panion: Phase Two 43
Figure 11 B attle of Panion: Phase Three 45
Figure 12 M ap of Antiochus’ battles in the East 49
Figure 13 E arly coin before Molon 68
Figure 14 C oin after Molon 69
Figure 15 C oin with elephant 69
Figure 16 C oin with Athena and Nike 70
Figure 17 T he author holding an 18ft-long sarissa made by
students in an experiential history class 71
Figure 18 T he author and students marching with sarissas over
a ditch 71
Figure 19 T he author’s students in a static phalanx unit of two
ranks of seven (the historical unit was ranks of eight) 72
3
Figure 20 T he author’s students in a static phalanx unit of 4 3 72
Figure 21 T he author’s students jovially recreating attacking a
Roman legionary: the legionary perspective 73
Figure 22 T he author’s students jovially recreating attacking a
Roman legionary: the phalanx perspective 73
Figure 23 M ap of Antiochus’ battles with Rome and its allies 114
Figure 24 B attle of Magnesia ad Sipylum: Livy’s deployment
description 122
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List of Illustrations ix
Figure 25 B attle of Magnesia ad Sipylum: Right-wing, probable
deployment 123
Figure 26 B attle of Magnesia ad Sipylum: Left-wing, Livy’s
deployment description 124
Figure 27 B attle of Magnesia ad Sipylum: Left-wing, probable
deployment 126
Figure 28 P halanx regiments with elephants between 127
Figure 29 P halanx regiments with elephants in front 128
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