Battle of Rafiya. Lots of elephants and good old phalanxes
The so-called Syrian wars, which were waged between the two largest Hellenistic states of the East - the Seleucid Empire and Ptolemaic Egypt, are not very well known to the general public. But the battles that were played out during these wars were very significant and bloody.
Suffice it to say that in the Battle of Trasimene Lake (the famous Second Punic War), the 50th army of Hannibal was opposed by 25 Romans, and there was not a single elephant on both sides. And on the same day in the East near Raphia (Rafah, not far from Gaza), the armies of Seleucid Antiochus III and the Egyptian ruler Ptolemy IV converged. Antiochus sent 62 foot soldiers, 6 horsemen, and 102 elephants into battle. To meet them, Ptolemy moved 70 thousand infantry, 5 thousand horsemen and 73 elephants. As they say, feel the difference.
But everyone knows Hannibal, and who has heard of Antiochus III and Ptolemy IV?
Tetradrachm of Antiochus III
Tetradrachm of Ptolemy IV
Seleucids vs. Ptolemies
We have previously spoken of Ptolemaic Egypt and power of the Seleucids - the two largest fragments of the failed empire of Alexander the Great. Throughout the XNUMXrd century BC. e. these states fought wars with varying success, trying to take control of the lands of the Eastern Mediterranean. One of the disputed territories was Coele-Syria (literally - Hollow Syria).
Coele-Syria on the maps:
About Ptolemy IV, who will become one of the heroes of this article, Polybius wrote:
"His predecessors threatened the kings of Syria from land and from the sea, for they owned Coele-Syria and Cyprus."
There were six Syrian wars in total, but today we will talk about the Fourth of them (219-217 BC), during which one of the most significant and large-scale battles of Antiquity took place.
Ptolemy IV and Antiochus III
At that time, Ptolemaic Egypt had already passed the peak of its power and was declining. Strabo wrote about the monarchs of this country:
"All the kings after the third Ptolemy, spoiled by a life of luxury, managed state affairs worse than their predecessors."
At the end of the III century BC. e. Egypt was ruled by Ptolemy IV Philopator (Loving father).
Ptolemy IV, statue head, Archaeological Museum of Kos
But he was more like his grandfather - a lover of Greek literature, a patron of writers, architects and sculptors, under whom the Pharos lighthouse was built, the Torah was translated into Greek, large funds were allocated for the arrangement and maintenance of the Library of Alexandria and the Museon. But Ptolemy IV did not like to deal with state affairs, entrusting them to his favorites.
One of them was Sosibius, who held a high position under the father of this king, Ptolemy III Euergetes. The man, by the way, was clearly in his place, and Polybius calls him "a cunning and experienced old scoundrel." Since this historian has a negative attitude towards Sosibius, we can assume that this characteristic is rather complimentary. But other favorites of Ptolemy IV - Agathocles, his sister Agathoclea, their mother Enantha, were people of a completely different warehouse. Justin writes about them:
“He (Ptolemy IV) was captivated by the charms of the hetaera Agathoclea. Forgetting completely about the greatness of his rank and high position, he spent his nights in debauchery, and his days in feasts ...
The daily depraved intercourse of the king with her brother Agathocles, a dissolute obsequious handsome man, made her even more impudent. Agathoclea and Agathocles were joined by their mother Enantha, who took the king into her hands, completely seduced by the charms of both her children. Not content with power over the king, (they) seized power over the state ...
Agathocles, who was constantly with the king, ruled the state, and both women ordered the distribution of positions of tribunes, prefects and military commanders.
The daily depraved intercourse of the king with her brother Agathocles, a dissolute obsequious handsome man, made her even more impudent. Agathoclea and Agathocles were joined by their mother Enantha, who took the king into her hands, completely seduced by the charms of both her children. Not content with power over the king, (they) seized power over the state ...
Agathocles, who was constantly with the king, ruled the state, and both women ordered the distribution of positions of tribunes, prefects and military commanders.
However, the power of the Ptolemies was still strong and could afford the imperial policy.
And in the state of the Seleucids, on the contrary, there have been positive developments. For heirs Seleucus I Nicator got a truly huge state.
Seleucid State
But by the time Antiochus III ascended the throne, his predecessors had already lost lands in India, Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. And in the last Third Syrian War, Egypt captured Celesyria and the territory to the north of it, including the large city of Seleucia Pieria (on the Orontes) - the first capital of the Seleucids. But now in 223 BC. e. an 18-year-old youth ascended the throne, who will enter historylike Antiochus the Great.
Antiochus III, marble bust, Louvre
In the end, he will lose the decisive battle with Rome, but until then he will have time to conquer Palestine, Phoenicia, Parthia and Bactria. Fatal for him will be an attempt to take possession of Greece as well. Before the start of the war with Egypt, Antiochus III had already defeated the troops of the rebellious brothers Solon and Alexander and forced the king of Atropatene (a historical region in northwestern Iran and southern Azerbaijan) to recognize his authority, but did not have time to deal with the rebellious governor of the Asia Minor provinces Achaeus.
Fourth Syrian War
In 219 BC. e. Antiochus III began hostilities against Egypt, occupying Seleucia. The Egyptian commander Theodotus of Aetolia, who learned that he had fallen out of favor with the king and his favorites, handed Antiochus over to Ptolemais and Tyre. However, Nicholas appointed in his place held Sidon, Arvad and Dor. In 218 BC. e. Antiochus continued the offensive, now Arvad, Trieres, Kalam, Philotera, Scythopolis and a number of other cities fell. The generals Keraya and Hippoloch crossed over to his side (the latter brought 400 soldiers with him).
Remaining in Phoenicia, Antiochus III entered into negotiations with Egypt. Sosibius, who negotiated on behalf of Ptolemy IV, used this time to train an army that included not only mercenaries from Greece, Crete, Thrace, Libya, and even Gaul, but also 20 native Egyptians - for the first time in the history of Ptolemaic Egypt. Until then give weapon the descendants of Ptolemy I Soter did not dare to fall into the hands of local residents.
Negotiations continued throughout 218, and it seemed to Antiochus that things were moving towards peace. He even disbanded part of his army when in the spring of 217 BC. e. learned that Ptolemy IV personally leads his troops to the borders of his state. The number of his troops was much larger than expected by the still young and insufficiently experienced Antiochus, who already believed in his victory in this war.
Egyptian troops made an impressive forced march, covering 180 km through the Sinai desert in just 5 days. The opposing armies met near the city of Rafiya (on the border of modern Israel and the Gaza Strip). In front of them stretched a long and narrow plain, which the Israeli historian E. Galili compared to "a long and narrow bottle neck."
Battle of Rafia
For 5 days, the enemy armies were inactive, not daring to attack each other. During this time, Antiochus organized an attack on Ptolemy's tent, but the Egyptian king was not in it at that moment.
Finally, on June 22, 217 BC. e. Ptolemy was the first to build an army for battle. As we remember, his army outnumbered the troops of Antiochus in the number of foot soldiers (70 thousand versus 62 thousand), but was inferior in the number of elephants (73 versus 102) and horsemen (5 thousand versus 6 thousand).
In the center, Ptolemy placed a phalanx, in which there were also Egyptians trained according to Macedonian models. Mercenaries and cavalrymen were located on the flanks, there were also elephants - 40 on the left and 33 on the right.
A phalanx also stood in the center of Antioch's position. On the left, it was covered by the eastern subjects of its states - Persians, Medes, Arabs, representatives of nomadic and mountain tribes, 2 thousand cavalrymen, on the right - Greek mercenaries and 4 thousand horsemen. The elephants were on the flanks: 42 on the left and 60 on the right.
The Ptolemaic phalanx was more numerous, but the phalanx of Antiochus that opposed it consisted of more experienced warriors.
Interestingly, if Antiochus was on the “royal” right flank of the army, then Ptolemy, contrary to tradition, was on the left. Thus, both kings were against each other. Thus began the Battle of Raphia, the largest battle in the Hellenistic world since the Battle of Ipsus (301 BC), where Seleucus I, Lysimachus and Cassander defeated the forces of Antigonus One-Eyed and his son Demetrius Polyorcetes.
The main source for the Battle of Raphia is the writings of the Greek historian Polybius. He claims that the battle began with fighting on the flanks, and the elephants were the first to attack.
Polybius, Strabo, Pliny the Elder, Appian and Philostratus wrote about the superiority of Indian elephants over African ones. However, in the second half of the XNUMXth century, their evidence was unexpectedly challenged by zoologists, who argued that African savannah elephants were not smaller, but even larger than Indian ones. Therefore, it has been suggested that Ptolemy's elephants were young (not mature) and poorly trained.
The former governor of Uganda, W. Gowers, put an end to this issue, who in the article “African Elephants and Ancient Authors” (1948) pointed out that there are also African forest elephants, which are smaller than savannahs, but are much easier to tame. Thus, at present, the evidence of Polybius and other ancient authors is again recognized as reliable.
So Polybius says:
“The warriors mounted on elephants fought valiantly from the towers; acting with saris at close range, they struck each other, but the animals fought even better, throwing themselves at each other with fierceness. The struggle of elephants takes place approximately in this way: having stuck their fangs into each other and grappling, they push with all their might, and each wants to keep his place until the strongest overcomes and takes the opponent's trunk aside. As soon as the victor succeeds in seizing the vanquished from the side, he wounds him with fangs, just as bulls do with horns.
Wherein:
“The Ptolemaic elephants were mostly afraid of battle, which is usually the case with Libyan elephants. The fact is that they cannot stand the smell and roar of Indian elephants, they are frightened, as I believe, by their growth and strength, and immediately run away from afar. That's what happened now."
As a result, according to Polybius, three elephants died in the army of Antiochus III and two more died of wounds, the army of Ptolemy IV lost 16 elephants killed, and "most of them were captured by the enemy." That is, the “battle of the elephants” ended in a convincing victory for the animals of the Seleucid army.
But the fate of the battle was decided elsewhere. The Israeli orientalist E. Galili wrote about this:
"Antiochus got the elephants, and Ptolemy the victory."
Let's go back to the battlefield of Raphia.
Antiochus, who was on the right flank, followed the elephants and sent his cavalrymen into battle, who overturned the Egyptian horsemen, and his Greek infantry began to push Ptolemy's mercenaries. However, the catastrophe did not happen, and parts of the Egyptian left flank, although retreating, did not flee.
The situation was reversed on the other flank, which was commanded from Egypt by the commander Echecrates. His cavalrymen (Egyptians and Libyans) put Antiochus' Syrian cavalry to flight, and Greek mercenaries defeated the Median and Arab foot soldiers.
Antiochus pursued the retreating warriors of Egypt, and Ptolemy IV at this time moved to his phalanx. Here, in the center, the fate of this battle was decided: the Ptolemaic phalanx overturned the phalanx of Antiochus.
The Seleucid army lost up to 11 thousand people killed, another 4 thousand were captured. The losses of the army of Ptolemy IV amounted to about two and a half thousand people.
Despite the defeat, for Antiochus the terms of the peace turned out to be quite acceptable. He left Coele-Syria, but retained the extremely important Seleucia on the Orontes and the surrounding lands. He then restored his power in Anatolia and began the conquest of Parthia and Bactria.
The reason for such indulgence of Ptolemy IV is called, on the one hand, the deplorable state of the treasury of Egypt, in which there simply was no money to pay for numerous mercenaries, and on the other hand, the desire of this king to return to his former carefree life as soon as possible.
However, Ptolemy IV began to have problems with the demobilized Egyptians, who were convinced that they could well fight against professional soldiers and began to demand equal rights with the Macedonians and Greeks. This led to an uprising and even an attempt to establish an Egyptian state in the south of the country.
Polybius writes:
“Having armed the Egyptians for the war with Antiochus, the king had excellent orders regarding the present, but he made a mistake in the future. The Egyptians were proud of the victory at Raphia and did not at all want to obey the authorities. Considering themselves strong enough to fight, they looked only for a person fit for leadership, and after a short time they found one.
The grandson of the winner at Raphia, Ptolemy VI, will be captured by his uncle, Seleucid Antiochus IV, the country will be divided into two parts, and only the intervention of Rome saved the Ptolemaic dynasty then. The rulers of Egypt paid for this assistance with a partial loss of sovereignty and the actual recognition of themselves as vassals of Rome.
Over the years, this dependence only intensified, and an attempt at revenge, undertaken by Cleopatra, who relied first on Caesar, and then on Mark Antony, ended in defeat and the transformation of Egypt into a Roman province.
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