The First Battle of Pergamum, 190BC

Background

Following the success of the great eastern expeditions and the war against Egypt, the Seleukid king, Antiochus III "The Great", decided that he could now turn his attention to the west and in particular to the breakaway kingdom of Pergamum ruled by Eumenes II. Concluding that a rapid attack straight at the city of Pergamum would be the best plan he quickly collected together an army and marched west from Antioch. Due to the speed of his attack there was no time to ensure a full call-up of the Katoikoi troops, especially the phalanx, and he was forced to supplement the Syrian and Phrygian troops available with Galatian cavalry and Bedouin tribesmen mounted on camels. Caught off guard by the speed of Antiochus' advance Eumenes was forced to delay battle until he had collected an army, causing him to fight close to his capital. His troubles were multiplied as a number of colonies went over to the invader reducing the number of troops available. Worried by these desertions Eumenes refused to trust any but his own son with any command, even subordinate. As Antiochus closed on the city Eumenes and his son Attalos led out their army to face the Seleukid host. The two armies met near a small village on the coastal plain some 5 miles south of the city.

The Armies Deploy

The following day dawned bright, clear and still. Both armies awoke early and the generals drew up their battle plans. Eumenes led out his army slightly in advance of Antiochus and drew up his forces to the north between the Seleukids and Pergamum.

Eumenes, knowing he was outnumbered, decided to anchor one flank of his army on the sea so that he could not be outflanked on both sides. He, therefore, deployed his own command, the largest, next to the sea and that of Prince Attalos to his right. Eumenes troops were drawn up in the following manner. On the left, next to the beach, were half the Tarantine cavalry and on their right 600 mercenary thureophoroi deployed facing a small area of rough ground. Next in line were half the army's bolt shooters, taken from the walls of Pergamum to swell the army, that would hopefully cause great slaughter with missiles that no shield could withstand. Extending the line to their right was a deep body of light troops comprising the Mysian javelinmen and the Cretan archers supporting them. Behind the skirmishers were the ferocious Galatian tribesmen, fierce warriors, naked apart from their gold torques, able to sweep even a Macedonian phalanx away in their charge and convinced of their invulnerability. At either end of the Galatians, still behind the psiloi were two columns of thureophoroi to be deployed when needed. Behind all of these stood the king himself with his bodyguard and to their rear a body of Xystophoroi cavalry waiting in reserve. Finally, Eumenes placed Stone Throwers at the right hand end of his part of the line. This was indeed unusual as these large engines were only usually seen at sieges. Prince Attalos extended his father's battleline from the siege engines with his mercenary thureophoroi and then his bolt shooters. Trallian slingers and the rest of the Tarantine cavalry finished off the front line. Behind the Trallians were Galatian horsemen, good troops but lacking the ferocity of their unmounted brethren, and further to the rear was the Prince with the remainder of the Xystophoroi.

Antiochus wishing to make full use of his superior numbers, especially in mounted troops adopted a relatively thin deployment between the sea and the village. On the right commanded by his general Nikanor, were nearly all the infantry of the army. The extreme right, covering the rough ground next to the sea, were the thureophoroi. Next to them was a taxis of Argyraspides drawn up only half the depth normal for a phalanx. To their left, in the normal fashion for a Macedonian phalanx were the Syrian Katoikoi 3 taxis strong, bronze shields glinting in the sun's rays. Guarding their left was the second Argyraspide taxis also deployed as was customary, and to their left the Thorakitai carrying spears and armoured with mail. Nikanor and a small bodyguard placed themselves behind the right most taxis of the Katoikoi. Next to Nikanor's command were the troops placed under Antiochus' son, Seleukos, comprising of most of the citizen cavalry. First, however, came 500 Thracians from a colony founded by Seleukos himself, supported by the same number of the slingers called Kyrtii from Media. To their left were the Politikoi cavalry from the Syrian cities armed in the fashion of Tarantines and to their left 1500 Katoikoi cavalry led by the prince. These last troops were now armed in the fashion of the Parthian nomads encountered on the eastern expedition, man and horse fully armoured. Next followed Antiochus' own command. In line next to the Katoikoi was a body made up of 2 groups of 8 Elephants surrounded by their escorts all surrounded by 1500 archers from various Asiatic tribes subject to Antiochus. On their left were the Bedouin tribesmen with bow and spear riding camels still dusty from the desert. Finally came a column of the remaining soldiers headed by 600 Galatian horsemen followed by the king at the head of the Hetaroi and Agema, resplendent in gold and purple.

The Generals Plans

Eumenes, pessimistic about his chances, hoped to lure his enemy into a rash attack, especially on the Pergamene left, which could then be exploited by fierce counter attacks with the Xystophoroi and Galatian warriors. He hoped that the massed artillery would disrupt the Seleukid line and mow down the phalanx as it advanced slowly. His main concerns were being outflanked and the vulnerability of his mercenaries to the Seleukid cavalry. Antiochus guessed his opponent's plan and decided to refuse his right, mindful of the difficulties the phalanx would have crossing the rough ground. At the same time he would make an all out attack on the Pergamene right whilst pinning their centre with the Politikoi.

The Battle

The battle began pretty much as Antiochus planned with the Seleukid right wing advancing only until it had reached the end of the rough ground to it's front whilst on the left the mounted troops moved forward of the village and deployed out into a line to outflank the Pergamenes. Realising what Antiochus' plan was Eumenes decided that he would have to force the issue on his left whilst holding up the Seleukid mounted troops on his right. To facilitate this he started to advance his command towards Nikanor, however, he was slowed throughout this by the unruly Galatians who wanted to charge forward as fast as possible and needed restraining and the difficulty in moving his artillery. Additionally his attention was repeatedly distracted by the events to his right. Here Prince Attalos advanced his infantry to keep pace with his father and extended his line to match Antiochus with his Tarantines and Galatians.

Seeing this forward movement Seleukos in the Seleukid centre sent forward the Politikoi as a skirmish screen to delay the Pergamenes so that his father would be able to turn their right flank. By splitting the Politikoi into two groups Seleukos was able to reduce the advance of the entire Pergamene army to a snails pace. Antiochus now started to wheel his line round to their right to begin the operation of rolling up the Pergamene right, so to preserve the battle line Seleukos followed his fathers movements wheeling the Katoikoi horse so as to form an inpenetratable wall of bronze and iron. However, due to the elephants and undisciplined asiatics in the army Antiochus took a considerable time to bring his wing into position allowing Attalos to match his line and deploy his bolt shooters ready for firing.

Now the fighting began in earnest. On the Seleukid left both sides mounted troops charged and counter charged repeatedly to little avail for at least one and a half-hours. The Pergamenes were forced to send in their Xystophoroi reserves to counter the superior Seleukid numbers and these entered a drawn out fight with the Bedouin, both sides giving ground in a confused melee. At the same time the asiatic archers laid down a fearsome arrow storm on the massed psiloi facing them causing great disruption in their ranks and forcing hundreds to flee in panic creating holes in the battle line to be exploited by the elephants. These fearsome beasts with towers on their backs filled with archers and pikemen trampled the hapless Trallians under their huge feet, goring them with iron cased tusks. However, not all went the way of Antiochus' army for Attalos' artillery forced the Politikoi to withdraw to a safe distance and laid low many asiatic archers with deadly bolts. During this time the rest of both armies inched towards each other looking for some weakness to be exploited by a decisive charge.

Seeing that his cavalry were not breaking through their opponents as expected Antiochus now led the Hetaroi and Agema into the fray fighting at their head so as to inspire them to greater feats of valour. However, despite having the desired effect his presence also inspired the Pergamenes to greater resistance and on two occasions the king's life was in some danger. Finally he led his bodyguard victoriously through the Pergamene lines thus creating the much hoped for breakthrough. Unfortunately by this time his troops were no longer in their perfect battle order and so were not in a good position to exploit his success.

On seeing his son in trouble Eumenes decided that he must gamble on a charge straight at the enemies phalanx before Seleukos drove the Katoikoi through the centre of the Pergamene army as he was now poised to do. Therefore, he advanced the Pergamene left as fast as possible towards his enemy with the intention of the Galatians rushing the Katoikoi phalanx. Nikanor seeing this was goaded into action and advanced to meet him, although he was prudent enough to ensure the phalanx was supported by the Thureophoroi and Thorakitai on it's flanks to prevent enemy psiloi attacking it in its most vulnerable points. To aid the general Seleukos moved some Politikoi to threaten the flank of the advancing enemy psiloi and the Katoikoi catafracts towards the mercenary Thureophoroi. The final act of the battle was about to be played out, however, before this happened Antiochus' elephants charged over Attalos' artillery smashing them into firewood with the escorts killing the crews out of hand.

As Eumenes pushed forwards the Galatians finally became uncontrollable and charged forward at the most inopportune moment. Some pushed their way through the Mysians and Cretans eagerly wanting to get to grips with the phalanx whilst others became entangled with their supporting Thureophoroi braking up both of their formations. Seeing his advantage Nikanor ordered the whole phalanx to charge with their Thureophoroi and Thorakitai supports. The awesome weight of a charging phalanx, on perfectly flat ground, now crashed into the mix of Mysians, Galatians and mercenaries. Although the Galatians fought like madmen, often charging onto the end of five or more pikes in their fury their resistance was futile and in less than half an hour over half lay dead on the filed of battle impaled on the pikes of the Seleukid army. At the same time the Mysians and Cretans withdrew knowing they stood no chance against the rampant phalanx and the mercenaries made a fighting withdrawal.

With Seleukos' Katoikoi now poised to charge the Pergamene army disintegrated with everyman fleeing to save himself. Eumenes and Attalos extracted as many troops as they could from the rout and fled back to the city with barely one fifth of the troops they started the day with and the loss of all their artillery. The Seleukids pursued right to the city walls causing much slaughter on the remnants of the Pergamene army and looting their camp.

Aftermath

After causing so much slaughter and with most of the country declaring allegiance Antiochus now felt that the war was won and it was only a matter of time before Pergamum itself surrendered. Therefore, after organising a blockade of the city he departed back to Antioch leaving Seleukos to finish off the work. However, Eumenes had not given up all hope and sailed quickly to Rome to enlist their help against Antiochus.

Post Script

Another member of the club played the follow-up battle, fought under the walls of Pergamum. 400AP of Seleukids played 360AP of Polybian Romans supported by 67AP of Pergamenes. The battle resulted in the destruction of the Seleukid army with minimal losses to the allied army.

Back to the Armies or Battle Reports Page, or onto my Reflections on the game.