Scenes From Elsewhere (Seleucids III)

With Peace in Istria and Egypt, Antiokos I Asianos could focus once again on expansion elsewhere. His Puppet in the Levant, Meleager, the Great King of Phonecia, was building an all new, heavier Army to go with his Veteran Navy. This, Antiokos would help fund, train, and equip. In Antiokos' Mind, Meleager's Client State would be the perfect base from which to launch a conquest of the Nabataean Kingdom around the Peninsulas and the Nearer Erythraean Sea. The Nabataean Kingdom sat astride the Incense Route, a major trade route coming up from the Further Erythraean Sea, through the Successor Kingdoms of Damot, and up into Kush, Nubia, and Eudaimon Arabia before making their way into Nabataea or Egypt. By conquering Nabataea, Antiokos could potentially interject his authority into that lucrative trade route to tax it and reap the Material Rewards of such an endeavor.

To that end, he ensured that Meleager had ready access to coin, recruits, equipment, and training, building up his client while simultaneously preparing his own forces for conflict with the Nabataeans. Meleager's Army gathered over the course of Two-Seventy-Eight and was truly something to behold. War Elephants captured from the feuding Ptolemies were joined by Greek Phalangites, Judaean Heavy Cavalry, and Idumaean Light Skirmishers. It was a ponderous force, but one whose journey could be expedited by the Phoenecian Fleets that Meleager had at his disposal, at least normally. Meanwhile, Antiokos' Patronage meant that Meleager would seldom be required to march out alone. The Seleucid Army could cover for his own Forces' Weaknesses if need be, and that would be precisely what would happen when, in the Autumn of Two-Seventy-Eight, War Came.

The King of the Nabataeans, a Man named Phasaelos, had not been idle during Antiokos and Meleager's preparations for war. Phasaelos realized that while Meleager's military build-up could simply be a case of keeping pace with his half-brothers' own military build-ups, if Antiokos was also doubling troop numbers in his Southern Garrisons in the Jordan River Valley, then it could only mean one thing, war. In response, Phasaelos called up the various Tribal Levies provided by the roaming tribes of the desert that owed him fealty. The tribes responded by yielding up Light and Medium Cavalry, as well as Light Infantry, to supplement the Heavy Infantry and Archers of Petra, Ails, Hegra, Dedan, and elsewhere in the Nabataean Kingdom. Such disparate elements drew together over the course of Two-Seventy-Eight at Petra, the Capital of the Nabataean Kingdom, assembling at Phasaelos' Command to repel the probable Seleucid Invasion.

As the fall dawned, both Meleager and Antiokos set out from their various strongholds, armies poised to plunge into Nabataea like a pair of spears. Antiokos had not missed Phasaelos' own preparations any more than Phasaelos had missed his and was determined to conquer. To that end, he had Meleager's force remain separate from his own. The strategy was simple but effective enough. Phasaelos only had the men to contest one of these spear thrusts into his Kingdom, not both. If he tried to split his own forces to attempt to confront both Armies, Phasaelos would soon find himself overrun from both angles. Instead, Phasaelos chose to confront Antiokos near the City of Mampsis. This would allow Meleager to capture the Cities of Gypsaria, Clysma, and Pharan before placing Aila under siege, effectively ceding control of the Sinai to Meleager. It might have saved Nabataea Proper, though, if not for the outcome of the Battle of Mampsis.

Antiokos had arrayed his forces cleverly, secreting a contingent of cavalry under his Brother, Achaeus of Pergamon, in a ravine between two hills near where he intended to face off against Phasaelos. As the Battle commenced, Antiokos had his forces perform a fighting withdrawal back toward the ravine. This was not easily done, as his forces were under constant pressure from the Nabataean Heavy Infantry and Light Cavalry, however, the Seleucid Army was one of the most experienced in the known world and performed the maneuver expertly. To Phasaelos' eye, however, it appeared as if his forces had gained the upper hand, pushing back the Seleucids, and they just needed a final push to claim victory. Accordingly, he fed his reserves into the line to attain that final push. This had been what Antiokos has been waiting for, however.

With a single signal, a dip in the banners of Antiokos' bodyguard, Achaeus came thundering out of the ravine with his hidden cavalry detachment to smash into the Nabataean left flank. The result was a massacre, as Seleucid Cataphractoi, copied from the innovations of Pyrrhus of Epirus, smashed into the Nabataean Tribal Forces on the Nabataean left flank, going through them like a Scythe through wheat. As Phasaelos' left flank disintegrated, Antiokos sent in his reserves to bolster his lines and squares of Thorakitai and Phalangites, resulting in a renewed push on the Nabataean Center and Right. Seeing this debacle about to unfold, the Tribal Levies of the Desert Nomads followed their chiefs in abandoning their King while they could still escape. The result was an utter massacre, and any hope that the Nabataean Kingdom had of retaining its independence died that day outside Mampis.

What followed was the swift occupation of much of the Nabataean Kingdom over the course of two months. Only Aila and the Capital of Petra were still holding out against the Seleucid and Phoenecian Forces as December of Two-Seventy-Eight began to draw to a close. Phasaelos had managed to escape the Slaughter at Mampsis via a fast horse and the sacrifice of most of his army and was holed up in the Capital with a mere three-thousand men. Besieging the Capital of Petra, Antiokos' forces numbered ten times that, however, the nature of the mountainous defenses of the Capital made pressing that numerical advantage home practically impossible. It seemed as if Phasaelos would be able to hold out against all odds in Petra more or less indefinitely. Unfortunately for the Nabataeans, this would not be the case.

A Kedarite Chief named Iautas offered to show Antiokos a way into Petra via a goat path that he could utilize to flank the Defenders of the Nabataean Capital in exchange for a share of the spoils. King Phasaelos had wronged Iautas several years previously, and the Chief had not forgotten this slight. He sought to avenge himself on Phasaelos and enrich himself from the plundering of the Nabataean Treasury all in one stroke. Antiokos, never one to turn down an opportunity, agreed. And so it was that on the twenty-fourth of December, Two-Seventy-Eight, Petra fell to Antiokos' forces seizing the City by treachery. Iautas himself struck the fatal blow on Phasaelos and was paid a handsome sum of Drachmae for it to boot, which he used to retire to a villa in Eudaimon Arabia a few years later, leaving the leadership of his Kederite Tribe to his son, a Hellenized Chief. Not six days later, just before the turning of the year, word of Petra's fall reached Aila, where the commander of the Garrison decided to negotiate the surrender of the Port City to spare its inhabitants a sack. This Meleager agreed to, and he soon found himself entering Aila as a conqueror.

Going forward, the division of Nabataean Territory would largely favor Antiokos I Asianos, as was usual for a Patron-Client King Endeavor. Meleager would gain territory in the Sinai Peninsula west of Aila, though that did not include the Port City of Aila itself, a fact which rankled Meleager, but he could do very little about it. The Formal Boundary Line would run from the southern shore of the Dead Sea south, to the West of Mampsis, and all the way South to the Western Coast of the Nearer Erythraean Sea, skirting past the Port City of Aila, which fell on Antiokos' side of the boundary. While this was less than Meleager had hoped for, it did grant him the Cities of Sobata, Nessana, and Eboda, which weren't technically on the Sinai. It was a consolation prize, but still fair enough in terms of compensation. Certainly, it was no reason for Meleager to bite the hand that fed him.

By the time that Two-Seventy-Seven BC dawned, the Nabataean Kingdom would be no more, carved up between Antiokos I Asianos and his Client King of Phonecia, Meleager, who also took the titles of King of Judea and Despot of Idumaea. These titles were somewhat pretentious but allowed by Antiokos for the time being. After all, it was not proof of any treachery on Meleager's part, and Meleager had stood down his army, sending them back to their garrisons and homes, which would be foolhardy had he been plotting rebellion. This return to garrison could not have occurred at a more opportune time, as hostilities were about to erupt once more between the Ptolemies. Hostilities which would draw in Pyrrhus of Epirus and which required Meleager not to be distracted by military adventures elsewhere if he wanted to avoid sharing the fate he and his Patron, Antiokos, had just inflicted upon the Nabataean Kingdom. Thankfully for Meleager, his forces would return to their garrisons in time to see the beginning of the Second Brothers War. As for Antiokos I Asianos, he couldn't be happier with his forces' performance. Now that the Nabataean Kingdom was conquered, he could begin to tap into the lucrative Incense Route. It would become a key source of wealth going forward as he consolidated his gains. When next Antiokos I Asianos ventured forth outside his borders on a military adventure, it would be funded by the wealth of Nabataea.

Just as Antiokos had wanted when he had launched his invasion. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we have the next chapter. We get to see what Antiokos has been up to while Pyrrhus dealt with Athens, that being conquering the Nabataean Kingdom. Nabatea was actually pretty damned rich off the Incense Route, and both Antigonus and Seleucus had launched brief, abortive, invasions because of that. They never got very far because they always got distracted by Diadochi Problems, but here, Antiokos doesn't have those issues.

As for place names, Istria is in Modern-Day Dobruja while Mampsis is in the Negev Desert these days, as are Nessana, Eboda, and Sobata, but back in antiquity, those were all bustling cities. Petra is in the interior of Modern-Day Jordan, while Aila is roughly where Modern-Day Aqaba is on the Red Sea. The other Nabataean cities mentioned are all in the Sinai Peninsula, either in the interior or along the Red Sea Coast. The Nabataean Kingdom, in General, is primarily in Modern-Day Jordan and the Sinai. Meanwhile, the Nearer Erythraean Sea refers to the Red Sea, while the Further Erythraean Sea refers to the Indian Ocean. Damot is on the Horn of Africa near Modern-Day Eritrea, while Kush and Nubia are in Modern-Day Sudan. Idumea straddles the border of Modern-Day Southern Israel and Jordan. Finally, Eudaimon Arabia refers to Southern Arabia, primarily in the area of Modern-Day Yemen.

At any rate, the next chapter will be an update on various minor states, then we'll be back with Pyrrhus.

Stay tuned. . .