To the south-east, his faithful brother-in-law Ariarathes Herakleotes the Hellen defended the newly-conquered town of Tarsos, and sent spies to the east to keep watch for any threats. In the fall, one spy brought back startling news - the young governor of the neighboring Seleukid city of Antiocheia, confident in his own powers and those of his bodyguard, had dispatched his small garrison force by sea to the island of Kyprus. Eager to fulfill his king's desire for retribution against Arche Seleukeia but suspecting a trap, Ariarathes moved most of his small garrison force to the border, and ordered his spies to once again scour the countryside around Antiocheia for any sign of other Seleukid armies. Finding none who could reach the city within a season, he ordered his own men to march across the border, lay siege and quickly build just enough ladders to get over the walls.
For Antiocheia had stone walls and large buildings, and at the time was in every way a greater city than any in the kingdom of Pontos:
As soon as the ladders were completed, Ariarathes ordered the assault to begin, but at the last moment he gave command of the army over to a trusted captain of the phalanx. For while Ariarathes what had to be done, he was at heart an optimistic soul, and did not want to be personally involved in the destruction of so great a city.
Gaining easy entry over the walls, the Pontic raiders found the governor on the great square of Antiocheia. There the slingers wrought terrible destruction on his armored bodyguards, before the phalanx marched slowly to the attack. Soon they had surrounded the governor and hacked at him with their axes, winning a brutal victory.
Obedient to his general's parting order, the Pontic captain now put Antiocheia to the sword, and ordered the destruction of much of the city's great military and economic infrastructure. Garrisons, docks, and armories, all were burned and looted.
The following season, the captain's men continued their wanton destruction, looting the markets, granaries, and sanctuaries of Antiocheia, even removing the piping from its sewer system and the galleries from its playing fields. All that was cartable was transported west into Pontos; all that was not was burnt or broken to rubble.
Then the Pontic army returned to garrison Tarsos, leaving the few remaining citizens of Antiocheia to nurse their wounds and bemoan their fate. A diplomat was sent to Arche Seleukeia to negotiate a ceasefire, but warned of terrible further retribution "in the manner of Antiocheia" if Seleukid armies were to again breach Pontic borders.
The loot from Antiocheia was vast: the equivalent of over 20,000 Mnai was funneled into a new wave of construction across the Pontic kingdom, and the slaves were immediately put to use in digging out new mines in the mountains around Mazaka.
Meanwhile, after over a year of siege, the Galatian inhabitants of Ankyra poured forth to confront their besiegers. The long period of starvation had reduced the size of their army by a third, although their individual warriors were fierce and their leader Cacumattos remained defiant. Ariobarzanes Kianos almost missed the battle, having been called away to oversee the bridge defenses at Mazaka. He had to force-march his bodyguards to return in time to take over from Phabdaios, and his new army was unsure of their king's command - short rations were an ever-present feature of early Pontic campaigns.
As the Galatians sallied forth from their barbarian hill-top town, the Pontic infantry formed a thin defensive line, and the Caucasian archers got to work.
The lightly-armored Galatian swordsmen and naked spearmen were easy pickings, but the fanatical wild-men were a different matter, tearing the arrows out of their bodies as they charged forwards. They even ignored the javelins hurled at them by the thureophoroi just before they crashed together.
The neat battle line immediately broke up as the conflict stretched beyond the right end of the Pontic line. The thureophoroi were separated from the phalanx as they tried to prevent it from being flanked, while further away both Pontic generals fought the heavy cavalry bodyguard of the Galatian commander.
Eventually Cacumattos saw that all his bodyguards were dead, and despairing of the fight, he fled for the gates of Ankyra. He had almost reached it when a volley of Caucasian arrows brought him crashing to the earth.
With the death of their general, and weakened by hunger, the remaining Galatians now surrendered outside the gates, saving their town from further destruction. The new model army had done well.
As a token of respect for their valor, the Galatians were allowed to keep some of their old forms of government, although they would now be required to levy local troops for Pontic armies.
This battle also confirmed what some in his army had already come to suspect: Ariobarzanes Kianos was now a bloody warmonger, eager for the sounds of battle and the thrill of conquest.
And the mines of Ankyra and Mazaka could now fund another army to serve him. Asia Minor would tremble at his coming.
[I had to use force diplomacy to get the Seleukids to accept Antiocheia, because they really didn't want it after I'd wrecked all its infrastructure. And I love a warmonger king - it makes the role-playing so much easier :)]
Chapter 7: Retribution
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