Nice to know that you finally got that screenshot capturing thing to work, Madoushi. Nice Makedonian empire, that faction is really quite something.
Here is a brief summary on my empire, with a lot of info I haven't shared with you guys before. I've lost all savegames up to 193 BC, that's why I lack pictures in this entry.
The Antigonid ΒΑΣΕΛΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ ΑΡΧΕ ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΙΚΕ (and other noteworthy members of the Antigonid line):
1. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΑΝΤΙΓΟΝΟΣ ΓΟΝΑΤΑΣ: (Reign 272 - 259 BC), it was he who defended the Makedonian homelands from ΠΥΡΡὉΣ, ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΤΟΝ ΕΠΕΙΡΟΣ and conquered the southern Hellenic City states, Athenai and Sparte. Before his death he launched an invasion of Epeiros, but succumbed to a fever before any decisive battles were fought.
2. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΑΛΚΥΟΝΕΟΣ ΝΙΚΑΤΟΡ: (Reign 259 - 228 BC) In his youth he conquered Dardonia as well as the islands of Crete and Rhodos. Later when his father died it was who he took command of the royal forces and defeated ΠΥΡΡὉΣ and thus put an end to the Epeirot threat to Makedonia. Rather than establishing a Satrapy he integrated Epeiros directly into the Makedonian homelands and many Epeirots were given Makedonian citizenship, which ensured their loyalty. When the Ptolemaio attacked the Arche Seleukeia and conquered most of their western holdings, ΑΛΚΥΟΝΕΟΣ responded quickly. By 232 BC he had conquered all of Asia Minor and the Levantine. When he entered Hierosolyma he made sure his army made as little damage as possible, and he allowed the Ioudaioi to practise their own religion and all temples devoted to another god than the Judean one were banned within the city walls. The Ioudaioi were even allowed to keep their independence and would only have to form a strong alliance with the Makedones and the Ioudaioi hailed ΑΛΚΥΟΝΕΟΣ as a grand saviour. One day when ΑΛΚΥΟΝΕΟΣ was going for a walk a young man walked up to him with a dagger in his hand. He stabbed him 12 times in the chest, surprised, with his dying breath ΑΛΚΥΟΝΕΟΣ said: “What was it all for?” The young man was a poor junior officer from Athenai who was enraged by the lack of loot during the conquest of Hierosolyma and whose parents back in Hellas depended on the money he sent them. In a matter of seconds after the Basileus’s death the murderer was cut down by the Hypaspistai Royal corps.
3. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΠΕΡΣΕΥΣ (Reign 228 – 212 BC) When his father battled the Ptolemaio in Minor Asia and the Levant, ΠΕΡΣΕΥΣ “took the fight” to the enemy’s “homeland”, Aigyptos.
The Ptolemaio did not suspect this and was forced to flee to Meroe while Makedonia conquered all of their other holdings. Later after the death of ΑΛΚΥΟΝΕΟΣ they were forced to sign a very humiliating peace treaty with the ΑΡΧΕ ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΙΚΕ.
When ΠΕΡΣΕΥΣ was crowned ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ the ΑΡΧΕ ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΙΚΕ entered a period of peace and prosperity one that would last until the betrayal of the Arche Seleukeia in 216 BC.
A long and bitter war between the former allies was at hand, one that ended in Makedonian victory and the inclusion of Hayasdan and Babylonia in the ΑΡΧΕ ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΙΚΕ.
In the spring of 214 BC the forces of Kart-Hadast without a warning or declaration of war, invaded Aigyptos. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΠΕΡΣΕΥΣ rode out to meet them and won many a heroic victories. But at the end there were too many of them and he and his mobile forces were annihilated by the sons of Baal-Hammon, and thus he perished in 212 BC, leaving the throne to his second son ΣΕΛΕΦΚΟΣ aged only 17 years old.
4. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΣΕΛΕΦΚΟΣ (Reign 212 – 195)
When ΣΕΛΕΦΚΟΣ arrived in Aigyptos he pushed the Kart-Hadastei out of there with great difficulty. He conquered Kyrene and seized the site of the Oracle of Ammon known as Ammonion. A prophesy was offered to him by the Oracle, though being an ignorant and anti-religious, inbreed buffoon, he rejected the offer and went further westwards, towards Kart-Hadast. News arrived that the ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ’s son had died under suspicious circumstances, and because of these turn of events the ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ fell into a deep depression, one that interfered with his “work”.
For a short period of time he held the city in his grasp, but was in 198 BC forced to fall back towards Aigyptos. The Kart-Hadastei was impressed by his prowess in combat and so they wanted the war to come to an end. Neither side hade anything to win on prolonged conflict, for both the ΑΡΧΕ ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΙΚΕ and the Safot Softim biQarthadast, had lost many men and mnai. So in 197 BC there was at last peace between the two rival nations. On his return to Aigyptos in 195 BC he was assassinated, by a robed figure, seemingly of Makedonian origin. He was able to escape but, he dropped an important piece of evidence, the signet ring of ΠΕΡΔΙΚΚΑΣ (Perdikkas), the corrupt and selfish brother of the Basileus. He himself claimed that the assassin was of Punic origin, sent from Kart-Hadast. He had planed to proclaim himself as ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ and his son ΕΥΒΟΥΛΙΔΕΣ as his heir, currently being in Syria. The popular Strategos ΙΣΟΔΟΡΙΑΝΟΣ and his family however decided to stand against this great injustice for the greater good of the ΑΡΧΕ ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΙΚΕ. With no ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ruling the ΑΡΧΕ ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΙΚΕ at the moment, civil war seemed inevitable.
Alexandros, his family and the ΒΑΣΕΛΕΙΣ of the Alexandrid line:
(Since I’ve already written about many of these things this part is a bit short)
ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ, the nephew of ΑΝΤΙΓΟΝΟΣ ΓΟΝΑΤΑΣ were put in charge of an army and was to Illyria, a lawless region from which many pirates hailed from. The intent of this trip was to stop the constant pirate raids on Makedonia, and to hopefully subjugate the people of the land. Before travelling to Illyria however he married an Epeirote princess named Chryse. She was the only surviving member of the Aeacid dynasty and daughter of ΠΥΡΡὉΣ ΤΟΝ ΕΠΕΙΡΟΣ and the marriage was to cement the relations between the two families. Thus the family of ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ and ΠΥΡΡὉΣ ΤΟΝ ΕΠΕΙΡΟΣ was forged into one and all children of ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ could claim descent from ΠΥΡΡὉΣ and even ΜΕΓΑΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ (!)
ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ nevertheless dealt with the pirate problem and he and his descendants were to govern Illyria and eventually further even regions further westwards.
In 265 BC the First Romaioi war brook out, and ΑΓΙΣ, first born son of ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ led the Makedonian forces in opposition. The war ended with Makedonian triumph and the Romaioi were forced to part with northern Italia, a region the ΑΡΧΕ ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΙΚΕ gave to their keltoi allies, the Arveni to act as a buffer.
1. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΙΣΟΔΟΡΙΑΝΟΣ (Born 235 BC) (Reign 193- 173 BC)
When the Second Romaioi war broke out ΙΣΟΔΟΡΙΑΝΟΣ was given command of the makedonian forces. During his campaign, he was fascinated by the road systems of the Romaioi and also their military composition. After barely surviving an ambush by the flexible forces of the SPQR, he decided that a Makedonian version of these troops would be useful, and thus the Makedonian Thorakitai was born.
After the Romaioi was properly subjugated by his forces he left his uncle in charge of Italia, and set sail towards Makedonia. For Civil War seemed inevitable and ΙΣΟΔΟΡΙΑΝΟΣ, being an unselfish person could not let this tyrant impostor take the throne of Makedonia in his filthy hands.
ΙΣΟΔΟΡΙΑΝΟΣ was crowned ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ in the winter of 193 BC, and left for the Syria where ΠΕΡΔΙΚΚΑΣ and his few supporters were. When he arrived he fought a fierce battle against the forces of ΠΕΡΔΙΚΚΑΣ . In the end his veterans easily defeated the forces of the impostor. ΠΕΡΔΙΚΚΑΣ son was spared, for he was too young to be put to blame for his father’s crimes, this choice was questioned by many however. ΙΣΟΔΟΡΙΑΝΟΣ were able to return to Pella the next spring. During the following years he made radical military reforms, completely replacing the phalangitai with Thorakitai as the new rank and file soldiers.
Vast building projects across Makedonia were being erected, among those romaioi styled roads, which would help the armies of Makedonia to quickly reach their destination.
When the Second Kart-Hadstei War began in 173 BC ΙΣΟΔΟΡΙΑΝΟΣ sent his son ΝΕΙΚΩΝ, a man destined for greatness, to Africa.
ΙΣΟΔΟΡΙΑΝΟΣ pasted away quietly in his sleep a week after his son’s departure, knowing that for the time being the ΑΡΧΕ ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΙΚΕ was safe.
2. ΝΕΙΚΩΝ ΝΙΚΑΤΩΡ (Reign 173- 144 BC) (I’m going through this quickly since I’ve already written about it some pages back) ΝΕΙΚΩΝ ΝΙΚΑΤΩΡ won many heroic victories against the Kart-Hadast and conquered all their lands. He even conquered all of Iberia and started training Thorakitai from amongst the Libikoi and Keltoi as a sort of auxiliary force, the Thorakitai’s training and equipment were also to be financed by the state after ΝΕΙΚΩΝ ΝΙΚΑΤΩΡ’s refoms.
ΝΕΙΚΩΝ ΝΙΚΑΤΩΡ also gave Makedonian citizenship to all Hellenes within the ΑΡΧΕ ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΙΚΕ, and financed major art projects around the ΑΡΧΕ. Hellenic culture flourished under his rule and all of mainland Hellas was included directly into the Makedonian homelands.
He just like his father died quietly in his sleep in the capital aged 75.
3. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΟΛΥΜΠΙΑΔΕΣ ΝΙΚΑΤΩΡ ΣΟΤΕΡ (Reign 144 - ? BC)
Explanation of Greek names:
Comments are appreciated. :P
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