The Massaliot league. A Hellenistic period Massalia Timeline

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232 BC
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    • Sersor

    Sersor

    238 BC

    The Averni tribe manages the Aedui loose confederation(Aedui,Senones,Carnutes) to join them against Massaliot League. Pictones and Santones joined Massaliot League. Venetii,Belage and Treveri tribes stayed neutral.

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    Carthage-Barcid Kingdom
    • The war between Carthage and Barcid Kingdom ends in a stalemate.
    Greece
    • Sparta and Epirus declare war on each other over the control of North Peloponnesos.
    • Sparta joins Megálē Hellás League.
    Egypt
    • Ptolemy II raises a new army to reconquer Syria from Seleucid empire.
    Rome
    • Capua the last holding of Epirus in Italy defects to Rome
     
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    • darthfanta

    Aishio said:
    Oh such surprises go Epirus! Make a alternative Vercingetorix unite the Gauls and make him friend of Massalia that would be sick bro! This is awesome!
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    Why would the Massaliots want anyone unify the Gauls?That doesn't make any sense.
     
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    Aishio

    Why wouldn't the League want a friendly power to trade and ally with. They would have to have some influence in the leader choice of course to mantain it friendly but it is easier to secure trade with one friendly power than with a lot of more or less hostile tribes. Maybe make Massalia help Vercingetorix.
    And what about the Bosphorus kingdom? Maybe a Mithridates from the North, not the south would be cool.
     

    darthfanta

    Aishio said:
    Why wouldn't the League want a friendly power to trade and ally with. They would have to have some influence in the leader choice of course to mantain it friendly but it is easier to secure trade with one friendly power than with a lot of more or less hostile tribes. Maybe make Massalia help Vercingetorix.
    And what about the Bosphorus kingdom? Maybe a Mithridates from the North, not the south would be cool.
    Click to expand...
    A divided neighbor is better than a neighbor that's large and united,friendly or otherwise.Alliances based on friendships are ephemeral.Every alliance is driven by interest.There's no way to make sure the leader of the Gauls or their successors would stay friendly once their goal of uniting the Gauls having been achieved.Rome and Carthage used to be allied when Rome was weak for example.A unified Gaul would want to trade on their terms,not that of the Massaliots.Let's be honest here,the Massaliot League is no different from Venice of the Middle Ages,it wants to dominate trade and not pay any taxes.The Massaliots also have interest in conquering Gaullic land.A unified Gaul would be likely to resist Massaliot attempts to gain trade privileges or even axe the existing ones.It's leaders might even want to conquer Massaliot land.
     
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    Aishio

    Indeed you are right darthfanta it would be hard. Massalia would have to give something that interested the Gauls more than Southern France. Let's leave it (as usual) to Sersor (he's the best). Anxious for the next ones!
     
    237 BC. Gallic war map
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    • Sersor

    Sersor

    237 BC

    An army of five tagmata(a total of thirty five thousands) under Hermolaos marched against Averni tribe capital Nemossos. Another arny of two tagmata (sponsored by the companies) under Aeneas together with allies from Pictones and Sentones marched(a total of twenty five thousands) from Pictones lands to Bituriges lands.The Gauls under king Diviciacix of the Aedui tribe made an effort to mass as more troops as possible to repel the Massaliotes. In the summer of 237 BC a massive eighty thousands army of allied Gauls marched to meet the Massaliotes in the plains near a Bituriges stronghold.The Gauls advanced so quickly that Aeneas did not have the time to organise his forces and suffered a humiliating defeat. Aeneas lost most of his troops and officers . He himself was forced to take up a shield and personally rally his forces which were then threatened with envelopment and massacre. The strong stand by the Pictones enabled Aeneas to regroup and withdraw South to meet with Hermolaos army. Massaliot League lost more than fifteen thousands man and the Gauls less than three thousands.

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    By place

    Judea

    The massive armies of Ptolemaic Empire under Ptolemy III and Seleucid Empire under Antiochus II meet in a plain near jerusalem. It was one of the biggest battles of ancient times. More than one hundred fifty thousands troops deployed in the battlefield.( Ptolemy III seventy thousands and eighty elephants - Antiochus II eighty two thousands and two hundred elephants.) Both sides deployed their troops in a standard Macedonian formation, with the phalanx of heavy infantry in the centre of the battle line.In front, and to the sides of the phalanx, light infantry were deployed to act as skirmishers and to protect the flanks of the phalanx. Cavalry was split between the two wings.
    The heavy use of artillery helped Ptolemaic army to repel the elephant charge of the Seleucid army and then secured the victory on the battlefield.

    Greece

    In a battle near Corinth the forces of the Megálē Hellás League repelled the army of Alexander II. Fearing an attack from Pergamum, Alexander III decided to recognise the claims of Megálē Hellás League and end the war.

    Persia
     
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    • Sersor

    Sersor

    Zireael said:
    What is meant by Ptolemaic artillery? Gastraphetes? Catapults?
    Click to expand...

    In 256 BC Ptolemy II impressed by Massaliot League artillery, commission his engineers to build new siege engines for the new artillery divisions of the Ptolemaic army.
    So mostly Polybolos,small lithobolos and advanced torsion ballistas.
     
    236 BC. The end of the Gallic wars. Gaul and world map.
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    • Sersor

    Sersor

    236 BC

    Nemossos was an oppidum (fortified settlement) on a lofty hill fort and with two rivers on two different sides. Due to such strong defensive features, Hermolaos decided on a siege to force surrender by starvation. Considering that about fifteen thousands men were garrisoned in Nemossos, together with the local civilian population, this would not have taken long. After a while, the relief Gaul force of eighty thousands, arrived and encamped on a hill one mile from the Massaliot League fortification. Some of the chiefs of the Gauls suggested to not meet the Greeks in the open field but King Diviciacix sure of his army strength and numbers refuse.
    Hermolaos made the Gauls fight him on open ground, which allowed him to maximise the effect of the Mounted archers/cavalry.Together with his prudent and unabashed use of fixed projectile weapons like the polybolos and light ballista, archers and crossbows took a heavy toll on the densely packed Gauls. The battle was a triumph for Massaliot league forces. Nearly forty thousands Gauls died and another ten thousands sold as slaves. Hermolaos forces had around ten thousands dead and wounded.
    The battle/siege of Nemessos proved to be the end of generalized and organized resistance against Massaliot League invasion of Gaul and effectively marked the end of the Gallic Wars. After several months of small battles and sieges Averni lands were now part of the Massaliot League, Sequani and Aedui tribes were now vassals of Massaliot league and Pictones/Santones conquered the Bituriges lands. Carnutes and Senones tribes paid a heavy tribute.
    • The gold mines of Averni lands and the domination in trade to almost all Gaul boosts the economy of Massalia even further.
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    By place

    Ptolemaic Egypt.

    • Ptolemy III reconquers Syria from Antiochus II. While was getting ready for an expedition in Mesopotamia, Ptolemy II dies and that forced Ptolemy III to return in Egypt thus ending the Ptolemaic-Seleucid war in the current status quo.
    • The Decree of Canopus, also called "Table of Tanis", is a memorial stone promulgated by an assemblage of priests in honour ofPtolemy III Euergetes and his consort Berenice. The decree, written in Greek, demotic, and hieroglyphs is an ancient bilingualEgyptian decree that provides a key for deciphering hieroglyphic and the simpler demotic script
    Persia

    Seleucid Empire
    • Antiochus II son Antiochus Hierax, who is governor of Seleucid Anatolia, sends an army into Syria ostensibly to assist Seleucus but actually to seize the rest of the empire. After achieving peace with Egypt, Antiochus II promptly invades Anatolia and begins the "War of father and son".
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    • Ameck16

    Ameck16

    @Sersor nice update, can you do a rough estimation of the population of Massaliot league, I want to know the population of their colonies especially the one on the Baltic Sea
     
    236 BC. Extra infos and maps.
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    • Sersor

    Sersor

    236 BC Vol II

    Extra infos and maps.

    The population of Massaliot League have now more than one million population.
    The Greeks are close to four hundred thousands , the Gauls* more than seven hundred thousands and another one hundred thousands (maybe more) various smaller tribes. My numbers are without counting the slaves(around four hundred thousands)

    *The seven hundred thousands Gauls are free people with citizenship (except the Gauls in the new territories that have something like a second tier citizenship/more than two hundred thousands)

    Major Polis/cities are:

    Massalia, close to three hundred thousands(one hundred thousands Gauls)
    Tolosa, around sixty thousands.(The Gauls are more than the Greeks)
    Emporium, almost fifty thousands.
    Naucratia, around thirty five thousands.
    Lillybaeum more than thirty thousands.

    The population of the major colonies is:

    Kassitia, around five thousands.
    Agrinio, one thousand two hundred.
    Ligeia, one thousands six hundred.
    Kallikrateia, three thousands seven hundred.
    Abacus, one thousand eight hundred.
    Ypervoreia, nine hundred.
    Chalkis, one thousand seven hundred.

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    • Aishio

    Compensate Epirus, make the Lusitani the new Iberian power under a genius king (chief, warlord, etc), make a new power appear (maybe in Asia Minor to destroy the powers that exist there and make an empire of its own) or give dominance over the ex-Alexander's Empire to the Seleucids, Ptolemies, Molossians or Attalids, and some more rising powers in India, Dacia, Scythia/Sarmathia and Germania. An update on the Crimean Bosphorus would be awesome too. Go Massalia!
     
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