[History] What were the major events leading up to 270BC?

[QuintusSertorius]

I'm trying to collect the major happenings in the Hellenistic world in the 20-30 years leading up to 270BC, when my roleplaying game is set. Reason being that these are influences in the lives of the characters, some will have pushed them in certain ways, others they will have been involved in personally. I doubt they will be much older than 30, so anything before 300BC probably won't have as personal an impact given they won't have been born. So the Battle of Ipsus in 301BC forms a neat bookend of major events just before their appearance.

So the ones I've thought of so far (much of which the consequences of the later Wars of the Diadochi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wars_of_the_Diadochi)):
The struggle over Macedon, 298–285 BC
The Struggle of Lysimachus and Seleucus, 285–281 BC
Brennus' invasion of the Balkans (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallic_invasion_of_the_Balkans) (particularly Greece/Macedonia)
The First Syrian War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Wars#First_Syrian_War_.28274-271_BC.29)
The Pyrrhic War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhic_War)

Some of the later events they may have been personally involved in (like serving with Pyrrhus in Italy or Sicily). Are there any others I should have in mind? Are there other developments which aren't the internecine conflict between the Successors I should also have?

[Arjos]

Etruscan collapse, Sicilian War (dunno if the name is right, I mean the one with Syracuse attacking african soil).

[QuintusSertorius]

I'm confused as to how the Etruscan collapse over two centuries before is relevant here. I'm looking for recent events prior to 270BC, not ancient history. Things within the lifetime of people alive then.

[Arjos]

I'm sorry Brennus confused me XD
Even though Etruscans were still fighting allied with Cisalpine Gauls...

[Lvcretivs]

[...]Are there any others I should have in mind? Are there other developments which aren't the internecine conflict between the Successors I should also have?

Philhetairos of Tieion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philetaerus)'s establishment/founding of the Attalid dynasty (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attalid) and the rise of the future Kingdom of Pergamon?

[QuintusSertorius]

Philhetairos of Tieion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philetaerus)'s establishment/founding of the Attalid dynasty (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attalid) and the rise of the future Kingdom of Pergamon?

Good spot. Given my own attachment to Pergamon, I should have thought of that. There's a whole "new, rising power" vibe there to play on.

[Populus Romanus]

The Cretacous Extinction Event.
Nah, I'm kidding. The Samnite Wars, although they had not been resolved, are one that has not been mentioned yet.

[G. Septimus]

Many things happened (recently) to 270 BC
- 2 years ago (272) Pyrrhus Aicades, king of Epirus was found dead in the port of Sparta
- in case of after, in 270 anyway, Archimedes founded the Stoic Philosophy,
- Carthaginians founded the transparent Glass

[antisocialmunky]

Etruscan collapse, Sicilian War (dunno if the name is right, I mean the one with Syracuse attacking african soil).

Was that the one where Agathocles basically lost every single land battle on Sicily but then ran the Carthaginian blockage around the siege of Syracuse with his army of mercenaries to North Africa before being defeated, stranding his army, and fleeing back home only to accept the Carthaginian surrender and be hailed as a hero who upon his death disinherited his son so a democracy could be established?

[Arjos]

He did manage to kill Hanno and get Utiqa...
Also killed one of the Diadochi, who came to help him iirc XD

[Titus Marcellus Scato]

What about the massive Gallic migratory wave into Macedonia, Thrace and Asia Minor in 279 BCE? They defeated and killed the Macedonian King Ptolemy Keranus (exiled eldest son of Ptolemy I) the man who murdered Seleucus I in 281 BCE. They were defeated in Macedonia in 277 BCE but managed to set up the kingdom of Galatia in Asia Minor.

[QuintusSertorius]

What about the massive Gallic migratory wave into Macedonia, Thrace and Asia Minor in 279 BCE? They defeated and killed the Macedonian King Ptolemy Keranus (exiled eldest son of Ptolemy I) the man who murdered Seleucus I in 281 BCE. They were defeated in Macedonia in 277 BCE but managed to set up the kingdom of Galatia in Asia Minor.

I got that one right in the first post. :smile:

[Brave Brave Sir Robin]

Mithradates I assumed the title basileus of Pontos around 281 formally creating the Pontic Kingdom.

[Arjos]

Ashoka's rise to power too...
But this one is very recent :P

[QuintusSertorius]

Mithradates I assumed the title basileus of Pontos around 281 formally creating the Pontic Kingdom.

That gives me two rising powers in Asia Minor, nice.


Ashoka's rise to power too...
But this one is very recent :P

A bit far away, though. Things aren't likely to travel that far from the Mediterranean. Though news of it might travel.

[antisocialmunky]

The world was more interconnected than people think. Romans knew of the existence of China and there is written records of at least one way contact between Rome(Da Qin) and the Han Empire. India and Mesopotamia were actually quite well connected via land and coastal trade routes. The Mauryan Empire actually fought Big Grey too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurya_Empire#Conflict_and_alliance_with_Seleucus_.28305_BCE.29

Wasn't there a tomb in Rome excavated recently with a skeleton bearing certain elements that were uncommon in the Mediterranean but common in East Asia.

[QuintusSertorius]

The world was more interconnected than people think. Romans knew of the existence of China and there is written records of at least one way contact between Rome(Da Qin) and the Han Empire. India and Mesopotamia were actually quite well connected via land and coastal trade routes. The Mauryan Empire actually fought Big Grey too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurya_Empire#Conflict_and_alliance_with_Seleucus_.28305_BCE.29

Wasn't there a tomb in Rome excavated recently with a skeleton bearing certain elements that were uncommon in the Mediterranean but common in East Asia.

Which is cool as far as people from faraway lands being present; but the focus of the game is not going to be on places at the fringes or beyond Alexander's former empire.

[Epimetheus]

For other new powers in Mikra Asia, the Armenians rebelled around 317 BC, and Zipoetes of Bithynia declared himself Basileus in 297 BC (This is the date Mithridates VI Eupator counted the Pontic Regnal Era from, even though his family didn't take the title until 281 BC).

[moonburn]

herm quintus don´t get me wrong but akosha rise to power and his pacifist aproach was what allowed seulekos and his decendents to solidify their position all up to the indian border and provided seulekeia with the elephant regiment that allowed them to stop the kelts and get the cognomem soter so all in all the thread of fate puts akosha is a very important position by enabling the seulecid to have a secure and friendly border in the east while providing them with elephants

had it been another mauryan emperor or had akosha not decided to deny war after a particulary brutal batle (10.000?) and the seulecids would have probably broken far sooner without their elephants and under the keltic pressure on the west and the indian pressure on the east

[QuintusSertorius]

For other new powers in Mikra Asia, the Armenians rebelled around 317 BC, and Zipoetes of Bithynia declared himself Basileus in 297 BC (This is the date Mithridates VI Eupator counted the Pontic Regnal Era from, even though his family didn't take the title until 281 BC).

So there's a general and recent rising of new powers throwing off the Seleukid yoke in Asia Minor.


herm quintus don´t get me wrong but akosha rise to power and his pacifist aproach was what allowed seulekos and his decendents to solidify their position all up to the indian border and provided seulekeia with the elephant regiment that allowed them to stop the kelts and get the cognomem soter so all in all the thread of fate puts akosha is a very important position by enabling the seulecid to have a secure and friendly border in the east while providing them with elephants

had it been another mauryan emperor or had akosha not decided to deny war after a particulary brutal batle (10.000?) and the seulecids would have probably broken far sooner without their elephants and under the keltic pressure on the west and the indian pressure on the east

That's all well and good, but for a group of four individuals who might be in Epirus, or Phrygia, or Sicily, or Massilia, it's a footnote or a novelty item of news. I'm not setting the game on the eastern edge of Seleukid territory where that would be of critical importance. What it means is that the Seleukids are able to put more focus on the western end of their Empire, that's all.

[Arjos]

I believe Carthage started to control parts of Numidia around 300 BC too...

[vartan]

Ervand* I of Armenia (401-344), the clever and diplomatic leader that he was, nearly succeeded in grasping the Persian Imperial throne. The leader, of Bactrian and possibly Hydarnid descent, successfully brought Mysia--and temporarily, Pergamon--and Western Armenia under the kingdom's rule. His son Ervand II (336-325) inherited the throne from his father (after an intermediary rule by Codomannus, 344-336). Ervand II led the Armenian cavalry at the famous Battle of Gaugamela (right wing). Ervand II was the first ruler of Armenia in this period in antiquity who styled himself king (more accurately, Basileus). After Ervand II comes Mithranes (325-317). Ervand III (son of Ervand II) (317-260) is who you see ruling Armenia when you start the Hayasdan campaign in Europa Barbarorum. Due to the Rome: Total War game engine and how it works most of the time, there is a very slim chance that your faction leader Ervand III will actually live to the year 260. Nevertheless, it is significant that EB includes him as well as his son, Samus, an important figure. Samus, as you may well know, later founds the important city of Shamshat (Latin: Samosata), in Commagene.

*Transliterations differ in their construction of this Armenian name. A transliteration in tune with the pronunciation of the name would be constructed as Yervand, while the transliteration I chose is in tune with the orthography behind the name, Ervand. The latter is also the construction one usually finds in most native Armenian names in Europa Barbarorum. For an example, see the faction name Hayasdan. This is, again, in tune with the orthography, even though the pronunciation-based transliteration would result in Hayastan (where the 't' represents the plain/unaspirated voiceless alveolar plosive/stop).

[machinor]

- in case of after, in 270 anyway, Archimedes founded the Stoic Philosophy
Archimedes did not found the Stoic philosophy. Stoicism was founded by Zenon of Kition.