Scenes From Elsewhere: The War in Istria

Early on in two-seventy-nine, a pair of battles at Ibida and Orgame had gone in the Bosporan Kingdom's Favor, as Spartikos, the firstborn son and heir to King Paerisades the Second of the Bosporan Kingdom, took Ibida by assault and smashed a Gallic Army of Fifteen Thousand Men near Orgame. Meanwhile, Bolgios had led a daring night assault on the Subject Polis of Tomis that had succeeded in capturing the City. Now, Orgame was under siege by Spartikos, while King Paerisades the Second and Bolgios skirmishes south of Istria Proper and northeast of the Subject Polis of Axiopolis.

For much of the First Half of the Year, that was the state of the War, both sides were bogged down in skirmishes and sieges, drawing the conflict out even further than it already had been. As casualties mounted, however, both sides understood that this would be the year to make or break the Campaign. Neither side could sustain such fighting much longer, as Bolgios was far from the center of his power in the Pannonian Basin while the Bosporans were having to project power all the way across the Euxine Sea. Such stretched supply lines could not hold out indefinitely, and both sought a decisive blow to knock the other side out of the war this year.

Events rapidly began to escalate beginning in late July of Two-Seventy-Nine, as Prince Spartikos managed to obtain the surrender of Orgame and move to Noviodunum, a formerly Hellenized Thracian City that had been overrun by Celts from the Volcae Confederation and Boii who had fled Bolgios' growing Empire as a last bastion near the Euxine Sea. The City had been renamed as Noviodunum near Istros, by their new Celtic Overlords, and that had been the state of affairs for years now. However, the Hellenized Populace was more than willing to rise up against their Celtic Overlords. To them, the Boii and Volcae were little different than Bolgios. They threw open the Gates of Noviodunum for Spartikos, allowing the Bosporans to take the city by Coup de Main.

Spartikos did not stop there, after seizing control of Noviodunum in Early August, he moved on to Aegyssos and Halmyris, both cities falling in a few days as internal strife between Hellenized Thracians, Gauls, and others made their captures a simple matter. Neither city could put up much of a fight with their inhabitants so at odds with each other. Of course, the one thing that all of the inhabitants of those cities could agree on was that they did not want Bolgios to claim them, so submitting to Spartikos' army was seen as the lesser of two evils. Spartikos had scarcely drawn up siege lines around Aegyssos and Halmyris before the cities submitted as a compromise between their internal factions.

Once that was done, Spartikos turned west to seize the last Town in northern Istria, Troesmos. Troesmos was a Getae Town, one of those who had allied with Istros against Bolgios and had paid the price for it. Unlike the vast majority of the Getae and Dacians, who lived across the Istros River from which the City of Istros and the Region of Istria took its name, and thus had been easy pickings for Bolgios. This had not been the case for Troesmos, for whom the River Istros provided an obstacle to conquest from the west. As allies of Istros, whose Archon had been effectively vassalized by the Bosporans, Troesmos gladly transferred their alliance from Istros to the Bosporan Kingdom.

Now, with all of Northern Istria in Bosporan and Bosporan Allied hands, Spartikos prepared to move south with his army of fifteen thousand troops, which had swelled with a further ten thousand from the Towns and Subject Poleis of Northern Istria to a full twenty-five-thousand troops. Bolgios realized this and knew that if Spartikos and King Paerisades the Second managed to link up, their combined force could bring Bolgios to battle and potentially inflict a defeat on him that would cause him to lose this campaign. He had to act, and swiftly, or else he would be forced to concede peace.

Bolgios decided to use his Force's greater mobility, thanks to the large percentage of Cavalry within his army, to attempt to defeat the two Bosporan Armies in detail, beginning with King Paerisades the Second and moving on to Prince Spartikos. The Bosporans, he reasoned, were a largely infantry force, and thus would be unable to move swiftly enough to match his own largely cavalry force. That lack of operational speed would be crucial in defeating the Bosporans, to Bolgios' mind. Two sharp blows to convince the Bosporans to quit Istria and leave for their lands on their ships would be just what the Physic Ordered.

The first of these would-be Hammer Blows came near Calidua, a Getae Town that had previously surrendered to Bolgios at the outset of the war and that Bolgios had used the mobility of his cavalry to maneuver King Paerisades the Second's thirty-thousand-strong army near to the Town. Here, on the twelfth of September, two-seventy-nine, the Battle of Calidua was fought between Bolgios and the Bosporans under King Paerisades the Second. The battle would not go well for the Bosporans.

King Paerisades the Second fought bravely but was trapped between Bolgios' Army and the Garrison of Calidua, which sallied forth. Struck in the flank by the Garrison of Calidua, whilst also having to fend off constant and repeated charges by Bolgios' best Cavalry Troops, the King called for a retreat back east to Istros. However, as if the hand of Tyche had swept out to alter fate for the Bosporans, as he was leading the retreat, King Paerisades the Second was struck in the neck by a lucky arrow from Bolgios' forces and killed. His death caused panic in the Bosporan Forces, and his Royal Bodyguards failed to restore order fully, barely managing to extricate fourteen thousand men from the ensuing rout in an orderly fashion, while also keeping the King's Body from falling into Bolgios' hands.

Calidua was a great victory for Bolgios, managing to slay eight thousand Bosporan Troops between the battle and ensuing rout, capture a further three thousand, and scatter four thousand broken men to the winds, in addition to killing King Paerisades the Second and pillaging the Bosporan Supply Train. It was that last bit that truly mattered, for it allowed Bolgios to re-equip several more of his Cavalry Units with steel weaponry and stirrups that the Bosporans had purchased from Epirus. However, taking twelve days to pursue the routing Bosporans and re-equip his forces from the pillaged Bosporan Supply Train would be a critical error on Bolgios' part.

On hearing news of his father's death, Prince Spartikos pushed his twenty-five-thousand-strong force on a night march to Istros from his position near Orgame. Aided by the coastal road, Spartikos and his force reached Istros in time to link up with the remnants of his father's forces that the Royal Bodyguards had managed to extract from the Slaughter at Calidua before Bolgios even began moving again. Over the next several days, a number of things happened.

Firstly, some two thousand broken men who had scattered to avoid the slaughter of the rout at Calidua had filtered back into camp at Istros to be folded back into the Bosporan Army. Secondly, Spartikos rested and re-equipped his forces after the horrific defeat suffered by his Father. Finally, and most importantly, Spartikos had himself crowned King of the Bosporan Kingdom in Istros, notably taking blessings and benedictions from both the Hellenic Temples and the ones of Local Gods such as Zalmoxis, Epona, and Karsenos, Gods of the Getae, Pannonian Celts, and Thracians, respectively.

This last bit was crucial in shoring up morale not only in the Bosporan Troops but also in the local allies that the Bosporans had gathered. When Bolgios began to move again on the twenty-fourth of September, Two-Seventy-Nine, he was expecting to face a demoralized force who would be willing to surrender after a token siege and return to the Bosporan Kingdom, leaving their Local Allies to submit to his army or be destroyed. He would be disabused of that notion rather violently when he came in sight of Istros on the twenty-eighth of September, Two-Seventy-Nine, and found that King Spartikos the Fourth and his Army ready not only to resist a siege but to give battle.

The Second Battle of Istros occurred the following day on the twenty-ninth of September, Two-Seventy-Nine. It would be almost a complete reversal of what had occurred at Calidua earlier in the month. The Bosporans, keen to avenge the death of their King, and their local allies, now with an overlord who paid their Gods and customs a level of respect that Bolgios never did, fought like lions. This included King Spartikos himself, who at one point in the battle, actually engaged Bolgios in a duel and wounded the would-be Emperor of the Balkans. Bolgios was dragged off the field by his Bodyguards, even though his wound was not mortal or even that severe, in an effort to avoid his death should he continue to fight. Unfortunately, seeing this caused panic to spread amongst Bolgios' army.

Spartikos, on seeing this, urged his forces onward with a cry of 'One sharp shock will shatter their knees!'. In the event, he turned out to be correct. Though Bolgios would survive, much of his army would not. Of the Fifty-thousand Troops he had mustered for his assault on Istros, thirteen-thousand would be killed or captured, a full fourth of his force. A further twelve thousand would be caught up in the pursuit, forced to surrender or be slain. Most chose the former.

With half his army dead or in captivity, Bolgios was forced to admit that calling up further forces to fight the Bosporans from his territories in Pannonia would simply be throwing good drachmae after bad. Istria was simply too difficult a nut for him to crack at the moment, and he would need to make peace, rest his forces, and then look for territories elsewhere that were less defended, such as Dardania.

On the sixth of October, Two-Seventy-Nine, Bolgios of the Treverii made peace with the Bosporan Kingdom, releasing his captives, ransoming his captured troops, and forswearing his attempts to conquer Istria. He would return to his Pannonian Heartland and rest his forces. A new plan beginning to coalesce in his mind to assault Dardania and potentially seize Thrace as well. Both Kingdoms were weak, and while the Macedonians would likely come to the aid of their Clients, they had frittered their own strength away on interventions in Thrace and Dardania. Macedon would be easily defeated as well should they attempt to intervene, leaving Bolgios in possession of not just Thrace and Dardania, but also Macedon.

Meanwhile, the Bosporan Kingdom gained clients and allies in Istros and the various Poleis of Istria. A foothold on the Western Euxine that would see them able to intervene across the Euxine far more easily than they otherwise would have been able to. They also received a large sum of Drachmae as ransom for the captives they had taken after the Second Battle of Istros. For his victory, King Spartikos the Fourth was dubbed Spartikos IV 'Leon', as he had become the Lion of Istria. Such accolades were cold comfort for a man who had lost his father to Bolgios' Forces, and King Spartikos IV Leon would be all too willing to lend forces to defend against Bolgios when the King of Pannonia attacked Macedon.

That attack would be a few years in coming, but when it did, it would draw in much of Hellas to defend against it. . .

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AN: All right, so here we see how things have unfolded in Istria over the course of Two-Seventy-Nine while Pyrrhus was engaged in his war against Athens. King Paerisades the Second was killed, but his son, Spartikos avenged him and gained Istria as a Client in the Process. However, he also gained a grudge against Bolgios and is going to be all in on sending forces to any coalition that forms against Bolgios in the future.

Meanwhile, Bolgios has just suffered a large defeat, though he managed to extract around forty-thousand men, after ransoming captured troops, from the debacle. He still only has four-fifths of his army remaining, and that's after he already called up reinforcements to bolster his dwindling forces after last year's campaign. He's figured that with the Bosporans there, Istria is too hard a target, but Dardania, Thrace, and Possibly Macedon, have literally spent the last decade and a half frittering away their forces on constant interventions and civil wars. He'll rebuild his forces and attack those territories in a few years.

At any rate, the next chapter will take a look at what Rome has been up to over the past year, then we'll have a look at the Ptolemies.

Stay tuned. . .