[Hayasdan AAR] King of the Valleys

[konny]

Chapter 2: The Eagles’ Nest
- 246/45 BC –




After the battle of Shileia the war still went on. Even though Seleukeia had lost her last full army in the Armenian theatre the Basileus refused to admit Armenia’s autonomy, demanded the return of Sophene and the full submission of the “Satrap of Armavir” to the Seleucide rule. Aram had returned home to claim his throne and prevent all those higher and lower nobles, the Nakharar and Azat, that had stayed home from uprising. The noblemen that had been with the army were strictly denied to return to their estates, and the army stayed in Sophene under the command of Mher Yervanduni. Mher had been appointed “Sparapet”, high commander of the army.

Under Samus the Armenian strategy had been to keep the main army together to counterweight the huge resources of Seleukeia in manpower and money. The borders were defended by weaker garrisons set up in Pokr Hayk, Hayasdan, Adurbadegan and Sophene, just strong enough to hold out until the king came to relief, force marching his army often from the opposite corner of his kingdom. Mher changed that. He reduced the size of the field army and made the garrisons strong enough to withstand the usual Seleucide invasions. The number of archers in each garrison was raised allowing to harass a besieger with constant sallies. The field army consisted first of all of cavalry and only a few picked troops on foot. These operated in small and mobile groups, often penetrating deep into enemy territory and raiding enemy columns where those felt save.



The last regular battle was fought on the eastern shores of the Nairi near Tushpa. That Seleucide army had long since been detected by Mher’s Skythians, allowing him to draft most of the garrison of Karkathiokerta and Armavir to his army and prepare an ambush. When the Seleucids reached the Armenian border, already much reduced in numbers due to constant Skythian attacks, they found themselves surrounded by three sides and had been crushed and routed in a brief but hard fight.



It was around this time that Antigonos Iliou Troikou begun his journey from Seleukeia. He first moved overland to Babylon. From there he hired a small vessel that brought him upstream the Euphrates until he reached Syria. Even though his ultimate destination was far to the north he left the course of the Euphrates and again moved overland until he reached the Orontes. On the Orontes he shipped to Antiocheia where he had to wait for some weeks for a passage to Tarsos. Even though hostilities between Arche Seleukeia and the kingdom of the Ptolemaians had long since been ceased ships only dared to enter the waters around Cyprus in full convoys. The reason was pirates. During the war both sides had fielded strong navies making the Eastern Mediterranean a quite unhealthy place for being a pirate. Now the Seleucide navy was disbanded to free resources for the war in the East, while the Egyptian vessels were all summoned west to fight Karthago. That seemed to have been an invitation for about every pirate, even from far away places like Sicily.

But Antigonos Iliou Troikou was lucky. There had been no pirates daring to attack the convoy the merchantman he had hired was sailing in. In Tarsos his journey was delayed for further weeks because he had run out of money. Antigonos wasn’t poor. If he had been poor he would never had been appointed to missions like these because ambassadors in service of the great Basileus had to provide for their expenses by themselves. It was more that Antigonos did not travel with much money once he learned that his journey would also include a passage by ship. In Tarsos he wrote to a partner of his family seated in Rhodos. This one in return named him a tradesman in Side with an office in Tarsos to send him money on behalf of his family’s treasury stored in the Rhodian banks.

When the money finally arrived in Tarsos it had already become winter and the season was to late to cross the Taurus Mountains. In spring he continued his travels now leading him north into Kappadokia, to Mazaka. In theses days Kappadokia was the last Seleucide outpost in the west, surrounded by Pontic territory to the north and west, the Ptolemaian provinces of Kilikia and Pamphylia to the south, and the Armenian Pokr Hayk in the east. And that was where he was going to travel: Armenia. He had not dared to take the shorter route through Adiabene because that province did suffer most from Skythian raids. He also feared to cross the impassable mountains around Mount Ararat, even more than he had feared the pirates. Antigonos had chosen the western route via Mazaka and through the valleys of the East Pontic Mountains to Ani-Kamah. Here he reached after a six month journey, during which the war went on, with the Basileus’ offer to negotiate.





“I am Sanasar Sharvashean, Ishkhan of Egrisi and Royal Marzban of Pokr Hayk.” The barbarian governor of Ani-Kamah spoke a very Pontic but otherwise excellent Greek, and even though Antigonos did not know what an ‘Ishkhan’ was or what had been the duties of a ‘Marzban’, he took it that this Sanasar was a very important figure. May be, he hoped, important enough to negotiate on behalf of his king to get this over as fast as possible. “I am Antigonos Iliou Troikou, Strategos of the Great Basileus and Satrap of Charax Spasinou”, he lied. “Really?” Sanasar raised an eyebrow, “far off your province these days, Strategos Antigonos.” “I am here to negotiate with your great king or you in his representation. It is time to end the bloodshed and these are the terms of the Great Basileus:”



Sanasar studied the scroll Antigonos has handed him. He had taken this Greek ‘ambassador’ for a complete swindler and his first idea was to throw him out of the window. It was nothing unusual that in times of war figures like that appeared everywhere in the borderlands, demanding that they would be in contact with this or that court and offering their service in return of “a little allowance”, only to disappear with the money forever. But this one seemed to be real. It was not the royal seal that convinced Sanasar but the demand itself. No swindler would have demanded land without even the notion of money. Peace, at last. But the price was high. No less than a sixth of the Armenian territory had the Greek king demanded. Sanasar convolved the scrolled. “It is not me to decide on peace and war, it is the Arqa. I will forward your request to the Arqa. Until then please be my guest.” When Antigonos had left Sanasar filled a goblet with unwatered wine, drained it, called for his scribe, filled a second goblet and drained it before the scribe arrived.



When the reply arrived weeks later it was neither a surprise to Sanasar nor to Antigonos: Aram Yervanduni, Arqa of Armenia, was willing to cease hostilities with ‘his beloved brother’ Theodoros Syriakos, Basileus of Arche Seleukeia, on the condition that each should hold and keep as his own what his forces were occupying. He was also willing to confirm the privileges of the Greek merchants in Karkathiokerta, Phraaspa, and each and every town and market of his realm, as long as ‘his beloved brother’ would confirm the privileges of the Armenian and Median merchants in Edessa, Ekbatana and each and every town and market of his realm. “Medians?” Antigonos asked. “Yes, thousand of Medians became subject to the Arqa after the conquest of Phraaspa.”



Antigonos Iliou Troikou agreed to the terms in the name of the Basileus. In fact his authority was even more far reaching because the Basileus was desperately in need of peace and Antigonos had been allowed to give away Kappadokia, if needed. So the Basileus got his peace for a good price, and having arranged it Antigonos could hope for becoming Strategos or Satrap on his return. For Armenia the treaty of Ani-Kamah was even more vital. Not only did it recognize the Armenian possession of Sophene, it also made her a kingdom independent from Seleucide rule. Not long thereafter other nations to contract with the Arqa in Armavir.



For now the war was over and the armies returned home….





….only to find new enemies waiting for them




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Next Chapter 3 "The Peace Years"