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The Kingdom of Pergamum
The Aegean League welcomed Proconsul Agrippa Maxus with a grand reception in Athens. He was hailed by the full Council of the Aegean League in the magnificent Poseidian Hall, the newly built chamber that functioned as the League's Capitol. Shortly thereafter, the Proconsul was led to the Publian Palace, official residence of the Roman Governor of Graeco-Macedonia. The palace had been granted as a gift from the Greeks to its namesake, Publius Varro, decades earlier. Vibius Varro's Proconsular rule shifted the administrative capital from Athens to Byzantium, but the Propraetors who came after the rebellion restored the governmental primacy to Attica's metropolis. Agrippa Maxus realized the significance of his new position- he was the first man to hold the office of Greek Proconsul since the infamous Vibius.
The opulence of the celebration in Athens disguised the state of affairs in Greece. The leadership of the Aegean League grew increasingly concerned about the situation in Asia Minor. Their strong military support for Pergamum was affordable in terms of gold; the League's coffers were far from empty. However, many individual poleis governments expressed worries about the prospect of long-term commitment of League troops in the defense of Pergamum. At the moment, however, there were no other options. The young Kingdom could not survive without the active support of the trained hoplites, skillful seamen, and veteran mercenaries of the Peloponnesian city-states.
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From his vantage point in the citadel of Ephesus, Philotas of Pella carefully studied the positions of the Phrygian forces. Since the independence from Asia in 65 AD, the people of the major Ionian cities devoted tremendous energy to improving their municipal fortifications. The focus on walls and fortresses, Philotas noted, detracted from the formation of adequate new fighting units. But this was a sound defensive policy; after all, Pergamum was in no position to go on the offensive. The cities were now defended by units of the former Asian army. These battalions, manned by Greek natives of Ionia, defected without a fight to the new kingdom. Now, assisted by the forces of the Aegean League, they were preparing for a fight with the maundering Galatians.
Philotas' eyes glanced over the enemy encampments, and then moved to examine the city which he was defending. The bustling mercantile polis contained a number of impressive monuments, but its greatest claim to fame, the Temple of Artemis, lay outside the city walls. Ephesus' original Temple, ranked as a Wonder of the World, was destroyed centuries earlier; the current structure dated to 323 BC. Some of the residents were concerned that the Galatians might harm the Temple, but municipal officials assured the people that the Macedonian commanders of Phrygia's army would protect the sanctuary. The walls of Ephesus had been built several decades earlier by the Pontic monarchy of Asia as a defense against potential Roman invasion. Now, ironically, they were shielding the allies of Rome against the forces of Asia's successor kingdom. The fortifications of Ephesus had been improved by the residents over the past two years. A formidable citadel stood as a final bastion against the armies of Galatians, towering over the city from the top of Mount Pion.
Despite absence of formal Roman aid, Philotas estimated that he could successfully defend Ephesus against Phrygia. All food was imported by sea, and a large portion of the old Asian navy, manned by Ionian Greeks, opted to join Pergamum rather than Phrygia following the collapse of the Pontic Kingdom. With naval supremacy in the Aegean, supplies were available indefinitely. But Philotas was frustrated by the slow, plodding process of defensive counter-siege warfare. With each city in the Kingdom of Pergamum attending to its own defenses, it was impossible to assemble enough troops to launch an effective attack on the Galatian legions. At least for now...
Philotas smiled as he recalled his crushing victory over the Asian-Phrygian force several miles south of Aphrodisias two years earlier. His offensive move on the city came as a surprise to the opposing commander Markalos; everyone had been expecting an Aegean-Ionian assault on Sardis. Alerted by his Anatolian horsemen, Markalos decided to move his larger army south to directly confront the Ionian upstarts. The armies under Markalos and Philotas, two Macedonians with common roots in Pella, clashed in one of the most significant battles of the war. After several hours, the Ionian Greeks gained the upper hand, thanks to the superiority of the Peloponnesian phalanx and Philotas' tactics. The defection of the Phrygian force's reserve infantry sealed Markalos' fate. Aphrodisias fell to the Graeco-Ionian army, and the independence of Pergamum was assured.
Despite the totality of his past victories, Philotas knew that Phrygia would be more difficult to defeat in this second war. Two years earlier, the regime in Ancyra commanded the nominal fealty of the large military inherited from the Kingdom of Asia. But many of the troops felt no loyalty to the new government; thousands of Graeco-Asian soldiers defected to Pergamum and eroded Phrygia's ability to conduct an offensive campaign. Now, Phrygia was militarily "weaker", but its forces were reliable. The fearsome Galatian legions led the way in a new assault on the cities of the young Kingdom of Pergamum.
Philotas was ready to fight back.
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By: Jupiter Optimus Maximus
